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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We roll on, into another May week that will bring OTAs and more offseason fun here on the NFC East blog. And with a hat tip to Justin from B-More, we'll start varying the order of the links this week.

Washington Redskins

Tim Hightower played the free-agent field, sure, but he says Washington was always "home" and where he wanted to be all along. Now that he's home, of course, the question is whether he's healthy enough to hold up as the Redskins' starting running back.

Rich Tandler takes a look at the depth chart at wide receiver and tight end, where the Redskins face potentially tough decisions with Santana Moss and Chris Cooley. Rich seems to figure each will stick around, but it's obviously not a sure thing for either one.

Dallas Cowboys

Deon Grant said the Cowboys were one of the teams interested in him. Calvin Watkins asked around and found out that wasn't true. As much as I like Grant, a personable fellow whose accessibility and insight helped a great deal with several stories and columns late last season, I'm inclined to believe Calvin here, since he has less incentive to make his up. This could have been a Giants link, too, since I'm sure the Giants haven't ruled out Grant. (Again, personable guy. Good to have around.) But Ohm didn't write about it and Calvin did, and these are the links.

The guy everyone's talking about this week as a potential Laurent Robinson replacement is Andre Holmes, and Tim MacMahon explains why that is.

New York Giants

Lawrence Taylor's Super Bowl XXV ring, which was put on sale by Taylor's son and not Taylor himself, fetched more than $230,000 at auction. There was some foolishness Saturday with Osi Umenyiora saying he'd buy it if he got to 500,000 Twitter followers. I saw it, didn't think it was worth interrupting a May Saturday over. Osi has been very entertaining on Twitter in his short time there so far, but if he thought he was going to get from 20,000 to 500,000 in a day, he doesn't understand it very well. I mean, jeez. He's not Justin Bieber.

Jorge Castillo did a nice feature on German-born 26-year-old Giants rookie Markus Kuhn, to whom the game of football is still relatively new.

Philadelphia Eagles

Bleeding Green Nation looks at the members of the Eagles' 2010 draft class for whom 2012 is a "make it or break it" year, including Brandon Graham and Nate Allen, who are expected to be major contributors this season.

Les Bowen has an interesting column on the possibly changing dynamics of the Eagles' front office, in particular the role of team president Joe Banner, who seems to have been largely absent from the LeSean McCoy negotiations.

The 2011 season was not the most, well, beastly season in NFC East history. It was the first time in a full, 16-game season that no team in the division won at least 10 games, and for much of the year the talk around the division was that it wasn't what it used to be.

Buncha baloney if you ask me. Even forgetting for a second that an NFC East team won the Super Bowl, this division still does one very important thing better than any other: rush the passer. The NFC East's 181 sacks led all NFL divisions in 2011, and by quite a bit. (The AFC North, which had three playoff teams, was second with 160). The Eagles tied for the league lead with 50. The Giants tied for third with 48. The Cowboys tied for seventh with 42, and the Redskins tied for 10th with 41.

Look deeper, into the film-based, number-crunching stats from Pro Football Focus -- stats that take into account more than just sacks when evaluating the extent to which teams rushed, hassled and affected opposing quarterbacks, and the division still rules. The Eagles rank No. 1 in PFF's 2011 team rankings, the Cowboys No. 3, the Giants No. 6 and the Redskins No. 9. No division prizes this critical aspect of the game more than the NFC East does, and it shows up in the numbers.

So, as we slug our way through a slow news month in the NFC East, I thought it'd be a good idea to check in on the pass rushes of our four teams and see how they're doing -- what they've done to get better or worse, what their 2012 prospects look like from this far out and yes, how they rank against each other. You guys asked for more polls, and I promised I'd listen, so there's one right here for you to vote on. After you finish reading, of course. I'm addressing them in order of how many sacks they got in 2011, in case you're wondering how I decided. Seemed fair.

Philadelphia Eagles

Key contributors: DE Trent Cole, DE Jason Babin, DT Cullen Jenkins. PFF ranked Cole the No. 1 overall 4-3 defensive end in the league last year. Babin ranked 10th overall and third in pass rush, finishing third in the league with 18 sacks. Jenkins ranked as the No. 4 pass-rushing defensive tackle, and Derek Landri was No. 10. Defensive line coach Jim Washburn and defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, each of whom is entering his second season in his current position with the Eagles, believe the front four is responsible for the pass rush. And while they got a lot of publicity for how wide they like to line up their defensive ends, they like to get pressure from the defensive tackles as well.

Newcomer: DT Fletcher Cox. The Eagles traded up in the first round to pick Cox because they believed he could be an impact pass-rusher from one of those interior spots right away. They need to toughen up against the run, and that will have to be part of Cox's game. But what appealed to them was his ability to get to the passer. Rookie linebacker Mychal Kendricks could conceivably factor in here too, but the Eagles don't ask their linebackers to rush very much in the new scheme.

Stock watch: UP. The addition of Cox, as well as the possible return to full health of Mike Patterson and 2010 first-round pick Brandon Graham, give the Eagles incredible depth at a position at which they were already very strong in 2011. It's possible they'll rush the passer even better in 2012.

