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IRVING, Texas -- It seems ages ago -- how about two years ago? -- that wide receiver Dez Bryant burst onto the Cowboys universe.

Bryant enters his third season in 2012. He was asked after the second day of organized team activities Wednesday whether he feels like a veteran.

"In some ways, it depends on what I'm doing," he said. "I help out the guys when they need it. I show what I know."

Bryant is still working on running routes, commanding the playbook, understanding the NFL way and becoming a dominant force in the passing game.

The Cowboys still like Bryant as an outside receiver and won't move him into the slot as much as they do Miles Austin. But that's OK because Bryant, when he gets the ball, is dangerous.

Last season, Bryant finished second on the team in catches (63), yards (928) and touchdowns (9) to tight end Jason Witten. He missed one game with a thigh injury, had a handful of games in which he went without a catch in the second half and he didn't have a 100-yard game -- he still has only one.

"I feel like every year was just a learning experience," Bryant said. "I got better from [Year 1 to Year 2]. I hadn't played this year yet, but I feel much better and I'm confident in what I'm doing. When Coach calls out a play, I'm starting to already have the play before he already call it out. I'm getting better."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will enter this season with a sense of desperation, concerned that his current roster's window to contend for a title is closing.

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"Well, my window is getting shorter. Time goes by," Jones told NFL Network at the owners meetings in Atlanta. "I do feel real pressure because we do have players not only in (quarterback) Tony Romo, but (tight end) Jason Witten (and outside linebacker) DeMarcus Ware, to leave out several that are (also) in the prime of their career. And we need to strike and strike soon with those guys.

"(Coach) Jason Garrett feels exactly the same way about it and understands how urgent it is. Candidly, you're looking through rose-colored glasses if we all don't realize that now is the time to compete on the field."
The Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the 1990s, soon after Jones bought the team, but they have only one playoff victory in the last 15 seasons. They failed to reach the playoffs the last two seasons.

Jones was convinced the Cowboys were Super Bowl contenders last season until they lost to the New York Giants on New Year's Day with the NFC East title and a playoff berth at stake. Watching the Giants win the Super Bowl only reinforced Jones' belief that the Cowboys had a chance to contend for a championship this season.

"When we see a team like the Giants come back with nine (regular) season wins and be world champion, then we know it's there for most clubs," said Jones, whose team finished 8-8 after losing four of its last five games. "That's not taking anything away from the Giants. That's just inspiring the Cowboys a little bit."

Read the rest of the story here.

So what do you think: Is the window closing? Was it ever open? And let's forget the window for one second: What do you think the Cowboys need to do ... must do ... to kick down the door and achieve Jerry's ultimate goal?

IRVING, Texas -- James Hanna won’t have to travel far to get to the Cowboys’ rookie mini-camp next week. It’s just about a 20-minute ride from Flower Mound to Valley Ranch.

The Cowboys took the Oklahoma tight end in the sixth round Saturday, fulfilling a need pick with only Jason Witten and John Phillips on the 53-man roster.

“Honestly I didn’t know where I’d go and just coming to the Cowboys, it was an even better feeling than I thought it would be,” Hanna said. “It was real exciting.”

Hanna did not take part in the Cowboys’ Dallas Day workout because he was visiting Minnesota, but he met with the Cowboys at the NFL scouting combine. Hanna caught 52 passes for 720 yards and nine touchdowns in four years with the Sooners. He was a second-team All-Big 12 pick last year with 27 catches for 381 yards.

The Cowboys love to use multiple tight end sets and had only Jason Witten and John Phillips on the roster.

“He’s my role model,” Hanna said of Witten, a seven-time Pro Bowler. “I’ve grown up all through football since I’ve been playing a Cowboys fan and just watching him, he’s been there a long time. He’s a great player and I’m really looking forward to getting to learn from him.”

Hanna was timed at 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash, incredibly fast for a tight end, but with players like Witten, San Francisco’s Vernon Davis, New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham and New England’s Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, tight ends are becoming downfield threats.

“There seems to be so many teams that really look to use tight ends, even multiple tight ends,” Hanna said, “and I couldn’t be happier with the time I’m in the league and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys have added depth to the tight end position by drafting Oklahoma tight end James Hanna with their sixth-round pick Saturday.

The Cowboys came into the draft with Jason Witten and John Phillips as the only tight ends because Martellus Bennett signed a one-year deal with the New York Giants.

