The Dallas Cowboys locked up two important cogs, committing a combined $95 million to keep running back Marion Barber and cornerback Terence Newman through 2014.

Newman signed a six-year extension to his deal worth more than $50 million. The deal includes a $12 million signing bonus and $22.5 million guaranteed for the next three years, according to CBSSports.com.

Barber’s deal puts him in the same class as LaDanian Tomlinson. He gets $16 million in guaranteed bonuses and $7 million a year for the first three years of his deal, which in full, is worth $45 million.

Retaining Newman was a no brainer. He’s the best cornerback on a defense that is pretty good already. But the pass defense, in part due to injuries and in part due to coverage struggles by safety Roy Williams, was exploitable at times last season. The move should help keep Dallas a formiddable fantasy defense in 2008.

The Barber deal is interesting for a couple reasons. First, the Cowboys selected Arkansas running back Felix Jones in the first round, ensuring that Barber will not carry the load alone in his first year as the Cowboys’ starter.

Second, giving Barber that kind of money bucks the trend toward letting running backs go when they reach that level of salary demand.

I love watching Barber run. He’s from my alma mater, he’s always seemed like a classy guy and I love watching him play. And, more importantly, he’s certainly been the team’s best back the past two seasons, despite only starting a handful of games (yes, he started two in 2005 and one in 2006, unlike what you read in most of the write-ups).

But he plays an unbelievably physical style game, which doesn’t bode well for longevity or avoiding injury as a back getting most of the carries. And he’s never been the unquestioned starter, even going back to the University of Minnesota days where he shared time with Laurence Maroney.

This deal shows the Cowboys are committed to making Barber the feature back. But those factors leave me slightly tepid from a fantasy perspective about investing a first-round pick in Barber. If I can grab him in the second-round of fantasy drafts or for a fair price in auctions I’ll do it.

But otherwise I’ll let someone else garner the risk early on or use him as a bid-up guy in hopes of driving the price of a handful of other backs down to a level I am more comfortable with.