New York Giants

Key contributors: DE Jason Pierre-Paul, DE Justin Tuck, DE Osi Umenyiora, DE/LB Mathias Kiwanuka. No one's roster goes as deep as the Giants' does in terms of star-caliber defensive ends. Pierre-Paul was fourth in the league with 16.5 sacks in just his second NFL season. Umenyiora had nine in just nine games. Tuck turned it on at the end and in the playoffs, and Kiwanuka is a defensive end playing linebacker. The Giants believe a strong pass rush is their heritage and their key to being an annual contender.

Newcomer: DT Marvin Austin. The Giants didn't really bring in anyone this offseason who looks like a 2012 pass-rush contributor, but their 2011 second-round pick missed all of last season due to injury, so we'll call him a newcomer. The Giants would like to get more help from inside. Linval Joseph was their best pass-rushing defensive tackle in 2011, according to PFF's rankings. A healthy Austin could be a difference-maker.

Stock watch: DOWN. Not by much, but a little, because of the loss of reliable, underrated reserve DE Dave Tollefson. If Tuck and Umenyiora have injury problems again, or if Umenyiora holds out, they could get kind of thin at defensive end pretty quickly without Tollefson there to fill in this time. Now, this is the Giants, and they'll probably figure it out. The addition of linebacker Keith Rivers could allow them to move Kiwanuka back to end in case of injury. But it's worth pointing out that they did lose a somewhat important piece of the pass rush and didn't replace him.

Dallas Cowboys

Key contributors: LB DeMarcus Ware, LB Anthony Spencer, DE Jason Hatcher, NT Jay Ratliff. There's no one like Ware, who rang up another 19.5 sacks in 2011. That's nearly half the team total, and the conventional wisdom says he needs more help. But PFF ranked Spencer its 11th-best 3-4 outside linebacker in the pass rush and Hatcher as its eighth-best 3-4 pass-rushing defensive end. Add in Ratliff, who can generate pressure up the middle, and the Cowboys look better in this area than we tend to think.

Newcomer: DE Tyrone Crawford. Dallas' third-round pick is looked at by many as a project, but as one that can eventually help with the pass rush whether he ends up as a 3-4 end or standing up as an outside linebacker. Whether he can help in 2012 remains a question, but the Cowboys didn't see a first-round or second-round pass-rusher they liked better than Spencer, so they focused on the secondary instead and picked up some down-the-road guys for the pass rush.

Stock watch: EVEN. They're bringing back basically the same group, and while there's a theory that the improvements at defensive back will help the pass rush by giving it extra time to get sacks, we have yet to see that in action. Spencer must play with more aggressiveness if this unit is to take a step forward into the upper tier with the Eagles and Giants.

Washington Redskins

Key contributors: LB Brian Orakpo, LB Ryan Kerrigan, DE Stephen Bowen. The Redskins' pass rush is all about those young outside linebackers, and they are fearsome. But with only 16.5 sacks between them in 2011, their numbers have a ways to go to get into the big-time stratosphere we're talking about in the NFC East. PFF did rank Orakpo fifth and Kerrigan ninth among pass-rushing 3-4 OLBs in 2011, so they do a lot of things well in that area. Bowen had six sacks and DE Adam Carriker came up with 5.5.

Newcomer: DE Jarvis Jenkins. Just as we did with the Giants, we'll go with a 2011 second-round pick who missed his rookie season due to injury. Jenkins may not be a pass-rusher, but adding him to the defensive line rotation could help free up more room for the linebackers and maybe help the other linemen get to the passer more often as well.

Stock watch: EVEN. This is really all about how much and how quickly Orakpo and especially Kerrigan continue to develop as elite pass-rushers. They've both shown flashes of incredible raw ability, and they have to continue to hone their craft so they can play at the level of the other pass-rushers in their division. Ware, Cole, Pierre-Paul and the rest of these guys are setting a high bar, and the Redskins know they have to have their own pass-rush monsters if they want to hang with them year in and year out.

My experience tells me there's a chance that many of you won't find this interesting, but I think it is, and I might even go so far as to call it important. So you're stuck with it.

New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, on Twitter early Thursday morning, apologized to women who may have been offended by his Sunday tweet wishing a "Happy Mother's Day" to Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy. Umenyiora's tweet indicates that he had his eyes opened by this Sarah Spain column that took issue with the idea of men insulting other men by calling them women -- something Umenyiora has done before with regard to McCoy. And something, as Sarah points out, people do all the time without thinking about it. This was Umenyiora's tweet at 5:09 am ET on Thursday (he's apparently in Germany):

@SarahSpain is absolutely correct in her article. I wasnt thinking about it from that perspective. I apologize to any woman offended

Later, he sent this one directly to Sarah:

@SarahSpain I always try and look at things from someone else's perspective when it's called to my attention. You article is the truth

That was in response to her telling him it was "fantastic" of him to "actually read the piece and really think about the issue."

Great exchange all around. Good job by Sarah to write a smart, common-sense column calling into question a low and outdated form of discourse in which too many men engage too easily and without thinking. And good job by Umenyiora, an unusually thoughtful NFL player, to read the column and hear its message. Sarah's point was coolly and sensibly made, and deserves our attention as much as it deserved Umenyiora's:

It's time to put an end to these lazy, damaging jeers. It's time to stop spreading the message that being female is inherently wrong or inferior. The use of "woman" or "female" or "girl" as an insult is sexist, plain and simple. Replace "woman" with race, religion or sexual orientation and the reaction would be far different. Just imagine the response from media and fans if Umenyiora had tweeted McCoy "Happy Gay Pride Day."

