buybuydandavis
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Over the past decade (actually ever since 2008), the Cowboys approach to the offseason has been remarkably consistent. After years of overreaching for top name free agents, Jerry began ceding some personnel power to Stephen Jones. More importantly, the Cowboys dumped Larry Lacewell, who could be described as the architect of the Cowboys 2 decades of mediocrity.
And there approach has been this: Sign low level players at positions of need to short-term contracts, and then draft at that same positions for long-term upgrades. So, if you want to know which positions the Cowboys will target in the draft, take a look at the players they've recently signed to 1-2 year deals.
Positions the Cowboys will likely be targeting in the draft:
- TE - Jason Witten and Cody McElroy signed to 1 year deals.
- WR-slot - Tavon Austin signed to a 1-year deal, plus the Cowboys picked up the 2nd year option for Allen Hurns.
- DT - Christian Covington and Daniel Ross signed to 1 year deals
- S - Darian Thompson signed to 1 year contract
- OLB - Justin March-Lillard signed to 1 year contract & Sean Lee negotiates pay-cut for final year on his contract.
- DE - DeMarcus Lawrence given franchise tag - if the Cowboys are unable to come to terms with Lawrence before the draft, this might also be a position they target.
Positions the Cowboys will likely not be looking for in the draft:
The Cowboys like to double dip at positions of need by signing a short term gap player, and drafting for the long-term. Anyone paying attention over the last decade can see that the Cowboys telegraph their draft intentions with their free agent signings. That doesn't preclude the team from drafting a talented player that falls in the draft.
- OT - Cameron Fleming signed to 2 year contract
- FB - Jamize Olawale signed to 3 year contract
Recent examples of this strategy:
Keep an eye out for more short-term signings as a key to who the Cowboys are looking to draft in April.
- 2018 - Cowboys sign Joe Thomas, and draft Leighton Vander Esch
- 2018 - Cowboys sign Marcus Martin, and draft Connor Williams
We should distinguish between vested/prevested vets.
We signed Ross to a 1 year deal, but I think that was just his ERFA contract. He'll be RFA in 2020 too. He's not a stop gap bridge, he's a decent young guy we have for peanuts.
We should also distinguish the vested vets based on guaranteed money. AFAIK, both Hurns and Cameron have no guaranteed money coming, meaning that they are a free look. If anything, I'd expect the team to be *more* interested in drafting a replacement than if they had some guaranteed money going to them.
Particularly Fleming. 4.5mil for backup oline? Ugh. I expect they're very interested in getting that off the books. Maybe they're worried about Tyron, and think they might need a starter at the start of the season.
On TE, I don't see more picks. We already have our young developmental picks in Jarwin and Schulz. And Rico. And Cody. Witten is a bridge while they get up to speed.
Covington looks like a standard bridge for depth. Cheap but not minimum, with enough guaranteed money to make it worth his while should we dump him for younger guys.
Austin looks more like a "starter role player". I haven't seen the details of the contract yet, but I expect he gets a chunk guaranteed.
FA Types
Unvested Vets - Young and cheap. Sign for use and development, depending on vesting schedule.
Vested Vets, no/lo gtd money - Free tryout. Still looking in free agency for a significant role, may just be depth.
Vested Vets, significant chunk gtd - We plan on keeping him for a significant role, meaning a draft pick is likely to fill that significant role.
Vested Vets, Real Money - keep dreaming!
The mystery to me this year is Olawale. We didn't use him last year for squat, and now we're guaranteeing about a year and a half for a guy in his 30s.