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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.

Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com, a closet baseball fan who covers the Dallas Cowboys, was looking over his 2012 Cowboys' schedule the other day. Calvin was probably planning travel, and deciding which restaurants to patronize in the various road cities to which the Cowboys will be traveling, but while he was doing this he had an idea to list five opposing players who stand out as potential problems for the Cowboys in 2012. These are individual players Calvin thinks will cause matchup problems for the Cowboys, mind you, not necessarily games he's predicting them to lose.

Anyway, the guys over at ESPNDallas.com are real good about plugging my stuff, so in the spirit of symbiosis, I like to give you a look at theirs when it seems appropriate. And on a slow, rainy offseason day such as this, it did. Calvin's list includes Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton, Baltimore rookie linebacker Courtney Upshaw and two players from the NFC East -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis and New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. Here's Calvin's take on Davis:

The Redskins tight end had seven catches in two games against the Cowboys last season. He's a threat to the linebackers and safeties who might cover him. Does Brodney Pool cover Davis? Gerald Sensabaugh? Anthony Spencer? Davis is athletic enough to provide matchup problems and with Robert Griffin III moving around the pocket, Davis becomes a target to find on the run.

And here's his take on Pierre-Paul:

The New York Giants defensive end is the new Cowboys killer. In two games last year, Pierre-Paul had 13 tackles, three sacks and a blocked field goal. The Cowboys couldn't contain this man. Last year, Doug Free had trouble with Pierre-Paul. Now, Tyron Smith gets his turn at one of the better young defensive players in the game.

I think Smith is fantastic, will have no trouble transitioning to left tackle and can be one of the best in the league at the position in short order. But I agree with the sentiment that Pierre-Paul seems like the kind of player who raises his game when the lights are brightest, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him terrorize the Cowboys again this year, even if they are better at left tackle. His talent is such that he always finds himself in the middle of the big play, and he's the kind of player around whom the Cowboys and the rest of the division are going to have to game-plan for years to come.

And yeah, on Davis -- his size and athleticism at the tight end position are an under-discussed advantage for Griffin in his rookie season. Davis was the Redskins' best receiving threat in 2011, and it's no slight against the upgrades they've made at wide receiver to predict that he could be again in 2012. People may have forgotten about Davis after his four-game drug suspension at the end of last season. But assuming he can stay clean, there's little reason to think he won't be a difficult force with which to contend for opposing defenses.

Chris Burke was one of my editors at AOL FanHouse, which was an excellent chapter in both of our lives before it went the way of subprime mortgages, the XFL and "Linsanity." Chris is now doing very well running the "Audibles" blog at SI.com, and today he's got a post on the most promising undrafted free agents for each of the 32 NFL teams. I imagine it took a great deal of time to go through all of the undrafted free agents, and I respect that. But for our purposes, we're only looking at the names he picked out for NFC East teams. And here they are. The comments are mine, not Chris'. For his, you can click the link:

Dallas Cowboys: Jeff Adams, T, Columbia. The Cowboys like their current starting tackle tandem of Tyron Smith and Doug Free, but Free was shakier in 2011 than he was in 2010, and the roster isn't teeming with backup tackles. This guy could get a chance for some preseason playing time. And he's an Ivy Leaguer, so he's probably smart.

New York Giants: Joe Martinek, FB/RB, Rutgers. Rutgers kids are smart, too, and it's not as though there aren't opportunities this offseason in the Giants' backfield.

Philadelphia Eagles: Chris Polk, RB, Washington. Yeah, we've written about him, and others have, too. Surprising that he went undrafted, but apparently there were some health concerns. He's one of the more promising sleeper guys on this list anywhere in the league.

Washington Redskins: Lance Lewis, WR, East Carolina. Chase Minnifield would have been the easier call here, given that the Redskins have about a billion wide receivers and could stand some upgrades at cornerback. But Chris went with Lewis because of his size, which is something that's not abundant in that Washington WR corps.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett is aware that his team didn't sign the biggest-name, highest-pedigreed offensive linemen available on this year's free-agent market. That wasn't the goal.