To Umenyiora, saying that a man is a "woman" is equivalent to calling him a "wuss," a "weakling," or a "crybaby." Well if that's what he means, he should use those words. The word "woman" should not be interchangeable with these insults.

I think our culture and our society should always be evolving, or at the very least always striving to evolve. And I understand that, for a lot of people, football remains a subset of our society in which it feels okay not to have to worry about such things. Men beat each other senseless in pursuit of the ball or the end zone. Fans scream themselves hoarse and drink themselves stupid, convinced for a few hours that their surroundings justify behavior that isn't tolerated in the real world to which they must return Monday morning. It's an escape, and for a lot of people that's what it must be. I get it.

But this is the real world, and in it there's nothing wrong with someone standing up and saying, "Hey. This isn't acceptable anymore. We know better, and we should probably start acting like we do." That, to me, is the central point of Sarah's column, and I get the sense that that's what Umenyiora took from it, too. Which is good, because maybe now he'll find other, less offensive ways to tweak McCoy and the next generation of football rivalries will better reflect its own presence in the 21st century as opposed to the 14th.

And a good Wednesday morning to all. (Wednesday, right? Yeah, Wednesday.) I'll be with you just as soon as I catch up on my NBA reading. Wait, it says here the Heat only lost one game last night. Man, based on the reaction I saw all over Twitter after the game, I could have sworn it was four. The NBA confuses me. The NFL, though ... that always makes sense. Links.

Dallas Cowboys

Calvin weighs in on the Tony Romo thing, saying that yes, stats are nice and the stats support Romo as a top quarterback, but that doesn't matter until and unless he starts winning playoff games. And yeah, a lot of that's out of his control. But Calvin is right that the outside perception of the guy will not change until the playoff record does. He could have a rotten year and put up lousy numbers in three playoff games, but as long as the team won those three playoff games his reputation would likely improve. Of course, this hypothesis ignores the likelihood that, if Romo had a rotten year, the Cowboys wouldn't have a chance to play in any playoff games.

Michael Irvin thinks the offense is fine and that the biggest problem the Cowboys have had is a defense that hasn't shown an ability to generate turnovers and therefore contribute to the scoring from its end. He believes that this offseason's additions at cornerback may have changed that.

New York Giants

In a private ceremony Wednesday night at Tiffany & Co., the Giants will receive their Super Bowl rings. Thanks to punter Steve Weatherford, there were some pictures of the ring swirling around the Internet on Tuesday. But Justin Tuck says the photo Weatherford put on Twitter wasn't the real ring. So I guess we'll see.

Tuck also says the Giants won't let the Osi Umenyiora contract situation become a distraction to them this offseason, mainly because they're used to it by now. This isn't just talk with the Giants, as we've discussed before. Their veteran locker room is well suited to handle and/or ignore an issue such as the Umenyiora contract dispute, even if it gets far uglier than it is right now.

Philadelphia Eagles

Speaking of contract disputes, DeSean Jackson is happy to no longer be in one this offseason, and the extension he signed with the Eagles has him feeling like a new man as he gets ready to begin offseason practices. Jackson admitted several times last year that the contract situation was bothering him and affecting the way he went about his business. So, you know. No more excuses on that front, right?

Owen Schmitt has signed with the Raiders, leaving Stanley Havili ostensibly as the Eagles' starting fullback. But as Bleeding Green Nation points out, the Eagles don't use the fullback very much, so it's not likely to be a high-impact change.

Washington Redskins

Richard Crawford, the SMU cornerback the Redskins drafted in the seventh round, grew four inches in college and believes that's what helped make him a draftable prospect. We'll see. Lots of opportunity in the Redskins' secondary this offseason.

Former Redskins great Art Monk has been named to the College Football Hall of Fame for the career he had at Syracuse before he became a star in the NFL. Somebody on the chat asked me to give this news a "shout-out," and there isn't much else going on, so there you go.

Thanks for the feedback on the last post. I have been reading through the comments there, and I appreciate the suggestions. Most of them, anyway.

Meantime, Football Outsides has been doing a division-by-division look at the remaining needs for each team, and today they take on the NFC East. It's Insider content (which always makes me chuckle, that the Outsiders are Insider), so you need to pay to read it, but here's a little taste.

Dallas Cowboys: "Interior offensive line." Basically, the FO guys aren't excited about the Cowboys' talent level at guard and center, and seem unimpressed by Jason Garrett's plan to let Nate Livings, Mackenzy Bernadeau, Bill Nagy and Phil Costa compete for the three starting spots in the interior of the line. No mention of David Arkin, oddly, who would seem to be in the mix. And I do have a nitpick with their claim that Nagy was "banished to the bench" for ineffectiveness last season, when it was actually a broken ankle that ended his season. But in general, the idea that the Cowboys need more strength and power at the interior line positions than they probably have on the roster is probably accurate.

New York Giants: "Osi Umenyiora's replacement." This seems to posit that the Giants would trade Umenyiora or that he'd hold out and they wouldn't have any pass-rushers at defensive end behind their two excellent starters. I don't think they're going to trade him, and I don't think he's going to hold out of any regular-season games once push comes to shove. But this does point up the idea that the Giants need to be thinking about who replaces Umenyiora next season, assuming he leaves via free agency.

