NFL

'Pacman' preparing for Cowboys debut

Players still suspended, but can play in preseason

updated 8:57 p.m. ET Aug. 6, 2008

OXNARD, Calif. - When it comes to Adam “Pacman” Jones’ status, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is treading lightly.

The still-suspended cornerback can play in the preseason for the Dallas Cowboys, who open Saturday night at San Diego. But the team still doesn’t know when it will find out if he will be fully reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the regular season.

“That’s at (Goodell’s) discretion, and I don’t want to do or say anything that would imply that I’m getting anxious or pushy about it,” Jerry Jones said Wednesday.

Goodell has said only that a decision on “Pacman” would come before the regular season, and could come as late as the week of the Cowboys’ opener Sept. 7 at Cleveland.

Jerry Jones wouldn’t speculate on when he expected to hear from Goodell, acknowledging that the decision “probably will be very late in the preseason.” Jones did say, however, that he anticipated to at least “get a feel” of what to expect before the Cowboys have to cut their roster to 53 players on Aug. 30.

“I’m just guessing that,” Jones said.

Coach Wade Phillips said Wednesday that rookie cornerback Mike Jenkins, one of the team’s two first-round picks in April, would likely start at left corner against the Chargers in place of injured Pro Bowler Terence Newman (groin). Jones has been working primarily on the right side behind starter Anthony Henry.

Jones hasn’t played in a game since the Tennessee Titans’ season finale on Dec. 31, 2006.

“I’m anxious to see him play,” Jerry Jones said. “Candidly, I’m not curious, I have seen what he can do. ... It will be good for him to get into a game, but there is no question what we are going to see in my mind.”

The NFL suspended Jones in April 2007 following an accumulation of arrests and legal problems. He has been arrested six times and involved in a dozen incidents requiring police intervention since the Titans drafted him in the first round in 2005.

Dallas acquired Jones from Tennessee in a long-discussed deal that was finally completed on the first day of the NFL draft in April.

“We’re just doing everything we can do to have an uneventful training camp relative to Adam, and he’s doing his part,” Jerry Jones said. “He’s working his tail off, he’s making it that way.”

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