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Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans of would-be holiday weekend slackers...

Just as I thought we were done for the day, Adam Schefter reports that the Indianapolis Colts are working hard to try and acquire disgruntled cornerback Mike Jenkins from the Dallas Cowboys:

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said this week that Dallas would not trade Jenkins. But another NFL source familiar with the situation said he believed a trade could be worked out for the right price.

...

A Colts official declined comment, yet a person connected to the team said Indianapolis has been trying to pry loose Jenkins with an offer that one source said "many teams would think is compelling."

Of course, what many teams would think doesn't matter much here, does it? The Cowboys must find it compelling, or they will not be compelled to do it.

As I've written at length, I don't see what the Cowboys' incentive is to trade Jenkins. Teams need to be deep at cornerback these days. Jenkins has proven to be a very good cornerback when healthy. One of the Cowboys' projected starters is a rookie, first-round pick Morris Claiborne. Unless they really get blown away by an offer, I would be very surprised to see the Cowboys deal Jenkins just because he doesn't want to be there anymore. Just because the Colts want him doesn't mean the Colts can get him.

But of course, I have been wrong before. My wife just brought a pineapple home from the grocery store, and this reminds me of one of the more egregious such instances from this past NFL season. So we'll keep our eyes peeled, ears to the ground, etc., and if there's movement on this over the weekend I promise I will hop on the blog and let you know what I think. Meantime, carry on with your long weekends.

When the Cowboys lost Laurent Robinson in free agency it started a hot debate as to who the third wide receiver is going to be.

Dwayne Harris. Kevin Ogletree. Raymond Radway. Andre Holmes. Danny Coale.

Who?

The other candidates for the third receiver spot on the training camp roster are Saalim Hakim, Cole Beasley, Tim Benford and Donavon Kemp.

Ogletree has the most experience of the competitors, yet he's been inconsistent in his time with the Cowboys. He finished last season with just 15 catches and was overtaken by Robinson for the No. 3 spot early in the season. In a slight, Ogletree was active for the last regular season game of the 2011 season but didn't play a snap.

Jerry Jones said he's seen a different Ogletree this offseason. Ogletree has picked up more bulk and there seems to be a renewed emphasis on becoming a more accomplished wide receiver.

The other candidates all have good stories and could emerge as a force this season should they beat out Ogletree.

"I think its fairly open," wide receivers coach Jimmy Robinson said. "Honestly we have to have somebody step up and say, 'Hey this is my job,' and if we don't then it's going to be by committee if nothing else. We're not even close to saying who that guy is. We got a number of guys who are going to work in the slot and we'll see how it goes. It will take us all the way through training camp and preseason games before we know, I think."

In the Cowboys' passing game, Dez Bryant, Miles Austin and Jason Witten are the prime targets. So when the Cowboys got an 11-touchdown, 858-receiving-yard season from Robinson, it was a bonus.

It's hard to say if someone will duplicate Robinson's numbers of 2011. But if, say, the third receiver gets about 400-500 receiving yards with 3-4 touchdowns, that would be a plus.

The question is, do the Cowboys have someone on their roster who can do this?

A popular theory among Cowboys fans is Holmes has a chance to become the No. 3 wideout.

"I think Andre is working hard," quarterback Tony Romo said. "He's got a big upside and he has a chance to be a good receiver in this league."

» AFC Scenarios: East | West | North | South » NFC: East | West | North | South

Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Cowboys in 2012.

Dream scenario (12-4): The issue in Dallas is the extent to which the defense improves. If the improvement remains incremental, they'll lose some games they should win and have to scrap to stay in the division race. But if the defense takes a dramatic step forward in its second year under defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and with Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne having been brought in to upgrade the secondary, the Cowboys become a Super Bowl contender quite quickly. In the Cowboys' dream scenario, Tony Romo has another big year at quarterback, Miles Austin and DeMarco Murray stay healthy and Dez Bryant takes a big developmental step forward of his own, using his considerable physical ability to dominate matchups in other teams' secondaries and the end zone. The new guys on the offensive line tighten things up in the interior, the move back to right tackle makes Doug Free more comfortable and Tyron Smith transitions seamlessly to left tackle. And in the dream scenario, the improvements in the secondary help the defensive front seven get more pressure on the quarterback, with outside linebacker Anthony Spencer playing the way he did in December 2009 and DeMarcus Ware playing like ... well, like he always does.