Philadelphia Eagles: "Secondary depth." The metrics all rate Asante Samuel very highly as a cornerback, so it's little surprise that FO treats his departure as one that creates a hole. I think they're right on this score, but the metrics don't take into account Samuel's salary, or the fact that his playing style doesn't fit what they want to do with the cornerbacks this year, so it's hard to get on them for that dump-trade they made with him. Assuming full health and a big steps forward for Nate Allen and Jaiquawn Jarrett, the Eagles should have a good starting secondary. But I would agree that there is little behind the starters if someone gets hurt. Interested to see whether Brandon Boykin can make an impression early and challenge for that nickel corner spot, and I can't rule out the possibility that they add a veteran to the safety mix. There are still quite a few out there.

Washington Redskins: "Cornerbacks." Yeah, DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson project as the starters, but they're not exactly Deion Sanders and Night Train Lane back there, and as FO points out, the Redskins' efforts to upgrade their secondary don't rank among their greatest successes of this offseason. Washington's defense is emerging as a good one, but the weak spot is still in the back, and they would do well to keep on the lookout for ways to make it better. That's part of why they're bringing so many safeties to camp, but they'll need better performance from Hall and Wilson in 2012 if the defense is to take the next step.

Good morning to all, and welcome to another week on the NFC East blog. The rookie minicamps are over, the regular ones about a month away, but the weekend saw a little bit of newsworthy action here and there, and so we'll get you right to your links.

Dallas Cowboys

Calvin Watkins writes that, while the Cowboys' defense was bad in 2011, it was much better than it was in 2010. Which ... fine. But if someone were to sit down and explain to me that air travel was actually more pleasant in 2011 than it was in 2010, I'd react the same way: Who cares, as long as it's still this bad? And I'm not big on the idea that the Cowboys' defense struggled last year because the lockout forced Rob Ryan "to rush the teachings of his defensive system once training camp began." The defense played much better at the start of the season than it did at the end, which leads one to believe it wasn't the scheme but the personnel that got exposed. In the end, the point is that the Cowboys have made major personnel changes on defense and should expect to be better in 2012. Point taken. Still think they needed more.

On a completely, 100 percent different note, in case you were following the story of the 55-year-old grandmother who was trying out to be a Cowboys cheerleader, she didn't make it. But she says she had a heck of a time trying.

New York Giants

Last summer, when Eagles running back LeSean McCoy randomly attacked him on Twitter for being "overrated n soft," Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora fired back, calling McCoy a "chihuahua" and a "Twitter gangster," among other things. Well, Osi's on Twitter now, and he took his turn as Twitter gangster Sunday, wishing McCoy a Happy Mother's Day. McCoy recently became a father, but there's no evidence that Umenyiora knows that or that it motivated the tweet. Anyway, my wife says she thinks it's pretty silly when these guys use "woman" as an insult, since this is 2012. I remind her that, in the minds of professional athletes, it's very often really kind of not.

As for real football stuff, the Giants did have their rookie minicamp, which means media got a chance to talk to the coaches, and defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said he's looking at several options for middle linebacker, including newcomer Keith Rivers, who didn't play that specific position in Cincinnati. Fewell doesn't seem high on the idea of moving Michael Boley there.

Philadelphia Eagles

First-round draft pick Fletcher Cox learned right away that, if you make a mistake on the practice field with the Eagles, a coach will curse at you. From everything we've been told about defensive line coach Jim Washburn, Cox was going to learn this lesson eventually anyway, but it appears defensive coordinator Juan Castillo beat Washburn to it.

Eagles rookie camp featured a couple of quarterbacks -- third-round pick Nick Foles and undrafted free-agent signee Jacory Harris -- and both seemed to feel they got a lot out of the weekend's exposure to an Eagles coaching staff that has a reputation for teaching the quarterback position effectively.

Washington Redskins

This is the offseason in which returning Redskins free agents announce on Twitter that they have re-signed (as opposed to outside free agents such as Pierre Garcon, who use Facebook -- key difference, you see). Running back Tim Hightower tweeted his return Sunday night, as London Fletcher had some weeks earlier, and the veteran for whom the Redskins traded last year during training camp gets thrown into the running back mix with second-year backs Roy Helu and Evan Royster. A little more on this later, but if healthy, yes, I think Hightower is the front-runner to be the starter.

Chase Minnifield is going to need to beat the odds if he's to have a productive NFL career after going undrafted last month, but he's eager to do what he can to show the Redskins were wise to sign him. And in the Redskins' secondary, truthfully, there are going to be opportunities for him if he can play.

I liked this story/chart from Pat Kirwan on the rate at which NFL teams sacked the quarterback on third downs in 2011. (Even though his chart claims to include all 32 teams and in fact only includes 24. Hey, it's the offseason.) And I can't say as I'm surprised that the New York Giants ranked second-best in the league in third-down sacks and percentage of third-down sacks (behind only the Ravens). For a 9-7 team to win the Super Bowl, it must be exceptional at certain things, and in critical situations, and the Giants were certainly that. One of the things Pat believes his chart shows is why it would be foolish for the Giants to entertain thoughts of trading Osi Umenyiora:

In 123 games Osi has 36.5 sacks in third-down situations for his career. That's a third down sack 1:3.3 games. Julius Peppers has 34.5 in 164 games or 1:4.7 games. The great Reggie White had 47.5 sacks on third downs in 251 games or 1:5.2 games. The Giants aren't giving Umenyiora away and probably shouldn't trade him at all. Reggie White played until he was 39, and Osi is just 31.

