The Cowboys wrapped up their first day of mandatory mini-camp with everyone accounted for. That was a nice change. All 90 players were around, but not all were on the field. Oh, and one arrived late with a pretty good excuse. A quick run-down of what happened at Valley Ranch: – Mike Jenkins showed up, as we said he would. The disgruntled cornerback was at the Cowboys facility, doing shoulder rehab and avoiding a fine. What he wasn’t doing was talking. After his people asked for a trade, Jenkins may still be upset about his contract situation. But he didn’t talk with reporters, despite showing up in the locker room a few times. That left others to do the talking […]

This past weekend, we caught up with Cowboys TE Jason Witten while he was doing a charity event at a local Walmart. He spoke about TE Rob Gronkowski’s new contract and why he’s involved with the Boys & Girls Club. But Witten also offered some thoughts on minicamp, which begins today at Valley Ranch. CB Mike Jenkins is already present, and so are a bunch of Cowboys teammates. What is Witten looking forward to? A bunch of things… “We got a long way to go,” Witten told me. “I think we don’t really need any more motivation than we already have because of what happened last year. That last game against the Giants… and really they took advantage of that […]

You’ve probably read a bunch by now about the Saints fighting at practice, as it has drawn some headlines. While the NFL looks into it, the Saints are clear they know the rules to mini-camps and OTAs. But how much does this fight really mean? That was the subject of my NFL.com story that came out today.  I laughed at LB Curtis Lofton’s story about how Falcons coach Mike Smith made him hold hands with a dude he fought a few years back. And I was intrigued by S Malcolm Jenkins talking about how the team actually got into a big fight at a practice before a playoff game last year. No wonder there were such shrugs yesterday. “During practice,” […]

Man, Saints interim coach Joe Vitt wasn’t happy today. Not at all. A day after his team drew some headlines for their fight at practice, Vitt made sure his voice was heard. Loud and clear. His team is trying to do the right thing was his message. This guy just fights for his team…. and it’s kind of awesome to watch. So, I mentioned the Saints fight during my Total Access hit, and then I wrote about it for NFL.com. To some, it led them to wonder whether the Saints would be scrutinized for violating some mini-camp contact rules. Well, Vitt wanted to make one thing clear: Yup, he knows, as the CBA said, “There will be no contact work […]

The Saints begin minicamp today, three days of practices that are open to fans. I’ll be over there to check things out tomorrow after also making a cameo last week. But before I do, there was one thought I wanted to share from my trip to New Orleans, a not-so-shocking revelation that was still a bit shocking. The Saints still think of themselves as a team that can win the Super Bowl. With the bounty suspensions and a truck full of drama, they have an us-against-the-world feel. And with QB Drew Brees unsigned, they face more uncertainty than most teams. But still… Through all this, the Saints are the same confident — maybe cocky — group they’ve always been. The […]