Marion Barber, Terence Newman stay at home

I blinked my eyes today and Jerry Jones signed my dog to a 2-year deal. He was sitting there with a Cowboys jersey on and a sticker on his bowl that read "Property of J. Jones – Your Ad Here."  I chided Fido for only signing a 2-year deal, but then he explained you had to convert that to dog years. We bumped knuckles, hand to paw.

What the…? I didn’t see this coming. Both MB3 and Terence Newman? Long-term deals one right after another? Well, there’s nothing like a deadline to get people motivated. 

The Cowboys were able to beat the deadline to sign players under the current collective bargaining agreement. The NFL owners announced Tuesday in Atlanta they will opt out of the current CBA agreement. All contracts completed after 3 p.m. (CDT) on Tuesday will follow new rules, which would've prevented the Cowboys from prorating the players' signing and roster bonuses past five seasons.

I’m pretty good with both deals. Terence Newman signed (6-years, $50.2 million, $22.5 guaranteed over the first 3 seasons.) for about the same money as Marcus Trufant and a little less than Asante Samuel. I saw Trufant’s numbers when they first came out and thought at the time if we could get Newman for that it would be worth it. And so I think it is.

The MB3 deal is for a little longer and larger amount than I thought. (7-years, $45 million, $16 million guaranteed, $21 million over the first 3 seasons.) I figured around $40 million max, but it’s not that out of line for a player of his past pedigree and future potential as a starter. I doubt he’ll last all seven years here anyway, the life of a running back can be a short one in the NFL, but I’m elated that he’ll be out there for the next few years beating up defenses. He seems to have gotten a lot of his money up front, smart for a back, and it puts him up near the elites in the league. It’s a little rich, but I can live with it.

Jerry and Stephen keep getting things done. I’m always a fan of locking up your own guys if they’re getting the job done, and both these players were/are. Now, if we could just get Ken Hamlin done.

Contract talks also ignited between the Cowboys and Ken Hamlin, who was given a franchise tag of $4.33 million. The club has expressed interest in signing the Pro Bowl safety to a long-term deal as well. While that can still occur, the deal likely won't be longer than a five-year contract.

Mickey Spags has a good article on Terry Glenn who didn’t participate in the OTA today. He basically says that no matter how well Terry Glenn runs on any given day, he’s just one misstep, one hit, one accident or one whatever away from it being over. So counting on him long-term is a long-shot, but if you treat it as we’ll-get-what-we-get from him, then it’s kind of like found money.

Comments from Drew Rosenhaus on MB3 in this article.  

Hashmarks on the signings.