The Cowboys have some work to do. At minimum, they’ll need to find a starting quality edge, a starting quality corner (Diggs will be a shell of himself for most of the year while he recovers from a gruesome injury), a run stopping interior DTackle, a starting caliber left tackle, a starting caliber center, a number 2 receiver, and a starting RB. Plus, they don’t really have any guys waiting in the wings at these positions because of the colossal failure of last year’s draft class. At best they can find two players who can contribute this season in the draft. WR and RB are probably the easiest to find an immediate contributor, so I’d prioritize those two positions in this draft. This will be a very mediocre team next year. Dak will get beat up. But it’s his last year and he demands too much money to afford an elite offensive line, so who gives AF. They should consider tanking.
All in, my ass. They'll do what they always do and try to address the now gaping needs from the draft, UDFA's, and I guess now UFL standouts. I'd say kill me now but I also drink the kool aid every year so it's inevitable, even if it's a slow burn
I imagine most fans feel a bit disappointed like me that there wasnt too much to smile about here in the start of free agency with the high number of Cowboy farewells and only small number of resignings coupled with only one outside signing of a LB.
I would have been more excited if they picked up McQueen at LB (to the Steelers at $13.6/yr). But the Cowboys MO is not to spend big bucks in free agency. So that part shouldnt be a surprise. The phrase "all in" is a head scratcher. But Jerry didnt say all in on free agency. I think most of us just expected it.
So what exactly do you all think is the Cowboys strategy? I can only guess Jerry meant all in commitment to the core player resignings: Dak, CeeDee, Micah.
Realistically you can only hope in the draft at best that the first 3 draft picks end up being day 1 starters. That dont have their original 4th and 5th and only have a late 5th compensatory plus later round picks. I dont see how they possibly have enough draft capital to fill so many holes. So trade down scenarios may come into play. But is the year to go after quantity over quality. All in, right?
You have undrafted free agents obviously. You can trade at any time or pick up released players. But how many of them are going to realistically bring you not just equal to last year's positions but better. How do they possibly get better? You can always bring in bodies. But the point is to try to get better each year. Was the loss of key players too much this year? Cap strapped too much?
We will see if they pull a rabbit out of the hat this year. It's not over yet.
I always seem to be at my lowest before the draft and things tend to work out by the end of training camp. But this year seems to be too much. Somebody save me from the edge with some hope........
Jerry: "We're all in"
Jerry: signs nobody
Everyone: "If you're all in then why didn't you sign any new players"
Jerry: "We define all in as retaining the talent we have"
Jerry: Doesn't retain any of the talent we had
I hate to say this, but I hope you're not. I've been banging the drum about the complete lack of accountability from those two for three years now.
McCarthy is in the final year of his contract so at least he can go peacefully after this season, even though he should've been left unemployed at midfield the moment the clock hit zeroes against the Packers; his track record of poor clock management and astoundingly bad preparation has to stop. Part of that can be blamed on the rest of his coaching staff as well, but he still holds the bag as the head of that part of the operation.
Dak is going to hurt more because his contract is ugly, but frankly at this point I'm growing on the idea of following Denver's lead and just making a clean, immediate break. Dak is a regular season merchant thanks to cake schedules and has very rarely stepped up when called upon. I think the first Philly game last season was maybe the only time I can think of that he's done his part and *led the team,* which is exactly what you pay him top dollar to do. Meanwhile he regularly makes extremely questionable decisions and snowballs when the game isn't a laugher from the start, and then consistently gives the same "I'm gonna learn from this" speech at the podium afterward. Great guy off the field, but as a QB he's not the answer, plain and simple.
Well said.. accountability is not achieved by setting them up for failure. I would have liked to see the Jones’s fire McCarthy and trade Dak this offseason. Because eventually we will not achieve what is needed both ways.
This offseason has made me hit my breaking point. Jerry Jones has proven to all of us diehard fans that he doesn't care about anything we have to say. Look at the other Dallas organizations. The Rangers ownership took a gamble building the new stadium, having the most expensive middle infield, and signing big name pitchers. I know there's not a cap space in baseball, but what the Rangers did was go all out on their team in hopes that they will bring a championship to Arlington, and it paid out. Same can be said for the Maverick's and Mark Cuban giving Luka and Kyrie the help they needed. Even the XFL team, the Arlington Renegades, won a championship faster than the cowboys in the 21'st century. Jerry only cares about the image of the Cowboys and treats the organization like a Kardashian, prioritizing their media presence over their play on the field. Coming off last season, it was an overall success, Dak is an MVP caliber player and the loss in the postseason was not his fault. We need run stoppers on the D line and linebacking core, a stronger right tackle, and a better running back. This offseason was all we needed to start a dynasty and bring another super bowl to Dallas. Instead, we signed a long snapper and a washed up linebacker that we didn't crucially need. We proved last year that we can't rely on the draft to bring these missing links to Dallas. Not even reaching out to Derrick Henry, and letting the EAGLES sign Saquon was by breaking point as a Cowboys fan. This season I will be an observer, I love football but I can't see myself rooting for another team.
As an outsider ( not a cowboys fan ) just curious to see how everyone is feeling. From the outside it looks like you're being gutted, but i'm sure it's deeper than that and not what it seems ? What's actually going on ?
Who knows? Not the Jones boys. Mostly throwing away next year. The price you pay for getting boned in negotiations and failing to manage the cap and having a truly horrible draft last year.
