FanHouse OrlandoScandrick

Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett certainly doesn't speak for everyone who has donned a college football uniform.

But it's a good bet the outspoken second-year pro echoes the sentiment of a large population of current and former major college football players when he questions the motives of those who have accused Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff of excessive workouts.

Current and former Michigan Wolverines players have told the Detroit Free Press that Rodriguez and his staff often held them for 12 hours on Sundays following a game and that summer voluntary workouts were not voluntary at all. Some ask, what's new?

With NFL teams going though OTAs and minicamps this offseason, we look at 10 young players who can make an impact in 2009. These players have five years or less than NFL experience.

"Adam" Pacman Jones, back from rehab and newly reinstated, will play this Sunday for the first time since Week 6. A starter coming into the season, Jones will return punts and play in the substitution packages against the Steelers, which means that rookie Orlando Scandrick will remain the Cowboys' nickel back.

Head coach Wade Phillips didn't want to go into too much detail about his defensive personnel plans, saying "We'll just see what happens ... You never know what could happen." Typical, boring Phillips-speak, right?

Well, it gets better. Via the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon, during his Wednesday presser, Phillips got feisty with an anonymous reporter who asked if the five veterans who missed today's practice would sit out again tomorrow. Wade, voice dripping with sarcasm, answered, "No, we're going to give them off until Sunday."

Reporter: "Well, how much rest do they need? They were off the whole weekend."

Wade: "OK, well, why don't you coach them then?"

Reporter: "Maybe so. I might be in the playoffs by now."

Wade, with a death stare: "Yeah, I'd like to see that."

I have no formal journalism training, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to publicly tell the head coach that you're better qualified to get his team to the playoffs than he is. Not unless you're working in Detroit, anyway.

And in case you didn't notice on first glance: yeah, in the photo above, those are Homer Simpson PJs underneath Pacman's practice shorts. If I had to guess, he swiped them from Phillips' office.

Photo credit: Michael Ainsworth, The Dallas Morning News / AP

A look at the 2007 junior class as players decide whether to enter the 2008 NFL draft.

I don't think Orlando Scandrick, the Boise State cornerback who said this week that he's leaving school for the NFL draft, is going to be a high pick. And I think he could improve his stock with a good senior year.

But I have mixed feelings about whether he made a bad decision, and the reason is that he seems to understand that he's not necessarily a sure thing. His agent, to his credit, leveled with him:

Joe Linta, Scandrick's agent, said he told Scandrick to be prepared to be selected in the sixth or seventh round. Linta said he asked Scandrick if he would be comfortable with being picked that late.

"I wanted him to assume the worst," Linta said. "I did not advise him to come out and I did not advise him to return to school. I was neutral. I wanted him to make sure he was comfortable with his decision."

If Scandrick understands that he could be a sixth or seventh-round pick and is willing to leave school knowing that, well, I guess I say go for it. But I still think he's selling himself short because another solid year of college would improve his stock.

See the full list of 2008 NFL draft early entries.