"None of these guys were brought in and told, 'You are the anointed starter,'" Garrett said Wednesday morning at the NFL owners meetings. "They're here to create competition on our team, and we feel like they're the right kinds of guys, individually as people but also with their talent. They can come in and compete for those spots and make us a better football team."

The newcomers are guards. The Cowboys like both of their starting tackles, though they are switching their roles, with Tyron Smith slated to move to left tackle and Doug Free back to right tackle in 2012. But where they really struggled last year was on the interior of the line. So they signed Mackenzy Bernadeau from Carolina and Nate Livings from Cincinnati, and they're throwing them into the mix with the two guards -- David Arkin and Bill Nagy -- they drafted last year along with centers Phil Costa and Kevin Kowalski, and they're going to see what happens.

On Bernadeau, Garrett had this to say:

"He's a guy that we liked coming out. He's a young guy from a small school who we feel has the physical traits to be a really good player in this league. He has not been a consistent starter for [Carolina]. He has been a starter, but he's had some injuries and some different things that he's dealt with. We're just excited about the kind of kid he is and the upside that he has. So we feel like putting him into the mix will help our team."

And on Livings, this:

"Nate had been a starter the last couple of years in Cincinnati. He's a big guy. He played at LSU. And he's one of those guys who was a college free agent and who had to really earn his way in the NFL. When we put the tape on, we just liked how he played. And we feel like, if you bring a guy like that in as well, he can get infused into our roster and hopefully create some competition up there."

Neither of the new guys is looked at as a potential solution at center, so that position is likely to come down to Costa and Kowalski and possibly Nagy if they don't add anyone else. But Garrett's point is that the Cowboys have enough bodies at those interior positions that it's fair to expect a strong offensive line to emerge. The players are young enough that, assuming they do find the right five-man mix, the line can grow together over the coming season and seasons and become a strength of the team. There are no guarantees, of course, but that's the hope and the plan, and the Cowboy have hand-picked some guys they believe can help produce those kinds of results.

Garrett also echoed the sentiment that owner Jerry Jones articulated the day before in a session with Dallas-area reporters here -- namely, that the work they've done on the offensive line through last year's draft and this year's free agency makes it more likely that they'd take a defensive player in next month's first round than an offensive lineman such as Stanford guard David DeCastro.

"We'd have to take into consideration that we've done pretty well in free agency relative to our offensive line," Garrett said. "We'd have to take that into consideration if we had the alternative of taking defense. So you're not off-base if you ask whether it's likely that we would take a defensive player."

Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com (who's been an absolute animal this week, by the way) is reporting that the Dallas Cowboys plan to cut ties with veteran guard Kyle Kosier:

The move has not been made officially yet. Kosier had started 80 straight games in which he was active since joining the Cowboys as a free agent in 2006. He signed a three-year deal last summer after the lockout ended and started every game.

The move would save the Cowboys $1.55 million in salary cap space and continue the overhaul of the offensive line. Right tackle Doug Free is now the longest-tenured offensive linemen having joined the team in 2007. The second-longest tenured is center Phil Costa, who joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2010.

Kosier earned a $1 million escalator that would have jumped his base salary in 2012 to $2.25 million.

I'm surprised. I know he's 33 years old and had some injury issues in 2011. And I know they drafted two guards last year and signed two guards this week. And yeah, I know the NFL is a tough, cold business. But whenever I was around the Cowboys the past couple of years, I heard someone tell me how important Kosier was as a leader among the offensive linemen. He got a lot of credit for Free's big year at left tackle when he played next to him at left guard in 2010, and he got a lot of credit for Tyron Smith's very quick transition to the pros at right tackle when he played right guard next to him in 2011.

So while they have a new offensive line coach in Dallas, and they have every right to believe they can find two starting interior linemen from the group that now includes Costa, Bill Nagy, David Arkin, Nate Livings, Mackenzy Bernadeau and Kevin Kowalski, this can't have been an easy decision for the Cowboys. Whoever else was on the line as they slid guys in and out over the past two seasons benefited from the fact that Kosier was there. And while the move seems to make sense from a business and numbers standpoint, Kosier brought something to the table that they can't be sure anyone in the remaining group does. It's something they could, theoretically, end up missing at some point this season.