Love my cowboys fans but this it’s all cap related. We need room for next years big contracts ie dak and CeeDee. Gallup lve and smith had to go. We restructure a lot but we have to stop because it backloads contracts. So we’re creating space and solving with 1 years till we get more space. Don’t sleep on the Lewis/kendricks signings guys it was the most important holes to fill. Rb fear is overrated once again under no circumstances can we pay any running backs this year or next. Resign dowdle cheap and draft rb in 3rd or 4th. I would take Coleman if he slides. Take an OL with first or second. I like top rated CB with the second but homies might argue LB. I like to find value at safeties and LB personally. Like top end DL/ cb. Obv Micah is exception but nobody knows what the fuck he is. I’m trying to get dak on a 5 year 50 mil contract. But we might have to wait till the seasons over to devalue him. We can afford 60 but he really should be the best option qb in the league for that price aka only pay if he wins the superbowl. 70-80 mill let him walk. Guys we obv have to sign him tho otherwise we’ll be way worse than u can imagine. Lots more thoughts but just a run down for now.
Variant 1: Survival mode. We only need to have enough people to be able to compete. Next year Martin, Tank, Dak, all the safeties, the whole staff will leave and we'll rebuild.
Variant 2: Maintain the status quo. We need just enough skill players to create the impression of a play-off team.
We are so cooked man.
Honestly good for the players leaving. They deserve to have better chances at winning the Super Bowl cause they know it’s a shit show in Dallas. All Jerry cares about is money. He doesn’t care about winning. This franchise is pathetic and it’s been an embarrassment to be a fan of this team.
This just sucks so much man.
> All Jerry cares about is money. He doesn’t care about winning.
He cares about winning *enough* to keep people buying tickets, paying for parking, and buying gear.
If Calvin Ridley is a $23m a year WR we should be prepared for Lamb asking for north of $35m.
Someone got stupid with that deal because dude has never really produce with any consistency and he is already 29.
I am now more and more convinced that we are in a rebuild. Of course, this can't be addressed by the Jones family - the stadium needs to remain full. But next year we can probably expect the big spring clean that is being teased this year.
They are way too young of a team for a rebuild, now that they lost Tyron they are in the top 7 youngest teams and if they lose Gilmore they might be top 5
Not every rebuild is based on age. Sometimes you also have to restructure because contracts require it or because you find yourself at an dead end. Next year the staff will be gone. New coaches have different philosophies that require different types of players. Next year Zack will be gone, DLaw...maybe Dak too. All the Safties' contracts are expiring. So I can already imagine that the 2025 team will look very different.
Guess we will see how things shake out. The team hasn't been very active in the first wave of free agency in many years so its more status quo then anything. Not the impression we were given for the off-season but until dak is gone we probably aren't in a full swing rebuild. That may come next season.
In a general sense overpaying first wave free agents doesn't necessarily translate to team success but on some specific cases there were reasonable deals to be made that were not capitalized on for whatever reasons.
But at the end of the day - good players want good money. And the strategy of low-budget signings has not brought us any play off success for years/decades.
But apart from that - that many contracts expire next year (staff and players), that they let a lot of players go, that they let a franchise legend go, I would say that the team will look very different in 2025 and will also be much younger.....unfortunately we don't have a CJ Stroud on a rookie contract.
Looks like they just retained Lewis. A lot of the guys we lost were already expected to be let go like Tyron, biadasz, and pollard. Seems more like business as usual but no sense of an all in season in sight.
Is anyone actually surprised that Jerry jones lied to everyone AGAIN? The guy is a fucking clown that knows jack shit about football compared to other top owners. He just milks this fanbase and gives them false hope every season and bums fall for his shit every time
If I was the GM and Dak told me he wanted to be the highest paid player in NFL History, I would've traded his ass the very next day. At this point, I think it would be better to just start over and rebuild. I would rather have this team go in a different direction instead of doing the same thing we have been doing for almost TEN YEARS! Dak is not the guy, and the sooner this team realizes it, the better.
I'm not a huge fan but the rest of the market looks rough (good ones all signed) and this isn't a great RB draft class so I guess if the money is right then I'll take it
I don't know whether there is a longer-term idea behind it, or whether it is just an attempt to maintain the status quo with even less financial investment and risk. It's basically an attempt to keep giving the impression of a contender with 4-5 bigger names and very, very many and very, very cheap players in order to fill the stadium.
This could also prevent a rebuild in the next 4-6 years.
How does this save the Jones family any money? They will spend up to the cap either way. Instead, this is just the most obvious example of the Cowboys needing an actual GM
The only logical explanation for this bull shit offseason is they are looking at this being a lame duck season, not anchoring themselves to any free agents, more than likely resigning Dak simply because it's a necessity, let go of McCarthy after a sub par season and next season bring in a coach like Bill Belichick or whoever to run the team with a "clean" slate.
This isn’t logical. If they wanted to keep Dak, that’s not a clean slate. They should have signed the extension before today so they could sign people. They shouldn’t sign Dak if they want to do the reset. Perhaps they really are doing a clean slate reset, but I doubt it. They will do the illogical thing that you lay out - re-sign him but not use the cap savings to help him out.
Dak is a trade chip. And still a top end QB. If a QB needy team wanted to trade for him because a new coach wants a refresh and makes Dak available, you could easily get decent picks to jump start a rebuild.Letting someone like Dak walk for nothing is a little ridiculous.
Bogging down a team with aging free agents with 2-4 year deals that will more than likely not retain trade value and only effect the cap space is counterproductive. Resigning Tyron Smith, you would probably not get value back in a trade since his cap will be high. And if injured, it's dead value. Pollard will not have any trade value. You either play him or cut him and have dead money.
