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IRVING, Texas -- After the Dallas Cowboys traded up to get Morris Claiborne with the sixth pick in the NFL draft Thursday, everything else was a letdown.

Not to the Cowboys, surely, but to fans and those who somehow become draft experts by watching five plays on YouTube.

Who’s Tyrone Crawford? How does Kyle Wilber solve the pass-rushing issue? Matt Johnson, a safety from Eastern Washington? Can Danny Coale play? Will James Hanna be able to be a full-fledged tight end? What is a Caleb McSurdy?

The calls for Jerry Jones’ resignation started in the draft when the team took players that were not highly rated by scouting services or the well-known gurus.

We’ll find out who is right or who is wrong eventually, but the instant evaluations can be somewhat tedious. At the close of last season, teams had 56.6 percent of their draft picks from 2007-11 remaining on their rosters.

The Cowboys had 54 percent. Minnesota had the best at 69 percent. St. Louis was worst at 40 percent. Jacksonville and New England had 47 percent.

For all the scouting and all the money, hitting on a player is slightly better than 50-50. So don't get too worked up just yet over guys at the back end of the draft.

Did anybody know that a seventh-round pick out of Auburn in 2005 that played three different positions would develop into an All-Pro nose tackle? Maybe Jay Ratliff did, but nobody else did.

If you just base the draft on the positions the Cowboys selected, they filled holes along the defensive line, secondary, tight end and wide receiver.

The Cowboys waited until after the draft to address the offensive line, in part because the team added two guards in unrestricted free agency (Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings), drafted three linemen last year (Tyron Smith, David Arkin, Bill Nagy) and had a college free agent (Kevin Kowalski) make the roster.

“We’ve spent some resources [on the offensive line],” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “We’ll continue to look at it, continue to try to get better, but I think we are getting better.”

If Jason Garrett mentions high motor one more time, it will soon become a drinking game at most college fraternities. The selections had common characteristics: hard workers, studious, leaders, smart. Garrett loves those traits. Last year’s draft class, Garrett’s first, had the same thing.

Will Crawford, the Boise State defensive end, become the pass-rushing threat the Cowboys have lacked at defensive end? Can Wilber replace Anthony Spencer down the road? Johnson’s productivity makes him attractive, but can he handle the jump up in level of play? Coale has all the tools of a good slot receiver and Hanna can be a pass-catching tight end, but are they multi-dimensional at their positions?

Maybe.

But this draft is all about Claiborne. For now.

The Cowboys’ move to get Claiborne was bold. They got the highest-rated defensive player in the draft and the second-highest player they had rated on their board. In a division with receivers like DeSean Jackson, Victor Cruz, Jeremy Maclin and Hakeem Nicks, and quarterbacks like Eli Manning, Michael Vick and now Robert Griffin III, addressing cornerback was key.

Would you have felt better about a draft that featured LSU defensive end Michael Brockers and linebacker Bobby Wagner in the first two rounds, which appears to be the way the Cowboys would have gone without the trade, or Claiborne?

Claiborne was the best player at an elite position. Brockers offers little in terms of pass rush and Wagner would seem to be a redundant pick, considering the shape of the roster.

“He’s everything we want,” coach Jason Garrett said of Claiborne, “Physically, and it’s a premier position. And he’s the right kind of guy.”

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys had to wait a long time to make their only pick Friday and executive vice president Stephen Jones made sure it was that way.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones jokingly asked Stephen how he was able to maneuver the Cowboys around Friday after giving up their second-round pick Thursday to move up and select cornerback Morris Claiborne.

“This gun I had in my pocket, holding it to Jerry’s head telling him not to give up a next year pick,” Stephen cracked.

So the Cowboys waited and waited.

“It was long wasn’t it?” coach Jason Garrett said.

They will not have to wait so long Saturday with five picks in Rounds 4-7. They hold picks Nos. 113, 135, 152, 186 and 222.