It's Friday. They're links. Click 'em.

Dallas Cowboys

Todd Archer explains the reasoning behind the aggressive yet specific approach the Cowboys have so far taken to free agency.

Dallas could save nearly $6 million more against this year's cap by doing a long-term deal with franchise player Anthony Spencer. But Stephen Jones says they're in no rush to do that. The Cowboys cleared nearly $16 million in cap room earlier this week by cutting Terence Newman and David Buehler and restructuring the contracts of Doug Free and Orlando Scandrick.

New York Giants

It's been more than two years since Marvin Austin appeared in a football game, and as Ohm Youngmisuk found out, he's working on what may turn out to be a career in the music business. The former North Carolina defensive lineman, who was the Giants' second-round pick in 2011, remains eager to get back on the field this fall after an injury wiped out his rookie season.

Mario Manningham's free-agent tour stopped in San Francisco on Thursday, but he didn't sign with the 49ers. He's off to St. Louis next and may still be on Miami's radar. Those wondering if he's still got a chance to return to the Giants are likely to be disappointed. This much outside interest means his price tag will soar well beyond what they want to pay their No. 3 wide receiver.

Philadelphia Eagles

DeSean Jackson is relieved and excited to have his long-term deal with the Eagles at long last. He says he believes he will win a Super Bowl with the Eagles, and that he never once worried he wouldn't be able to stay in Philadelphia. Jackson's deal is very team-favorable, as he's likely to realize at some point during it. But his satisfaction now shows, I think, that all he wanted was a little show of faith and respect. It didn't take as much to make him happy as most of us imagined it would.

Eagles free-agent guard Evan Mathis stayed the night in Baltimore, where the Ravens are trying to sign him. The Eagles have made it clear they want him back, but it's entirely possible they get outbid.

Washington Redskins

Newly signed Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather says he's looking forward to working with new Redskins defensive backs coach Raheem Morris. And asked how he'd describe his game, Meriweather answered, "Soon to be showcased live," which is not much of a description but keeps making me laugh for some reason. It's conceivable that I haven't had a sufficient amount of sleep.

The NFL's decision to strip the Redskins of $36 million in cap room for failing to adhere to a 2010 salary cap that only existed in the league's collective mind has had a bizarre effect in Washington. It's prompting people to take Redskins owner Dan Snyder's side.

You've waited, speculated, hoped and fretted for months, and today it finally arrived -- the start of NFL free agency. It was a busy and hectic day, as it often is, and it's liable to continue into the wee hours of the morning. But for now, as we creep toward midnight, it seems like a good time to stop and ask each of our division's four teams our favorite free-agency question.

So, how was your day? ...

Washington Redskins?

"Exciting." The Redskins were extremely busy right away, agreeing to deals with wide receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan and working on another for wide receiver Eddie Royal. The fact that they moved so quickly led to industry-wide cries of "Same old Redskins -- champions of March," because there's no more powerful force in the NFL than conventional wisdom. But an actual close look at what they're doing reveals the kind of smart, long-view plan that Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen began working to execute last offseason.

The old, reckless-spending Redskins would not have been outbid for 29-year-old Vincent Jackson, who got $55.5 million ($26 million guaranteed) from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The receivers the Redskins signed will be 26 and 27 years old at the start of the season. And while five years, $42.5 million ($20.5 million guaranteed) is obviously too much for Garcon, who has never been a No. 1 wide receiver, it's what it cost to get him. Shanahan has identified him as a guy who can explode, based on where he is in his career, the way he'll fit in Shanahan's offense and the potential for him to grow along with Robert Griffin III. If Shanahan's wrong, the contract could haunt him. But he's not just throwing money around. Garcon is a guy Shanahan targeted for good, specific reasons. There is a plan here, and it's likely to continue as they work to fill holes on the offensive line and in the secondary in the coming days and weeks.

