OXNARD, Calif. - The Cowboys have done a remarkable job keeping up with the Joneses. One left and two arrived this off-season.

An unrestricted free agent, running back Julius Jones signed with Seattle in March, having not received so much as an offer from the Cowboys to return. His diminishing play suggests the No. 21 jerseys weren't exactly flying off the shelves last year, but the Cowboys merchandising department shouldn't expect a rush on Adam "Pacman" Jones jerseys either, as the cornerback took Julius's old number. No reason to run out and buy a new one.

Yes, the No. 21 jersey will look much the same, and the Cowboys will still deploy a Jones-Barber combination on the ground, with rookie Felix Jones backing up Marion Barber. But Julius Jones' departure means the running game, and the backfield personnel, will be dramatically different than it's been since he first arrived in 2004.

"I think if you look at the league, teams change," said running backs coach Skip Peete. "Guys change and move. Losing Julius as an experienced back who's played a lot of football in this league and understands how to play, he'll be missed. But some of the guys we have here are guys that can do things that he didn't do."

One of the reasons the Cowboys are so highly favored this season is the continuity they've established up and down the roster. The team returns starters from 2007 in all but a couple positions, and there's the feeling they've improved at both - Zach Thomas stepping in at inside linebacker, and Barber moving up to replace Julius Jones. While the Notre Dame runner appeared to be a future star early in his career, fans and media had been clamoring for his demotion for a couple seasons as Barber clearly provided a greater offensive spark.

In the playoff loss to the Giants, they got their wish. For a half, the switch seemed to work, Barber going for 101 yards in the contest's first 30 minutes. The ground game slowed in the second half, though, New York limiting the dreadlocked runner to just 28 yards down the stretch. As a result, the much-trusted Cowboys offense stalled. It became apparent with Barber's hard-nosed, punishing style, the team needed to bring versatility and depth to the position.

The versatility came in the form of their first-round pick, Arkansas runner Felix Jones. They then added depth in the fourth round, selecting tailback Tashard Choice of Georgia Tech. He'll battle Alonzo Coleman, a first-year player who was on the team's practice squad last year, for the third-string spot. Whoever emerges will replace Tyson Thompson, who served as a changeup back for three years, but was not given a tender offer even though he was a restricted free agent this off-season.

At running back, youth will be served.

"I'm still coming in here trying to learn the offense," Felix Jones said. "I'm trying to get myself used to being on the professional level, just coming in here and learning the playbook. I believe in coming in with the mindset of having a job to do. You've got to play hard and adjust to the game because it's different."

Choice and Coleman may be competing for the chance to serve as Barber's primary backup. Jones seems to have a role all his own, though. Sometimes in training camp he motions out to the slot receiver spot, or shares the backfield with Barber, the former Minnesota back lining up in a three-point stance at fullback.

Like Jones, Choice said the mental adjustments have been the focus of his first three months as a Cowboy, though his college offense, run by former Cowboys coach Chan Gailey, had many of the same principles.

"It's not too much different," Choice said. "Our playbook in college was pretty extensive. It just prepared me better to understand how the game works - your keys to run the football and picking up linebackers."

While blitz-pickup responsibilities are greater in the NFL, and defenders are bigger and faster, running backs have one of the easiest transitions from college to the pros. Maybe it's fresh legs, or a youthful desire to impress, but guys like Minnesota's Adrian Peterson and countless other successful rookies have shown the leap isn't so tough for runners. Felix Jones said he's seen the path to success by watching Barber, who ranks among the team's hardest workers.

"He's a great runner, a great football player," Felix Jones said of Barber. "All the running backs are younger than him, and we kind of look up to him and mimic what he does as far as off-the-field work and learning in the classroom. It's good to have a mentor like him. You see him out here working when nobody's watching and you take that as something you need to do yourself."

Though there are a lot of moving parts in this Cowboys backfield, the team wanted to guarantee themselves a constant over the long-term. This off-season, they ensured the lesson Barber's work ethic teaches Jones and Choice is a prolonged one, re-signing the Pro-Bowler to a seven-year, $45 million deal.

"I think anybody, if they're going to start, would get excited," Peete said. "I don't know if his role is really going to change much from the playoff game."

And while Barber's blocking escort, fullback Deon Anderson, did start four games in 2007, he was just like Jones and Choice at this point last year, a wide-eyed freshman trying to prove himself. Making the roster primarily as a special-teamer last year, an injury to starting fullback Oliver Hoyte gave Anderson a chance, and he never looked back. He won Hoyte's job with his solid play, but a shoulder injury ended his own season. Anderson will help if he can play like last October.

Choice should assimilate quickly.

Jones brings a new wrinkle to offense.

And Barber will keep running strong, now as the starter.

Two arrivals and two promotions equal four considerable changes. And it's all happening in the Cowboys backfield this season, where the theme is New Beginnings.

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