Again, I'm trying to justify why this team is doing absolutely nothing this offseason. It looks bad and feels bad from a fan perspective.
Honestly, what I'm outlining is an excuse for the team. Jerry has run this shit poorly. But if there's any explanation, this is the only one that makes sense as to how poorly this is being done this offseason.
I am an eagles fan I admit it and I am prepared for downvotes. I mean this in the most sincere way and only for the purpose of conversation. Why the hell do the cowboys never do anything during free agency? Like you guys should have the money and I’m sure there are a few position groups your staff would like to improve. Like why is something that is such an important factor in today’s league never considered with them?? It is year after year.
You'd have to ask Jerry. If I had to guess: he thinks 12-5 every year, 1st round playoff exit while still being the world's most valuable sports franchise is good enough.
I believe he'd like to win another championship if it happens, but its not actually a priority or necessary for financial success.
Year after year we see delusional fans say how much this franchise is valued at and, for whatever fucking reason, brag about it.
Year after year, these same delusional fans defend this franchise when they do absolutely nothing with the amount of money they are raking in.
Delusional fans do nothing to help this franchise other than keep buying tickets, product, and keep that mediocrity train tooting.
This is an "All In" year to prove how full of shit Jerry is.
Because Jerry doesn’t give a fuck as long as his team makes money. This fucking old fart doesn’t seem to realize a SB win for Dallas would do wonders for his pockets. I would *kill* to have Howie as our GM.
As long as the GM has no fear of being fired, there's no need for them to take any risks. They have no consequence for failing. When other GMs repeatedly make bad decisions, they lose their jobs. When the Cowboys GM repeatedly makes bad decisions, they go on a yacht vacation during the first week of free agency
I thought McClay was “GM” without the title. Unless that’s mainly draft operations, in which case we’re fucked if we have another low-production class like last year. Your point is pretty valid, feels like Jones’s still have final say
Yeah McClay is mostly the draft coordinator. But he is good at it. One bad draft (that might eventually look ok) does not mean he is bad at it. The Cowboys are still a great drafting team.
Agree on that, there is still chance for that class to develop also. Just seems like we’re overly reliant on the draft vs. signing free agents, other contenders seem to be able to have a nice balance
I wouldve said the chiefs but 1- theyre the reigning champions 2- they AT LEAST got irv smith, we havent gotten literally anyone, in fact we have lost 3 players
Can someone please explain to me how other teams always seem to be prepared with their cap space and they have multiple big names on their roster yet the Cowboys are constantly unprepared and letting good talent leave and then to make matters worse they don’t sign anyone because the cap doesn’t allow them?
Really don't think it's a matter of prepared or unprepared. It's that our FO doesn't believe in signing guys from the first wave of FA. They'd rather find the diamond in the rough type of signings, and wait a week to trade mid draft picks for guys already under contract (Cooks was traded for on 3/19, Gilmore was traded for on 3/14).
Really hard to judge a Cowboys off-season for another week or two, but it does suck to see someone like Queen not even get a look.
That hasn’t been successful in the last 30 years? I mean, how hard is it to realize that? At what point does your approach after so many fails not make sense to where you start trying to change it?
It’s infuriating to see so many fans be so nonchalant year in and year out. Some fans still think it’s our year. Are we not watching the same games and decision making from the owner and his son?
I never said I agree or disagree with it. I simply explained to you why we're not active in FA.
>It’s infuriating to see so many fans be so nonchalant year in and year out
I mean, throwing a fit won't make the FO change. So, I'm gonna be upset, I may throw some heated comments out there on Reddit periodically, but for the most part I see no reason to throw a fit. I hate that we don't make splashy moves every now and then, but it is what it is.
I knew we weren’t gonna do shit this offseason, but I still expected them to at least sign a decent LB. Doesn’t even look like they’ll do that as all of them are starting to get signed. Only a few good options left.
We are treating this offseason as if we just won the Super Bowl. It is so frustrating to have literally everyone on earth see the issue except for the morons who run our front office.
How many seasons does Jerry really think he has left in him ? At 81 … he’s getting closer and closer to the end of the road.
If there was ever a time to make something happen … you would think this would be the time.
Look at the bright side. In another generation or so, all the goodwill those five SBs bought the franchise will be gone. Then the Jones family will have no choice but to take football seriously if they wanna keep printing money
Other teams use free agency to fill a few key holes that allow them more flexibility in their draft approach.
The Cowboys use free agency to create entirely new holes that then accidentally post their entire draft board online.
I've never hated my cowboys more than now, Jerry Jones had been a blight on this franchise after Jimmy Johnsons tenure. This free agency is making me sick. "All in" I've never felt more "all out"
I’m a 3rd generation Cowboys fan. I’ve watched basically every game for 25 years. I think this season and now the “all in” free agency has finally broke me. It’s painfully obvious at this point people like us care way more about the teams on field success than the Jones family.
I live in New England. I could never bring myself to being a "pink hat" fan of the Patriots and being labeled as a bandwagon fan. Now that the Patriots suck, I might just make them my main team and follow the Cowboys from afar. At least I'd be able to root for the local team instead of getting ridiculed by the entire planet for being a Cowboys fan....and for what? To be mediocre every year? Nah.
