Even though the NFL season just ended it’s not to worry. The offseason is just as exciting and I’m eagerly awaiting the NFL combine next week. Before long the draft will be here and we’ll all be huddling around with our friends wondering who the new faces on our favorite teams are going to be.

If you’re a Cowboys fan then you’re obviously thinking about life with Darren McFadden in the backfield. Dallas has two first round picks and it’s rumored that they’ll package those picks along with Marion Barber in hopes of vaulting into the top 5 and drafting Jerry Jones’ favorite Arkansas son, Darren McFadden. Jones has close ties to the program and is close friends with former coach Houston Nutt. It’s safe to say that many of their conversations on the golf course, while smoking cigars and sipping scotch, were about the dynamic RB’s talent and how nice he would look in a Cowboys uniform.

Not so fast! We all know that Julius Jones is on his way out of Dallas so there’s no need to involve him in the RB conversation. However, to say that Marion Barber is expendable as trade bait simply because McFadden could be available is foolhardy. Barber has proven himself at the NFL level and reminds me of a caged lion that breaks free whenever he receives the football. McFadden is better running of the edges, similar to Reggie Bush, and hasn’t shown me much in the way of running between the tackles.

One could make the argument that McFadden isn’t even the best RB prospect on his own team. Arkansas running mate Felix Jones is just as exciting and actually averaged more yards per carry than McFadden. The bottom line is that Jerry Jones needs to realize that some things are best left untouched and I would throw a Cowboys backfield which features Marion Barber into this category.

Sad thing is that the buck stops at Jerry Jones’ word; we know Jason Garrett and Wade Phillips have no say in what does and doesn’t happen in Big D. Consequently, if Jones’ delusions of McFadden’s grandeur culminate in this deal going down then I’d be concerned and upset if I was a Dallas fan.