NFL and Cowboys news and notes

It starts with [Matt] Jones, a star quarterback at Arkansas who spent much of last season getting acclimated to his new position.

Jones opened practice Friday as the "X" receiver, the spot Smith filled the last 11 years in Jacksonville. The 6-foot-6, soft-spoken, laid-back, self-proclaimed country boy caught 36 passes for 432 yards and five touchdowns last season.

Bob Brookover, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, reports Philadelphia Eagles QB Timmy Chang has played well enough in NFL Europe to be given a shot to challenge for the team's No. 3 quarterback job in training camp. "We like him," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said. "If he tones down his mistakes, I think he's got a chance. I really do. The kid has tons of records, and he's shown the ability to play. He has to do it at this level, but I think he's got a chance. He's not going to be just a camp body." Heckert said Chang should get a shot with the Eagles this summer. "Andy (Reid) always lets them play in the preseason, so that will be big for him," Heckert said. "I think he'll at least make somebody's practice squad." Chang, at 6-foot-1 and just over 200 pounds, knows he is considered small by today's NFL quarterback standards. He also knows that there is a belief that he cannot play in a conventional NFL offense after working exclusively from the shotgun at Hawaii. Heckert said it was Chang's competitiveness that impressed the Eagles as much as anything when he auditioned for them.

According to a study conducted by RTKL Associates for the city of Irving, possible scenarios for the stadium site include:

• Gutting the stadium itself of its 65,000 seating area and the locker rooms, etc., underneath, but leaving the roof and the superstructure of the stadium in place, to which the city could locate businesses and offices under the landmark structure.
• Total demolition of the stadium and developing the site into a mixed-use district with residences, businesses and retail.
• Total demolition of the stadium and building a residential and commercial development that includes parks or athletic fields.

That piece of ground where Texas Stadium now sits was once an area that contained a trailer park and a swamp. When the Cowboys looked to move from the Cotton Bowl, they worked with the city of Irving to develop the property and build the stadium there, which opened in 1971.