The Free Agency of the NFL starts in a good two weeks and then many teams are faced with the task of standing up for the new season as best as possible. For some teams, however, this means that your own squad needs general overhaul in certain areas. The Dallas Cowboys are an exciting example of this.
Around a year ago, team owners, President and General Manager Jerry Jones caused a stir when he announced full -bodied that the cowboys were “all -in” for the upcoming season. What followed was a tough offseason with unnecessarily long negotiations with DAK Prescott and Ceedee Lamb about new contracts -both in the end got exactly what their agents had asked for -, neglecting numerous obvious weaknesses in the squad and finally a epidemic season that was missed with 7-10, the mission of the playoffs and the departure of head coach McCarthy ended.
Sure, McCarthy’s departure was foreseeable in the playoffs before the start of the season, but the entire course of the season simply fit into the picture that the cowboys have been handing over for some time. They talk a lot and then let a few actions follow.
This year you don’t want to know anything about “all-in”. Instead, you now want to go to the Free Agency “selectively aggressively”, such as EVP of Football Operations, Stephen Jones, explained at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis/Indiana at the beginning of the week. He also stated that you now want to stuff holes in the free agency in order to then be able to pull the best possible player in the draft when it is your turn.
Cowboys: squad has some holes
What sounds conclusive, however, has a few hooks. On the one hand, there are some holes in this squad – completely detached from the numerous free agents of this team – but on the other hand only limited resources. The cowboys currently have around $ 2.47 million in a Cap Space if you take the forecast $ 279.5 million as the basis with which “Over the Cap” is currently expecting. And that’s not exactly much, especially since the effective cap space is even $ 1. However, this only comes into play in September.
So before the cowboys can become selectively aggressive, they first have to provide Cap Space. If you now remember how versed the Joneses in cap acrobatics, I’m really excited to see how you want to regulate! The previous year showed that they are rather stingy and do not necessarily want to spend real money. In the previous year, they invested around $ 280 million in the team – 13th place in the NFL. If you pull off the over $ 80 million that you have paid to Prescott, then the cowboys would have been by far the last in the NFL in this ranking!
But this text is intended as a guide for the cowboys. And in this respect, they are recommended to approach Prescott’s contracts directly and to restructure them. In view of his Cap number of $ 89.9 million, this seems essential anyway. So what to do? Well, you can convert $ 46.495 million in your annual content (47.75 million) into a signing bonus. This then results in fresh cap space of more than $ 37 million.
You can get another more than $ 20 million out of Lamb with the same maneuver. The bottom line is that you get quite loose – but expensive – to more than $ 61 million of Cap Space. Another millions are possible if you finally give Micah Parsons a new contract. His Cap Number is currently more than $ 24 million. A new (record deal) could reduce this number, especially if you largely pay your salary this year as a signing bonus.
Cowboys: The shoe presses in Run Game
Further tricks of this kind are possible, but are not necessary. However, it is necessary to improve Run Game, which was certainly the biggest problem of the cowboys besides Prescott’s severe thigh injury.
Here we talk about both sides of the ball, i.e. both our own running game and the defense of it. The cowboys, who wanted to concentrate on Run Game according to McCarthy, agreed to a total of 100.3 rushing yards per game (27th place). And now please don’t come to me with the fairy tale of Waiver On Derrick Henry! Henry would not have done a miracle thing with the cowboys, because the cowboys were structurally unable to raise a run game properly.
According to “Next Gen Stats”, the cowboys took 29th place in the league with an average of 0.96 yards before Contact. For comparison: the Ravens were first with 2.27 ybco/attic! It didn’t look better defensive. On average, the cowboys left the fourth rushing yards per game (137.1) and here too it is clear why: they allowed 1,81 ybco/Att, which was the fifth highest value of the league. Even more: Even with the yards after the first contact, they were at most mediocre (3.08, 20th place).
That means: The priority of the cowboys in this offseason should be because of the line of scrimmage better. Revers of reinforcements on the offensive line are needed aggressively, defensively at least once in the defensive line and on line backers. Certainly a running back should also be an issue at some point, but without these basics on the front, a highly traded prospect like Ashton Jeanty from Boise State would hardly get better.
Cowboys: Offensive Line has a lot of space for improvement
Tackle Chuma Edoga Free Agent becomes aggressively while Guard Zack Martin ended his career. Guard Brock Hoffman, in turn, is an exclusive Rights Free Agent. The bottom line has been said that none of the previous O-liners looked particularly good in terms of run blocking. Pass blocking was not much better, although Tyler Smith was still doing best.
At Smith there is also the question of whether he plays the Guard or Tackle after Tyler Guytons Rookie season was rather manageable as a Left Tackle. In general, one could now argue that except for Smith everyone actually seems to be in this group. The problem, however, is that Tackle is neither top -class in the draft nor in the Free Agency this year. The best Tackle options are certainly Ronnie Stanley and Cam Robinson on the FA market. Or does there even lead to a reunion with Tyron Smith after his intermzzo at the jets?
KCS Trey Smith could be available when it comes to Guard, but here is a bidding competition in the house where the Joneses would not go. Will Fries (Colts) and Teven Jenkins (Bears) are more realistic options. In addition, you could take a look at Drew Dalman from the Falcons at Center. Each of these would be an upgrade for a cowboys team whose O-Line is a major problem.
Defensive Tackle Osa Odighizuwa should first be kept on the defensive front. Stephen Jones has already confirmed initial talks. In total, six players are free on the defensive line. The good news here is that the draft class of 2025 is extremely deep in terms of defensive tackles. Reinforcements or at least more options will still be found there.
Is the big solution on the Edge?
It becomes exciting to see how to do with Edge Rusher Demarcus Lawrence. His contract expires and he has always been a top performer, but he is already 33 years old. In the Draft, Edge is quite sparsely occupied this year, in the Free Agency in turn there is a few larger names with Khalil Mack, Josh Sweat and Haason Reddick. Mack is likely to be willing to come at short notice and would certainly be upgrading and a way to continue to use Parsons off-ball, even if defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has excluded this.
And then there would be line backers. Eric Kendricks, brought in the previous year at ex-DC Mike Zimmer, becomes Free Agent and should then be gone again. Memarvion Overhown in turn is a question mark about his capital knee injury in week 14 of the previous season and will almost certainly miss the start of the season. So there is acute need here. An experienced man like ex-Panther Shaq Thompson could be a cheap alternative here, and Dre Greenlaw will probably leave the Niners.
Eagles shooting star Zack Baun is the luxury solution, although there is also a bidding competition here. The chiefs can be viewed in a similar way. Bucs legend Lavonte David will also come onto the market. A tampa departure seems unlikely, but the BUCs are also in cap needs, which is why a door may open.
The cowboys soon have gaps in the receiving corps (Brandon Cooks FA) and on slot cornerback (Jourdan Lewis), but these are positions that should be behind in view of the obvious deficits in the squad. Likewise, the role of the backup quarters behind Prescott, where Stephen Jones indicated that established backups such as Cooper Rush or Trey Lance could be too expensive and therefore a rookie is more suitable.
The cowboys and their new head coach Brian Schottenheimer have their hands full to get this team back on shape. No question. But there are means and ways to plug the most serious holes relatively easily. However, the big question, as always with the cowboys, will be whether they will also take these paths or make it more difficult for themselves than necessary.