10 weird stories from Cowboys' offseason: Spelling Bee fun, dangerous iPhones and job applications

There is only a matter of weeks left in the NFL offseason (thank God, right?). But the story of the Dallas Cowboys never seems to take a break, no matter the time of year. And when you're the center of attention for 365 days a year, there are bound to be some strange stories surrounding your franchise.

Here are 10 of the strangest stories from the Cowboys' offseason so far.

1. Darren McFadden breaks his elbow trying to catch his iPhone

There are a lot of strange injuries in D-FW sports history but the running back McFadden joined the ranks when, in what was first reported as an effort to stop his brand new iPhoneS from falling and breaking, he ended up breaking his elbow. The injury will keep McFadden out for most of the offseason but there is a chance he will be ready for the season opener on Sept. 11.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing. "I take him just as he said it," Jones said, "that phone had to be saved."

Eventually it turned out the story was too bizarre to be true. McFadden later told The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "I just slipped down and landed on my elbow. My phone was in my hand, and so people kind of put that story out."

2. Lucky Whitehead looking for an offseason job

Whitehead is one of the biggest character on the Cowboys, from his propeller hat to hosting prank contests. The Cowboys receiver somehow got his hands on the Cowboys account one day this offseason to show fans a day in the life. He made a quick stop to Popeyes Chicken and picked up a job application.

Click here to view the tweet on your mobile app.

No word on how Whitehead's job interview went.

3. JaMarcus Russell tries to get a job with the Cowboys

The Cowboys were in the market for a backup quarterback this offseason after the disastrous Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel experiments last year. Though Dallas eventually filled that need by drafting Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott, there was one unexpected applicant for the job -- former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell.

The former LSU quarterback, who famously ate his way out of the NFL, offered his services free of charge in a letter to Jones.

"I don't write this with any preconceived notions of a huge salary or unseating your current starting quarterback," Russell wrote. "I am willing to work my way in and up. I am willing to lead the scout team for free for one year just to get experience in your system. I want to learn the playbook, sit under the proper tutelage and learn from your coaching staff. "

4. Ezekiel Elliott wears a crop top to the NFL draft

Whether it's the NFL or NBA draft, prospects in the green room like to make fashion statements and get noticed as they enter the national stage. The Cowboys' first-round selection Ezekiel Elliott made sure he stood out by rolling up his dress shirt into a crop top, mimicking his look during a number of his games at Ohio State.

The look became so popular that the Cowboys plan on selling half-shirts to fans this season. Just don't expect Tony Romo to wear one anytime soon.

5. Tony Romo goes to war with NFL over fantasy football event

Speaking of the Cowboys' starting quarterback, Romo made some headlines this offseason by getting involved with the National Fantasy Football Convention. Romo and the NFFC got caught up in a series of lawsuits with the NFL as Romo tried to host a fantasy football convention in Pasadena, Calif., from July 15-17 with a number of NFL players. The event had to be postponed because of what the NFFC described as "the NFL's blatant and continued interference."

Romo himself tried to explain what led to the cancellation, but not much of the story makes any sense.

6. Greg Hardy's bizarre ESPN interview

The Cowboys decided early in the offseason not to bring back controversial defensive end Greg Hardy after he was nothing but a distraction and public relations mess in his lone season in Dallas.

Hardy is still trying to find a home in the NFL after his reputation was ruined by an alleged domestic violence situation. To try to clear his name, Hardy did an interview with ESPN's Adam Schefter. He tried to describe himself as the victim of the situation, despite the pictures that were released last season of the bruises Hardy allegedly inflicted on the victim.

"I still suffer repercussions from it, and I fight it on the day to day dealing with the people and family and being a leper of sort. But at the same time as a man you have to take responsibility for every action," Hardy said in the interview.

He also talked about his sideline argument with Dez Bryant and why he made some questionable comments about Tom Brady's wife Giselle while referring to himself by his alter ego "the Kraken."

