Despite another disappointing, middle-of-the-road finish at 8–8, despite missing the playoffs for the third time in four years, despite boasting a roster of very few defensive stars and more than a few offensive underachievers, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has remained optimistic, saying that he expected his team to be a Super Bowl contender in the 2012–13 campaign.

In the first two days of NFL free agency, Jones put his money where his mouth was. Despite being slapped with a $10 million fine by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for salary cap transgressions during last year’s uncapped season (I know, how can you transgress against a nonexistent cap, unless you are violating a wink-wink collusion agreement?), Jones and company stepped into the batter’s box, swinging for the fences.

Two days and eight FA signings later—the most in franchise history—the Cowboys have upgraded their roster and positioned themselves to be a strong contender in the NFC East, where they were edged out by the 9–7 NY Giants last season. (You know, the Super Bowl-winning NY Giants.)

The most significant signing was CB Brandon Carr, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs. Carr was perhaps the best defensive back in the FA market. He recorded four interceptions last year and has posted eight during his four-year career. After saying goodbye to Terence Newman, the Cowboys had to address cornerback either in the draft or free agency.

Jones made Carr a rich man, signing him to a $50 million contract, $26.5 million of it guaranteed.

Jones and his Cowboys also shored up the quarterback position, signing Kyle Orton to back up Tony Romo. Besides being one more statement that this is Romo’s team for the foreseeable future, the Orton signing gives the Cowboys a quality, capable caretaker should Romo go down to injury.

On day one of free agency the Cowboys also signed fullback Lawrence Vickers. With the  one-two punch of DeMarco Murray and Felix Jones at running back, Vickers should help put the running game over the top. Vickers was easily the best fullback available on the market. He is known as a knockout blocker, which is good news for the ball carriers and for Romo.

But, Vickers insists he is more than that…

“I am a West Coast fullback. That’s what they don’t understand,” he said. He said he became typecast as a “knockout fullback” the past two years because that’s how he earned playing time. “I was on a team where they don’t even use a fullback,” he said of the Browns’ offense under former coach Eric Mangini. “Mangini’s era wasn’t really a fullback era. I played just on [the belief that] ‘this person has to be on the field.’ Everything I got wasn’t given. I took it. Our offense was based on New England’s. They don’t even have a fullback.”

Cowboys fans may be as excited about the signing of linebacker Dan Connor as any other. The 2012 edition of the Dallas Cowboys defense was among the worst in team history. They gave DoomsDay Defense new meaning, because their team was inevitably doomed any time they were asked to hold a lead or keep a game close. They failed at the most inopportune times.

The Cowboys have a legitimate game-changer at outside linebacker in DeMarcus Ware. They have a rising star at inside linebacker in Sean Lee. The ‘Boys used the franchise tag to make sure the solid, but not spectacular, Anthony Spencer remains at the other OLB position.

Veteran Connor will compete with second-year man Bruce Carter for the ILB position. Regardless of who wins that competition, the Cowboys will be younger, faster and better at linebacker in 2012.

Safety has been a position of need for the Cowboys for years. Brodney Poole, another Rob Ryan guy, may take the place of Abram Elam, last year’s Ryan guy. Whether Poole is an upgrade or not is debatable. He is younger and has proven himself a solid player, cut from the same cloth as the man whose position he may take.

Along the offensive line, the Cowboys added guards Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings. These signing, apparently, spell the end for Kyle Kosier as a Dallas Cowboy. With tackles Doug free and Tyron Smith swapping spots and the center position still in question, the OL could be completely revamped for the coming season.

No doubt, Tony Romo is fervently praying that revamped means improved.

The eighth—and least intriguing—signing was a re-signing. WR Kevin Ogletree is being brought back to compete for the third wideout position. Hard to get very excited about that, really.

Still, Jerry Jones & Co. have made a splash and served notice that they do not intend to take 15 years of mediocrity lying down. After months of pummeling Jones, I am prepared to give the Devil his due.

Here’s hoping that deal he once claimed, tongue-in-cheek, to have made with God for that third Super Bowl trophy has reached its statute of limitations and the curse of idiocy and ineptness can finally be lifted.

Let’s all join Romo in that that prayer meeting, shall we?

