Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Dallas Cowboys on the hunt for a veteran wide receiver

by Dave Halprin (Grizz)

Boy, talk about burying the lede! This morning I woke up and saw the headline "Shaking trees, but can 'Boys avoid nuts?" and I knew right away that is was going to be a Randy Galloway or JFE article concerning Pacman Jones. It is a Galloway article and the first paragraph, or should I say sentence - Galloway hasn't really figured out paragraphs yet - was about the Pacman. But the article quickly shifts gears into what would have been more aptly titled, "Receivers Gone Wild." Apparently, Galloway had a conversation with Jerry Jones where some very interesting facts/suppositions were discussed.

First, the past news. Did you know that we thought we had an agreement in place with Javon Walker? Galloway says we did until Weekend at Bernie's III star Al Davis stepped in and opened up the vaults and the rest was history.

The Cowboys thought they had an agreement with free-agent receiver Javon Walker, who had actually already moved to Irving.

Interesting news. Yeah, I heard reports we were pursuing him but I never realized it had gone that far. Anyway, that's the past and the more interesting stuff was about the future. Like this Q&A to Jerry:

What is the organization's No. 1 priority between now and training camp?

"Without question, creating a threat on the other side of the ball from [Eldorado] Owens," said Jerry.

You can't get much more definitive than that. Jerry wants a WR and he wants one badly. We've discussed how this draft is a little light on star-quality at the receiver position and how there's no Calvin Johnson to go after. There are a bunch of guys who might have star-potential but all of them have question marks. So is Jerry really going to reach for one in the first round of the draft? The answer is more than likely - no.

One last thing on receivers. Finding one in the draft at the end of the first round, where the Cowboys' have two picks, has become remote.

"Don't think so," was the Jones comment.

So what's that leave? A trade. From the tone of Galloway's article and the answers that Jerry gave to some of the questions it sounds like Jerry is intent on making that happen. If he is, there are only a few real possibilities that we know about. Unless something is bubbling up that no one has guessed, it appears Jerry will be going after Chad Johnson, Roy Williams or to a lesser extent Anquan Boldin. Here's what an NFL insider is saying:

That statement is backed by another NFL voice who said Friday, "within the league, you hear the Cowboys are attempting, or will attempt, to work a trade for Chad Johnson, for Roy Williams, for maybe others."

Check out the article for yourself. Perhaps Galloway is spinning the truth a little more than he should since he's on record as saying a WR is the Cowboys biggest need. But unless he's making up quotes from Jerry Jones, it appears that the Cowboys will be making one of their "wow" additions with a veteran, high-profile receiver. That is if Jerry gets his way.