The Redskins also re-signed Adam Carriker on Tuesday to maintain depth on the defensive line. What Redskins fans would like to see next is a re-signing of linebacker London Fletcher. I believe the Redskins would like that too, but the longer it goes without getting done, the greater the chance the Redskins will lose one of their most valuable defensive players. What's clear is that, in spite of being docked $36 million against the cap for violating some sort of amorphous fake spending limit during the uncapped 2010 season, the Redskins still have plenty of room to work under the cap.

Dallas Cowboys?

"Better than Monday." A day after learning that they'd be docked $10 million against the salary cap over the next two years for the same kinds of bogus violations that nailed the Redskins, the Cowboys set about executing their own plan. They cut Terence Newman and David Buehler and restructured the contracts of Doug Free and Orlando Scandrick -- a combination of moves that bought them about $15.8 million in extra cap room this year. Then, according to Adam Schefter, they brought in free-agent cornerback Brandon Carr, who at this writing seemed likely to sign with Dallas as Newman's replacement as early as Tuesday night. With Cortland Finnegan having signed for five years and $50 million in St. Louis, and Carlos Rogers having re-signed for four years and about $30 million in San Francisco, the market seemed set for Carr, and the Cowboys seemed determined not to let him leave Dallas without a deal.

Schefter also reported that the Cowboys were looking at Kyle Orton, who'd be an excellent veteran backup option for Tony Romo at quarterback. And ESPNDallas.com writes that the Cowboys plan to bring in former Panthers linebacker Dan Connor and former Bears tight end Kellen Davis for visits as well. Connor makes sense because they'll need depth at linebacker and may need more time for Bruce Carter to develop behind a veteran. Davis makes sense as a possible replacement for Martellus Bennett, who's in New York to visit the Giants. So if they get Carr done, they'll have addressed their most glaring need on the first day and are already at work on filling some other important needs. They still need to find offensive line help, and it looks as though they could lose wide receiver Laurent Robinson to the Jaguars or Dolphins, but cornerback was the place for them to start.

New York Giants?

"Productive." The champs began the day by re-signing cornerback Terrell Thomas, which was a priority of theirs, and buying themselves some cap room with the restructuring of the contract of center David Baas. Then they flew Bennett in for a visit, since they need a tight end to replace the two they lost to serious knee injuries in the Super Bowl. Cowboys fans are chuckling at the idea that another team would want Bennett, who earned a reputation as a pass-dropping underachiever during his time in Dallas. But the Giants see a guy who's 6-foot-6, 270 pounds, fast and still just 25 years old. They certainly trust their coaching staff and their quarterback to get the most out of any player, and if they can get him on a reasonable deal, it's certainly worth a shot that he still could transform his remarkable physical talent into reliable on-field production. And if he can't, Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum should be back healthy at the end of the season anyway. It's worth the Giants' time to check on Bennett.

The Giants target guys they like but are otherwise patient, so don't expect to hear much about them and Mario Manningham, Aaron Ross or Jonathan Goff anytime soon. They'll let those guys see what they can get on the market, and if they come back disappointed and willing to sign for the Giants' numbers, they could return. If not, the Giants feel confident they can find replacements.

Philadelphia Eagles?

Wait. That was today? Yeah, the Eagles had a quiet day. They extended Todd Herremans' contract and, as Sal Paolantonio reported, were working on an extension for Trent Cole as well. Part of the reason for the quiet is that the Eagles did a lot of work in free agency last year and expect those players to play better in 2012. Part of the reason is that the position at which they need the most help is linebacker, and the linebacker market hasn't really started humming yet. I still think Fletcher makes sense for them on a number of levels, and I wonder if he's a guy they're quietly targeting to steal away from Washington. We'll see. They won't go as nuts as they did last year, but the Eagles won't stay silent for long.

The Dallas Cowboys have a ton of offseason needs, many of which they plan to fill via free agency. But before they can go out and hunt for cornerbacks and safeties and guards and help for the pass rush, they need to know exactly how much salary cap room they have. Calvin Watkins writes that they're about $12.5 million under the projected cap right now, but that they can clear more room by restructuring the contracts of Dez Bryant and some other players:

It's written in wide receiver Dez Bryant's contract the Cowboys can move his $1.4 million roster bonus into signing bonus to create $957,000 of cap space. The Cowboys have done this in the past with several players.

