Well, with the Super Bowl come and gone, I guess it really is the 2010 NFL offseason. So let's review some important information.
On Tuesday, the injured Cowboys from the 2009 draft who missed the season, return to training.
That process continues for [Robert] Brewster and [Brandon] Williams on Tuesday, when they get a head start on the eight-week off-season program their teammates will begin in March. With Brewster's torn pectoral muscle healed, and Williams' torn ACL in good enough shape to begin simple leg work, the players are ready to start moving past their respective rehab stages. [Stephen] Hodge, who had the more invasive microfracture surgery for his knee injury, is a bit farther behind, but continues to work with trainers and strength and conditioning coach Joe Juraszek to complete his own comeback.
What's coming up for the Cowboys and the rest of the NFL? Glad you asked, here's your offseason schedule (with corrected dates from the earlier version of the story.).
[Ed. Note]: These dates have been corrected from an earlier version of the story. I inadvertently posted last year's dates, my mistake.
Monday, February 8: Waiver system begins. Teams may begin to release or waive players.
Thursday, February 11: Teams may begin to assign the franchise tag or transition tag to a player. Due to the uncapped year, teams may assign both a franchise and transition player, or two transition players.
Wednesday, February 24 - Tuesday, March 2: NFL Combine.
Thursday, February 25: Deadline for teams to assign franchise/transition tags.
Thursday, March 4: Deadline for teams to extend a qualifying offer to restricted free agents; if they do not, these players become unrestricted free agents.
Friday, March 5: Beginning of free agent signing period.
Friday, March 5: First day teams can make trades.
Thursday, April 15: Last day other teams can extend offer sheets to restricted free agents.
Thursday, April 22 - Saturday, April 24: 2010 NFL Draft.
We don't know the dates of our scheduled opponents yet, but we know who they are and the home and away games. Besides the obvious home/away series with each NFC East team, we have the following:
Home:
New Orleans Saints
Road:
Arizona Cardinals
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
We play the NFC North, the AFC South plus the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints.
Oh yeah, and once we get past all that, what's the odds that the Cowboys will be playing in a game very similar to the one just played on Sunday? Only this time at Cowboys Stadium? Bodog says the Super Bowl odds for next year are:
Indianapolis Colts - 13/2
San Diego Chargers - 8/1
New England Patriots - 10/1
New Orleans Saints - 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers - 11/1
Dallas Cowboys - 12/1
Green Bay Packers - 12/1
Minnesota Vikings - 12/1