The Pacman story that just won’t go away heated up again on Thursday, with one Internet site going as far as saying the Cowboys had agreed to terms with the troublesome cornerback who still is serving a suspension by the NFL violating its conduct policy. (I’m told that’s a serious stretch.)
In any event, here’s what happens in the matter of eight hours. The local radio station here, Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket, recognizes the story on air and talks about it during a segment early afternoon. Well, with it out there, The Dallas Morning News has to cover its bases, so it comes up with a story, sourced of course, saying there has been internal discussions about Adam Jones (Did you realize that was his real name?). Now that will really give the story legs around the country on most every Internet site because, thankfully, someone else can take credit (or be blamed) for the story.
Funny this all comes out now, because I just stumbled onto a story today written on March 8 in The Tennessean saying, “The Titans in recent weeks have talked to a number of teams about Jones, and so far the Cowboys have shown the most interest, sources familiar with the situation said.” To me, having dealt with stories like this in the past, that is a veiled way of crediting the story to Pacman’s agent, Manny Arora, who is working in the best interest of his client to land him somewhere should the Titans agree to trade him or simply release him. The paper cited other teams interested, too, including Miami (Bill, Bill, come on), Detroit, Oakland, Kansas City, Houston, New Orleans and New England.
Pacman-to-the-Cowboys also has been given legs by the repeatedly-arrested cornerback himself, insisting he wants to play for the Cowboys every chance he gets. He likes the Star? He likes Wade? Or he thinks because of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ penchant for taking chances on previously bad-news guys, even those who have spent time in jail (See Tank Johnson), this might be his chance to land on his feet with something more substantial than a playing for a third-year minimum of $445,000. The financial offer will always test how badly you want to play somewhere.
OK, so where does this stand? Best we can tell there is nothing imminent, and you probably shouldn’t be holding your breath for that “wow” to be delivered, whichever way you interpret a “wow” concerning Pacman. Has there been some brainstorming over the possibility? Looks as if there has been.
As has been continually reported, and was by The Tennessean back on March 8, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he has no plans to review Jones’ suspension again until closer to the opening of training camps, so mid-July. His agent, Arora, keeps asking the commissioner to do so before the draft. Why?
Because he knows the longer Goodell waits, the less money teams will have available under the salary cap for Jones should he be reinstated. Also, teams seem less willing to throw around next year’s draft picks so far from the draft. He also knows teams can’t wait that long to address their needs, because if Jones is not reinstated they would get caught with their pants down.
Also, would you be willing to trade for a car you’re not sure will run upon arrival? How much would you risk for that possibility?
So brace yourselves. This story isn’t going away anytime soon, so you might as well start aligning yourselves on which side of the fence you reside on this one.