Also, cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who is scheduled to make a base salary of $7.1 million can get that moved to signing bonus money to create cap space as well. Right tackle Doug Free is in the same situation. He's supposed to make $6 million in base salary in 2012 but that could get changed as well.

If the Cowboys move Free and Scandrick's money around, it will lower their salary cap figures and create $8.6 million in cap room.

As Calvin points out, they're also planning to cut cornerback Terence Newman, which could save them another $6 million or $4 million, depending on when they do it. Look for these kinds of moves to get made as the Cowboys position themselves to be very active in free agency when it begins Tuesday afternoon.

Gotta love it when the head coach breaks news in his combine news conference. Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett told reporters on hand in Indianapolis today that the team plans to move Doug Free from left tackle back to right tackle and move Tyron Smith from right tackle to left tackle. This move has been expected, given the brilliant way Smith played as a rookie in 2011 and the fact that Free struggled in his second season on the left side. But Garrett is confirming it, per our man on the scene, Todd Archer:

"The starting point for us next year is Tyron will start at left tackle and Doug will start at right tackle," Garrett said. "The versatility that Tyron had coming out is something we were really attracted to. He was a right tackle in college, as you know, but we felt like he had the physical traits to play left tackle. Same with Doug Free. We felt he could play either side."

When the Cowboys drafted Smith last year, they weren't sure whether they were going to lose Free to free agency, and one of the reasons they liked Smith was that they believed he had the ability to play left tackle if they needed one. Once they signed Free, they decided to leave him where he'd played well in 2010 and break in Smith at the position he'd played in college.

But Smith was the Cowboys' best offensive lineman in 2011, and Free struggled, so the Cowboys have decided to use their best tackle on Tony Romo's blindside, which makes sense. A couple of questions linger, though:

1. Where's Kyle Kosier going? He played left guard next to Free during Free's big year in 2010, then moved over to right guard to play next to Smith and help break in the rookie. Was Free's drop-off in play due in any part to Kosier moving to the other side? Will Kosier move back to the left to play next to Smith and help continue his development, or will he stay on the right to help Free? Kosier's a key figure on the Dallas offensive line, as a player and as a leader, and his status is worth monitoring in light of this move.

2. Is Free a good player who had a down year in 2011, or an average player who had a great year in 2010? The sense I get from talking to people around the league is that it's the former -- that Free still shows the skills to be a top-level tackle but just didn't get the job done this past year. The Cowboys expect him to bounce back, and perhaps a move back to the right side will allow him to do that without undue pressure.

3. Will Smith need time to adjust? He didn't play left tackle in college, and there are differences to which he'll have to become accustomed. Smith is thought of as a great enough athlete to make the adjustment. He may well have been the left tackle at USC had he not been on the same team as Matt Kalil. My guess is he won't skip a beat, and that the Cowboys will benefit from this move. Their bigger line problems are at guard and center.

The latest in ESPNDallas.com's position-by-position look at the Cowboys is the one for which I've been waiting -- the one about the interior offensive line. Calvin Watkins breaks down who they've got, what they need and what things could look like at guard and center for the Cowboys in 2012. Coupled with Tim MacMahon's installment on the offensive tackles from last week, this addresses one of the most important aspects of the roster:

Jerry Jones said the evaluation process of these two positions needs to get better. The Cowboys overestimated the talent level of the guards after training camp, going with younger players who proved to be inconsistent. The health of three veteran guards raised more questions.

This is the key, as it is with every team this time of year: self-evaluation. The Cowboys need to make an honest assessment of what they have at guard and center, and whether it's what they need going forward. We seem to have just witnessed a season's worth of evidence that Phil Costa isn't the answer at center, so the question then becomes whether Kevin Kowalski or Bill Nagy or David Arkin can be, and if so, how soon? It seems likely they'll bring back Kyle Kosier, since he's a leader on the line and has, in recent years, been a big part of the development of Tyron Smith and Doug Free, but what of the other guard spot? Can someone from last year's group of rookies slide in and play right away in 2012? Or do they need to find answers on the free-agent market or in the draft.