Nightmare scenario (6-10): The Cowboys' nightmare scenario, as is the case with anyone's, includes injuries. In this scenario, Austin and Bryant struggle to stay healthy, and the team actually does find itself missing the surprisingly effective replacement Laurent Robinson provided in 2011. Murray also gets banged-up, forcing them to rely again on Felix Jones and little else at running back. Claiborne struggles, as young corners often do, to adjust to the speed and intensity of the NFL game, and Spencer muddles along again, content to be a pretty good but not great player opposite Ware. In the nightmare scenario, Romo has a bad year riddled with turnovers and the kind of inconsistency that gives his critics actual evidence for their criticism, and he raises legitimate questions about how much longer the Cowboys will remain committed to him. The nightmare scenario includes a slow start against a very tough-looking early portion of the schedule and sees the Cowboys succumb to the tension and negativity that's always so quick to cling to them in times of trouble. And no, because you're asking, I don't think that even the nightmare scenario puts Jason Garrett on the hot seat. Jerry Jones loves that guy.

The first projected win totals of the 2012 NFL season emerged from Nevada this week.

Green Bay and New England are the early leaders at 12 wins apiece -- the Packers enjoying a slight edge for those who favor the over. An over/under of 10 wins has been set for Houston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and San Francisco.

Dallas, with its new-look secondary, can put 8.5 win in its sights. ESPNDallas.com's Cowboys writers are split on whether the team can surpass the number:

TODD ARCHER (Over)

Are you taking the over or the under on 8.5 wins for the Cowboys?

•  
  87%
  Over
•  
  13%
  Under

(Total votes: 5,570)

I think this is a 10-win team and that will put them in the playoffs. The schedule is difficult but there is a chance to get off to a good start, and the softer part is in the middle of the schedule where they can put themselves in good position for December. I wouldn't say the Cowboys are a championship team, but they can get in the tournament.

TIM MacMAHON (Under)

I'm predicting another 8-8 season for the Cowboys, so give me the under, as long as I don't have to put any money down. I don't really have great football reasons to foresee another .500 season for the Cowboys, just a gut feel. Dallas turned the team's most glaring weakness -- the cornerback corps -- into a strength. They have an impressive arsenal of offensive skill players and hope they can stay healthy. But I've been conditioned to expect the underwhelming from this franchise.

JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR (Under)

The Cowboys still have too many holes and question marks on their roster to believe they're going to be one of the NFL's surprises this year. They play 10 games against quality quarterbacks this season and that doesn't include four games against Washington's Robert Griffin III, Cincinnati's Andy Dalton and Tampa Bay's Josh Freeman. Add four games against the rugged AFC North, not including the Cleveland Browns, and the Cowboys could be an improved team and still have the same record as they did in 2011.

CALVIN WATKINS (Over)

The Cowboys are an improved team from last year and that should help them with a daunting schedule that includes tough non-divisional road games at Baltimore, Atlanta and Carolina. The late-season schedule that bothered the Cowboys in years past won't be a problem this year. The Cowboys will handle it and win 10 games.

It's your turn. Are you taking the over or the under?

IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys are moving some things around in their college scouting department, with Jim Abrams joining the organization after spending six-plus seasons as Tampa Bay’s national scout.

The Abrams move, which was reported first by insidetheleague.com, brings about a reorganization of sorts after Northeast scout John Wojciechowski left for Green Bay following the draft.

Abrams will serve as the Cowboys’ West Coast scout with Sam Garza serving as a scout for Texas and Oklahoma. Bill DeKraker will move from the Midwest to Northeast and Kevin Simon was bumped up from the team’s Combine scout to the Midwest. Mitch LaPoint will remain the team’s Southeast scout. Justin Stucky will take over as the Combine scout.

Assistant director of player personnel Tom Ciskowski, who is entering his fifth season, national scouts Drew Fabianich and Walter Juliff and college scouting coordinator Chris Hall will overlap the entire country.

Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Wednesday the team isn't going to trade disgruntled cornerback Mike Jenkins. We didn't post on it here because we already knew this. Everybody already knew it. Even Jenkins, though he's let it be known he's unhappy with his contract and his new role as the team's No. 3 cornerback and would like to be traded, probably knew it too. He'd have to be blind not to.

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Jenkins isn't making so much money that the Cowboys would want to dump him like the Eagles did with Asante Samuel. He's too good for them to trade for a late-round draft pick and not quite good enough to convince a team to offer an early-round pick. The result is that the team, as it tends to in NFL contract situations, holds all of the cards and is required to make no move at all in response to Jenkins' decision to skip offseason workouts. If he wants to stay home, he stays home. If he wants to skip mandatory workouts next month or part of training camp, they can fine him. If he wanted to sit out a whole season, they'd just run Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne and Orlando Scandrick out there and take their chances. They're better with Jenkins in that mix and would like to have him, but they're not desperate enough to even consider granting him his wish.

Jenkins finds himself in NFL contract limbo, and if he's looking for a sympathetic shoulder on which to cry he doesn't even have to look outside his own division. The New York Giants' Osi Umenyiora is basically in the same situation -- he's unhappy with his contract, he isn't thrilled to be the No. 3 defensive end on his team, and he would rather play elsewhere. But he isn't getting traded either, because (stop me if this sounds familiar) he's affordable, he's too good to trade for peanuts, and he isn't going to bring back a first-round or second-round pick in a deal. The Giants are better off keeping an unhappy Umenyiora around than trading him for pennies on the dollar. It's the decision they made when he raised the same fuss a year ago, and they got 12.5 sacks out of him in 13 games (counting postseason) for their patience.

If either Jenkins or Umenyiora really wanted to push this, there are two somewhat extreme ways they could go. The first is that they could sit out the meaningful stuff, like training camp and regular-season games. If they prove that they're willing to do that, then circumstances could, theoretically, improve their leverage. Say Jenkins is sitting at home in late August and Claiborne gets hurt, or Umenyiora is sitting at home Week 2 and Justin Tuck gets hurt. In cases like those, the need for the player may become great enough to warrant a new deal. But that's a big risk to take because injuries are unpredictable, and in the meantime the player has allowed the team the chance to get used to life without him.

The second option in this case is to make a nuisance of yourself -- to show up, but put your contract situation into the spotlight in an annoying and disruptive way. The all-time visual symbol of this may well be Terrell Owens doing pushups in his driveway. Jenkins or Umenyiora could choose to simply continue being a pain, in the hope that the annoyance might prod the team into trading him for less than they think he's worth. But this carries risk, as well -- the basic one being the risk of giving the outside world (and potential future employers) reason to believe you're a jerk.

The Giants don't fear this from Umenyiora, because they trust their coaching staff and their veteran locker room to effectively ignore potential disruptions. And the Cowboys know Jenkins, and I think they're betting on the idea that he's not the pushups-in-the-driveway sort.

What these guys are doing now -- skipping voluntary workouts and letting it be known through third-party sources that they're upset -- is the simplest way to make their particular point. It costs them nothing right now to stand up for themselves, and they should.

If you're unhappy at work and you feel your bosses aren't treating you fairly, it's important to find a proper and effective way to let them know. That goes for you, me, NFL players and everyone else. But in the end, in the cases of Jenkins and Umenyiora, there's not going to be anything either one can do.

This is the nature of their profession, and the working conditions under which NFL players operate. It's not fair, because teams can end contracts on a whim and the risk of injury is incredibly high, but a history of players crossing picket lines and caving in on labor negotiations has constructed a system in which the teams hold all the cards and the player rarely finds himself in the position of strength. Unfortunately for NFL players, this isn't Major League Baseball.

Jenkins and Umenyiora are both eligible to be free agents next year, and I don't think either has to fear the franchise-player designation. The franchise numbers for cornerbacks and defensive ends are over $10 million, and it's unlikely that either the Cowboys or Giants would want to commit so much to their No. 3 player at those positions.

