PRO FOOTBALL NOTES : Cowboys Ready to Deal as Draft Approaches

The Best Little Draft Room in Texas is once again open for business, and the phones are lit up. The Dallas Cowboys have six picks in the first three rounds of Sunday’s draft, and, true to form, Owner Jerry Jones and Coach Jimmy Johnson are busy talking deals. They traded up last year to get the No. 1 pick and then started trading down until they accumulated 17 players in 12 rounds.

What will they do this year? “We have decided we want to test the waters about moving up in the draft,” Jones said recently. “We’re going to talk to the ones right at the top about moving up.”

For the moment, the Cowboys are holding the 13th and 24th picks in the first round. They have talked to the Indianapolis Colts, who have the first two choices, and the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals, who have the next two picks. They have plenty of ammunition, including the Minnesota Vikings’ first three picks as the last installment of the monumental Herschel Walker trade in 1989.

Johnson has made it clear he intends to stock his defensive backfield in the first three rounds and pick up a middle linebacker somewhere in the second. Two outstanding cornerbacks, Wisconsin’s Troy Vincent and Florida State’s Terrell Buckley, figure to go high. Buckley is a spectacular player who makes a lot of interceptions, but he also gets burned more frequently than Vincent, who is in the mold of former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Raiders great Mike Haynes.

It appears Vincent is the guy the Cowboys want. “Both are great cover guys,” Jones said. “I don’t know when there’s been a better-looking player than Vincent come through the draft.”

Vincent is the key for several teams. It’s expected the Colts will take Washington defensive tackle Steve Emtman and either Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard or Texas A&M; linebacker Quentin Coryatt with the first two picks. The Cowboys and Washington Redskins, who have the sixth and 28th picks, have talked to the Rams about moving up to take Vincent in the third spot. The Miami Dolphins, who have the seventh and 12th picks, and the Bengals also have talked to the Rams about moving up to draft Pittsburgh defensive lineman Sean Gilbert third.

Signability is an important factor for Jones. Vincent decided against using an agent, which makes him all the more attractive. His godparents will negotiate his contract with the help of an attorney.

One major problem the Cowboys face in trying to move into the top group of players is that a team up there may not want to trade down as far as the Cowboys’ 13th spot. But whether they get Vincent, it’s certain the Cowboys will find a way to enliven the draft. “We will keep our options open and look for opportunities to trade,” Jones promised.

For the first time since 1961, the Redskins have two first-round picks, and they can thank the generosity of former General Manager Bobby Beathard, who joined the San Diego Chargers two years ago. He was so eager to move up in the second round last year to take guard Eric Moten that Beathard traded the Chargers’ first-round pick this year to his successor with the Redskins, Charley Casserly. Now, the Super Bowl champs have the sixth pick in the draft as a result, and Casserly looks a whole lot smarter than his former boss.

“We liked the concept of two No. 1s, but I had no idea one pick would be the sixth and the other would be 28th,” Casserly said. “I thought we’d have two in the middle.”

Although the Redskins are interested in moving up to take Vincent, there’s an even stronger possibility they will go the other direction. “If we can get a proven young player for a pick, that’s our first choice,” Casserly said. “After that, we’ll just play the draft as it goes. If we feel the best thing is to trade down and pick up multiple picks like the 49ers did in ‘86, we might go that route.”

Former New York Giants Coach Bill Parcells Saturday checked out of the Cleveland Clinic one day after undergoing a successful heart procedure. Dr. Patrick Whitlow performed an atherectomy in which a device was inserted into a coronary artery and$rotated to remove plaque blocking the flow of blood. It was the third heart procedure in the past four months for Parcells, who resigned in May as coach of the Giants, in part, because of health considerations.

Around the league: Some scouts say Houston QB David Klingler developed bad mechanics playing in the run-and-shoot offense, but he anticipates no problems making the transition to the NFL. “Instead of rolling out, I’ll be dropping back, but the run-and-shoot helped with the mental aspect of reading defenses and seeing receivers adjust their routes,” Klingler said. The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to try to trade up from the 20th spot to take him, but they may have competition from the Bengals, Patriots, Browns and Giants.

The Atlanta Falcons have talked to the Colts about a trade for the second pick but were told the price is three first-round picks and WR Andre Rison, who went from the Colts to the Falcons two years ago in the deal for QB Jeff George.

Colts GM Jim Irsay plans to begin formal negotiations with Emtman’s agent, Marvin Demoff, this week. ... One GM said the Colts are unlikely to trade the No. 1 choice to the Rams, who want Emtman, and have said they wouldn’t trade down lower than the fifth spot with the second pick.