Fair enough. I'm not totally sure we can look at one number and say Umenyiora's the new Reggie White, but it's clear that he brings something very special and that the Giants should value it highly, as they do. My argument for trading him has been based on the idea that his value is probably at its peak right now, but I agree with Pat that they're not in a take-the-best-offer mode and should only move him if the price is good.

I also found it interesting that the Philadelphia Eagles ranked fourth on this list in the first year of Jim Washburn and the "Wide 9." From this distant, early-May vantage point, the reasons to think the Eagles should be among the first defenses taken in fantasy drafts continue to pile up.

So every Tuesday at noon ET we open up a SportsNation chat room and we do this thing where you guys ask me questions and I answer them. We call it the weekly NFC East chat, and it's oodles of fun. Those who don't come and join in... well, they're beyond hope at this point. So rather than fill them in with the highlights, I present these chat highlights for those of you were there, so you can relive all the fun we had together.

Wesley from Woodstock, Va. believes that, due to his lofty draft position and the attendant hype, Robert Griffin III will be targeted by defensive players in 2012 for "welcome to the NFL" hits. Considering this, Wesley wanted to know if I thought the Washington Redskins' current backup plan of Rex Grossman and Kirk Cousins was sufficient.

Dan Graziano: I don't know how much better a backup QB situation can get, actually. Grossman is the exact right guy to be backing up RG3 right away -- a QB who knows the offense and can help with the new guy's education (as long as the rookie ignores the parts about throwing it to the other team 20 times a year). And Cousins is a well-regarded young guy who'll be learning along with the starter. I think they've backed him up just fine.

St8prop from Atlanta saw a rumor that the Baltimore Ravens had offered the New York Giants a third-round draft pick for disgruntled defensive end Osi Umenyiora and wondered, if the Giants don't trade him, whether it would be because they believed they could do better in compensation picks for losing him to free agency next year.

DG: I think if they don't move him it's because they determined the value of keeping him on their roster outweighed what was offered. They don't NEED to move him. They're not worried about his discontent affecting what they do, and he showed last year that he can still make a major impact when he does play. And he's cheap.

(Ed. note: Please also remember that, if the Giants lose Umenyiora in free agency next year, their compensation pick wouldn't come until the 2014 draft, and it would depend on who else they lost in 2013 free agency and which players they signed as well.)

DAN FAN from Florida asked who would lead the division in touchdowns in 2012 and offered Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as a guess.

DG: You mean passing TDs? I'd go with Eli Manning there, taking everything into consideration including his weapons and the relative states of the Giants' and Cowboys' running games.

So then Talon from Muncie, Ind. asked me to "elaborate on the state of NYG & DAL running games."

DG: Well, the Giants were last in the league, Ahmad Bradshaw has chronic foot injuries and Brandon Jacobs had 40 percent of their carries and is now gone. I think it's fair to say the state of the Giants' run game is questionable.

Mark from Los Angeles said he thought Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick "started getting a little lazy" after signing his big contract last offseason and wondered what his state of mind is going into this season.

DG: I don't agree with "lazy" as a characterization of Vick from what I saw last year. I felt all along that the Eagles needed to see some development and maturation from him as a leader, and while he showed some of it late in the year, I don't think he showed enough of it early. I do not ascribe that to laziness, though. I think he works very hard. I just didn't feel that he showed enough improvement in his specific areas of weakness. That could be because he doesn't identify those areas correctly, or because more work needs to be done in them than he or we are willing to admit, or any number of reasons.

And Gavin from Maryland asked how much of an upgrade new Dallas Cowboys fullback Lawrence Vickers would be over Tony Fiammetta, who got a lot of press last year for his role in the run game once DeMarco Murray got hot.

DG: The folks I talked to around the time of that signing all liked Vickers a lot better than they liked Fiammetta. I think by the end of the year, the consensus was that the midseason success of the Dallas' run game was much more Murray than it was Fiammetta, in spite of what some believed while it was happening.

Enjoyed it, as always. Though we didn't hear back from our old buddy Jack from Raleigh. I hope we didn't scare him off.

Last week, former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner did some radio interviews in which he said that, given the dangers that are becoming more and more evident all the time now, he'd prefer that his sons not play football. And former NFL wide receiver Amani Toomer, who was a teammate of Warner's with the Giants in 2004, went nuts on Warner, ripping him for being "disingenuous" and "trashing" the game of football. You can read a summary of that foolishness here.

Now, in case you hadn't heard, Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is now on Twitter -- a development about which everyone in the football world with the possible exception of Jerry Reese and the Reese family is and should be thrilled. Umenyiora decided this morning to weigh in on the whole Warner-Toomer deal. You can read his tweets here on his Twitter page, but this is what he said, tweet by tweet:

"By the Way, Kurt Warner is Right to think how he is thinking about his kids and football."

"Its an awesome game and has done a lot for me, but i know when im 45 there is a strong chance il be in a wheelchair."

"If i can avoid that for my son, i will. But if he wants to play i wont stop him"

"Love Toomer thats my Guy, but he is dead wrong for attacking Kurt like that"

First off, that last one. Umenyiora is 100 percent correct about Toomer, whose reaction to what Warner said was way beyond wrong. Toomer acted as though Warner had been touring the country making anti-football speeches and publishing op-ed articles in major newspapers decrying the game. In fact, all Warner did was answer a question on a radio show and give his honest opinion about his own family. Toomer was so far out of line in his reaction that what he said was a hundred times more troubling than what Warner said.