It's too far into the future to predict for certain, but the odds are they won't be in limbo again this time next year. Right now, all these guys can do is decide how much fine money (if any) they're willing to spend to make their point, and once they reach that number, show up, practice, hope they don't get hurt and play well enough to convince some other team to give them big contracts in 2013.

It may not be great. May not be fair. But for Jenkins, Umenyiora and so many others like them in the NFL, they unfortunately don't have much choice.

IRVING, Texas -- Asked how the media horde for a Valley Ranch OTA compared to his days in Kansas City, cornerback Brandon Carr cracked a smile.

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“It’d probably be just you,” Carr said to the inquiring reporter, one of several surrounding the $50 million free agent’s locker and one of dozens who attended the voluntary workout.

The spotlight is something that Carr will have to get used to. He’s no longer a no-name playing for a small-market team. He’s a high-profile addition to America’s Team.

“I’m comfortable with it,” Carr said. “I’ll grow into it as it comes. Hopefully it will be a good spotlight, but that really doesn’t matter. When I’m out there playing, I’m not thinking about who’s looking at me or what they’re saying about me. I’m out there with my teammates and playing for them.”

As far as Carr is concerned, he’s still a grinder who was a fifth-round pick out of Grand Valley State. He won’t be a different dude after depositing a $10 million signing bonus.

“I’m going to continue to be the same person I’ve always been,” Carr said. “I don’t feel like I have to change. Of course, on the field, I have to elevate my game, take it to the next level. That was already going to happen. That was my goal before I even signed with the Cowboys.

“I’m going to be the same person, talk to you guys the same way. Stay boring, of course.”

Coach Jason Garrett refers to players with that kind of attitude as “the right kind of guy.” That’s not necessarily why the Cowboys paid Carr like a Pro Bowler. They paid “retail,” as Jerry Jones would say, because they graded Carr as the best available player at a position that was a desperate need in Dallas.

The hope is that Carr can have the kind of impact with the Cowboys that Johnathan Joseph did in Houston last season. Joseph signed a similar deal last summer and made his first Pro Bowl while starring for a drastically improved Texans defense.

Carr's talent makes him a good fit for the Dallas defense. His approach makes him a good fit in a locker room that has long had too strong a sense of entitlement.

“I’m really impressed with him and really impressed with him right from the start when he got here for the offseason program,” Garrett said. “Very serious-minded kid, doesn’t talk a lot, just goes to work. He wants to get better.”

Carr has to get better to live up to the high standards that come with the spotlight and his salary. It's a challenge he embraces.

IRVING, Texas -- Inside linebacker Bruce Carter has been able to get all of the first-team snaps with the Cowboys’ defense during the organized team activities in part because free-agent pickup Dan Connor is not cleared to practice because of offseason shoulder surgery.

Connor, who signed a two-year deal with the Cowboys in March, had surgery after last season ended in Carolina. He will be ready to go when training camp begins on July 30 in Oxnard, Calif.

Connor is one of five players coming off shoulder surgeries, a group which includes cornerback Mike Jenkins, running back Felix Jones, safety Barry Church and linebacker Alex Albright.

Church is the only one cleared to take part in the OTAs and split the first-team strong safety duties with Brodney Pool. Jenkins, Jones and Albright are all expected to be ready for training camp.

Connor’s absence will give Carter more practice time. Last summer Carter, a second-round pick in 2011, missed training camp and the first six regular-season games while coming back from knee surgery. He played mostly a special teams role for the final 10 games. He had eight special teams stops and one on defense to go with a pass deflection.

Nose tackle Jay Ratliff is not taking part in the OTAs yet because of a foot injury, while guard/center Kevin Kowalski and offensive tackle Jermey Parnell are slowed by ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Coach Jason Garrett took home the Cowboys’ home run trophy Wednesday evening, thanks primarily to a strange scoring system that strongly rewarded 250-foot fly balls.

Tight end John Phillips was clearly the star of the show at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, an event that resulted in Reliant making a $40,000 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Phillips was the only one of the contestants, which included nine Cowboys players, Garrett and Troy Aikman, to actually go deep.