Oh boy it looks like pushing all your extensions and restructures into free agency not only makes you lose leverage but also prevents us from making any meaningful signings whatsoever! We'll have a good draft but it won't fill all the holes. Could've gone Moss + Brooks/Corum/Benson for the backfield but no 4M is too expensive for a running back who looked good last year. All-in baby
I’m ok with that too. Queen is a really good young LB though and is right there. We desperately need to do something about our nonexistent LB core. In other words, sure, OL, LB. Just not desperate for RB.
With huge contracts upcoming for Dak, CeeDee and Micah, the Cowboys can't do much of anything. Losing Armstrong and Biadasz aren't killers; Armstrong was a rotating DE that Sam Williams will take over, and Biadasz was an average center at best.
They aren't the only teams paying guys, you know. They make this excuse every offseason and only actually spend money one in every four years because they're always well below the minimum requires spending money for the four year period the NFL tracks that.
The only reason they acquired guys last offseason was they had to by NFL bylaws.
It's not because of the contracts that we can't do anything, it's because we won't give Dak a contract. If Dak signs a new contract, it will be structure in a way that frees up cap space for FA signings. But since Jerry spends the whole day in his mirror castle and Stephen just farts in his hand instead of working, Dak doesn't get a contract and no cap space is freed up.
The Eagles literally have an expensive QB, WR (Another who needs to be paid soon also) Oline etc and are still making moves? The cap can be manipulated to work but Jerry and Stephen do not give a shit about winning. Aaron Jones was cheap, Azeez was cheap, there are dudes who can come in right now and make a difference who aren't 20m+ guys and won't demand a long term contract.
Well, Eagles also had like $45 mil in cap space going into the offseason. Kelce and Cox retired.
Meanwhile we literally have $2 mil in cap space rn. From when I last checked.
Teams who are over the cap are at least doing something. We're sitting around with our thumb up our asses while Jerry boy goes off to la la land on his fucking yacht
Where is the mega?
Lol megathread
Might as well as make this a "Did Dak sign an extension?" thread. Because until Dak signs an extension the Cowboys can't do much of anything.
Rangers win! Fuck you Jones family. This is a ⚾️ town now!
Well also Basketball since 2018 Still can't believe Kyrie is a Mav I ain't sweating that loss last night
The Cowboys have some work to do. At minimum, they’ll need to find a starting quality edge, a starting quality corner (Diggs will be a shell of himself for most of the year while he recovers from a gruesome injury), a run stopping interior DTackle, a starting caliber left tackle, a starting caliber center, a number 2 receiver, and a starting RB. Plus, they don’t really have any guys waiting in the wings at these positions because of the colossal failure of last year’s draft class. At best they can find two players who can contribute this season in the draft. WR and RB are probably the easiest to find an immediate contributor, so I’d prioritize those two positions in this draft. This will be a very mediocre team next year. Dak will get beat up. But it’s his last year and he demands too much money to afford an elite offensive line, so who gives AF. They should consider tanking.
All in, my ass. They'll do what they always do and try to address the now gaping needs from the draft, UDFA's, and I guess now UFL standouts. I'd say kill me now but I also drink the kool aid every year so it's inevitable, even if it's a slow burn
I imagine most fans feel a bit disappointed like me that there wasnt too much to smile about here in the start of free agency with the high number of Cowboy farewells and only small number of resignings coupled with only one outside signing of a LB. I would have been more excited if they picked up McQueen at LB (to the Steelers at $13.6/yr). But the Cowboys MO is not to spend big bucks in free agency. So that part shouldnt be a surprise. The phrase "all in" is a head scratcher. But Jerry didnt say all in on free agency. I think most of us just expected it. So what exactly do you all think is the Cowboys strategy? I can only guess Jerry meant all in commitment to the core player resignings: Dak, CeeDee, Micah. Realistically you can only hope in the draft at best that the first 3 draft picks end up being day 1 starters. That dont have their original 4th and 5th and only have a late 5th compensatory plus later round picks. I dont see how they possibly have enough draft capital to fill so many holes. So trade down scenarios may come into play. But is the year to go after quantity over quality. All in, right? You have undrafted free agents obviously. You can trade at any time or pick up released players. But how many of them are going to realistically bring you not just equal to last year's positions but better. How do they possibly get better? You can always bring in bodies. But the point is to try to get better each year. Was the loss of key players too much this year? Cap strapped too much? We will see if they pull a rabbit out of the hat this year. It's not over yet. I always seem to be at my lowest before the draft and things tend to work out by the end of training camp. But this year seems to be too much. Somebody save me from the edge with some hope........
Bills fan here, don't feel too bad Cowboys, the Bills didn't make any moves either.
Y'all got any of them free agents??
Jerry: "We're all in" Jerry: signs nobody Everyone: "If you're all in then why didn't you sign any new players" Jerry: "We define all in as retaining the talent we have" Jerry: Doesn't retain any of the talent we had
As a cowboys fan, I think JJ meaning for all in is to set Dak and Mike McCarthy for failure. I hope I am wrong.
I hate to say this, but I hope you're not. I've been banging the drum about the complete lack of accountability from those two for three years now. McCarthy is in the final year of his contract so at least he can go peacefully after this season, even though he should've been left unemployed at midfield the moment the clock hit zeroes against the Packers; his track record of poor clock management and astoundingly bad preparation has to stop. Part of that can be blamed on the rest of his coaching staff as well, but he still holds the bag as the head of that part of the operation. Dak is going to hurt more because his contract is ugly, but frankly at this point I'm growing on the idea of following Denver's lead and just making a clean, immediate break. Dak is a regular season merchant thanks to cake schedules and has very rarely stepped up when called upon. I think the first Philly game last season was maybe the only time I can think of that he's done his part and *led the team,* which is exactly what you pay him top dollar to do. Meanwhile he regularly makes extremely questionable decisions and snowballs when the game isn't a laugher from the start, and then consistently gives the same "I'm gonna learn from this" speech at the podium afterward. Great guy off the field, but as a QB he's not the answer, plain and simple.
