Before the action really ramps up at this week’s combine in Indianapolis, let’s round up a few links from out of the NFL’s two East divisions….

• Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones doesn’t think that quarterback Tony Romo is at the end of the line, as Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News writes. “I still think Tony has a lot of time left, personally,” Jones said.“I heard him say anywhere from four to five years, so that’s a long time.”
• The Cowboys will approach the free agent market intent on maximizing the return on their investments, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll target top-of-the-class players, writes Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com.
• Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com runs down five things to look for in the NFL combine from the Patriots‘ perspective. New England is unlikely to take a skill player high in the draft and they’ll probably target offensive and defensive linemen. On the o-line, he identifies Andrus Peat (Stanford), Cedric Ogbuhei (Texas A&M), and T.J. Clemmings (Pittsburgh) as some of the names to watch. For defensive linemen, meanwhile, he highlights Malcom Brown (Texas), Jordan Phillips (Oklahoma), Michael Bennett (Ohio State), and others.
• Paul Schwartz of the New York Post looks at some of the players the Giants will have their eye on at the combine. The Giants could be in the hunt for a safety and Shaq Thompson of Washington is one intriguing option. The 6’2″, 231-pound force profiles as a safety but wouldn’t look out of place at linebacker either.
• The Eagles have hired former Jets assistant Brian Smith as their assistant linebackers coach, the team announced today (via Twitter).

Luke Adams contributed to this post.