Phillips’ shot that landed in the second row of the left-field seats was no fluke. He also had a blast that hit high on the left-center wall next to the 390-foot sign and several shots that landed on the warning track, but he hit mostly hard grounders during the championship round against Garrett.

“He looks like Mickey Mantle, for crying out loud,” said Garrett, who mastered the art of getting the ball up in the air because Reliant made donations for fly balls that left the infield. “I was going up there doing my thing, and he was trying to hit them all out. That’s why I was able to sneak in the backdoor.”

Most of the Cowboys frankly looked like football players who hadn’t swung a baseball bat in years, if ever. Miles Austin, whose best shot smashed off the wall in right-center, ranked a distant second to Phillips on the eyeball test.

Phillips’ baseball prowess is no surprise. He was a heck of a power hitter at itty-bitty Bath County High in Virginia. And he could see himself reporting to work at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington every day.

“When this football thing is over,” Phillips said with a grin, “I want to get a tryout.”

IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys held the first of four organized team activities that will be open to the media at Valley Ranch on Wednesday, so we bring you some observations from the two-hour workout:

** Maybe it’s the product of not seeing him throw in four months, but Tony Romo was throwing the ball with a tremendous amount of velocity. Romo went 8-of-11 in team and seven-on-seven drills Wednesday with one drop by TE John Phillips.

** LB Sean Lee looked in midseason form by snuffing out a pass to the flat to FB Lawrence Vickers for what would have been no gain or a short pickup.

** QB Stephen McGee and rookie Tyrone Navikoff had a difficult time with the snap, muffing three before Navikoff was pulled in favor of Bill Nagy. And Nagy’s first snap with McGee went to the ground.

** WR Raymond Radway, who missed his rookie year with a broken ankle, was knocked out of practice briefly after getting poked in the eye.

** Dez Bryant, Kevin Ogletree, Akwasi Owusu-Ansah and Dwayne Harris worked as punt returners. Tim Benford, Radway and Lance Dunbar handled kick returns.

** With OLB DeMarcus Ware missing the workout, Victor Butler was with the starters and showed good awareness on a reverse by Harris by not allowing the wide receiver to get outside. Anthony Spencer did the same later in practice on a reverse to Miles Austin.

** WR Andre Holmes made a nice grab on a Kyle Orton throw in seven-on-seven drills while crossing the middle. Earlier, Holmes snared a Romo pass that was a little ahead of him.

** Rookie Saalim Hakin struggled in the rookie minicamp with drops and he struggled Wednesday. Unofficially he had three and the last brought receivers coach Jimmy Robinson over with some encouragement.

** Undrafted rookie CB Lionel Smith intercepted a McGee pass along the sideline.

** Rookie S Eddie Whitley ended practice with a nice breakup of a McGee throw to James Hanna. Whitley broke on Hanna’s route perfectly to bat the pass away.

** RB Phillip Tanner did not look any different after being put on injured reserve last year with a hamstring injury. He was quick and decisive with his cuts.

IRVING, Texas -- Inside linebacker Bruce Carter and guard David Arkin, the Cowboys’ second- and fourth-round picks in 2011, were bit players at best as rookies. They’d be starters if the Cowboys’ season opened right now.

Carter, who played 41 defensive snaps as a rookie after recovering from knee surgery, took the first-team repetitions next to Sean Lee during Wednesday’s OTA workout. Arkin, who was inactive every game last season despite being healthy, worked with the first-team offensive line.

Carter will compete with ex-Panthers starter Dan Connor, who signed a two-year, $6.5 million deal with the Cowboys this season, to start next to Lee. The Cowboys gave the speedy Carter a first-round grade coming out of North Carolina and considered him a steal with the 40th overall pick despite knowing that he wouldn’t be ready for the beginning of the season due to his knee.

“He’s really come into the offseason program and embraced it,” coach Jason Garrett said of Carter. “He’s gotten better physically. I think he’s healthier than he was last year at this time certainly. You can just see he’s getting more and more comfortable. He needs to play more football.

“He needs to play at a higher level, both in terms of his understanding of scheme and also just how you play relentlessly. That’s how you play football. He’s starting to understand that. You see flashes of that. He just needs to do it more and more.”