See, as smart players such as Umenyiora apparently understand, we're in a time and a place in which we need to be having a frank conversation about football and the long-term and short-term safety issues inherent in it. "I would rather my kids not play" is a perfectly rational opinion to have and to express, and no one -- whether they played in the NFL or not -- should feel bullied into keeping such thoughts to themselves. Too often when we talk about football in this country, there is a chorus of tough-guy former players shouting down anyone who dares express something other than the conventional wisdom.

But as Umenyiora suggests, not only is Warner's opinion justified, it's an important one to bring to the forefront of this and all future discussions about the sport. Umenyiora expresses love for the game and doesn't seem to regret his conscious decision to have made it his life's work, but he seems to believe there's a "strong chance" it will land him in a wheelchair at a still-early point in his life. Those are very serious conflicting emotions, and the best way to allow those charged with reconciling them to do so is to encourage an open, honest and frank discussion of the attendant issues. I have no idea whether he's being overly dramatic with his wheelchair comment, but it's obviously something he's thought seriously about, and it's certainly worth considering in light of the current and growing emphasis by the NFL on player safety and the burgeoning awareness of the issues NFL players face in the years that follow the ends of their careers.

It's good to see a player as good and as prominent as Umenyiora -- one who was a teammate of Toomer's -- talking sense instead of talking tough. Because the important thing in all of this isn't whether you want your kids to play football or not. The important thing is that all sides and opinions need to be heard as football potentially confronts and existential crisis. This is about finding solutions, and figuring out the right and sensible way to move forward -- not about whether it's wrong to criticize the game just because you made money playing it. Here's hoping that what we hear from folks like Umenyiora helps folks like Toomer understand what this discussion is really about, and what the proper way is of conducting it.

Good morning, and welcome to another fun offseason week on the NFC East blog. As I promised, I did not stay up to catch Eli Manning on "Saturday Night Live." It's on the DVR, and I will get to it. I understand he held his own. It's all any of us can hope to do during these slower parts of the NFL offseason, after all. Links.

Dallas Cowboys

Rob Ryan says just because Anthony Spencer doesn't get a lot of sacks doesn't mean he's not a great football player. Ryan says he thinks Spencer is a great player, and went out of his way to defend him against accusations to the contrary. We get it. We've heard it all before. And it may all be true. But this is 2012. If you're playing outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense and the guy on the other side of the field is double-teamed on every play and you only come up with six sacks in a season, people have every right to criticize.

The Cowboys are trying to put Dez Bryant through a very structured offseason in the hopes that he doesn't wander off into shopping malls and get into trouble on his own. They believe it's working so far.

New York Giants

Osi Umenyiora has opened a Twitter account, and given the current state of his relationship with the Giants, his dissatisfaction over his contract and the strong possibility of him skipping offseason workouts and/or holding out of part of training camp in protest, it looks like a must-follow.

Ohm's got a review of Eli's performance on "Saturday Night Live," in case you've been missing "Rapid Reaction" since early February and need a fix.

Philadelphia Eagles

Geoff Mosher caught up with Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham, who believes this year will offer him an opportunity to cash in on the promise that led the Eagles to use a first-round pick on him in 2010. Graham says he's healthy, and if he is, he could be a valuable part of the defensive line rotation -- a high-energy addition to a unit that tied for the league lead in sacks in 2011.

And Bleeding Green Nation has a nice interview with Evan Mathis, who was a Twitter phenomenon long before Osi got on there. Mathis talks about his rise from little-noticed free-agent signing to indispensable starting left guard, and apologizes to Eagles fans for calling them "idiots" last year for wanting Andy Reid fired. (To clarify: He's not saying they were right, just apologizing for his word choice.)

Washington Redskins

First-round draft pick Robert Griffin III showed enough in rookie minicamp to win the starting quarterback job for the 2012 season, according to Mike Shanahan. Consider this your latest reminder that the Redskins' 2011 quarterback situation was in need of an upgrade. Truthfully, Griffin won the Redskins' starting quarterback job the instant the Indianapolis Colts selected Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft.

Rich Campbell writes that the next step for Shanahan is to design an offense tailored to the unique skill set Griffin brings -- something Shanahan says he's already begun the process of doing, now that he's had him on a practice field for a few days.

This is the part where I check the mailbag, pick out a few of your questions and do the best I can to answer them before we all get on with our nice spring weekends. I hope you enjoy it.

Joe D from Panama City, Fla., asks why I keep talking about the Dallas Cowboys' need to improve their pass rush, given that they finished tied for seventh in the league in sacks last year.

Dan Graziano: Touché, Joe D. The overall sack numbers were nice -- 42 in 16 games. But when the Cowboys talk about improving their pass rush (and believe me, they do), I think the concern is rooted in the extent to which the responsibility for that aspect of the defense continues to fall on one man. As a team, the Cowboys had 42 sacks, but DeMarcus Ware had 19.5 by himself. And 12 of those came in the first seven games of the season. The concern over the pass rush in Dallas isn't about the overall numbers, but rather on an effort to get Ware some help so that maybe he can see one or two plays a game on which he's not double-teamed and so that he can perhaps avoid seeing his sack numbers drop as the season goes along. They'd like to see Anthony Spencer be a more credible threat from the other outside linebacker spot, or get more pressure on the passer from their defensive line. But on plays when the opposing offense can find a way to account for Ware, the quarterback tends to have too much time to throw. Your point is well taken, but the Cowboys are looking for more players who can help their pass rush bring more pressure from more different spots on the field.