Picking up another tight end, either in free agency or the draft, is something the Cowboys wanted to do since.

Hanna, a Flower Mound native, is 6-3 and 252 pounds. As a senior, he started 13 games and finished with a career-high 27 catches with 381 yards with two touchdowns. He was named to the Big 12's second team.

In his junior season, Hanna picked up seven touchdown catches earning All-Big 12 honorable mention honors.

After picking four consecutive defensive players, the Cowboys grabbed a wide receiver in the fifth round in Virginia Tech's Danny Coale and now Hanna.

IRVING, Texas -- There is a long-held perception among many outside Valley Ranch that character means little to the Cowboys when it comes to the evaluation process.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones has selected some questionable characters (Quincy Carter comes to mind) but he also passed on Randy Moss in 1998. During Wednesday’s pre-draft press conference the term "makeup" was thrown around a lot by Jones, coach Jason Garrett and assistant director of player personnel Tom Ciskowski.

For Garrett, makeup means a lot. The Cowboys’ draft last year was filled with serious-minded players who were either captains or leaders of their teams, such as Tyron Smith, Bruce Carter, DeMarco Murray and Dwayne Harris.

"Guys that have the right kind of motor at early levels, the right kind of motor, the right kind of track records of competes, the right kind of track of work ethic, you can go down through those top picks you might find there is 20 percent of them that have outstanding makeup," Jones said.

"It’s not something that is easily attained for a player and that is factored in. We have that factored in with the grade; the fact that he practices like [Jay] Ratliff or he plays like Ratliff. To me that would be where we want to watch for and not get enamored with some of the other things that might make him impressive and stick to the fact that within a week he has to be out here and he has to hit the ground with the kind of work ethic he has never seen before and we want him to be in step with those guys. That is a plus. That is an ideal situation."

"Obviously if we could get the fastest strongest biggest with the greatest makeup of Jason Witten or frankly [Marc] Colombo, you could bottle that up or get that in a player with a lot of skill you have really done something.”

But there is a sliding scale involved if a talented player remains in later rounds, according to Garrett.

"When certain players have a great, great physical ability do you still want guys who have great make up?," Garrett said. "My experience and I think all of our experience has been the makeup part of a player is a big key to their success.

"Having said that, you’re more willing to look at a player who has more ability. You see it around the league every year on every football team with rookie players and with veteran players. So you’re always evaluating the player. You have to figure out what makeup quality they have that is fatal. In no way are we going to take this guy for this reason, I don’t care how great a player he is. Then you have to say, 'OK, what are his makeup issues? What are his character issues? Are they fatal? Is there something we can help them with?' And then you kind of work your way through that."

Garrett continued: "How good a player is he? Is he worth it? Where are we taking him? You like to say there is a hard and fast rule, you like to make it black and white, but that’s not the reality of it. You have to talk it through. You have to have a philosophy that you stick with consistently and then you have to weigh the risks of when we take that particular player."

IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys have four picks in the top 113, and with those selections Jason Garrett hopes to land three eventual starters and a solid role player.

“Our objective independent of this year would be to in the first round, the second round and the third round have guys who can be starting players for you,” Garrett said. “Now, are they Day 1 starters? You can’t say that. Nobody can say that, but at some point in their careers you would like to think that they’re a starter, and the sooner the better. Now, if you can get in the fourth round and start getting a starter player, maybe he’s a younger player who needs time to develop but can be a starter down the road, you get four of them. Or maybe that fourth-round player is a [special] teams’ guy. Maybe he has a particular role and will never be an every-down player but he has a role for you that’s fairly defined.

“And then when you get in the fifth, sixth and seventh [rounds], I think you’re looking for players with special traits. Again, maybe a role for your team or maybe a guy who isn’t ready to play but maybe has the measurables and the makeup and you think down the road can be a player for you in a given role or maybe even as a starter. But your expectations are certainly first- and second-round players are starters for you sooner rather than later. You would like to be able to say that about the third round or a really defined role and the fourth round starts to get a little bit different than that, but we’re all optimistic enough or maybe naïve enough to think that we can judge these players and order them in a certain way that they can help our football team in some way, shape or form as starters or as significant role players now or in the future.”