Jerry all but ruled out the Cowboys taking a cornerback on the draft’s third day. They will likely pass on a quarterback as well with four under contract in Tony Romo, Kyle Orton, Stephen McGee and Rudy Carpenter. They will have to add rookies for next week’s mini-camp but not one that will cost them a draft pick.

While the first two picks have gone to the defensive side of the ball, they will possibly look to the offensive line, tight end, wide receiver and possibly running back Saturday.

IRVING, Texas – Jerry Jones can admit the painfully obvious about the Cowboys’ cornerback situation now.

“We’ve had shortcomings in our secondary for the last three seasons,” Jones said.

No kidding. The Cowboys ranked 20th in passing defense in 2009, 26th in 2010 and 23rd last season. They expect to shoot up those rankings after making cornerback the focus on their offseason spending, recruiting $50 million man Brandon Carr in free agency and paying a steep price to move up in the draft for LSU’s Morris Claiborne.

The Cowboys believe that they’ve turned a glaring weakness into a strength within the last couple of months.

“There’s no question with this draft pick,” Jones said. “Now, with what we gave Carr and what we’re doing here and frankly, we can do some things to get these guys on the field all the time. I’m talking about the corners, for the most part.”

He’s not talking about Terence Newman, who was the last player the Cowboys drafted so high. They cut him last month, a couple of years too late, to be honest. And Jones might not be talking about Mike Jenkins, who is suddenly on the trade block entering the final season of his contract. Asked if he could say Jenkins would be on the Cowboys’ roster this season, Jones quipped, “As long as just because I said it doesn’t make it so.”

Carr, Claiborne and nickel back Orlando Scandrick, who signed a five-year, $27 million contract extension last summer, give the Cowboys supreme confidence in their cornerbacks corps for the foreseeable future.

The Cowboys clearly believe Carr, 25, a four-year starter for the Kansas City Chiefs, has Pro Bowl potential based on the contract they gave him. They believe Claiborne has Hall of Fame potential.

The only player above Claiborne on the Cowboys’ draft board was quarterback Andrew Luck. According to Jones, you have to go all the way back to Prime Time to find the last cornerback the Cowboys scouts considered better than Claiborne.

The Cowboys love everything about Claiborne, but his ball skills really stand out. He had 11 interceptions the last two seasons, including six as a junior in 2011 when opponents attempted to avoid him as much as possible.

The Cowboys think Claiborne has the ability to take a No. 1 receiver out of a game and make a quarterback pay if he is tested. That made it an easy decision to give up two premium picks (14th and 45th overall) to move up eight spots to get one player.

“We didn’t think it was realistic that we’d ever get a player like that,” Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said.

The Cowboys had Newman as the No. 1 player on the board when they drafted him fifth overall in 2003. The Valley Ranch brass, who have no regrets about the Newman pick, believe Claiborne is a cut above because of his ball skills.

“He was one of the top cornerbacks in my eyes around on coverage, but not necessarily going up and making the plays,” Jerry Jones said of Newman.

Nobody would argue that Newman has been one of the league’s top corners the last couple of years. Now that Newman has been replaced, nobody at Valley Ranch would argue that the Cowboys have had decent cornerback play in recent years.

“We’ve been needing to work on the secondary,” Jones said. “When Wade [Phillips] was here, I talked to Wade about it. This is not something that’s new. We had hoped upon hope and certainly Rob [Ryan] had hoped with the head of the pack that Terence could really be what we wanted him to be. So obviously that didn’t work out. That’s just the way it is.

“But I like the way we’ve come back.”

IRVING, Texas -- The NFL announced Tuesday rosters can expand to 90 players instead of 80 for training camp. It's the second consecutive year NFL teams can go into training camp with 90 players.

Last year was because of the lockout.

The same practice will be followed this season, and it gives teams more opportunities to find undrafted free agents who can have an impact.

"I think it’s a good thing for the NFL and a good thing for us because of our player development," executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "We pride ourselves in college free agency and at the end of the draft and it puts pressure there because there you have 32 teams trying to pick up 10 more players apiece. We look at it as a great opportunity for us to find some players. Obviously, historically we’ve done well in that area and found some really good football players at the end of the draft."