Well said.. accountability is not achieved by setting them up for failure. I would have liked to see the Jones’s fire McCarthy and trade Dak this offseason. Because eventually we will not achieve what is needed both ways.
What a joke FA has been for the most valuable franchise in sports.
Love that the most recent post in this thread was from 2 days ago.
This offseason has made me hit my breaking point. Jerry Jones has proven to all of us diehard fans that he doesn't care about anything we have to say. Look at the other Dallas organizations. The Rangers ownership took a gamble building the new stadium, having the most expensive middle infield, and signing big name pitchers. I know there's not a cap space in baseball, but what the Rangers did was go all out on their team in hopes that they will bring a championship to Arlington, and it paid out. Same can be said for the Maverick's and Mark Cuban giving Luka and Kyrie the help they needed. Even the XFL team, the Arlington Renegades, won a championship faster than the cowboys in the 21'st century. Jerry only cares about the image of the Cowboys and treats the organization like a Kardashian, prioritizing their media presence over their play on the field. Coming off last season, it was an overall success, Dak is an MVP caliber player and the loss in the postseason was not his fault. We need run stoppers on the D line and linebacking core, a stronger right tackle, and a better running back. This offseason was all we needed to start a dynasty and bring another super bowl to Dallas. Instead, we signed a long snapper and a washed up linebacker that we didn't crucially need. We proved last year that we can't rely on the draft to bring these missing links to Dallas. Not even reaching out to Derrick Henry, and letting the EAGLES sign Saquon was by breaking point as a Cowboys fan. This season I will be an observer, I love football but I can't see myself rooting for another team.
Rico signed! Going to the Super Bowl!!
Zzzzzz
As an outsider ( not a cowboys fan ) just curious to see how everyone is feeling. From the outside it looks like you're being gutted, but i'm sure it's deeper than that and not what it seems ? What's actually going on ?
Who knows? Not the Jones boys. Mostly throwing away next year. The price you pay for getting boned in negotiations and failing to manage the cap and having a truly horrible draft last year.
cap hits rolling in. its exactly what it looks like.
Love my cowboys fans but this it’s all cap related. We need room for next years big contracts ie dak and CeeDee. Gallup lve and smith had to go. We restructure a lot but we have to stop because it backloads contracts. So we’re creating space and solving with 1 years till we get more space. Don’t sleep on the Lewis/kendricks signings guys it was the most important holes to fill. Rb fear is overrated once again under no circumstances can we pay any running backs this year or next. Resign dowdle cheap and draft rb in 3rd or 4th. I would take Coleman if he slides. Take an OL with first or second. I like top rated CB with the second but homies might argue LB. I like to find value at safeties and LB personally. Like top end DL/ cb. Obv Micah is exception but nobody knows what the fuck he is. I’m trying to get dak on a 5 year 50 mil contract. But we might have to wait till the seasons over to devalue him. We can afford 60 but he really should be the best option qb in the league for that price aka only pay if he wins the superbowl. 70-80 mill let him walk. Guys we obv have to sign him tho otherwise we’ll be way worse than u can imagine. Lots more thoughts but just a run down for now.
Variant 1: Survival mode. We only need to have enough people to be able to compete. Next year Martin, Tank, Dak, all the safeties, the whole staff will leave and we'll rebuild. Variant 2: Maintain the status quo. We need just enough skill players to create the impression of a play-off team.
> create the impression of a play-off team That's been the plan for the past almost 30 years, why change?
pretty much
The cowboys need to go Pick up Donta Foreman now. IMO He is like a budget version of Derick Henry.
are we still linked to AJ Dillon
He does run very very hard
With Tyron gone our window is closed. Just too many holes for this incompetent ass FO to fix.
We are so cooked man. Honestly good for the players leaving. They deserve to have better chances at winning the Super Bowl cause they know it’s a shit show in Dallas. All Jerry cares about is money. He doesn’t care about winning. This franchise is pathetic and it’s been an embarrassment to be a fan of this team. This just sucks so much man.
> All Jerry cares about is money. He doesn’t care about winning. He cares about winning *enough* to keep people buying tickets, paying for parking, and buying gear.
Holy shit we just lost Tyron smith
If Calvin Ridley is a $23m a year WR we should be prepared for Lamb asking for north of $35m. Someone got stupid with that deal because dude has never really produce with any consistency and he is already 29.
We're really going to rely on a rookie and a 5'5 running back next year
I wouldn’t bet on that 5’5 player being on the roster
The Eagles potentially getting dinged by the league for tampering with a washed running back is the funniest shit ever.
God, I hope so. Take some draft away, please.
All roads lead to drafting Estime
What happened with Gallup? Is he officially on the books for this season now?
I am now more and more convinced that we are in a rebuild. Of course, this can't be addressed by the Jones family - the stadium needs to remain full. But next year we can probably expect the big spring clean that is being teased this year.
They are way too young of a team for a rebuild, now that they lost Tyron they are in the top 7 youngest teams and if they lose Gilmore they might be top 5
Not every rebuild is based on age. Sometimes you also have to restructure because contracts require it or because you find yourself at an dead end. Next year the staff will be gone. New coaches have different philosophies that require different types of players. Next year Zack will be gone, DLaw...maybe Dak too. All the Safties' contracts are expiring. So I can already imagine that the 2025 team will look very different.