The odds of Arkin being a starter when the season rolls around aren’t as good. Mackenzy Bernardeau, who signed a four-year, $11 million deal with the Cowboys this spring, is sidelined after recently undergoing hip surgery.

The word on Arkin was that he should benefit tremendously from working with six-time Super Bowl champion strength coach Mike Woicik.

“I would say (Arkin has made) marked improvement from year one but has a long way to go,” Garrett said. “He’s two days into our football phase of the offseason. He’s done some good things out there but he has to improve, just like we all have to improve. He’s going about it the right way. He’s dedicated, he’s tough. He just needs to play more football.”

Some other notes about the depth chart of the first day of offseason media access:

*Brandon Carr, the $50.1 million headliner of the Cowboys’ free-agent class, worked at left cornerback. Carr played on the right side during his four-year tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs. Secondary coach Jerome Henderson said the coaching staff isn’t committed to Carr playing left corner.

*Third-year safety Barry Church was splitting first-team reps with free-agent addition Brodney Pool. Fourth-round pick Matt Johnson might also compete for the starting job next to Gerald Sensabaugh, but he can’t participate in Cowboys’ offseason workouts until his class at Eastern Washington graduates.

*Bill Nagy played center with the second-team offensive line. Nagy, a seventh-round pick last year, started at left guard until suffering a season-ending ankle fracture. He played some center at Wisconsin. Phil Costa, last season’s starting center, could face competition from Nagy and second-year undrafted center Kevin Kowalski, who did not participate in Wednesday’s workout for unknown reasons.

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Morris Claiborne, who is recovering from left wrist surgery to repair ligament damage, probably won't practice with the team until training camp in late July.

Rookies, injured players, quarterbacks and wide receivers will practice at Valley Ranch for a few days before the team leaves for training camp in Oxnard, Calif., in late July.

Claiborne, who is wearing a brace during organized team activities, had hoped to return for the mandatory minicamp tentatively scheduled for June 12, but he said that's doubtful.

"I don't like it, but I know it's what's best for me in the long run and what's best for the team," Claiborne said Wednesday afternoon following the second day of OTAs. "I'm not trying to rush it. I'm just going to take my time and do what the trainers have me doing in the meantime."

Claiborne will wear a brace for two more weeks, then undergo therapy and if he gets cleared by team doctors, should be ready to practice in late July.

"You love to have him out here now," secondary coach Jerome Henderson said. "He's missing valuable reps. He's doing a good job staying in it mentally and standing behind a guy and having good questions. There is no way you can make up for the time you missed, it's tough."

IRVING, Texas – Later today, several Dallas Cowboys players, coach Jason Garrett and Hall of Famer Troy Aikman will head to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for a home run derby to raise money for the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

Reliant will donate $500 for each home run hit during the event as well as more money for players who hit other bullseye targets.

Garrett isn’t counting on the long ball.

“Took batting practice the other night at Coppell High School and I counted I swung at 42 pitches and I hit 37 ground balls to third base, so we’ll see,” Garrett said.

But Aikman might be another story.

“Then to top it off Aikman is involved in this thing and I got a phone call at 6 o’clock last night that he hit three balls into the tennis courts at Coppell High School,” said Garrett, Aikman’s long-time backup. “Story of my life.”

A day after the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys saw their complaint over a combined $46 million in salary-cap penalties dismissed by an arbitrator, one of the entities against whom that claim was field has decided not to let the matter rest. The NFLPA has filed a federal lawsuit against the NFL alleging that the owners' spending practices in the uncapped 2010 season amounted to collusion. The suit claims the owners established a "secret $123 million salary cap" for that season and that the Cowboys, Redskins, Saints and Raiders "did not fully abide by secret NFL rules to suppress player salaries."

Here's my attempt to answer a few of the more popular questions I'm getting on this:

Q: Why is the union doing this now? Didn't they sign off on the cap penalties against the Redskins and Cowboys when the league decided to impose them?