Two of the famed undrafted players on the current Cowboys roster are quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Miles Austin.

IRVING, Texas -- As the Cowboys look toward 2012, running back Felix Jones figures to play a prominent role.

Responding to an ESPN Dallas story on Tuesday that stated the team had “internal discussions” about trading Jones, executive vice president Stephen Jones said, “No discussions – or speculation – on the possibility of a trade involving Felix Jones have ever taken place among individuals in this organization who would have the authority to explore such a scenario. Any reports of apparent internal discussions along those lines would involve people who have no input or relevance in the process.”

Jones, one of the team’s two first-round picks in 2008, is entering the final year of his contract.

He missed four games in 2011 with a high ankle sprain and finished the year with 575 yards on 125 carries and one touchdown. He had three 100-yard games, including back-to-back efforts in December after regaining the every-down back role following DeMarco Murray's broken ankle. Jones also caught 33 passes for 221 yards.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A couple of us tried to stop Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder a few minutes ago during a break in the NFL owners meetings to ask him about the salary cap penalties against his team and the Dallas Cowboys, and the comments New York Giants owner John Mara made about the issue Sunday. Snyder declined to comment, saying he might do so at some point this week, but not right now.

This follows similar no-comments Sunday from Redskins GM Bruce Allen and coach Mike Shanahan, as well as a subdued and minimal response to Mara by Cowboys player personnel director Stephen Jones. While Mara came out with an impassioned, defiant defense of the penalties, those being penalized are staying very quiet.

That tells me they think they can win.

If the Cowboys and the Redskins filed their grievance against the league and the NFLPA just for show -- just to make it look to their fans and the rest of the general public as if they're fighting back -- then they'd be out in front of this, barking about it as loudly as they wanted to bark. Instead, they're keeping quiet, in spite of ample opportunity to respond, as they prepare to make their case in front of an arbitrator.

That's the way you act if you have confidence that you're right and can win, as the Cowboys and Redskins do and should. The penalties came from the NFL Management Council -- a group headed by Mara and determined to act in what it believes is the best interest of the league. The NFL's owners decided, among themselves and in the absence of consultation with the players, to attempt to restrict spending during a 2010 season that did not have a salary cap. They are angry at the Redskins and Cowboys for not going along with that.

But arbitrator Stephen Burbank isn't going to be beholden to what Mara and the majority of the NFL's owners believe is in their best interest. He's most likely to rule in favor of common sense. And common sense is on the side of the Cowboys and Redskins here.

If this penalty was rooted in common sense, the NFL's owners would be mad at teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who spent well below the level where the salary floor would have been. If this were really an issue of future competitive balance, as the ruling establishing the punishments claims it is, then teams that didn't spend enough in 2010 would be punished as well. But the fact that they're only going after the two teams that overspent in 2010 -- or restructured contracts to take short-term hits in an effort to allow them to spend more down the road -- indicates that this is not a competitive balance issue. It's a salary restriction issue.

The NFL's owners don't care as much about competitive balance as they do about keeping player salaries at as reasonable a level as possible. Every team in the league could have behaved exactly as the Cowboys and Redskins did in 2010, but they'd all agreed not to. There was no rule prohibiting them from doing so -- they just all agreed. It was a sketchy arrangement that I'm frankly surprised Mara is so aggressively willing to defend. And the fact that he's the one talking freely about this while the Cowboys and Redskins are keeping mum indicates to me that they know they're right, and he knows he's wrong, and that everybody knows the ultimate decision might end up reflecting just that.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to New York Giants owner John Mara for stopping Sunday afternoon in the Breakers lobby to talk to a few of us about the salary cap penalties against the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. He didn't hold back, and as you can see if you scroll through this blog's timeline, we got plenty of good material out of it.

But in the grand scheme of things, when we sit down to talk about the right and the wrong of this whole situation, there's very little right and a whole big pile of wrong, and the defiant stance Mara took Sunday afternoon made that pile much bigger.

