round, all phones stood at attention. I mean, you should have seen how many wires were crossing in the war room, who all was calling who around the league, fighting like the dickens to trade back up into the first round. They had no idea if they could.
Then along comes Philadelphia's Jeffrey Lurie, God bless his soul. The Eagles wanted out of the first round. Didn't like anything they saw at No. 26. The Cowboys say, hey Jeff, let's trade places. We'll take your first, here's our second, where you still can get your guy, Kevin Kolb, and we'll throw in our third and fifth to boot.
Deal, Lurie said.
"I hope you can sleep tonight," Jones chided him on the phone from the Cowboys war room as he hung up the phone after consummating the deal, as if he had been pick-pocketed by the Eagles.
And with the 26th pick, the Cowboys did what they were going to do at No. 22: Select Spencer, the pressure player Phillips coveted. Shame on all of you who were accusing Jones of undoubtedly going to turn a deaf ear to his head coach after Bill Parcells departed.
Now that's the wow, the old cake and eat it too double, the war room erupting in high fives and back slaps all around as the Cowboys officials could breath again.
Someone out here is living right.
"There is no gain if you are not taking a risk," Jones said.
Now, better duck, because here come the doubting Thomases for sure. I can just hear it now.
Why didn't the Cowboys draft Quinn?
For six years the Cowboys have been searching for a replacement for Troy Aikman, and now, just when it appears they might have hit the mother lode on one with Tony Romo, not having to spend a first-round pick nor a $20 million signing bonus to get him, and there are those of you who want to change gears? Again?
The Cowboys owe themselves - and you - to find out this year about Romo, and if they don't like what they find out, then they've got two first-round picks to go get a guy next year.
Then there's been, why didn't the Cowboys draft a wide receiver in the first round? They could have had either Dwayne Bowe or Robert Meachem in the first round.
Why, and I have been asking why? So the guy could be no more than a third guy? Maybe even just the fourth?
See here is what happens. You guys see all these mock drafts, and they all - or the majority did - had the Cowboys taking a wide receiver. But again, why, and please ask yourself who is doing all those mocks? They've got Terrell Owens under contract for two more seasons. They've got Terry Glenn under contract for four more seasons.
Yeah, I know they are Thirtysomething. But you know what, the Cowboys knew that when they signed them to these deals, and these covenants shouldn't be entered into cavalierly. They cost.
And they like Patrick Crayton, and think these two young guys, Sam Hurd and Miles Austin, have a chance. Why a first on a wide receiver. Hey, if none of this works, go get you one next year. Guarantee you there will be one or five available again. The only one who won't be is another Calvin Johnson.
Plus did you know there were nine wide receivers taken last year on the first day of the draft, and the only wide receiver drafted last year to start Day One was one Marques Colston - the seventh-round pick of the Saints.
So why a pass rusher? Yet another outside linebacker, the fourth they have taken with either a first- or second-round pick in the past three drafts?
Well, let me ask this: How did you like how the season ended last year? No pressure on the quarterback. Let's see, 34 sacks. Come on, 3-4. That's supposed to be a defensive formation, not the sack total, which the Cowboys have not swelled past 40 since 1994. That's 13 season ago.
So the Cowboys, expecting Greg Ellis back good as new and counting on Bobby Carpenter to still be a player, asked themselves this: "Where could we afford to least lose a player, because we've got to have pressure," Jones said.
Their answer was linebacker. Think about it, and heaven forbid, but what if Ware goes down, just as Ellis went down last year. Would that doom the defense?
Well, maybe not now, or at least they have a fighting chance if this defensive end in
