The Official Dallas Cowboys 2010 Off-Season Thread

[Underdog]

What's Left In Restricted Free Agency

Defensive end Marcus Spears signed his one-year restricted tender on Tuesday. With the April 15 deadline to sign offer sheets fast approaching, here are the Cowboys' remaining unsigned restricted free agents:

* WR Miles Austin (first- and third-round tender, $3.168 million)
* S Gerald Sensabaugh (second-round tender, $1.815 million)
* DE Stephen Bowen (second-round tender, $1.759 million)
* DE Jason Hatcher (second-round tender, $1.759 million)
* WR Sam Hurd (second-round tender, $1.759 million)
* S Pat Watkins (original draft choice tender, $1.176 million)
* C Cory Procter (second-round tender, $1.759 million)
* DT Junior Siavii (original draft choice tender, $1.101 million)
* OT Pat McQuistan (original draft choice tender, $1.176 million)
* C Duke Preston (original draft choice tender, $1.226 million)

Defensive back Alan Ball also hasn't signed his exclusive rights tender yet. These are all basic formalities, unless someone like Austin or Sensabaugh gets a bite from another team. Given the lack of restricted free agent movement across the league, that seems unlikely.

Austin Working Out With Personal Trainer

In what might or might not be a move to create some leverage in impending contract negotiations, wide receiver Miles Austin has been working out with a trainer of his own this spring, rather than with teammates in the Cowboys' voluntary off-season program at Valley Ranch.

Austin has remained in touch with his coaches, so the move isn't necessarily seen as one of defiance. It could be that he simply prefers to follow a training regimen of his own choosing this year, as some other players have done. Running back Marion Barber, for instance, is working out at the performance center of former Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson, in nearby Plano.

While Austin could return to the team anytime, he's spent most of the first week and a half of the conditioning program in Los Angeles. Both he and the Cowboys have expressed interest in working out a long-term deal, but the front office hasn't offered further details.

Austin is a restricted free agent, protected by the highest-level tender offer, of first- and third-round draft picks. His deadline to sign an offer sheet with another team is April 15.

Hopefully there's no Austin-related contract drama around the corner...