"I put myself in a situation where I can be attacked. In my head, I'm an entertainer. I don't do interviews, so I do the interviews and I try to be entertaining, and I don't remember my situation while I'm being an entertainer. It's a line that as the Kraken, in five years, it's definitely ingrained, and you know where the line is officially. Two years out, coming back, I couldn't see that line. Being a Cowboy, thinking about cowboys, guns blazing trying to entertain and just make the fans laugh and smile. I got caught up in a situation, and Tom Brady's wife had nothing to do with the situation. She's pretty. She's Giselle. She's famous. Hope she comes, hope everybody comes, is what I said at the end, just to watch me play. It's a result of me putting myself in a bad situation again."

All in all, it was one of the strangest interviews out there.

7. Football, meet Spelling Bee

If ever there were two competitions on opposite ends of the spectrum, they are football and the National Spelling Bee. But the two worlds collided when Spelling Bee co-champ Nihar Janga threw up Dez Bryant's custom celebration "The X" after he earned his share of the title.

Bryant quickly took notice.

We're still waiting on the game, but Janga did get to visit a Cowboys practice and spend time with Bryant and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.

8. Jerry Jones plays doctor

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is many things -- a successful business man, an influential owner and even an actor on rare occasion. But a doctor and scientist, he is not. That did not stop Jones from calling the link between football and brain disorders such as chroinic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) "absurd."

"There's no data that in any way creates a knowledge," Jones said. "There's no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. I grew up being told that aspirin was not good. I'm told that one a day is good for you.... I'm saying that changed over the years as we've had more research and knowledge."

Jones has said some crazy things but he caught a lot of heat for that one. Politifact determined that Jones deserved a "pants on fire" mark for the comment. SportsDay's Kevin Sherrington said Jones' commitment to the NFL's bottom dollar was what was absurd about the Cowboys' owner's comments. And the New York Daily News dropped this cover after Jones' comments.

Jones eventually did attempt to clarify his comments.

9. Dez Bryant exchanges lawsuits with a state senator

Texas state Sen. Royce West was a member of the group the Cowboys formed to keep receiver Dez Bryant out of trouble early in his career. The two became friendly enough that Bryant leased a DeSoto home from West.

But then in June West filed a lawsuit against Bryant after the receiver moved out. Why? Because West spent $60,000 on repairs to a house that he found "littered with trash and feces, missing blinds and shutters, with cracked windows and blackened carpeting," according to court papers. West was seeking between $100,000 and $200,000 in damages from Bryant. You can see some of the alleged damages below.

As if this weren't weird enough, Bryant filed a countersuit this month accusing West of using Bryant's celebrity status to attract endorsement deals.

"West would instruct endorsement companies and others to make payments for any endorsement agreements to (West associated David Wells), not Bryant," the lawsuit states. "Many of these payments stopped at Wells and/or West, but never reached Bryant."

West called the suit, which claimed $200,000 in damages, "frivolous" as he promised to counter with his own legal actions. So looks like this story is just getting started. Grab the popcorn?

10. Careful what you tweet

Many Cowboy fans were relieved when the team drafted Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott to fill their pressing need for backup QBs. But as excited as Prescott must have been when he was drafted by his favorite team growing up, there might have been a moment of panic too. After all, Prescott once sent a tweet criticizing Cowboys QB Tony Romo back when he was a redshirt freshman in college following a loss that eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs.

"I'm DONE taking up for Romo. #hadenough" Prescott tweeted then.

Prescott handled himself well when asked about it at rookie minicamp.

"I'm going to let him bring it up. I think it's funny," Prescott said. "I'm sure he'll think it's funny. I was a frustrated fan at the time. I'm sure you can go back and look at fans of Mississippi State and they may have said something similar at one point or another, so I was just being a fan and now he's my teammate and I'm behind him 100 percent."

Remember the first rule of Twitter, kids: Never tweet.