A: Technically, yes, but they weren't happy about it. The NFLPA believes the NFL strong-armed them into agreeing to those penalties by threatening to reduce the 2012 salary cap by about $7 million per team if they did not agree. Faced with that alternative, the union believes it chose the lesser of two evils by agreeing that two teams lose $46 million over the next two years (and have that money redistributed to the other teams) rather than have more than $220 million taken out of the overall pool, which is what a $7 million-per-team cap reduction would have meant. As I've written several times, this was not a shining moment for the union, and they're angry that the NFL forced them into that decision. This may well be revenge for that tactic.

Q: Can they win?

A: I don't think so, since as a condition of the end of the lockout last year, the players agreed to drop all pending litigation against the league, and the league claims the agreement clearly covered litigation for offenses both "known and unknown." The union will argue that the impositions of the penalties against the Redskins and Cowboys brought previously unknown information to light, and that they never agreed not to sue over this specific behavior. But if that "known and unknown" clause is legit, it's hard to see how they have a case. One point to note, however: This suit has been filed in the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, under the jurisdiction of Judge David Doty, who has leaned so heavily in favor of the players in past disputes that the owners made it a point to remove arbitration matters from his jurisdiction in the new collective bargaining agreement. It was arbitrator Stephen Burbank, historically more friendly to the owners, who threw out the Redskins' and Cowboys' complaint Tuesday.

Q: Will this help the Redskins and Cowboys get their money back?

A: I can't imagine how. The teams agreed to abide by Burbank's ruling Tuesday, and if the union were to succeed here, the players would be awarded damages. It's possible, if it's determined that there was collusion and the Redskins and Cowboys did not engage in it, that those two teams could be exempted somehow from having to pay the damages. But I don't see how they get their cap money back as a result of this.

I'll keep on top of this as far as it affects the division, but as you can see by the last answer there, the part about which most Redskins and Cowboys fans care is almost certainly settled. As always, I welcome any questions you have on this on Twitter, in the mailbag or in the weekly chat, and I'll do the best I can to help you understand it as far as I do myself.

Let's have a little debate, shall we? With nearly four months still to go before the games start, a good, old-fashioned quarterback debate may be just the thing to wake everybody up and get the blood going.

Now, for the purposes of this particular debate, I don't much care which quarterback you think is "better" than the other. Fact is we can't trust you guys to have an unbiased argument about that anyway. Which is fine. You're fans. You're not supposed to be unbiased. I just feel like we can turn this debate a couple of degrees and ask a different kind of question, namely:

Which quarterback is under more pressure to perform in 2012? Michael Vick or Tony Romo?

Yeah, the poll has all four listed, because that only seemed fair. But Eli Manning's a two-time Super Bowl MVP and Robert Griffin III is a rookie in charge of a rebuilding project, so I don't think either of those guys faces the same kind of pressure as Vick faces in title-starved Philadelphia or Romo faces in perpetually unsatisfied Dallas. Go ahead and vote for one of those guys if you really think he's the right answer, but in the context of 2012 only, with Manning coming off a Super Bowl win and Griffin learning the league, I think the answer to this question is between Vick and Romo.

And if you've been reading regularly, you know my pick is Vick. I don't think any quarterback in the NFL this year will be under more pressure than Vick will be. The Eagles are in a must-win situation after their high 2011 hopes flopped, and they can't afford to flop again. Not that the Cowboys can afford to flop, mind you, but I just think Vick is in a higher-pressure situation.

Vick was far more responsible for his team's 2011 flop than Romo was for his team's. Vick has not demonstrated the same kind of year-in, year-out production that Romo has, so he has less of a track record on which to stand. And fair or not, Vick is always going to be judged against his own brilliant 2010 season. A lot of the Eagles' plans last year were based on the idea that Vick could do many things no other quarterback could do, and that that gave them an edge against the other good teams in the league. He may not have to be as incredible as he was in 2010, but he's going to have to show some of that ability in order to make teams fear him and the Eagles.

Vick is in a fascinating situation. He obviously has to mature as a quarterback and a decision-maker in order for the Eagles to succeed. But he has to do so without sacrificing too much of what sets him apart, athletically, from the others who play his position. It may well be an impossible balance to strike. But Vick is being asked to do it anyway, and I think that puts him under a different kind of pressure than Romo or anyone else faces in 2012.

What do you guys think? Play nice!