The Cowboys are just under a month away from the start of training camp, which will again be held in Oxnard, California. They are scheduled to leave Dallas by plane on July 24th to start camp the next day.

As is the case with nearly every other team in the NFL this off-season, the ‘Boys have some controversy heading into camp this year. From The Player Formerly Known As Pacman, and Ken Hamlin with his yet-to-be-signed franchise tender, to Terry Glenn and his desire to play, but not to play ball. It’s all surfacing across the country, and seemingly, it has to be taking its toll on the team.

Adam Jones actually hasn’t made the news too much lately, not on his own at least, but he has made some public statements about good old’ Imus over at WABC-AM. Don Imus claims that he was making a sarcastic comment about the use of racial profiling among law enforcement, and the fact that he has yet to be fired for his latest on-air commentary indicates that he may have been telling the truth.

It is well known that crime statistics support claims that black Americans are more likely to engage in criminal activity, and that police departments across the country use those statistics to justify harassing anyone of color. Then again, more white men turn out to be pedophiles, so on that logic it would be rational to assume that every white man is a pedophile. Crime statistics aren’t the best reason to say anything, is my point.

I have no idea what Imus meant, but I think he was an idiot for even broaching the subject on air after what happened a while back. I did also hear a rebroadcast of his latest comments on YouTube.com, and what I heard didn’t sound sarcastic.

—–

Then you have Ken Hamlin, and there isn’t really a lot to say about him. He hasn’t signed his franchise tender of just over $4 million for the year because he is holding out for a long-term contract. Sources close to the negotiations say that he wants to be paid top dollar for making the Pro Bowl last year. He was good last year, but I don’t think he was that good; I mean he’s asking for the kind of money that Darren Woodson would deserve given the same salary rates effective today.

—–

The biggest story right now though, is Terry Glenn and his reluctance to sign the split contract that he has been presented with. The contract says that he will only get half a million for the year if he ends up on injured reserve for the same knee problem that kept him sidelined most of last year.

Part of the reasoning behind the split contract is that Jerry Jones gave Glenn a $5 million dollar roster bonus as part of a contract extension before the start of last season. For that large payment, Jones got a few plays out of the player, and nothing more.

The way players are paid makes Glenn’s position on the split contract rather unnecessary. Every week a player is paid a pro-rated portion of their base salary, plus any performance based incentives that are earned, so the full base salary for the year is split up across 17 weeks. If Glenn is able to play three games before landing on IR, then he’ll get the pro-rated portion for those three weeks based on his original base salary for the year, and the split contract will take effect from then on. That means that he’ll get a little over $29,400 for each week, for the remainder of the season.

If Glenn is so confident that he will be able to play and contribute for the whole season, then this shouldn’t be a gamble for him, not like he is portraying it to be. The Cowboys have a right to request protection from his injury considering that they urged him to get corrective surgery last year to repair his knee. He chose to have a surgery that was clearly known to be only a temporary relief.

Many have speculated that if he were to last more than three-quarters of the season before injuring that knee, that Jerry Jones wouldn’t bother with the split contract, and would pay the extra $100,000 or so regardless of Glenn missing a few games; it would be his retirement at that point after all.

Glenn has stated that he is concerned that the team might claim another injury, not caused by his degenerative knee condition, qualified as grounds to put the split contract into effect. My opinion is that Jerry Jones has never shorted a player before, so why would he start with Glenn?

Aside from all of that, I’m hoping for a productive training camp, maybe we’ll get to see what these draft picks can really do, along with healthy corners Terence Newman and Anthony Henry, plus Adam Jones.