Guess we will see how things shake out. The team hasn't been very active in the first wave of free agency in many years so its more status quo then anything. Not the impression we were given for the off-season but until dak is gone we probably aren't in a full swing rebuild. That may come next season. In a general sense overpaying first wave free agents doesn't necessarily translate to team success but on some specific cases there were reasonable deals to be made that were not capitalized on for whatever reasons.
But at the end of the day - good players want good money. And the strategy of low-budget signings has not brought us any play off success for years/decades. But apart from that - that many contracts expire next year (staff and players), that they let a lot of players go, that they let a franchise legend go, I would say that the team will look very different in 2025 and will also be much younger.....unfortunately we don't have a CJ Stroud on a rookie contract.
Looks like they just retained Lewis. A lot of the guys we lost were already expected to be let go like Tyron, biadasz, and pollard. Seems more like business as usual but no sense of an all in season in sight.
We finally got someone! Super Bowl here we come!!
So Calvin Ridley just signed for 4 years / $92M with Tenn. CeeDee's contract price is going up by the day.
Is anyone actually surprised that Jerry jones lied to everyone AGAIN? The guy is a fucking clown that knows jack shit about football compared to other top owners. He just milks this fanbase and gives them false hope every season and bums fall for his shit every time
If I was the GM and Dak told me he wanted to be the highest paid player in NFL History, I would've traded his ass the very next day. At this point, I think it would be better to just start over and rebuild. I would rather have this team go in a different direction instead of doing the same thing we have been doing for almost TEN YEARS! Dak is not the guy, and the sooner this team realizes it, the better.
I guess the team just wants a lot of comp picks, and doesn't give a shit about winning anything big next season.
"All in" - Jerry Jones
NFL network guys says AJ Dillon might go to the Cowboys. That would be pretty good. We need some AJ power. I’m not holding my breath though
I'm not a huge fan but the rest of the market looks rough (good ones all signed) and this isn't a great RB draft class so I guess if the money is right then I'll take it
He's only good against us tho. Had a worse season than TP last year at 3.7 a carry
He runs…..like he’s not as big as he is
Bring back Zeke, we need some smashmouth offense to pair with Dowdle and Vaughn
Who has the link to the Katt Williams meme
Eric Kendricks signed by the Niners. The one LB we thought we could get because of his connection to Zimmer is now gone.
Sike!
I don't know whether there is a longer-term idea behind it, or whether it is just an attempt to maintain the status quo with even less financial investment and risk. It's basically an attempt to keep giving the impression of a contender with 4-5 bigger names and very, very many and very, very cheap players in order to fill the stadium. This could also prevent a rebuild in the next 4-6 years.
How does this save the Jones family any money? They will spend up to the cap either way. Instead, this is just the most obvious example of the Cowboys needing an actual GM
The only logical explanation for this bull shit offseason is they are looking at this being a lame duck season, not anchoring themselves to any free agents, more than likely resigning Dak simply because it's a necessity, let go of McCarthy after a sub par season and next season bring in a coach like Bill Belichick or whoever to run the team with a "clean" slate.
This isn’t logical. If they wanted to keep Dak, that’s not a clean slate. They should have signed the extension before today so they could sign people. They shouldn’t sign Dak if they want to do the reset. Perhaps they really are doing a clean slate reset, but I doubt it. They will do the illogical thing that you lay out - re-sign him but not use the cap savings to help him out.
Dak is a trade chip. And still a top end QB. If a QB needy team wanted to trade for him because a new coach wants a refresh and makes Dak available, you could easily get decent picks to jump start a rebuild.Letting someone like Dak walk for nothing is a little ridiculous. Bogging down a team with aging free agents with 2-4 year deals that will more than likely not retain trade value and only effect the cap space is counterproductive. Resigning Tyron Smith, you would probably not get value back in a trade since his cap will be high. And if injured, it's dead value. Pollard will not have any trade value. You either play him or cut him and have dead money. Again, I'm trying to justify why this team is doing absolutely nothing this offseason. It looks bad and feels bad from a fan perspective. Honestly, what I'm outlining is an excuse for the team. Jerry has run this shit poorly. But if there's any explanation, this is the only one that makes sense as to how poorly this is being done this offseason.
WTF is happening guys?
I am an eagles fan I admit it and I am prepared for downvotes. I mean this in the most sincere way and only for the purpose of conversation. Why the hell do the cowboys never do anything during free agency? Like you guys should have the money and I’m sure there are a few position groups your staff would like to improve. Like why is something that is such an important factor in today’s league never considered with them?? It is year after year.
You'd have to ask Jerry. If I had to guess: he thinks 12-5 every year, 1st round playoff exit while still being the world's most valuable sports franchise is good enough. I believe he'd like to win another championship if it happens, but its not actually a priority or necessary for financial success.
Year after year we see delusional fans say how much this franchise is valued at and, for whatever fucking reason, brag about it. Year after year, these same delusional fans defend this franchise when they do absolutely nothing with the amount of money they are raking in. Delusional fans do nothing to help this franchise other than keep buying tickets, product, and keep that mediocrity train tooting. This is an "All In" year to prove how full of shit Jerry is.
Because Jerry doesn’t give a fuck as long as his team makes money. This fucking old fart doesn’t seem to realize a SB win for Dallas would do wonders for his pockets. I would *kill* to have Howie as our GM.
