Good ol’ Jerry Jones. Lucky for us, the guy can’t stop talking. While not exactly spilling the beans on our draft strategy I think he gives us more of a heads-up than almost any other owner in the league. This time, he talks to Goose Gosselin and reiterates that the Cowboys are not going to be trading up to get Darren McFadden. Nope, he says he can watch the Razorbacks play on Saturdays and there’s no reason to screw up his plan. What plan would that be? Build an offense around Tony Romo and get him as much help as possible. Now, getting McFadden would definitely help the offense, but at what cost? That seems to be what Jerry is thinking; that he can get more done by keeping the two first round picks rather than trading them (along with other picks/players) to get DMac. With the abundance of talent at RB in this year’s draft, he could pick up a Jonathan Stewart or Felix Jones in the first round or he could even wait until the second round where there are still quality backs to be had. What happens with the Pacman deal could decide when we pick a CB, those two positions (RB, CB) tend to dominate the discussion of the first round picks.
But Jerry has another acquisition in mind. Last week, he told Randy Galloway about it and this week he hints at it with Gosselin.
"There might be great value for our team with some of that collateral we have with those [first-round] picks," Jones said. "What if someone wants to give us a hell of a player that really fit and improved our offense? That's the kind of universe I can conjure up.
"We could set up here and get a premium receiver on the other side of Terrell and have a tandem."
Gosselin fills in the details on the plan, something we talked about last week. There are three names that keep popping up in this discussion.
How would Chad Johnson look on the other side of Owens? Or Anquan Boldin? Or Roy Williams? All are Pro Bowl wide receivers. Johnson is 30, Boldin 27 and Williams 26. All might be available when the Cowboys go on the clock at 28.
A first-round draft pick straight up for a Williams or a Boldin might look far more attractive to the Bengals or Lions when they're on the clock than it does today.
Even though Gosselin mixed up the teams with their receivers in that last sentence you get the point. Could one of those teams on draft day be tempted with a first round pick? It seems to be something Jerry will be exploring and pushing to get Romo more weapons.
The latest on Pacman from the Star-T.
"It's probable, if we're going to get something done, we'll do it while we're here at these meetings," Jerry Jones said. "...We've got some more talks we've got to do with the Titans, and we will do that while we're here."
Tennessee is asking for a fourth-round pick this year and a sixth-round pick next year that could become a fifth-rounder based on performance, according to a source. The Cowboys have been unwilling to part with a fourth-round choice, but they could make it enticing to the Titans by throwing in future picks based on Pacman Jones' performance.
PFT.com is posting that other teams have joined the party in terms of courting Pacman. But so far, no one has been able to accurately identify another team and this all appears to be based on a comment by Goodell that some teams have inquired about Pacman’s official status. Calling the league office for clarification is one thing; actively engaging the Titans in trade talks is another. So far, the Cowboys seem to be the only ones actively engaged in trade talks. Dallas is essentially bidding against itself and I’m glad to see Jerry has slowed his roll on this one, the Titans are getting greedy. I’ve said from the beginning that getting Pacman on the cheap is something I would support, but giving away multiple draft picks is a bad move at this point in discussions. Wait the Titans out Jerry, I’m sure they’ll blink first.
The DMN blog has our preseason schedule with approximate dates.
Week 1 (Aug. 7-11): at San Diego
Week 2 (Aug. 14-18): at Denver
Week 3 (Aug. 21-25): vs. Houston
Week 4 (Aug. 28 or 29): vs. Minnesota