Big spending teams on WRs don't make the playoffs often enough

[kskboys]

Agree. Do you know what is the easiest position to fill in the NFL? WR.

For every Dez and Cee Dee in the 1st round there are Drew Pearson, and Miles Austin as UDFAs. Tony Hill was a 3rd round pick and retired as the Cowboys receiving yards leader. Only 1/2 of the Cowboys top ten receiving leaders were 1st round picks.

The DLine was much more important to our super bowls than WR. Lett caused the fumble to turn the game around in the 2nd against BUFF. BUFF led at halftime as the O sputtered, 13-6.

 

[kskboys]

I believe one thing (high spending on WRs) has nothing to do with the other (not making the playoffs). Being a playoff team has more to do with having balance between offense and defense with both being on the high efficiency scale. A high-performance WR corps is something to be desired if you can afford it and you have the QB to take full advantage of those WRs. If you don't have the right QB, big spending at WR is a waste of resources.

Of course it does. Simple math, the more you spend on X position, the less you have for other positions. Find the super bowl winner who spent top dollar on WRs. Since the salary cap, of course. Not Philly, the cap hits on Smith/Brown was only 8/11 mill the year they won it.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

It’s just hard to play games late in the year depending on wideouts.

You really need homefield or be in a dome for it to be optimal.

Oline, and defense travel in any weather.

Amen, and those two things are foundational, they must be solid before you have any chance in the playoffs.

 

[conner01]

Hawk I agree with you. Except the Cowboys will be spending a ton in 2026 at the WR position.

We will be #2 in the league in WR cap space, spending $60 million in 2026.

Last year we spent $28 million just to compare.

But it’s for one year. I get the argument but I don’t think it hurts you that much since it’s one year and no future costs with Pickens.

 

[eromeopolk]

The DLine was much more important to our super bowls than WR. Lett caused the fumble to turn the game around in the 2nd against BUFF. BUFF led at halftime as the O sputtered, 13-6.

Offense scores points, running wins games, and defense wins championships. Football will never change.

 

[StarBoyz83]

I'll be suprised if the cowboys make the playoffs unless the nfce is just terrible.

 

[Diehardblues]

Good stuff.

However, a contender can lose in the first round. A team can have what it takes and still not get there. Happens all the time

I understand but if what we consider to be a contender never breaks thru then they become Pretenders.

Upsets or being beat by better teams , bad bounces, etc. is part of the game. And why I fall back on how crucial results are.

Perhaps we need to separate contenders from serious contenders. Or difference between a playoff contender from SB contender.

Like in 2007, 14 and 16 we were contenders so to speak but in the end we weren’t serious enough contenders not advancing to Champ game. Did we have a good enough team. Perhaps but we didn’t prove it.

And the fact those teams didn’t return to that level even underscores they weren’t as good as we wanted to think. Can’t continue to come up short and be considered serious SB contenders IMO.

I'll be suprised if the cowboys make the playoffs unless the nfce is just terrible.

My hunch is defense is going to be drastically improved. And we will be a much improved overall team.

But if history repeats itself Dak is scheduled to be out a few games which will cost us . And possibly more injuries on offense. Which we had few last year to key players. And why last year was wasted with tremendous offense output.

Offense scores points, running wins games, and defense wins championships. Football will never change.

In many ways it hasn’t change except in how teams are managed. Which impacts how teams are built and maintained.

Things have changed quite a bit over 60+ years I’ve been following.

There has been some exceptions to the rule. But your assessment is still basic.

But it’s for one year. I get the argument but I don’t think it hurts you that much since it’s one year and no future costs with Pickens.

That’s a fair argument unless that money could have shored up other weaknesses which prevent team from more success.

The DLine was much more important to our super bowls than WR. Lett caused the fumble to turn the game around in the 2nd against BUFF. BUFF led at halftime as the O sputtered, 13-6.

Yep. Jethro still runs the Cowboys like he thinks the Triplets won those Super Bowls. But he seems to forget we had a top defense.

And when we lost that defense we stopped going to Super Bowls with the Triplets.

 

[conner01]

That’s a fair argument unless that money could have shored up other weaknesses which prevent team from more success.

I get that but it’s short term where any player ypu went out and got at his talent level would have cost a long term deal or more picks. I’m great with not extending him but while it’s a lot of cap space the fact it’s just a year I can buy into. But the key is developing the 3rd who can move right into the 2 next year. Hopefully that’s Flournoy

 

[Diehardblues]

I get that but it’s short term where any player ypu went out and got at his talent level would have cost a long term deal or more picks. I’m great with not extending him but while it’s a lot of cap space the fact it’s just a year I can buy into. But the key is developing the 3rd who can move right into the 2 next year. Hopefully that’s Flournoy

WR is easiest position to find in draft IMO. Only reason we should have retained Pickens is they felt they were close to contending and didn’t want to disrupt offense .