The aggrieved parties in this instance are the Redskins and the Cowboys, and they're keeping quiet on the whole thing. Sure, they filed a grievance against the NFL and the NFLPA on Sunday, seeking to get some relief from the combined $46 million in salary cap room they've been docked over the next two offseasons. But they declined several opportunities Sunday to add to the rhetoric.

Stephen Jones, the Cowboys' director of player personnel: "Within the confines of our collective bargaining agreement, we are trying to have a voice and a hearing in terms of our cap situation."

Bruce Allen, the Redskins' general manager: "I have nothing to say on that. We'll let the league speak to it."

Mike Shanahan, the Redskins' head coach: "I'll let the commissioner speak about that."

We tried egging these guys on. I read Jones the quote from Mara in which he said the Redskins and Cowboys were lucky they didn't lose draft picks for this, and all Jones said was, "That's John's opinion. Not my opinion."

But Mara came out guns-a-blazin'. And if there are people out there who believe (as I do) that the NFL has acted with irresponsible, petty arrogance in this case and imposed unjustified penalties against teams that broke no actual rules, Mara's stance isn't likely to change their minds.

There was no salary cap in 2010. This is a fact. Mara repeatedly brushed that aside during questioning Sunday, irritated at the fact's mere existence. "We've had a cap for 29 of the last 30 years," he said more than once, and he explained rather clearly that teams were told, more than once, to watch the way they spent money and structured contracts during the uncapped 2010 season. He basically admitted to what, in any other business, would be collusion and grounds for an antitrust lawsuit. But he bristled at the mention of that word, too, saying, "This has nothing to do with collusion. It has to do with teams attempting to gain a competitive advantage through a loophole in the system. They attempted to take advantage of it knowing full well there would be consequences."

What we know about this case is that the NFL basically engaged in a sanctioned form of collusion in 2010, telling its teams that yeah, there was no cap, but that they needed to act as though there were one because they were sure the cap would come back and it was wrong to use this "loophole" as a means of gaining an advantage against the cap in future years. Mara admitted all of that Sunday, and he did so in a way that strongly indicates he believes himself to be on the correct side of the argument.

But he is not, of course. And in more ways than one, he is very much in the wrong.

Mara is wrong because the only thing of which the Redskins and Cowboys are guilty is failing to honor a shady gentleman's agreement between 32 billionaires who don't want to pay their employees any more than they have to. What the NFL, Mara and the other owners did, effectively imposing a salary cap when none had been agreed to by the other party (i.e., the players) in their collective bargaining agreement, was patently wrong. To punish the teams that didn't go along with the wrong, and to so strenuously defend the punishment as though it were right, is the height of arrogance.

Mara is wrong because, by effectively admitting collusion, he's giving the NFLPA ammunition for a new fight the league does not want. The union had to drop all pending litigation against the league as part of the Brady settlement last year when the lockout ended. That included the collusion charges they filed against the league for the suspicions they had about this kind of 2010 activity. Mara's admission could well qualify as new evidence that could allow the union to file new charges. And because the NFLPA is named in the Redskins' and Cowboys' complaint, it has the option of obtaining discovery on collusion should it wish to pursue action against the league. The union is upset that the league backed it into a corner here, effectively forcing it to agree to the penalties against the Cowboys and Redskins under the threat of a reduction in this year's salary cap, and would love an opening from which to attack on this.

Mara is wrong because he's the chairman of the NFL Management Council, which is the group that imposed these penalties, and he's the owner of a team that plays the Cowboys and Redskins twice each year and competes with them for the same division title. That's not to say Mara did this on purpose to get one over on two division rivals. But one of the first things we're taught in any journalism class is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety -- to steer clear of any activity that could ever allow anyone to accuse us of engaging in a conflict of interest. That is clearly not a concern Mara has in this case, but he should. There's a chance he should have recused himself from this whole thing, and even if he hadn't, he's not doing himself or his excellent reputation any favors by being the aggressive face of the penalties.

