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IRVING – The Dallas Cowboys would have liked to have found another Terrell Owens in the draft this year.

That never happened.

"We're working on cloning right now though," coach Wade Phillips joked after the Cowboys made three picks Sunday with not a receiver among them.

The chatter about trading for Roy Williams, Anquan Boldin or Chad Johnson was just that – chatter. Same with drafting a receiver in the first round or possibly the second round.

The Cowboys briefly contemplated a big move up in the second round to take Indiana receiver James Hardy, who went to Buffalo with the 41st pick, but owner and general manager Jerry Jones could not find an ally in the Cowboys' draft room to get momentum going on a trade.

Receiver was then crossed off the need list.

"When we went into this draft, there was no looking through rose-colored glasses that we were going to solve our second receiver challenge the way we'd like to, offsetting Terrell," Jones said. "That was a little unrealistic because it's so hard to get receivers to play at that level no matter how accomplished they are."

The five trades the Cowboys made Sunday – landing them 2009 third- and fourth-round picks from Detroit and Jacksonville – were made with a receiver in mind.

The Cowboys have six draft picks in the first four rounds next year. Given this team's proclivity for draft-day trading, they could have enough pieces to move up and take a top-notch receiver.

"We just didn't want to push it this year with this not being a deep draft for receivers," executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "You can't make something out of what's not there."

The Cowboys acknowledge the chances of making a deal for one of the aforementioned receivers has lessened with the draft being over, but they are ready if an opportunity arises.

In all likelihood, the same group that ended last year will be the same group Tony Romo has this season – just a year older. Owens turns 35 in December. Glenn, who played only four regular-season snaps in 2007, turns 34 in July and has a cranky knee.

The Cowboys continue to speak positively about what Glenn can do in 2008 but admit there is no guarantee he can return to the 1,000-yard form he had in 2005 and '06.

They gave Patrick Crayton, whose reception total increased for a fourth-straight year in 2007, a $6 million signing bonus, and they like the potential of Sam Hurd, Miles Austin and Isaiah Stanback, a 2007 fourth-rounder.

"I've got to go ahead and say this," Jerry Jones said. "If not between the younger receivers that we've got and Terry Glenn, if you want to say we can pull one out of the hat on campus, as Bill would say, it's possible for us to pull one out of the hat on campus."

If not, there's always next year.