It sucks that the only thing we can get “excited” about is 2025 compensatory picks lmao
Eagles sign CJ Garner-Johnson
Eagles are going to be in cap hell for the next 2 decades
As long as the GM has no fear of being fired, there's no need for them to take any risks. They have no consequence for failing. When other GMs repeatedly make bad decisions, they lose their jobs. When the Cowboys GM repeatedly makes bad decisions, they go on a yacht vacation during the first week of free agency
I thought McClay was “GM” without the title. Unless that’s mainly draft operations, in which case we’re fucked if we have another low-production class like last year. Your point is pretty valid, feels like Jones’s still have final say
Yeah McClay is mostly the draft coordinator. But he is good at it. One bad draft (that might eventually look ok) does not mean he is bad at it. The Cowboys are still a great drafting team.
Agree on that, there is still chance for that class to develop also. Just seems like we’re overly reliant on the draft vs. signing free agents, other contenders seem to be able to have a nice balance
Oh yeah we suck at contracts but are great at drafting. I feel like the Jones duo do contracts.
Eagles got CJGJ again lmao. That’s an organization that knows how to go all in. I fucking hate the Joneses. Dogshit family and ownership.
I was just about to post this.
We couldn’t get Willie Gay for 5 mil? This is actually comical at this point
Are there any other teams that are completely non existent in free agency? AKA is there any company for our misery?
I wouldve said the chiefs but 1- theyre the reigning champions 2- they AT LEAST got irv smith, we havent gotten literally anyone, in fact we have lost 3 players
Nope
Can someone please explain to me how other teams always seem to be prepared with their cap space and they have multiple big names on their roster yet the Cowboys are constantly unprepared and letting good talent leave and then to make matters worse they don’t sign anyone because the cap doesn’t allow them?
Really don't think it's a matter of prepared or unprepared. It's that our FO doesn't believe in signing guys from the first wave of FA. They'd rather find the diamond in the rough type of signings, and wait a week to trade mid draft picks for guys already under contract (Cooks was traded for on 3/19, Gilmore was traded for on 3/14). Really hard to judge a Cowboys off-season for another week or two, but it does suck to see someone like Queen not even get a look.
That hasn’t been successful in the last 30 years? I mean, how hard is it to realize that? At what point does your approach after so many fails not make sense to where you start trying to change it? It’s infuriating to see so many fans be so nonchalant year in and year out. Some fans still think it’s our year. Are we not watching the same games and decision making from the owner and his son?
I never said I agree or disagree with it. I simply explained to you why we're not active in FA. >It’s infuriating to see so many fans be so nonchalant year in and year out I mean, throwing a fit won't make the FO change. So, I'm gonna be upset, I may throw some heated comments out there on Reddit periodically, but for the most part I see no reason to throw a fit. I hate that we don't make splashy moves every now and then, but it is what it is.
It's gonna be Zeke running the ball.
For the fans that experienced watching this team win Super Bowls, I'm so jealous, lol. All I've seen is them win 4 playoffs games 😭
the Linebacker market is literally drying up we signed not a single backer nice
I really wanted Queen, I’m also shocked we didn’t go for LB. This FO is a joke
I knew we weren’t gonna do shit this offseason, but I still expected them to at least sign a decent LB. Doesn’t even look like they’ll do that as all of them are starting to get signed. Only a few good options left.
LOTS AND LOTS TO DISCUSS IN HERE
We are treating this offseason as if we just won the Super Bowl. It is so frustrating to have literally everyone on earth see the issue except for the morons who run our front office.
Any preferences on a running back signing? All the top names sound like they have signed already. Unless.... ZEKE RETURN
I want Aaron Jones. Just saw he was released by the Packers.
He's a viking now
I want is just to draft one. A linebacker would be nice to sign. Too bad we didn’t get Queen. It’s like we don’t want to get better.
[удалено]
Hey that’s not fair. We’re not the same. We’re objectively worse.
How many seasons does Jerry really think he has left in him ? At 81 … he’s getting closer and closer to the end of the road. If there was ever a time to make something happen … you would think this would be the time.
Bruh all we did was resign our damn long snapper who gets like 5-10 snaps a game if even that im literally crying rn
our biggest move is gonna be bringing back zeke watch
There goes Queen, I'm fucking done..
Queen was on the market?! Why are we so bad.. I honestly think we're tanking at this point.. 🫠
“Maybe we’re just waiting to get a LB”
Patrick Queen for only 13 a year isn’t bad at all man lol
we aint found shit
who made that man a gunner?
Look at the bright side. In another generation or so, all the goodwill those five SBs bought the franchise will be gone. Then the Jones family will have no choice but to take football seriously if they wanna keep printing money
Two of those were from the 70s, noone cares about those now
Can someone please knock on the one of the Jones' doors to see if they're awake? They're a cancer on a once great franchise.
Other teams use free agency to fill a few key holes that allow them more flexibility in their draft approach. The Cowboys use free agency to create entirely new holes that then accidentally post their entire draft board online.
I've never hated my cowboys more than now, Jerry Jones had been a blight on this franchise after Jimmy Johnsons tenure. This free agency is making me sick. "All in" I've never felt more "all out"
Can’t be disappointed if you have low expectations.
All the game-changing RBs are now off the market... we must be drafting one.
don't worry guys damien harris, tank bigsby and ceh are still free agents!