 

[big dog cowboy]

The DLine was much more important to our super bowls than WR. Lett caused the fumble to turn the game around in the 2nd against BUFF. BUFF led at halftime as the O sputtered, 13-6.

Defense wins championships.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I'll be suprised if the cowboys make the playoffs

I'll be surprised if the Cowboys don't make the playoffs.

 

[Diehardblues]

I'll be surprised if the Cowboys don't make the playoffs.

How about if Dak goes down?

I believe he’s only played a full season in consecutive seasons once.

 

[big dog cowboy]

How about if Dak goes down?

I believe he’s only played a full season in consecutive seasons once.

You can play that whole "what if" game with every team in the league.

 

[calicowboy54]

With all the discussions about tagging George Pickens and how or why we should keep him long term, or if we should keep both he and Cedee Lamb…There’s an interesting fact about the teams who are top ten spenders each year on WRs:

They don’t usually even make the playoffs.
In fact, in the last 5 seasons (2021-25), the top ten most expensive WR rooms only made the playoffs approximately 46% of the time.
For example, here are the top ten teams spending big on WRs in 2025:

1. Cincinnati-$50.9 million
2. Tampa Bay - $47.5 million
3. Miami - $41 million
4. Chicago - $35.3 million
5. Tennessee- $33.6 million
6. Indianapolis- $33.4 million
7. Detroit $30.4 million
8. San Francisco $29.1 million
9. Washington $28.7 million
10. Dallas $28.2 million

Of those ten teams only three made the playoffs in 2025.

I won’t take up a huge amount of space here listing each team from 2021-24. But I did my homework and only one team in the last 5 years that spent top ten money on WRs won a SB - the 2023 chiefs.

So as we discuss how to allocate future cap space, let’s remember that having the highest paid WR room does not translate to playoff success very often. Not saying WR talent isn’t important. Just saying be wise and discerning on spending big money on them.

Here’s the link I used: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/position/_/year/2025/table/active-reserve/type/cap_total
(You can look up positional spending by year)

Bill Belicheat used to say modern college football was a revolving door for WR and CB in to the NFL. never pay them more than once while you find their replacement. he may have said that about LB as well.

you pay
QB
OL
DL/EDGE
S

 

[DarkVader33]

Bill Belicheat used to say modern college football was a revolving door for WR and CB in to the NFL. never pay them more than once while you find their replacement. he may have said that about LB as well.

you pay
QB
OL
DL/EDGE
S

You call him Bellicheat and then you believe what he says? Lol

Why did he sign Moss if it’s so easy to get one from college.

 

[Diehardblues]

You can play that whole "what if" game with every team in the league.

True but they don’t all have the injury history of our QB.

Which IMO has to be included when we make these predictions or how we see or feel the upcoming season.

If Dak can stay healthy as last year with the defense much improved I can see the 2026 Cowboys as a playoff team as well.

Those exceptions must be included with any predictions IMO simply cause of recent trends and history .

 

[Diehardblues]

You call him Bellicheat and then you believe what he says? Lol

Why did he sign Moss if it’s so easy to get one from college.

Because Bill felt he could win that season with him.

And that must be how our owner feels about Pickens that the Cowboys can make a run to SB with Pickens this year.

 

[sbark]

Offense & specifically WR sells tickets for JJ

 

[StarOfGlory]

Absolutely. Cap hits are everything. Philly's contention went away when the bigger cap hits started kicking in for their WRs.

Only way is to sign longer contracts and push the cap hits down the road.

Philly’s contention went away when they hired an idiot as OC and their o-line became injured in conjunction with bigger cap hits for receivers.

 

[blueblood70]

Bill Belicheat used to say modern college football was a revolving door for WR and CB in to the NFL. never pay them more than once while you find their replacement. he may have said that about LB as well.

you pay
QB
OL
DL/EDGE
S

This is true they got OK I don't even have any time break for so long comedy and being better than what he was drafted for but they converted a couple of WRs in Wes Welker to go UDFA and be that good, its luck Having an EX-quarterback in Edelman be that dang good, Tb12 in 6th round etc

I'm sure if you go back and get the history they hit on a lot of players all over that team that weren't supposed to be good..

I mean sometimes you just get lucky, things all in place at the right moments...


BB had things fall in place for him at the right times, for him and then go on the cheating scandals surrounding him, some teams just catch fire, and It's not by design, it just it happens.