I’ll tell you what; the Cowboys are one busy team for being in one of the supposedly slow parts of the offseason. Generally the week of the Super Bowl is a dead zone for teams not actually playing in the game, but true to form, Jerry Jones and Co. can’t seem to help but make news.
Congrats to Greg Ellis for making the Pro Bowl. It was obvious from his press conference that this meant a lot to him and he worries about his reputation once he leaves the game. I think it’s nice that to some players the all-star game at the end of the year actually means something to them, and you can count Ellis among that lot. He also made it clear he thought he should have already gone previously but I can’t say that I agree with him on that point. But this year, he was worthy. Here’s a brief story on Ellis making the Pro Bowl.
Of course, the reason the Cowboys have been in the news so much lately is that the Tuna stole all our coaches. But the replacements we’ve gotten and may soon get are high-quality. Today we introduced Dave Campo as our new secondary coach. Look, Campo was a disaster as head coach but had some very good years as an assistant in Dallas and I think he’ll do a fine job coaching up the secondary. He also specifically answered a question about Roy Williams and Campo thinks he has the skills and he will coach him up to previous form. Here’s a story on Campo returning.
But the interesting piece in the article is the speculation about Dom Capers coaching in Dallas. From everything I’m hearing it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Capers will join the staff. Here’s a nugget from the article.
Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips split his time Tuesday introducing Campo and visiting with Capers, who like Campo, also has previous NFL head coaching experience in Carolina (1995-98) and Houston (2001-05). Phillips didn't specify whether Capers might fill the linebackers coach vacancy left by Paul Pasqualoni or take another assistant title, but there appears to be a strong possibility he will be hired to the staff in some capacity after meeting with Phillips for several hours on Tuesday.
I will be thrilled if the Cowboys add Capers to the staff.
The debate continues to rage. Should the Cowboys try to use MB3 and some draft picks to trade with the Dolphins for the opportunity to pick Darren McFadden? I fall squarely in the ‘no way’ category on this. I know what Dallas has in MB3; he’s a scoring machine, a physical runner who fires up the team, and he does everything else well like block and catch passes. All we need is another back to complement him and the Cowboys will be fine. Trading away draft picks and paying the kind of money that a #1 pick will require makes no sense to me. Look, I think McFadden is an outstanding player and will probably be a very good back in the NFL. But MB3 plus a back like Felix Jones, or Mendenhall, or Stewart or even someone that you could get in the later rounds will be able to match the production of McFadden, and we save the draft picks for use on a corner or wide receiver while saving cap money. It just makes sense to me for the Cowboys to continue down the path they’re on and add some extra players to fill some holes instead of putting all their eggs in one basket and counting on McFadden to be a super-back in his rookie year.
JJT agrees, as does Peter King, but in truth, neither of those two give me any more confidence in my position. Those guys are wrong just as much as they are right, just like the rest of us. I guess it’s for each fan to decide where they come down on this issue, and I’ve made my decision.
Some other fans have made their decision, too. Check it out.
Thanks to an email from BTB-regular jgreet that pointed me to this T.O. interview with Mike and Mad Dog. It’s pretty good. (Scroll down for the link)
Also, I will have an announcement on the co-bloggers sometime tomorrow.