Personally, if I were the Cowboys, I wouldn't take an interior lineman in the first round. I just feel like there's value to be had at those spots in later rounds (the Eagles, for example, found their starting center in last year's sixth) and Dallas' needs at cornerback and pass-rusher are pressing enough to warrant first-round action.

Once they're done restructuring contracts, the Cowboys could have about $20 million in cap space, and if I were them I'd try and bring in a veteran guard like Carl Nicks or Ben Grubbs -- or a center if they feel that's a more pressing need -- and then mix and match with that Arkin/Nagy/Kowalski/Costa group in the offseason to figure out exactly what they have there. It's not unrealistic to believe they have a starting center and potential Kosier replacement in that group, and adding someone like Nicks or Grubbs would reduce the pressure on all of the youngsters to perform right away.

I agree with Tim that they're fine at starting tackle. Smith is a stud, and I think Free is a good player who had a bad season. Whether they keep Free at left tackle and Smith at right or whether they switch them up, they should be okay at those spots. But they need to lock some things down in the middle of that line, where they struggled in 2011. And I think free agency might be the best place to start.

Hey, so, bad news for all of you Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins fans. If you thought last week on the blog was Giants-heavy... you ain't seen nothing yet. Links.

New York Giants

Ian O'Connor points out that Eli Manning has now beaten Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in playoff games in Green Bay, and that the only reason he didn't take out Bart Starr too is that he's too young to have had the chance. "Manning plays better than better quarterbacks," Ian writes, and while that's a nice way to put it, it seems pretty clear by now that Manning is a fairly great quarterback in his own right.

The play of Sunday's game may have been Hakeem Nicks' catch of Eli Manning's Hail Mary pass as time ran out in the second quarter. Brandon Jacobs said he saw Packers players walking to the locker room with their heads down and "pretty much knew they were done." Not sure about that, but the play had a strong whiff of significance. Kevin Seifert had just told me that the Packers specialized in scoring right before the end of the first half and then getting the ball to start the second half and scoring again. The opposite happened in this game. The Giants scored right before the end of the first half and the Packers turned the ball over on the first drive of the second. Game-changing stuff, that.

Philadelphia Eagles

The 700 Level looks at the likelihood of Steve Spagnuolo returning to the Eagles as defensive coordinator. With rumors now abounding that Gregg Williams will leave the Saints to join Jeff Fisher in St. Louis, you can add New Orleans to the list of interested Spagnuolo suitors. It won't be easy for the Eagles to get him, and there's also the troubling little fact that their defensive coordinator job is not, currently, open.

Sheil Kapadia wonders if Eagles defensive line coach Jim Washburn could go to St. Louis with Fisher, since the two had success together in Tennessee. Another reminder that the issues on the Eagles' defensive coaching staff are complicated and intertwined and don't seem to present any simple solutions.

Dallas Cowboys

Hudson Houck isn't saying the Cowboys will or should move Tyron Smith from right tackle to left tackle. But Smith's first NFL position coach, now retired, says that Smith could be "very, very good" at left tackle if such a move were made. With a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach coming in, I imagine that decision has yet to be made. But it would seem to make a pile of sense, given Doug Free's struggles on the left side this past year.

Two weeks may be enough time to have softened some fans who were bitterly disappointed by the way the Cowboys' season ended. Blogging the Boys has a post expressing "rampant and disproportionate optimism" about the Cowboys' future and direction. Kind of refreshing, really.

Washington Redskins

Rich Tandler watched Saturday's Saints-49ers playoff game with an eye on some potential offseason targets for the Redskins, including Saints receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem. Mike Shanahan will definitely be looking for a No. 1 receiver this offseason, but as Rich suggests, the Saints' guys come with questions about whether they'd perform the same way in a different system.

Rick Snider ponders the idea of the Redskins bringing in Peyton Manning to play quarterback for them next year. Some say it's farfetched. I'm not sure it is. But I know they'd have to be sure he's healthy before they decided to do it, and I'm not sure how anybody's going to be able to be sure of that.