Filling the Void

It is hard for an old-timer (and hard to believe a fan of the early ’90s Cowboys actually qualifies as such, but I guess so) to get his mind around celebrating the presence of a member of Buddy Ryan’s family on the Dallas Cowboys’ coaching staff.

Hard. But not impossible.

Thanks to the influence of Rob Ryan, Jerry Jones and company set out to nab Abram Elam in the 2011 NFL free agency gold rush. Abram was one of four top-level safeties on the 2011 NFL free agent market. The other three were Michael Huff, Eric Weddle and Dawan Landry.

Huff and Weddle are more athletic, free safety types. It had been my hope that Jones would make a run at bringing Huff, the University of Texas product, “home” to Dallas. If not Huff, I wanted Weddle.

If not Huff or Weddle, somebody…anybody!

Turns out Jones and Ryan got their man, the one they wanted, the one whose skills and football savvy Rob Ryan knows better than anyone, the one that has already proven he can achieve— excel even— in the Ryan Helter Skelter, Kamikaze defensive scheme.

Last season, Elam recorded 79 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, 10 passes defensed and two forced fumbles. Solid numbers. Not splashy or sexy. But solid.

More importantly, Elam brings experience and familiarity with the Ryan philosophy of defense. He is touted as an intelligent player that should be able to help his new teammates with the learning curve.

Together, Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh should comprise a solid last line of defense. Not spectacular. Just solid. If you have watched many Cowboys games over the past few seasons, you know that, where the safety position is concerned, solid is good. Solid is an upgrade.

So, it says here that Jerry Jones did the Cowboys fans a solid by signing Abram Elam. Mingle a solid signing at a position of dire need with an effective scheme, and the Cowboys defense could go from good to great in 2012.

Old Cowboys fans have to love that, even if the credit will go directly to the progeny of the arrogant little irritant, Buddy Ryan. Besides, in the world of NFL football, the only thing needed to change one’s loyalty is a change of laundry.

Rob Ryan and Abram Elam together again, this time in silver and blue laundry, ought to bring a little more lustre to that star in 2012.

Jerry celebrating

We are given two reasons Cowboys fans should love having Jerry Jones for their team’s owner: His commitment to winning at any cost and his slick, wheeler-dealer, deal-making skills.

Well, that whole commitment to winning at any cost thing has hardly been provable since Jerry took on the mortgage for the new stadium. He has sometimes rivaled Ebenezer Scrooge for his penny-pinching, passing on free agents in positions of need.

Besides, just how much winning have the Cowboys done since the best move Jerry Jones ever made was run out of town after winning consecutive Super Bowls? Jerry won the pissing contest with Jimmy Johnson by pretty much whizzing all over Cowboys fans. That began a long and storied run of the arrogant Napoleonic dictator trying to prove his manhood and his ludicrous statement that “any of five hundred coaches could have won the Super Bowl” with that talent. Cowboys suffered through regimes headed by the Dave Campos and Wade Phillipses of the world.

Brilliant!

So, let’s chill on that “win at any cost” compliment. It ain’t so. He won’t win at the cost of his own ridiculous ego and he isn’t near the free-spender you think, either.

Now, to the second point: The one about his deal-making skills.

Someone please explain to me how someone with the girth of Philadelphia Eagles’ coach Andy Reid managed to sneak into the bargaining room undetected and snag Nnamdi Asomugha right from under Jerry’s smug nose?

Concerning the Eagles’ Apache-like scalping of the Cowboys and Jets– the two teams supposed to be frontrunners for Nnamdi’s services– Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports wrote, “The move to snag Asomugha from underneath the likes of the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys was cold-blooded. Eagles team president Joe Banner might intimidate Suge Knight right now (and anybody who has ever seen Banner knows what a long shot that is). The Eagles didn’t just send a shot across the bow at the rest of the NFL, they sent 31 blasts at each opponent.”

The insufferable rah-rah cheerleaders masquerading as a news outlet at Philly.com crowed, “The moves back up the team’s promise to be aggressive in free agency. They are also a clear sign of coach Andy Reid’s commitment to win big and win now as he enters his 13th season in Philadelphia.”

I know. I know. This is the time to be optimistic and upbeat. After all, the strike is ended. Football is back. And we are fans of the Dallas Cowboys, dammit!

I’m trying. I just can’t shake this feeling that Jerry Jones is really the Devil incarnate. And I, for one, am a little weary of giving the Devil his due.

Sam Hurd is done in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboys elected not to tender the restricted free agent.

In his four seasons with the Cowboys, Sam Hurd caught just 45 passes for 630 yards and two touchdowns. He has languished on the bench as a second- and third-string wide receiver for the entirety of his career. Despite showing flashes of potential, bigger names and contracts have always taken precedent. (Hello, Roy Williams.)

Sam Hurd has been a standout as a special teams player. The Cowboys, however, do not think that warrants a tender and Hurd is not satisfied to remain in his current role. He wants to be in a place where he can challenge for a starting position.

In other restricted free agent news, The Cowboys did give Doug Free the highest tender, meaning that another team wanting to offer him more would have to give the Cowboys a 1st and 3rd round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft in order to do so, provided the Cowboys did not match whatever offer the other team made.

It would have cost the team $10 million to slap the Franchise tag on Doug Free, so the Cowboys have taken a calculated risk with the RFA tender, especially when you consider that Free was hands down, far and away, unquestionably (and any other superlative qualifiers you might think of) the best offensive lineman on the team in 2010.

In addition to Free’s tender, defensive ends Stephen Bowen and Jason Hatcher received 2nd round tenders and safety Alan Ball was given a 7th round tender.

Of course, this all assumes that, when the NFL and the NFL Players Association finally shake hands on a new deal, the Restricted Free Agent rules still apply in the same way they currently do.

If all goes according to plan, Hurd is free and Free is herded into the fold for at least another year.

Cocaine Cowboy?

Former Arkansas Razorback quarterback-turned -NFL receiver Matt Jones has officially been released from the Jacksonville Jaguars. The troubled young man has had more than his share of run-ins with the law, all stemming from drug abuse. He was recently released from jail, having earned a stint there by testing positive for alcohol during a blood test, mandated by the terms of his probation.

Jones (Matt, not Jerry) is a bona fide talent. In the 2005 combine, he turned in a dazzling performance in the 40 yard dash. He caught 65 passes for 761 yards in 12 games last year. That was his best performance as a pro. He is 6’6, lightening fast, has a magnificent pair of hands…and tons of potential.

He also has a propensity for self-destruction. Anyone taking a serious look at him will have to do so with the understanding that he may or may not be able to get his act together. Thing is, with his troubles, he is likely to be a bargain basement deal. But, as we have learned more than once around Big D, cheap doesn’t always mean a good deal.

I expect Jerry Jones to take a long, hard look at Matt for these reasons:

• He was reportedly “giddy” about Jones’ performance at the combine in 2005 (see Todd Archer’s blog, Dallasnews.com)
• He has a soft spot for Hogs
• He especially has a soft spot for Hogs named Jones (and just look how nicely Felix was working out before that whole injury thing.)
• He is Jerry Jones, former wildcatter, riverboat gambler

If the Cowboys can snag the wide receiver for a one-year deal at the league minimum, it may be a reclamation project worth the risk.

After knee-jerking about Jerry Jones’ signing of the threepeat offender, Gerald Sensabaugh the other day, let me give a little balance by commending the oft-maligned GM for signing Sensabaugh to a sensible contract. Clarence Hill, writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reports that the former Jacksonville Jaguars safety has signed a one-year, $1.75 million deal.

I like the deal because it puts the onus on the player to earn his way. Rather than pre-rewarding him for work yet completed, ala the Washington Redskins and Albert Haynesworth, Jerry is saying, “Alright, come in here and excel, keep your nose clean, and earn the contract you really want.”

Actually, Jerry’s off-season moves to date have made sense, and seem to have taken the pressure off of filling dire needs with draft picks. He hasn’t thrown silly money around and he has filled holes on the defensive side of the ball. The final two weeks of the 2008 season revealed just how far from whole that unit was.

So, kudos to Jerry the GM. Maybe with Stephen Jones on one elbow and Dan Reeves on the other, the former wildcatter will find a healthy balance between risk and caution. And just maybe, the cautious risks will render playoff rewards.

We can hope!

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