What's interesting here is that, when these penalties came down, a lot of people assumed it was the teams at the other end of the spending spectrum who were upset with what the Cowboys and Redskins had done -- traditionally low-spending teams like the Buccaneers and the Jaguars and the Chiefs and the Bills. But what seems clear now is that Mara, the owner of the Giants, was one of the driving forces behind holding the Redskins' and Cowboys' feet to the fire over an issue the league office likely wouldn't have pursued if not for pressure from owners. It makes Mara look petty and small and vindictive, and those aren't words usually associated with him. It makes no sense to me that he's gone to such great lengths to allow people to apply them to him now.

IRVING, Texas -- Salary-cap space is a fluid thing, according to Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, and among the easiest ways for the team to gain space to sign players would be to get linebacker Anthony Spencer signed to a long-term contract.

Spencer is counting $8.856 million against the Cowboys’ cap because they placed the franchise tag on the veteran outside linebacker before free agency began. They can lower that to below $3 million depending on the size of a signing bonus and length of a contract in a multi-year deal.

But it sure doesn’t sound like the Cowboys are in a rush to make a move, although Jones did not rule out a long-term deal.

“We’re comfortable where it is,” Jones said. “We continue to make the moves that we need to make. We’re comfortable with it. But certainly, we wouldn’t rule out a long-term deal with Spencer if it made sense for both of us.”

Spencer has not signed the tender yet, but the Cowboys have to keep that space available under the tag. They can always rescind the tender if needed if Spencer does not sign it, or they could trade him to another team, which would also give them a cap credit.

IRVING, Texas -- Terence Newman had been the Dallas Cowboys' starter at left cornerback since 2003, but his replacement, Brandon Carr, is not necessarily moving to that spot.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones said the decision will ultimately be Jason Garrett’s to make but said the team will play Carr and Jenkins on both sides in training camp and make a final call on who plays what side best.

Carr was a right cornerback for Kansas City, where Jenkins has played the last four seasons. Jenkins is not likely to be able to take part in the organized team activities and June mini-camp because of offseason shoulder surgery but should be ready for training camp.

Garrett called Carr one of the best cornerbacks in the game and cited Carr’s work vs. Calvin Johnson and Vincent Jackson last year as one of the reasons the Cowboys were attracted to him

Johnson had two touchdown catches vs. the Chiefs last year but had just three catches in the game for 29 yards. Jackson had eight catches for 112 yards in two games vs. the Chiefs for San Diego.

“We think he’s an outstanding cover corner,” Garrett said. “He excels in press coverage. He’s big. He has long arms. He’s a very good press cover corner. We think he’s the right kind of guy. He plays tough. He plays the right way. He does a lot of things we aspire to do on defense, which is play that hard, press, physical kind of man-to-man coverage that he’s played throughout his entire career there with Kansas City.”

The Cowboys were penalized $10 million against the salary cap because they dumped salaries in the uncapped 2010 season. The NFL also penalized the Washington Redskins.

Both teams stated they followed NFL rules in terms of player contracts. Cowboys senior vice president Stephen Jones said Thursday the team will lose $5 million in 2012 and $5 million in 2013.

Jones wouldn't comment regarding a potential appeal of the NFL ruling. However he didn't think losing the $10 million would hurt his team's ability to acquire talent.

"Obviously, getting the cap hit, you have to deal with it and there's ramifications of that," Jones said. "But it's not going to stop us from being able to do the things we have to do to be a championship-caliber football team in 2012."

The Cowboys were very busy the first two days of free agency. They signed cornerback Brandon Carr to a five-year deal for $50.1 million, and also acquired quarterback Kyle Orton, fullback Lawrence Vickers, safety Brodney Pool, guard Mackenzy Bernadeau. They're also in the mix for several other free agents, including guard Nate Livings and inside linebacker Dan Connor.

At the start of the offseason, the Cowboys had $12.5 million in salary cap room but lost $5 million of that with the penalties. The got more room after getting linebacker Anthony Spencer to sign his $8.8 million franchise tag.