Using that criteria, the Cowboys' projected starting lineup in 2012 has 10 starters picked by the Cowboys from Rounds 1-3: Dez Bryant (2010), Tyron Smith (2011), Jason Witten (2003), DeMarco Murray (2011), Jason Hatcher (2006), Anthony Spencer (2007), Sean Lee (2010), DeMarcus Ware (2005) Bruce Carter (2011) and Mike Jenkins (2007). The fourth round led the Cowboys to Doug Free (2006) and the seventh round led to Jay Ratliff (2005).

Felix Jones and Marcus Spears, first rounders in 2007 and '05 respectively, should play large roles in sub packages.

IRVING, Texas – Last week Jason Witten said his focus was on the Sept. 5 regular-season opener at the New York Giants mostly because of how the 2011 season ended at MetLife Stadium.

On Tuesday, Tony Romo echoed the sentiment from his good friend.

“I think I’m excited about having the opportunity to go back to that position to play the team that obviously ended up winning the Super Bowl,” Romo said. “There is motivation to have a great season this year. There is motivation to accomplish certain goals that you set out that you haven’t yet. Each time you step out here that is what you are thinking about. That’s why you push yourself as hard as you do.”

Last year marked the first time Romo started every game and the Cowboys did not make the playoffs.

“I don’t care if you’ve won the Super Bowl or finished 0-16 the year before, it’s a whole new season and knowing it doesn’t matter,” Romo said. “Your team is going to change. You are going to be a different football team. You have to come out and do everything humanly possible to be better in this upcoming season and the only way to do that is to commit to it 100 percent – do all, do more, do extra, don’t leave any stone unturned and figure out a way to get better. That’s what we are doing right now.”

SOUTHLAKE, Texas – By about a day, Jason Witten is the longest tenured Cowboy.

Witten was a third-round pick in the 2003 draft, and Tony Romo was signed as a college free agent after the second day of the draft that year ended.

With the departures Terence Newman and Bradie James, who signed with Cincinnati and Houston last week, Witten and Romo are the final members of the Class of 2003. Mat McBriar joined the team late that season and remains unsigned now.

Newman was a starter from the first day he became a Cowboy. Witten became a starter in 2004. James became a starter in 2005. Romo became a starter in 2006.

“It goes fast,” Witten said. “I think that even makes it more that your legacy as a player is ultimately tied to winning championships. Being around that building with the guys’ names on the wall and pictures on the wall obviously they’re elite players, but they made everybody around them better. It’s what challenges us. But it was a great run with those guys.

"It’s unfortunate when it’s over because, you know, man, it would’ve been nice to have had that ultimate goal of that shared commitment of going to a Super Bowl. But those guys were great teammates who came to work every day and it’s part of the business. Those guys you look at as friends for life, put a lot of work in together, but that’s the way the game goes. We wish them the best, you keep in touch, but it’s a business.”

SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- Jason Witten is about to enter his 10th season with the Cowboys, but he still bleeds Tennessee orange in many ways.

Witten grew up in Elizabethton, Tenn., and spent three years with the Volunteers. While in Knoxville, he was able to forge a relationship with legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt, who retired Wednesday less than a year after being diagnosed with early onset dementia-Alzheimer’s type.

“The times I was able to be with her were special because she’s such a leader and has such an understanding of what it takes to be the best,” Witten said. “Obviously it’s a sad situation the last couple of years, but I don’t think there will ever be a legend like that, not only for what she’s done in Tennessee but for women’s basketball and the game of basketball itself. It’s a sad day but people should really look and see what she was able to accomplish, and she did it the right way.”

SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Jason Garrett constantly hammers home to his players about the process and having a great day today.

Jason Witten was asked about the Cowboys’ 2012 schedule, which was released Tuesday, and the tight end had only Sept. 5 at New York Giants on his mind.

“It’s hard to get past that first one, I know that,” Witten said. “You look at the way the [2011] season ended, it couldn’t be a better game to get back up there quickly. There’s no better what to start off than with the champs.”

The Cowboys missed out on winning the NFC East and clinching a playoff spot in January thanks to a 31-17 loss to the Giants at MetLife Stadium.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Jason Hatcher caused a little bit of a ruckus earlier in the offseason when he said on ESPN Dallas Radio’s “Ben and Skin Show” that he was not sure who the Cowboys' leaders were and that the team needed a more vocal leader.

Seven-time Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten respectfully disagrees.

“I don’t want to speak for anybody but we’ve got plenty of leaders,” Witten said after an appearance at a Southlake Dunkin Donuts. “We’ve been in more situations where there’s been more players-only meetings and that. The bottom line is that we’ve got to go and play better and win ballgames and find a way to do that. I think you do that by sticking together. I think you do that when you have a strong group of six, eight, 10 guys, whatever it is. Jay Ratliff, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, of course [Tony] Romo and you add young guys in there that are big-time players."

