For now, it's probably OK to believe them.

But let's wait until we see what they do with the 12 picks they've amassed today because the first day of the draft was just plain weird.

What else would you call it when Jerry Jones, the NFL's biggest wheeler and dealer, decides there's not a single player in the second round of the draft worthy of wearing a blue star on the side of his helmet?

At least there wasn't one worthy when it was time for the Cowboys to pick, so Dallas traded its only selection on the draft's first day to Buffalo for the Bills' picks in the third and fourth rounds.

There will be no acceptable excuses today for the Cowboys failing to obtain every single player they covet because they will control the draft. That's what having two picks in the third round and three picks in the fourth and fifth round s does for them.

They can target specific players and, with the bevy of picks they've accumulated, easily move up and down the board to scoop them up.

The Cowboys entered this draft needing to shore up their secondary since Roy Williams and Adam Jones have been released, backup Keith Davis is a free agent and so many teams use formations with three and four receivers.

The Cowboys also need to improve their depth at receiver since Miles Austin and Sam Hurd have combined to catch 42 NFL passes. While the Cowboys love Austin and they like Hurd, neither has proved anything yet.

The Cowboys entered the second round with several potential candidates, but five of the 21 players they brought in for predraft visits were selected with the first 17 picks of the round.

Uh-oh.

Jerry said the Cowboys found themselves in a situation where there simply wasn't much difference between the players they could pick in the second round and those available in the third and fourth rounds. So they decided to move out.

At one level, it makes sense. There's nothing worse than reaching for players in the draft.

It always leads to disaster.

Remember the 2000 draft? That's the year the Cowboys, who didn't have a first-round pick, needed cornerbacks and drafted Dwayne Goodrich in the second round, Kareem Larrimore in the fourth and Mario Edwards in the sixth.

Goodrich and Larrimore were busts. Edwards, easily the best player of the group, intercepted four passes in four seasons in Dallas before spending a season with Tampa Bay.

At another level, you hope the Cowboys aren't being arrogant - even after a 9-7 season that ended with the 44-6 debacle in Philadelphia.

That's because Jerry didn't seem to think there were many players in the draft who could help this team right away aside from contributing on special teams or third downs.

Well, this team didn't make the playoffs. It has holes. It's not flawless.

It's just hard to believe none of the draft's top 64 players can have an impact on this team. It almost sounds like the philosophy the Cowboys espoused during the 1995 draft. The Cowboys drafted backup players that year because they were so talented, they didn't believe anyone could break the starting lineup and didn't want to pay players to sit on the bench.

That's the draft that brought us three second-round picks: Sherman Williams, Shane Hannah and Kendall Watkins.

quot;You don't want to push players up the board to pick them,quot; Stephen Jones said. quot;If we take solid players and stick to the draft board, we'll be all right.quot;

We'll have to take his word.

But you can never, ever go wrong picking the best player available. The Cowboys should know that.