Jones wouldn't say how much room is under the cap.

"'Room' always makes me chuckle," Jones said. "That's irrelevant. What we have on a given day really doesn't relate to what you're ultimately going to have and how you're going to manage. All I can tell you is we can make the moves that we need to make, hopefully to get prepared for the draft, to make us the type of football team we need to be."

There have been plenty of stories this offseason regarding the Cowboys' decision-making process with the quarterback position.

Tony Romo is signed through 2013. He will make a base salary of $825,000 in 2012 and $11.5 million in 2013. Romo's cap number for 2012 will be $8.06 million and $16.8 million in 2013. (Romo's cap number in 2013 is the highest on the team of players signed through that season.)

Romo will be 32 when the 2012 season starts, which is not old. Yet there are some issues.

1. Should the Cowboys try and extend Romo now, or next year?

"I don't know," executive vice president Stephen Jones said recently when asked about Romo's contract status. "It usually comes when someone as important as Tony, you work on that mutually. [You] agree [to work on the extension] when everybody is ready."

2. Romo's lack of late season/playoff wins. He's won once in the postseason and despite a 47-30 mark after 77 regular starts, he's just 9-14 in December/January.

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3. Injuries. He didn't miss any games this season but he played through a fractured rib and severely bruised hand. Romo also recovered from a small puncture of his lung. In 2010, Romo missed the last 10 games with a broken collarbone and in 2008 he missed three games with a fractured pinkie. Durability comes into play as a quarterback gets older. Three of the last four seasons, Romo either didn't finish a game or missed a game due to injury.

It doesn't appear the Cowboys and Romo's agent, Ken Kramer, are ready to work on an extension but Jerry Jones has said he doesn't feel the need to find a quarterback in the draft.

That might change in 2012 if the Cowboys fail to make the postseason for the third consecutive season.

Jones wants a veteran quarterback to back up Romo and push third-stringer Stephen McGee. There are plenty of veterans on the market the team will look at this spring for that.

The Cowboys should draft a quarterback in the middle rounds. Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden comes to mind but for now it seems the team is settled in with Romo as their quarterback of the future.

IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones hinted last week at the NFL scouting combine that the team would not tender every restricted free agent this offseason.

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According to a source, the only restricted free agent the Cowboys plan to tender an offer to will be fullback Tony Fiammetta.

By not extending the tender to the other two restricted free agents, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree or quarterback Chris Greisen will be free to sign anywhere else. It is possible the Cowboys could re-sign Ogletree at a lower salary.

Fiammetta is expected to receive the $1.26 million tender, which would give the Cowboys the right of first refusal. If a team signed Fiammetta and the Cowboys chose not to match, they would receive a fourth-round in return because that’s the round Carolina selected him in 2009.

Ogletree was given every chance to win the No. 3 receiver spot last preseason but never took advantage and was surpassed by Laurent Robinson, who ended up leading the Cowboys with 11 touchdowns. Ogletree made the roster as an undrafted free agent from Virginia in 2009 and showed flashes of ability to think the Cowboys had another find.

He caught 25 passes for 294 yards in 31 games. He also handled some punt and kick return duties.

Fiammetta played in 10 games and helped change the fortunes of the Cowboys’ running game along with DeMarco Murray as a solid lead blocker. He missed four games with an illness later in the season but returned for the final four games.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Technically Tony Romo is signed through 2016, but that is more from a salary-cap standpoint to help keep his salary cap numbers in check. In reality, Romo is signed through 2013, when the last three years of the restructured contract he signed last summer are voided.

But the Cowboys do not view Romo, who turns 32 in April, as an aging quarterback because he did not play his first three years. The franchise’s best quarterbacks, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, retired when they were 37 and 34, respectively.

“I think you always think about your play clock, but more than anything else he did start later in his career than a lot of guys at his position,” coach Jason Garrett said. “I think he’s a young 31 year old. I think he’s got a lot of football left in him.”

Romo has started 77 games in his career and is coming off what Garrett called the quarterback’s best season, in which he threw 31 touchdown passes and had just 10 interceptions.