All right. You want a break from Giants' stuff -- here you go. Let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys' plans for their offensive line. Let's use this well-detailed post from Blogging the Boys as our jumping-off point. I agree completely with their premise that the biggest problem area for the Cowboys on the line this year was center. I think they'll fix the Doug Free problem by moving him back to right tackle and Tyron Smith to the left side, and they were able to fix guard once they brought back Montrae Holland after Kyle Kosier got a bit more healthy.

But Phil Costa was a consistent problem at center, and it cost the Cowboys dearly. They need to fix it. BTB looks at the list of potential free-agent centers and concludes, correctly, that there isn't a long-term solution among that aged group. My feeling is that the Cowboys, if you go back four or five months, were hoping they had that long-term solution on their roster already. And I wonder if they still do hold out that hope.

The Cowboys drafted David Arkin and Bill Nagy last year. Nagy got hurt, and Arkin obviously didn't develop in time to be a help this year. They both play guard, but I remember a training camp conversation I had with then-offensive line coach Hudson Houck, who told me both were getting practice snaps at center and that both would have to be able to play it in a pinch if they were to stick around. Houck believed both players -- Nagy in particular -- had what it took to be an NFL center, and I wonder if the Cowboys will continue to think along those lines and try to find their solution internally from the Arkin/Nagy/Costa group. Costa is also still young, remember, and he does have a year's worth of experience, even if it was a disappointing one.

The Cowboys also have brought in a new offensive line coach, replacing Houck with Bill Callahan. Does Callahan have a guy, or a type of guy, in mind for center? Will he have some say in who the team brings in for the position? Will he be able to coach something out of Costa or Arkin or Nagy that we haven't yet seen? Will the Cowboys pursue someone from BTB's list to hold down the position for a year or two until one of the younger solutions develops? Will they really draft an interior offensive lineman in the middle of the first round?

I think they're likely to find better offensive line value at that No. 15 pick than they are to find value at one of their other need positions -- say, defensive back or pass-rusher. So unless they move up or down to position themselves to take someone at one of those positions, I do think it's reasonable to speculate about a guy like David DeCastro, the Stanford guard who's got a first-round grade. If you believe a talented guard can turn into a solid NFL center, that would add a guy to the mix they already have and produce a great deal of young depth at these interior line positions that clearly need upgrading.

My guess is that the Cowboys continue to think young at these spots, especially with the well respected Callahan in to help develop them now. Does that mean they won't pursue someone from that deep list of veteran free-agent centers? Not necessarily. But I believe their free-agent priorities will lie elsewhere, and that they're more likely to use the draft to address the line.

The Friday links, as you should know by now, require no introduction.

New York Giants

Mathias Kiwanuka says the Giants are "definitely a Super Bowl team." Major, major shift in confidence and attitude around this Giants team since the loss to Washington a few weeks back. It comes from the way the defense is playing. If they maintain it, Kiwanuka could be proven right. They're just going to have to maintain it against some of the best offenses in the league.

Fascinating story by Johnette Howard about how defensive backs, who always preach that "you have to have short memories," actually do, in general, have shorter memories -- and lower Wonderlic scores -- than other players on the team. And how defensive backs are the only position group that performs better as Wonderlic scores drop. The point here is that the Giants' DBs, whatever their Wonderlic scores, have been working to forget the failures of earlier in the season.

Philadelphia Eagles

Geoff Mosher has 10 moves the Eagles need to make this offseason, and it may surprise you that he starts with "re-sign DeSean Jackson." I predict there will be two very vocal sides to this debate -- perhaps even within the Eagles' front office -- and I have no idea how it will turn out.

In this notebook, we learn that Jamaal Jackson's agent expects the Eagles to release their one-time starting center, that Jackson's replacement (Jason Kelce) will not need surgery on his foot as originally thought, and that Eagles player personnel director Ryan Grigson is a candidate for GM jobs in Indianapolis and St. Louis.

Dallas Cowboys

Todd Archer writes that the Cowboys ranked fifth in the league in penalties, and he breaks it down by player. DeMarcus Ware and Doug Free had the most, with 10 apiece.

With former Cowboy Sam Hurd having been indicted Wednesday on federal drug charges, Jean-Jacques Taylor hits the Cowboys for putting their head in the sand about the situation and failing to prepare their current players to deal with the questions that would inevitably arise.