Tramell from Bowie, Md., was rankled by something I wrote Thursday about "question in the secondary" for the Washington Redskins. He likes DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson as the starting corners, thinks Tanard Jackson will be an upgrade over O.J. Atogwe at safety and that DeJon Gomes shows promise.

DG: Even if everything you write is true, Tramell, that doesn't mean they don't have questions to answer in the secondary. Jackson was cut for attitude reasons in Tampa Bay (though they claimed it was for injury reasons), and the theory is that he'll click with former Bucs coach and new Redskins secondary coach Raheem Morris, but we don't know that that'll be the case. I do know that they like Gomes as a starting-caliber safety, but they don't know if he'll be ready for that this year or if he may need some more time before taking on that full-time role. Brandon Meriweather, Madieu Williams... there are going to be a lot of bodies in that secondary in training camp, and I think it's fair to say there are questions about how it will all shake out.

Kenya from NY noticed a mention Friday about the fact that Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd likes his quarterback to call out the protections at the line of scrimmage, and that last year (Mudd's first in Philadelphia) was the first year Michael Vick was asked to handle that responsibility. Kenya wants to know why an offensive line coach would prefer this arrangement.

DG: As I understand it, Kenya, part of Mudd's philosophy is that the quarterback and the line have to function in concert with each other. His offensive line meetings always include the quarterback as an active participant, and having Vick identify the middle linebacker and change the protection if he feels it's warranted is another way of making him feel invested in and aware of what his linemen are doing. In theory, it should help Vick identify throwing lanes and intelligent opportunities to run. But put simply, I believe Mudd likes the quarterback to feel as though the line functions as an extension of what he's doing on each play. Kenya, you also asked whether I believe Vick is good enough to do this, and my answer is yes -- Vick is "good enough" to do anything he wants to do on a football field, as long as he's continually committed to improving and honing his craft as a quarterback.

Kyle from Boston, Mass., wondered what the status is on contract extension talks between the New York Giants and head coach Tom Coughlin, as well as long-term deals for young stars such as Hakeem Nicks, Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz.

DG: The Giants have a deliberate way of doing things, and an order in which things need to be done. There is an understanding between Coughlin and team management that a contract extension will be done, probably between now and the start of training camp. My guess is that it'll be a three-year deal, and neither side is stressed out about it. But when you start asking about the players, you get some sense of why they're not eager to do a new deal with Osi Umenyiora. Already up against this year's cap, the Giants are looking down the road at new contract situations that will need to be addressed. You name a few, and Giants management is obviously aware that they are on the horizon. But you have to prove it in New York -- and for more than one year. Cruz and Pierre-Paul are not near the front of the line for new contracts. Nicks is closer than either of them. Mathias Kiwanuka just quietly got one. They take care of their own cornerstone pieces, but they do so only after (a) making sure that they really are cornerstones and (b) when the time is right. I wouldn't expect to see any extensions for any of the guys you named this offseason. Except Coughlin, of course.

On Thursday, we offered "One big question" for each of our division's teams and took a stab at answering it. If you missed them, you can check them out here. But I get tons of questions, and not all of them are big. So as we head into the weekend, I thought I'd take a shot at answering a couple of smaller, more specific questions I seem to be getting asked a lot these days. Let's do one per team.

Dallas Cowboys: Will they go after Jacoby Jones?

It'd make a lot of sense, for the right price. He's a veteran receiver who can help as a return man. Basically what they need after Laurent Robinson and the 11 touchdowns he caught last season left for Jacksonville. But remember that last year, when No. 3 wide receiver was a question mark, the Cowboys didn't panic. They believed that Jason Witten's pass-catching ability at tight end lessened their need to prioritize that position, and they scooped up Robinson as a late-offseason bargain and got more than they ever expected. If there's competition for Jones, I wouldn't expect the Cowboys to push overly hard. There are still other options, including fifth-round pick Danny Coale and some of the other young guys on their roster.

New York Giants: Will they trade Osi Umenyiora?

This one surfaced with renewed energy Thursday after the news broke that Baltimore's Terrell Suggs was out for the season. The Ravens liked Umenyiora last year and now really could use him, and it's possible they'll call. But I don't see the Giants as motivated sellers. They have Umenyiora under contract for a reasonable price, and they have no fear that his contract situation will be a distraction to the team as it gets ready for the season, because everybody on the team is used to Umenyiora and his contract situation by now. The Giants would have to be blown away by an offer, and I don't expect that to happen. He'll either play for them in 2012 or sit out of his own accord.

Philadelphia Eagles: Do they need a red-zone receiver?

The name of Plaxico Burress has been floated, and he remains a free agent who'd fit the description of the kind of big end-zone target Eagles fans say the team needs. But as with the Cowboys above, I don't see the Eagles going too crazy to bring Burress in. If the price is right, and there's little risk involved from the team's end, sure. But with a running back in LeSean McCoy who rushed for 17 touchdowns last season, I don't think the Eagles feel the need to do anything dramatic to improve their performance in the red zone. When they get close to the goal line, they feel pretty good about their chances to run it in.

