Dallas Cowboys Voluntary Workouts Begin Today

Work time!!! Don't be afraid to be great. Let's get it!!!

— Jason Hatcher (@hatcher97) April 15, 2013

The 2013 NFL season officially gets under way for the Cowboys today with the start of voluntary off-season workouts. The Cowboys weren't very active in free agency, only bringing in safety Will Allen and linebacker Justin Durant from outside, but that doesn't mean there won't be any new faces in the locker room today.

The Cowboys currently have 67 players on their roster, 21 of whom were not on the season-opening roster in September 2012.

All players, new and old alike, will see a lot of new faces among the coaching staff as well. In total, there are seven new hires and one promotion among the coaching staff, all conveniently highlighted with a green background in the table below.

As for those voluntary workouts, here are the rules.

The Cowboys will get a 10-week window for their nine-week offseason programs. Programs cannot exceed four workouts per player in a week and they are limited to weekdays. These initial practices are entirely voluntary, with mandatory minicamps not starting until June. There will be three phases to the workouts, all spelled out in the CBA.

Phase one will cover the first two weeks, with players limited to strength and conditioning or injury rehab. This phase will only allow onto the field full-time or part-time strength and condition coaches that otherwise have no other coaching responsibilities. No footballs can be used, except that quarterbacks may elect to throw to receivers provided they are not covered by any other player. The players cannot wear helmets during phase one.

Phase two covers the next three weeks of the offseason workout program. All coaches are allowed onto the field and on-field workouts can include individual player instruction and drills. However, there can be no live contact or team offense versus team defense drills and players cannot wear helmets during this phase.

Phase three covers the next four weeks of the workout program, which can include up to ten days of organized team activities. This provides a chance for more instruction and helmets, but players cannot wear any pads, including shells.

Here are the key offseason dates for the Cowboys between now and the Hall of Fame game:

• April 15: Start of offseason workout program
• April 25-27: NFL Draft
• Early May: Rookie Minicamp (Either May 3-5 or May 10-12)
• Three OTA sessions (veterans and rookies) scheduled: May 21-23, May 28-30, June 3-6
• June 11-13: Mandatory Minicamp
• July 19: Training camp opens (Oxnard, CA)
• August 4: Hall of Fame Game versus Miami Dolphins

And Cowboys players are getting ready to participate. Here's a selection of tweets from the last couple of days from a few players:

Team meeting tomorrow morning 😁 itssss backkkk! #football #cowboysnation #WorkK

— Tyrone Crawford (@TCrawford_40) April 14, 2013

Tomorrow starts today! #FailureIsNotAnOption

— Phillip Tanner (@PTanner34) April 14, 2013

I'm down to like 295 and @natashatcher called me skinny. I wonder what she going to say at 290..

— Jason Hatcher (@hatcher97) April 13, 2013

Back to myself finally

— Matt Johnson (@Matt_Johnson37) April 5, 2013

And finally, this one, just for good measure:

This fool @rich_crawford6 really clogged one of my toilets then went back to DC and didnt tell nobody. Note to self...never trust a Redskin.

— Sterling Moore(@SterlingMoore) April 13, 2013