Many fans like to be critical of Jerry Jones saying that he is a horrible GM, can't evaluate talent, interferes too much, etc., but the one thing you have to love about Jones as both the GM and owner of your beloved Cowboys is that the man definitely knows how to show his stars the money.
JJT of DMN (sub req) writes that Jerry does a great job of locking up talent before they have a chance to hit free agency. Jones did this with his dynasty of the '90's, locking up superstars Aikman, Smith and Irvin and he is approaching this team the same way.
"When you look down the road, it's just the best way to get a deal done," Jones said. "It's always better to do it from within with players you know than to get out there and spend on free agents. You have to have some free agents, but we prefer signing our own guys.
"These are guys that I look at as cornerstones of the team. If I wasn't positive about them and the direction we're going, then I wouldn't be writing the checks."
You can say what you want about JJ, but you have to love the way he locks up his stars for years to come.
In other news, Mickey Spags discusses a few things before he hits the road to cover Aikman and Wright being inducted this weekend into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He talks about how poorly Vanderjagt is kicking in camp, RT position, Kevin Burnett, Jay Ratliff, Greg Ellis and his "eye-catchers" so far in camp.
Update [2006-8-3 13:58:38 by Grizz]: Just wanted to tag on a couple of article links to Terry's post. By the way, y'all give it up for Terry who's been invaluable in helping me out while I'm at camp. Kudos, Terry!
Here's an article on Owens and his interactions with Parcells and Bledsoe.
Sam Hurd gets some praise in this article, and I agree. The kid has a shot at making the team.