Romo’s decision to sit out next month’s U.S. Open local qualifier has been viewed by some as a sign of a more serious approach by the quarterback and the team.

“I don’t think anybody ever doubted his dedication, but I do think there’s a perception that goes along with that,” Witten said. “That’s never taken anything away from what he’s done on the football field. He’s the first one in. He’s the last one to leave. He’s been that way for a long time. I believe he puts us in position to be successful. He’s an elite quarterback but until he wins a championship and we do that, the critics are going to come. But the best thing about him is he’s so far past that that he knows he’s got one goal and he’s all in to do that.”

While the offseason program officially began Monday, a majority of the players had been working out at the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch facility for more than a month prior. Witten said the season-ending loss to the New York Giants has served as motivation, especially after seeing their NFC East rivals win their second Super Bowl in five years.

“You’ve got to be your best at key times,” Witten said. “You see the San Francisco-Giants game and it could’ve gone either way. The Ravens-New England game could’ve gone either way. You can’t say you’re close. You’ve got to go do it and prove it and make those plays in those key situations that allow you to win. We had too many games go the other way.”

In the last 48 hours the Cowboys saw cornerback Terence Newman and linebacker Bradie James sign contracts with new teams. Newman went to Cincinnati and James went to Houston.

It's not a surprise each player will no longer play in Dallas.

Newman was released because the Cowboys wanted a younger cornerback who made plays on the ball, which they found in free agency in cornerback Brandon Carr.

James' playing time was reduced last season because, yes, the Cowboys needed to have younger players at inside linebacker. Enter Sean Lee.

With James and Newman gone, it brings into focus the 2003 draft class.

Tight end Jason Witten is the only Cowboys player left on the roster from the first Bill Parcells draft class. Witten was a third-round pick, 69th overall, and he continues to play at a Pro Bowl level.

The Cowboys drafted seven players from that draft and five made the team -- four turning into starters -- but only Witten remains.

In 2011, he led the Cowboys for the fifth consecutive season in catches and has surpassed at least 60 catches for eight straight seasons.

It tells you a little bit about his durability -- he hasn't missed a game since 2004 -- and the type of player he is. Witten is an elite player, and when you have something like that on your roster you keep him around for a long time.

IRVING, Texas -- Having lost Martellus Bennett to the New York Giants in free agency and facing a thin draft class, the Cowboys are looking at veteran tight end Joey Haynos.

Haynos worked out for the Cowboys last week on their Dallas Day tryouts for local draftable prospects.

Haynos, 6-8, 270 pounds, did not play last year after he was released in training camp by Jacksonville. He entered the league with Green Bay in 2008 and spent parts of the next three seasons with Miami, catching 21 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns.

The Cowboys have only two tight ends on the roster in Jason Witten and John Phillips. With coach Jason Garrett liking to use multiple tight end sets, the Cowboys have kept up to four tight ends on the 53-man roster in recent years.

The Cowboys signed Witten to an extension last season through 2017 and Phillips is signed through this season. The Cowboys have not drafted a tight end since taking Phillips in the sixth round in 2009.

Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and Cowboys tight end Jason Witten ask the NFL32 crew for some draft advice about their teams.

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys made sure they treated Brandon Carr well on his free-agent visit.

They flew up Jason Garrett, Rob Ryan, Jerome Henderson and Joe Baker on Jerry Jones’ private plane. They took Carr immediately to Cowboys Stadium, flying right by the $1.2 billion structure on their way to Arlington Municipal Airport.

They had some of his highlights on the center-hung HD video board. They talked about the team’s tradition.

But what really hit him to Carr, who signed a six-year, $60.1 million deal with $26.5 million guaranteed, were his new teammates. The Cowboys had DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Sean Lee and Miles Austin eat dinner with Carr at the stadium and offer their sales pitches.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Carr said. “Those guys came to dinner and they were down to earth. That blew me away that here are guys like DeMarcus Ware and Jason Witten and they’re going to be grinding away all summer and in the locker room. I was like, ‘Man, these guys are guys I can see myself playing with.’ They seem accountable. Everybody had the same message as far as getting it down now and not waiting. That’s what I want. Those guys are pretty anxious to get back at it.”