Cowboys to interview Titans WR coach Ray Sherman

The Dallas Cowboys have asked for and received permission to interview Titans receivers coach Ray Sherman, and he is scheduled to meet with team officials today, multiple sources said.

A lateral move to the same post he currently holds is possible because Sherman's contract in Tennessee is up. That contract status made the request from Dallas a formality.

New Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips is also looking for a running backs coach, a spot at which Sherman also has experience.

Prior to joining the Titans, Sherman spent the five previous seasons as wide receivers coach for the Green Bay Packers. During his time in Green Bay, he helped develop a young corps of players - Javon Walker, Donald Driver and Robert Ferguson - into elite receivers.

Sherman has worked with a total of seven NFL teams, coaching wide receivers, running backs and quarterbacks, in addition to serving as offensive coordinator for three teams. In 17 NFL seasons, he has been involved in offenses that finished in the NFL top 10 in both points and total yardage 11 times.

Before joining the Packers, Sherman was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 1999 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1998. The Vikings offense ranked third in the league in total offense and boasted the fifth-best passing attack. At Pittsburgh, the Steelers featured a running game under Sherman, which ranked seventh in the league. Sherman spent an additional three years (1995-97) with the Vikings as the quarterback coach.

[Garrett's] 40. Those who insist Turner should have been the one to take Romo to the next step forget Turner was almost exactly that age when he arrived in Dallas. Turner came to the Cowboys in 1991 without even Garrett's credentials. He had been the Rams' receivers coach.

Besides, today's 40-year-old is no kid. Last month, Mike Tomlin got the Steelers' job at 34 with only a year as a coordinator behind him, and the Raiders took a 31-year-old, Lane Kiffin, off the USC campus.

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Garrett played under Turner and Jimmy Johnson for a year, as well as another offensive guru named Ernie Zampese. And he was there, with Turner gone, when Switzer and Aikman barely talked on their way to a Super Bowl.

Garrett bridged the gap between them as a facilitator. He took the information, processed it -- and fed Aikman. Garrett would remind Aikman to look for this, watch for that, and Aikman needed all of this in the Switzer years. Without Turner around anymore, Garrett became Aikman's mental security blanket.

That means it's no longer a question of if, but rather when, the Cowboys will begin formal discussions with Romo's agent about a contract extension. On Aug. 31, Romo signed a one-year extension through 2007 with a $2 million signing bonus.

There was some thought the Cowboys would delay any extension talk when Romo struggled in the last month of the season and in the playoff loss to Seattle.

The last time Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones talked about extending Romo's contract was early December when he said he had seen enough to know Romo would be a good NFL quarterback.

The Cowboys will send three players to NFL Europe this spring: defensive tackle Remi Ayodele, who signed Friday, tight end Tony Curtis and linebacker John Saldi.

Curtis spent seven games on the active roster in 2006, playing in four games before he was cut and re-signed to the practice squad. Saldi, whose father, Jay, was a tight end for the Cowboys, was among the final cuts in training camp last year. Ayodele, whose older brother, Akin, is a starting linebacker for the Cowboys, spent time on the practice squad in 2006.