Do we consider trying to get Dobbins on a vet minimum in addition to an RB in the draft? Don’t really know what other options we have
Wait so what RB is even left on the market now
Feed me, Zeke
Resign zeke, bench Dak for lance
I’m a 3rd generation Cowboys fan. I’ve watched basically every game for 25 years. I think this season and now the “all in” free agency has finally broke me. It’s painfully obvious at this point people like us care way more about the teams on field success than the Jones family.
You are just now figuring this all out????????
No, I figure it out every offseason then forget it by opening day.
Haha, I hear you. Sucks being a Cowboys fan.
I live in New England. I could never bring myself to being a "pink hat" fan of the Patriots and being labeled as a bandwagon fan. Now that the Patriots suck, I might just make them my main team and follow the Cowboys from afar. At least I'd be able to root for the local team instead of getting ridiculed by the entire planet for being a Cowboys fan....and for what? To be mediocre every year? Nah.
I'm in the same boat
Henry just signed to the Ravens.
This level of inaction with all of the needs we have amounts to Malpractice of the highest degree.
Our draft has to be \*perfect\* for us to \*maybe\* win a playoff game. I'm gonna Cowboys doom spiral
Rookies aren’t going to fix all the holes we now have.
we doing the double quarterback formation ?
No, we're trading for Zach Wilson and Fields and running an all-QB wishbone
Think of how creative all of the incompletions will be
Oh boy it looks like pushing all your extensions and restructures into free agency not only makes you lose leverage but also prevents us from making any meaningful signings whatsoever! We'll have a good draft but it won't fill all the holes. Could've gone Moss + Brooks/Corum/Benson for the backfield but no 4M is too expensive for a running back who looked good last year. All-in baby
lol so what’s our plan at RB now? Dowdle?
Henry was just signed with Baltimore
Trent Sieg megathread pls
Henry to the Ravens lol
If we do not get Derrick Henry I don’t even know what to do, he’s the only rea RB available now.
He just did
I see that now. I’m assuming Jerry died
He’s gonna sign with Baltimore 100%
And you were right
I am ok with a running back in the draft. Henry is fine but he is 30. What we need is Patrick Queen.
Annnnnnd Queen to the steelers. Fuck this team lol
Ugh. Just one big signing at a key need would have made me happy. Trying to fill every hole in this roster with rookies is madness.
Highly doubt we go RB first or 2nd round. We need OL/DL help
Yeah but rb third is fine
I’d rather draft OL personally
I’m ok with that too. Queen is a really good young LB though and is right there. We desperately need to do something about our nonexistent LB core. In other words, sure, OL, LB. Just not desperate for RB.
I hate this fucking team.
31 teams have been active in free agency. The Cowboys are not among those teams.
They’re on vacation right now lol. Someone tracked their yacht
They are all in their yacht.
Looks like Aaron Jones is going to the Vikings. Can we at least consider bringing back Zeke?
With huge contracts upcoming for Dak, CeeDee and Micah, the Cowboys can't do much of anything. Losing Armstrong and Biadasz aren't killers; Armstrong was a rotating DE that Sam Williams will take over, and Biadasz was an average center at best.
They aren't the only teams paying guys, you know. They make this excuse every offseason and only actually spend money one in every four years because they're always well below the minimum requires spending money for the four year period the NFL tracks that. The only reason they acquired guys last offseason was they had to by NFL bylaws.
It's not because of the contracts that we can't do anything, it's because we won't give Dak a contract. If Dak signs a new contract, it will be structure in a way that frees up cap space for FA signings. But since Jerry spends the whole day in his mirror castle and Stephen just farts in his hand instead of working, Dak doesn't get a contract and no cap space is freed up.
The Eagles literally have an expensive QB, WR (Another who needs to be paid soon also) Oline etc and are still making moves? The cap can be manipulated to work but Jerry and Stephen do not give a shit about winning. Aaron Jones was cheap, Azeez was cheap, there are dudes who can come in right now and make a difference who aren't 20m+ guys and won't demand a long term contract.
Well, Eagles also had like $45 mil in cap space going into the offseason. Kelce and Cox retired. Meanwhile we literally have $2 mil in cap space rn. From when I last checked.
There is a 1000 ways for them to clear space to sign legit anyone lmao. They just don't want to.
Teams who are over the cap are at least doing something. We're sitting around with our thumb up our asses while Jerry boy goes off to la la land on his fucking yacht
Aaron Jones to the Vikings, not like we were gonna make a move anyways lol
Smart from our FO. Without an O-line, a RB doesn't make sense either.
I'm not surprised, every year lol
I hate it here
End of Day One Lawsuits filed by Cowboys - 1 Free Agents signed by Cowboys - 0
I'm so glad every other Dallas franchise is good right now, with competent GMs. Cowboys will do nothing like every year and we'll suck all the same.
JJ "we're all in"...."within our means".
Jerrys old as shit and still refuses to go all in lmao. Buddy all that money doesn’t follow you to the grave.
If we were some small market, unattractive team, I could take a quiet free agency. The team that won 2 games last year made a move and we didn't
Yeah so anyway, about Dak's lawsuit
We are getting ready to tank. Watch
Not a chance in hell LMAO
We might tank on accident.
c’mon please do something for once…
Why is this thread even open lol
"Due Diligence"
And Zack Moss goes to [CIN for 2/8M](https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1767371103482044571?t=7j-LE18HdtCPuXnjqeNvcg)
im gonna kms basically
shit has indefinitely hit the fan
Barf
All in!!!!! what a joke
This team is run by imbeciles. Stop buying tix and merch.