There’s been an Emmitt Smith sighting.

A week after he was conspicuous in his absence from ESPN’s television/radio/Internet coverage of the NFL draft, Smith visited the Dallas Cowboys’ rookie minicamp on Saturday to give some pointers to the new players.

Okay, we can’t resist:  “Men, don’t let your strength get debacled.”

The bigger news is the free advice that Emmitt gave to Cowboys cornerback Pacman Jones, who wasn’t at the camp because he’s not a rookie, and hasn’t been reinstated.

“As long as you’re not killing anybody, getting anybody shot at and going to jail, then I don’t have any issues,” Smith said.

So . . . rape, DUI, drug possession/use/sale, bank robbery, burglary, domestic assault, random assault, dog fighting, gambling, providing alcohol to minors, insider trading, and any other crime that falls short of “killing anybody, getting anybody shot at and going to jail” is fine and dandy with Emmitt.

Smith made other comments that make a bit more sense on the matter.  “Your personal life is your personal life,” Smith said.  ”Some of the choices you make are not some of the choices I would make.  As long as you’re out here on the practice field performing like you’re supposed to and not getting into any trouble.  I’m not going to tell you what you should be doing.”

But then Emmitt went back in the other direction.  “Pacman is a grown man.  He understands the do’s and don’ts, the rights and wrongs.  He has choices to make.  Hopefully he starts making better choices.”

Clearly, Pacman doesn’t understand the “do’s and don’ts, the rights and wrongs.”  Or at least he didn’t as of February 2007, when he was involved in whatever he was involved in at the Minxx strip club in Las Vegas, the last of his multiple incidents that drew the scrutiny of police.  Though Jones hasn’t gotten into any trouble (that we know of) since then, he’s yet to persuade us (or, more importantly, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell) that he’ll be able to stay out of trouble on a long-term basis.