Washington Redskins: Who will start at running back?

My money's still on Tim Hightower, but there is that nettlesome little issue of his not currently being on the team. The Redskins have worked at re-signing him, and even if they do he's still going to be recovering from a torn ACL. Second-year backs Roy Helu and Evan Royster showed promise as rookies, but the Redskins' coaching staff isn't yet convinced of either as a full-time starter for 2012. Even if they bring back Hightower, I'd expect them to add another running back or two to the camp mix. And if Hightower goes somewhere else, I expect them to give themselves as many options as possible there, kind of like they're doing at safety.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys are one of nine teams opening rookie minicamps Friday, and the occasion gave Calvin Watkins reason to remember Dez Bryant's rookie minicamp from two years ago -- and to write this post about the big things the Cowboys are expecting from Bryant in this, his third NFL season.

David Moore believes that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has quietly been allowing his son, Stephen Jones, more and more control of the team's day-to-day operations for a number of years now -- mainly because Jerry was so preoccupied with the building of the new stadium for some of those years -- and that Stephen and Jason Garrett are now in charge of most of the football decisions. I can't speak to the Jerry vs. Stephen dynamic as well as David can, but I do think the past two offseasons reflect an increasing level of control for Garrett over roster and coaching staff decisions.

New York Giants

The Giants' rookie camp isn't until next week, but Ohm Youngmisuk's already taking a look at the rookies, beginning with this snapshot of first-round running back David Wilson. The Giants likely have higher hopes for Wilson than do these Scouts Inc. reports, but he'll have to separate himself from that Da'Rel Scott/D.J. Ware mix in the offseason in order to have a role befitting a first-round pick.

Clark Judge thinks the Ravens should call the Giants and do a deal for Osi Umenyiora in the wake of the Terrell Suggs injury. I'm sure they will make that call, and I do believe Umenyiora could play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. But the Giants can and will ask for a lot in return for Umenyiora, whom they control cheaply for next year. They don't fear any distraction he and his contract dispute might bring. They're not desperate to move him. The Ravens are going to need to come strong (possibly with a first-round or second-round pick) if they want to pry him away. Especially because the Giants know they're desperate.

Philadelphia Eagles

Forget last year, Nick Fierro writes. This Eagles' offseason has been so good that the result is a roster that appears to be in better shape than any in memory.

Vince Young -- who spent a weird 2011 season as Michael Vick's backup, started three games while Vick was hurt, and will forever be remembered for foolishly saying the words "dream team" when asked about the Eagles' 2011 run of free-agent signings -- impressed some people in a recent workout for the Buffalo Bills. It's true. I'm told Young didn't throw one single interception during his workout in Buffalo.

Washington Redskins

As the Redskins begin their rookie minicamp Friday, Mark Maske of the Washington Post looks at what type of contract the team will end up giving to first-round draft pick Robert Griffin III, given the CBA's new restrictions on rookie contracts.

In John Keim's latest email report, he checks in with SMU coach June Jones, who says he thought offensive lineman Josh LeRibeus would go in the second round, not the third, where the Redskins picked him. Some people felt the pick was a reach, but due to their zone-blocking scheme the Redskins evaluate linemen a little differently and targeted LeRibeus.

Did the New York Giants get better?

History will make it easy to forget that the 2011 Giants were a 9-7 team that needed to win its final game of the season just to make the playoffs. Sure, they won the Super Bowl, and if you do that it doesn't matter how close you came to not getting the chance. But if the goal is to do it again (as I'm certain it is in the minds of those who play for and run the Giants), then it's fair to assume they'll need more than nine regular-season wins this time. So the question is not whether they've done enough to make themselves better than they were in January and February but whether they've done enough to make themselves better than they were from September to December.

The Giants are incredibly strong at certain key positions, such as quarterback, wide receiver and defensive end. They are wise to prioritize those positions, because in today's NFL, being ultra-strong in those areas can help you cover weaknesses in others. But that's not to say they can allow weaknesses elsewhere on the roster to fester, and that's part of the reason they took a running back in the first round and a wide receiver in the second. Will David Wilson be an upgrade over the 2011 version of Brandon Jacobs? Probably someday but not necessarily right away. Will Rueben Randle be an upgrade over the 2011 version of Mario Manningham? Maybe someday but not necessarily right away. Will the offensive line be better with Will Beatty back at left tackle and David Diehl replacing Kareem McKenzie at right tackle? Depends, in part, on whether Kevin Boothe can play as well as he did at left guard in December and January, and whether David Baas and Chris Snee can play better than they did at center and right guard.

The Giants don't panic, and they shouldn't. They have ample proof that their faith in themselves to replenish the roster and regenerate a contending team on the fly is fully justified. But they have a lot of questions to answer in the offseason and in training camp. They don't know whether Terrell Thomas can come back fully healthy and be the emerging star cornerback he was before last summer's knee injury. They don't know whether Corey Webster can repeat his career year. They don't know who the starting middle linebacker is, or how the alignment will work around newcomer Keith Rivers. They don't know whether Osi Umenyiora is going to hold out. They have questions at tight end, and elsewhere on the offense. The Giants don't know, right now, whether they're better than the team that won the division at 9-7 and then got on a roll and won it all. They've done the best they could this offseason to try to make themselves so, but they don't know yet whether they have.