Bobhaze
Staff member
- Messages
- 16,614
- Reaction score
- 63,815
Stephen Jones has famously (foolishly) said the last couple of years that the “Cowboys won’t be market setters” when paying players. Sounds good in theory, but 31 other teams don’t intend to play that way. In fact, most of the good NFL teams have people in place whose jobs are on the line and they make decisions accordingly.
The best NFL front offices go into the free agency and draft period with a clear, proactive plan, knowing what the market prices will be for the players they want. They won’t get all of them, but they also will spend less time “dumpster diving” after other teams have executed their plans.
I believe a good NFL FO does the following:
To be fair, the off season still has time left. The Cowboys are certainly not finished tweaking things in FA, and then there’s the draft. But I can’t help wishing we had people in charge whose jobs were dependent on winning- not who their Daddy is.
The best NFL front offices go into the free agency and draft period with a clear, proactive plan, knowing what the market prices will be for the players they want. They won’t get all of them, but they also will spend less time “dumpster diving” after other teams have executed their plans.
I believe a good NFL FO does the following:
- They have a clear, proactive off season plan in place that is coherent and is followed from day one.
- They are NOT “waiting to see what other teams do”.
- They know exactly the players they want and realistically how much it will cost to get them.
- They work hard to sign their best players before the market prices go up. (Yes, I know the Cowboys started negotiating with Dak last year, but again, SJ doesn’t want to “set the market”, smh)
- They move on quickly from older players who may be popular, but are no longer in their prime, and not worthy of a roster spot.
- They use cap space in alignment with their plan/philosophy- not just based on “how much cap space we have left”.
- They hire experts to run their front offices whose jobs are dependent on winning, not dependent on who their dad is.
To be fair, the off season still has time left. The Cowboys are certainly not finished tweaking things in FA, and then there’s the draft. But I can’t help wishing we had people in charge whose jobs were dependent on winning- not who their Daddy is.
Last edited: