Days before camp opens up and a lot of changes at Valley Ranch. A brief rundown: SS Darren Woodson is out for 8 weeks to have surgery on his back. The surgery yesterday was successful. He is pretty much out of all of training camp and preseason. He will most likely miss opening day as well. He has lost a step over the years, but this spring he was in as good of shape as he has ever been. This will help the recovery time/process. It will be interesting to see the Cowboys reaction and their true projection of Woodson. More than likely, Darren has only 1 or 2 years left. As of now, Dallas has only Tony Dixon and NFL-Europe star Keith Davis. Davis shows some promise and is probably the long-term solution to eventually replacing Woodson. I see him getting a fair amount of playing time this year regardless. If Davis has a poor camp, and Woodson isn't healing, we will probably be forced to go to the market. QB - no more hanging Chad. Hutchinson was cut from the roster today, and boy was he pissed. It is clear that the Cowboys view Drew Henson and Hutchinson the same type of player, with Henson having more potential. I don't know that Hutchinson will ever be starter material, but with the right QB coach, he could turn into a valuable backup at worst. That leaves Carter, Testeverde, Henson, and Tony Romo fighting for roster spots. At this point, unless Carter bombs or someone else completely shines, I see Romo headed to the practice roster for one more year. RB Eddie George was recently signed. The Cowboys have a lot of questions to answer surrounding this. It is obvious that George will get a lot of playing time. How much will Julius Jones get? Who will start? I see a committee approach coming. Hats off to Jerry Jones for pulling the trigger earlier than later and letting Miami get involved post-Ricky. WR Antonio Bryant and Bill Parcells have made up and are moving forward. Bryant will enter camp as the #3 receiver with the potential and talent to be the #1 guy someday. DT Willie Blade, who started the last 15 games of the season, was also cut. Blade has had a history of weight and conditioning problems that have overshadowed his talent. He could be a decent lineman if he could get his head on straight, but it won't be with the Cowboys. Willie actually said that he was paid to play football, not to work out in the off-season. Not only was he way overweight and out of shape, but he obviously made that comment to the wrong person. Several teams put in a waiver claim on him, and it looks like #4 Giants will be the winners. Willie is in trouble. Its not like Coughlin is a pushover either. Defense -- Dallas will toy around with the 3-4 in camp. We don't have 2 proven tackles, and we have 4 linebackers that are starting material. However, I'm not sure we have 2 inside guys. Couple that with the fact that LaRoi Glover is not exactly a nose tackle, and I still think 4-3 will be our base defense. But expect some suprises during the season to get the 4 talented LBs on the field at the same time. Draft picks are getting signed from the bottom up as usual. Our three 7th rounders and our 5th rounder are signed. Four more to go. Free agents -- we aren't done - there will be more signings. Stadium discussions with Arlington have heated up as of lately. Their mayor is hoping a tax increase will fund a 50/50 split with the Cowboys to finance Jerry's $650 million stadium.
