Dallas Cowboys news & notes

While Terence Newman and Marion Barber have been getting all of the attention lately Chris Canty has quietly been working out and practicing with the team. Nick Eatman over at DC.com has a good piece about Canty's patience while waiting for his turn to sign a shiny new contract.

"You hope so. I hope it's getting to me," said Canty, a restricted free agent. "It's definitely an opportunity I look forward to having. The reality of that situation happening I'm not sure about at this point, but I'm happy to be here with my teammates working. I have been all off-season. I'm going to continue to do so."

The significance of all this is that Canty has yet to sign the restricted free agent tender the Cowboys gave him. Marion Barber decided (with a little help from Drew Rosenhaus) that sitting out team workouts would help with his negotiations for a new contract. Canty doesn't feel that approach is beneficial in his situation.

"I try not to let the business side of it influence your relationship with the guys you have in this locker room," Canty said. "Not saying that anybody else has done anything wrong, I'm not saying that. But the relationships, particularly with the defensive line, I need those guys. I have to be around them. They're my friends, on and off the field. If I wasn't here with them, I'd be off a little bit. It'd be harder."

While it is definitely in the Cowboys' best interest to hold onto Canty, I don't think anything will happen right away. There are the new rules in place for contracts that took effect after the CBA opt-out that have to be worked through, plus the Cowboys still don't have Ken Hamlin practicing with the team.  Hamlin is the current priority but signing Canty long term can't be too far behind.

Week 2 of OTAs started today, and everyone was accounted for with the exception of the expected absences of Terry Glenn and Ken Hamlin.

That's right, even Roy Williams was able to make it.

Mickey Spagnola says don't forget about Tank Johnson, a guy who got better last year the more he played and who a lot of folks around here wanted to become the starter so that Jay Ratliff could move back to defensive end.

Before his suspension Johnson was a near-dominant defensive tackle for the Bears, but he needed a bit of time to get used to playing in the 3-4 system before he really started to make plays. Also of note is the fact that people were upset that Johnson was even brought in by the Cowboys after he served prison time. Since he was signed though, we haven't heard a peep from the guy. And it seems that the quiet new guy from last year has started to develop into a real leader on the Cowboys.

That's why, at least to me, it was rather surprising when Phillips began talking about the guy's leadership qualities and told me about the phone call he got one day in his office soon after an inspiring season crumbled in a 21-17 divisional-round playoff loss to the New York Giants. 

"He called me in the off-season and said we've got to do everything we can to win the next season," Phillips said. "Right after the season, he was ready to get started again. 

"He's a pleasure to be around." 

There is much, much more in Mickey Spags' article on how Tank is progressing as leader. Head on over and check it out.

A lot of us were thrilled by the notion that if Pacman ended up not playing for the Cowboys this year then Dallas would receive a fourth round pick from Tennessee as compensation. As it turns out, that pick can only be a fifth rounder now. It seems the fourth round compensation was dependent on Pacman passing a physical, which he did.

Over at The Red Zone, they have a list of who they think will be the top 10 defensive impact players from this year's draft. Mike Jenkins comes in at #10.

Mike Jenkins, CB, Dallas Cowboys: Mike Jenkins makes Jerry Jones a very happy man.  He is a solid cornerback who was believed to be a Top 20 talent.  At South Florida he had a solid career and he shouldn’t be forced into action as they have decent defensive backs and a good pass rush.

And if you are anything like me, then you have always craved an inside look at just what happens at Valley Ranch during the offseason, and what goes on at those practices. Well, Kevin Burnett has started his own blog and promises to reveal all the gritty details about life as a Cowboy. It will be interesting to see just how much he can tell. Today's entry gives a detailed timeline as to what his day is like during OTAs.