Michael will be on hand when players report on Tuesday, and he should be ready to practice on Wednesday when the game planning for the Giants is implemented on the field. Predictably, Garrett wasn't ready to elaborate on what that means for his pecking order on the depth chart.

"He just needs to get in here and learn what we're doing," he said. "Again, like with all the new guys coming in, their big challenge is to get acclimated to how we do things, our systems of football."

That should serve as a sufficient warning for anyone who thought Michael would arrive and immediately supplant the established duo of Joe Randle and Darren McFadden. Having said that, Garrett acknowledged that there'll be no shortage of opportunities for all four running backs.

"There's opportunity every day in practice," he said. "We're going to evaluate guys in practice, and if they show that they're worthy of being part of our roster on Sundays, we'll give them a chance to do that. If they're worthy of getting some opportunities to carry the football, we'll give them a chance to do that, as well."[embeddedad0]

The trio of McFadden, Randle and Lance Dunbar would seem to have a leg up, based on familiarity alone. But, as has been well-established, the Cowboys still don't have a definitive lead dog in the mold of DeMarco Murray, who led the team in carries during all four of his seasons in Dallas.

With that in mind, Garrett said it'll be up to the backs, including Michael, to determine the pecking order from here on out.