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A week of news and notes for the Dallas Cowboys, sandwiched between the divisional rounds and the NFL conference championship games.
Saturday
Cowboys covet free-agent-to-be Nicks | ProFootballWeekly.com
Well, that's one piece of the equation down. Now all we need is for Nicks to want to join Dallas more than stay with annual Super Bowl contender New Orleans. From PFW's Whispers roundup:
Already, Cowboys fans are salivating at the idea of signing free-agent OG Carl Nicks, who might be too tough for the Saints to keep. Why Nicks and not, say, Ben Grubbs? Well, now-OL coach Bill Callahan has ties to Nicks from Nebraska, and owner Jerry Jones is said to be a fan of the Saints' power blocker to solidify the middle of his line. If the Cowboys move Doug Free to right tackle, they don't want to saddle him with a weak-link right guard.
Creer's late TD gives West 24-17 victory over East | Sports Illustrated
Pretty good game for the B-level senior prospects for the NFL Draft. The Senior Bowl is next week, where you'll find most of the senior's with a chance to be drafted in the early rounds. In this game, we got to see a handful of midround prospects. Of note: OLB Julian Miller, G Brandon Brooks, DE Tyrone Crawford, DT Dominique Hamilton, CB Shaun Prater, QB BJ Coleman, ILB Shawn Loiseau.
Friday
Mike Jenkins facing 4-6 months of rehab | ESPN Dallas
It looks like the surgery Jenks had on his troublesome shoulder last week will keep the Cowboys top corner (apologies to Terence Newman's agent) out until training camp. This means he won't be able to participate physically in the veteran OTA's and the like. Fortunately, those are learning activities and as long as he's healthy by the end of July, Rob Ryan's Year 1.5 defense should have the opportunity to ingest and commit to muscle memory.
More...
Friday(cont.)
Cowboys' Brooking doesn't want to see Bryant waste his talent | NFL.com
Before Keith Brooking ran out of gas, nine times out of ten he was a stand-up guy. Well, save for the embarrassing "you guys should be playing nice!" at the end of the Minnesota playoff whooping a few years ago. Not in this particular article, but Brooking did call Bryant the most talented individual he's ever played with; which for a 14-year veteran is saying a lot. Brooking also put a bit of sober realism out there, pertaining the young receiver's continuous place in the headlines.
"I mean, guys make mistakes. I'd be a hypocrite if I said, you know, you can't ever make a mistake, you can't ever get in trouble," Brooking said. "But at the end of the day, I mean, eventually, you've got to step up and be a pro and do the right thing.
"There's just so much potential there. I'd really hate to see that go by the wayside."
Thursday
Garrett Introduces New Coaches | The Mothership
I spoke about all the tasty tidbits of info on this week's podcast, but there were solid nuggets in head coach Jason Garrett's presser. Amongst them, confirmation the team is considering swapping left and right tackles Tyron Smith and Doug Free. Also, Jay Ratliff is a versatile lineman that played injured and the team isn't married to a 3-4 scheme and is willing to roll out various fronts. OK, I lied. These are things that we here at BTB have talked about for a while, but I guess now it's officially on record that the team has options. Yeahhhh....
There was actually something interesting to come out of the presser, besides the enthusiasm of Bill Callahan and Jerome Henderson. Garrett says that he is open to the possibility of handing over play calling duties to new offensive coordinator Bill Callahan once he feels there is complete comfort between he, Callahan and quarterback Tony Romo.
Dez Bryant Responds On Twitter | NBC DFW
Dez denies that the dust up at Liv Nightclub in Miami that has made all the Dallas headlines percolate had anything to directly do with rapper Lil' Wayne. Or his leotard pants.
Wednesday
Salary Cap won't be issue for Cowboys | ESPN Dallas
$20 million my, friends. $20 million at least. Dallas has some in-house free agents to consider, but that's plenty to play with. Can we just fast forward past all this playoff stuff to March already?
Tuesday
Position Series: Murray, Jones A Solid RB Mix | The Mothership
DC.com has been reviewing the positions and has a recap of the carousel of both halfbacks and fullbacks that entered the fray on behalf of The Star in 2011.
Dallas lost their Safeties Coach to the Tennessee Titans, as Maxie moved on to become their Secondary Coach.
Monday
What Level Of Performance Can Be Expected From Rookie Lineman? | BloggingTheBoys.com
Unbelievably great piece by our resident stat guru, One.Cool.Customer. Must Read.