Washington Redskins

Mike Jones has five offensive-related questions for the Redskins as they head into this offseason, starting right where you'd think he'd start and also wondering about Fred Davis, the offensive line, the running backs and kicker.

Brian Burke breaks down the stats and determines that the Redskins' biggest needs are ... right where you'd expect them to be -- quarterback, wide receiver and offensive line. I think it's interesting to see how the EPA grades came out on defense, too.

Over at the AFC South blog, Paul Kuharsky has a post that says the Texans' Johnathan Joseph was the most valuable free-agent signing of this past offseason. Surely, the transformation of the Texans' defense is a big part of the reason for their division title, and Joseph was a big part of that transformation.

But if you disagree with the choice, there's a SportsNation poll in Paul's post that allows you to vote for someone besides Joseph as the best 2011 free-agent signing. Other choices include New Orleans running back Darren Sproles, Tennessee quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, Denver running back Willis McGahee and Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jason Babin.

What's interesting about this is that none of these guys was projected to have the impact he has had, while bigger-name signings have had far less impact. I guess that's the way it always works, but it got me thinking.

Babin was clearly the best free-agent signing in our division, the best of many by the Eagles, who likely imagined ballyhooed cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha would top their list. Asomugha has played fine, for the most part, but has had some memorable negative moments in his first season in Philadelphia. Babin, meanwhile, ranks among the league leaders in sacks and has made it clear that his first season as a dominant NFL pass-rusher (2010, in Tennessee) was no fluke.

So Asomugha was supposed to be the Eagles' best free-agent signing, but Babin actually was. How about our other three teams? Let's take a look:

Dallas Cowboys

Then: The biggest deal was to lock up left tackle Doug Free before he hit the market, and the Cowboys did. But Free has been a disappointment and could be moving back to right tackle next season as impressive rookie Tyron Smith moves over to the left side. Free-agent safeties Abram Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh have had their moments but are part of a struggling secondary.

Now: The Cowboys' best signing turned out to be wide receiver Laurent Robinson, who has 797 yards and nine touchdowns on 50 catches. He answered the team's preseason questions about the No. 3 receiver spot and was a more-than-adequate replacement for Miles Austin during Austin's many injury problems.

New York Giants

Then: The Giants eschewed external free-agent pursuits because of the importance of signing their own. At the time, the highest priority was running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who has played well on either side of the foot injury that cut out the middle of his season. Center David Baas has been a bit of a disappointment in his first year in New York.

Now: When the Giants re-signed defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka and said they would be moving him to linebacker, it seemed like a desperate move from a team that had very little behind its defensive line. But Kiwanuka has been a major stabilizing force for the Giants at his new position, and he still moves up to rush the passer with his old defensive line buddies on third downs.

Washington Redskins

Then: The Redskins made a big splash when they signed defensive tackle Barry Cofield away from the Giants and made him a nose tackle for the first time in his career. Cofield has played well, but it took him a while to adjust to his new position. A year from now, this will look like their best 2011 signing from a list that includes Santana Moss, Donte' Stallworth and yes, Rex Grossman.

Now: The Redskins signed safety O.J. Atogwe just before the lockout -- a move a lot of people almost forgot they made once free agency began in earnest. He's had some injury problems, but when he's been on the field, Atogwe's been an impact player, as has cornerback Josh Wilson, whom they signed away from Baltimore.

We know that the Dallas Cowboys plan to stand behind head coach Jason Garrett no matter what happens in Sunday night's NFC East title game against the New York Giants. But win or lose, the Cowboys will eventually find themselves in the offseason with decisions to make about next year. ESPN's John Clayton discusses those potential changes in this video. Among the topics — the team's decision on whether to re-sign breakout receiver Laurent Robinson, the chances that Rob Ryan could get a head coaching job and leave the Cowboys in need of a new defensive coordinator for the second year in a row and whether they plan to flop right tackle Tyron Smith and left tackle Doug Free for next year. My guesses are that they do bring back Robinson, that Ryan stays put and that the tackles do in fact switch places. Cowboys fans just hope it's many weeks before we find any of these things out.