In three of the last four seasons, Romo has battled through finger, collarbone, rib and hand injuries that cost him 13 games. He did not miss a game in 2011 despite a fractured rib/punctured lung and an injured hand in the 15th game of the season.

Some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks will be in their early or mid-30s when the 2012 season begins, including New England’s Tom Brady (35), New Orleans’ Drew Brees (33) and Philadelphia’s Michael Vick (32). Peyton Manning will be 36 if he can return from a neck injury with Indianapolis or another team in 2012.

“Quarterback is so different,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “Guys play quarterback [a long time], obviously some don’t. Troy’s career was shorter than we would’ve liked and he would’ve liked. But quarterbacks play until their 40s. You don’t have issues signing a 30-year-old. At any other position there’s issues there. With a quarterback you don’t have issues with a third contract or even a fourth contract if they can play.”

It does not sound as if the Cowboys will begin the earnest search for Romo’s successor in this draft. They have a plethora of needs to fill elsewhere and there are strong indications the Cowboys will be in play for a veteran backup.

Garrett has used veterans Brad Johnson and Jon Kitna as Romo’s backups since 2007.

“It’s really an important position,” Garrett said. “You need to allocate resources to the position.

"Being a veteran guy with experience is certainly a plus. Stephen McGee has gotten valuable experience at the end of the last two seasons. He has played in games. He has won games for us. He has been involved in two minute drives at the end of games and had success with those … He has played more football the last couple of years. That is helping him.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- On Wednesday we spoke with Stephen Jones about Jason Hatcher’s leadership comments. On Thursday it was Jason Garrett’s turn.

The Cowboys’ head coach did not want to comment much on what Hatcher said, but he does not believe the teams lacks for leaders. He acknowledged he wants more leaders.

“We have a really good band of players, experienced veteran players, who’ve been very good leaders for us over the past number of years,” Garrett said. “You can’t get enough of them. We want more of them. We want young guys to be leaders. We want middle-range guys to be leaders. We want our more veteran players to be leaders, so that’s always a criteria when we’re evaluating players, draftable players or players we might acquire in free agency: what’s their makeup, what can they bring to the football team, are they leaders?”

Garrett did not name names Thursday but he views Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff among the team’s leaders.

“They set the pace for our football team and guys we wouldn’t trade for anybody,” Garrett said. “But like I said the more of those kinds of guys that you have on your team, guys who get invested in what you’re doing, are willing to be the right example for their teammates, are willing to be the right example for everybody in the organization and make sure they hold everybody accountable to that standard, that’s a good thing. We have a lot of them now and we want more, just like every team in the league does.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- Officially, the league has not released the tender amounts for restricted free agents, but the right of first refusal offer is expected to be worth roughly $1.3 million, a slight raise from 2011.

The Cowboys have three restricted free agents: fullback Tony Fiammetta, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree and quarterback Chris Greisen.

With such a high price tag, the Cowboys could choose to tender an offer only to Fiammetta, who excelled as a lead blocker for DeMarco Murray but battled through a mysterious illness for a few weeks that caused him to miss three games.

“We’ll have guys that we’ll tender and guys that we won’t tender,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “It’s getting higher where you don’t just assume you [tender] anymore, especially if they’re a down-the-line, special teams-type player.”

Jones said the Cowboys could offer a player a lower contract than the tender offer if the player wanted to remain with the Cowboys. If the player would not accept the offer, then he would be free to sign elsewhere.

The $1.3 million tender also affects the contract of kicker David Buehler. Because he hit an escalator in his contract in 2010, the kicker’s base salary jumped from $565,000 to $1.26 million. Buehler is coming back from a groin injury that required surgery and limited him to four games in 2011. He lost the field goal job to Dan Bailey, who also did a decent job on kickoffs in Buehler’s absence.

None of the other remaining players from the Cowboys’ 2009 draft class -- Stephen McGee, Victor Butler and John Phillips -- made their escalator and will earn $565,000 in 2012.