News: What does the La’el Collins contract extension tell us about the future of the Dallas Cowboys?

gmoney112 said:

Fleming is a $4.5m savings next year if released.

Wouldn't be surprised to see CWill taking snaps at RT next camp to see if he's competent, while competing at LG. If he wins LG and can play RT well enough, he'll slide out if Collins misses time. McGovern would be LG, C, RG depth with possibly Looney and whoever else in that case.

Cap isn't going to be that big a problem. Dallas wants to secure the OL with talent, with a young Dak, and what looks to be a young #1 WR with decent depth there and a young #1 RB, and I don't really blame them. There's worse ways to spend money and to save premium picks for defense. Otherwise, what were we going to do at RT? Keep Fleming at $5m cap hit, see if CWill can play it, otherwise spend a 2-3 round pick on a RT and hope for the best? Tackle is now a premium position. Saints and Eagles both have 1st round picks at RT, yeah Lane Johnson will move to LT but he's also going to get $20million+ a year.

If you can get a good deal in the trenches, especially for a 26 year old lineman, you'd be pretty stupid not to take it. Especially if it saves you picks.

What it says about Dallas is, we want to put the best OL we can on the field in the trenches, with young talent at QB, RB, and WR. And we'll be using our premium picks on defense, locking up guys we think are cornerstones on defense instead of signing everyone. But, using premium picks to replenish instead. There's always give and take, but it's not a bad strategy.

I'd also put $$ on the cap going up pretty significantly every year from 2021 forward. It'll at least be an improvement on the $8-10million now. I'd say it's more likely to go up about $40million by the 2022 offseason.

Click to expand...

zekecowboy said:

Maybe the health of the offensive line is a little more concerning that we realize

If the team has concerns about Smith’s health, they could be leaving the door open for a possible exit strategy. Even though Smith does have five years left on his contract, his dead money hit drops to $5.2 M after this season and just $1.7 M the year after that.

Nobody wants to think about life without Smith, but if you look at all the recent decisions the team has made regarding the offensive line, something’s a bit askew. The team went super heavy at offensive line for their final roster, including hanging on to undrafted free agent Brandon Knight, who just so happens to be able to play tackle. And one of their practice squad players is UDFA Mitch Hyatt. The team is making sure they have tackle depth.

Maybe the decision to keep Collins has nothing to do with Smith specifically, but just the collective concern of their star linemen in general. Zack Martin is also dealing with a back issue. His was bad enough that he was shelved for training camp to allow him more time to heal. Should Martin become unavailable, that means they would need to call on that interior line depth to help out.

Click to expand...

zekecowboy said:

Maybe the health of the offensive line is a little more concerning that we realize
Tyron Smith is dealing with a bad back. Sure, he’s only 28-years-old, but let’s not forget that he’s been in the league since he was 20, so he’s put a lot of mileage on that body. Eight years spent with the league’s most powerful edge rushers pound on you can be very jarring on that back. He has missed three games in each of the last three seasons, and it wouldn’t shock anyone if he misses time again this season. The Cowboys are already mindful of that, which is why swing tackle Cameron Fleming received the second-biggest contract of any of their free agent signings this offseason.

If the team has concerns about Smith’s health, they could be leaving the door open for a possible exit strategy. Even though Smith does have five years left on his contract, his dead money hit drops to $5.2 M after this season and just $1.7 M the year after that.

Nobody wants to think about life without Smith, but if you look at all the recent decisions the team has made regarding the offensive line, something’s a bit askew. The team went super heavy at offensive line for their final roster, including hanging on to undrafted free agent Brandon Knight, who just so happens to be able to play tackle. And one of their practice squad players is UDFA Mitch Hyatt. The team is making sure they have tackle depth.

Maybe the decision to keep Collins has nothing to do with Smith specifically, but just the collective concern of their star linemen in general. Zack Martin is also dealing with a back issue. His was bad enough that he was shelved for training camp to allow him more time to heal. Should Martin become unavailable, that means they would need to call on that interior line depth to help out. That could foil their chance to move Connor Williams outside to cover for La’el if Williams is needed inside. Keeping Collins on the roster means they’d no longer have to worry about moving Williams, who will hopefully show great improvement at the left guard position this year. Securing their talent along the offensive line is great, but doesn’t it comes with a cost?


https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/201...ell-us-about-the-future-of-the-dallas-cowboys

Click to expand...

ShiningStar said:

that we do the same thing as other teams? sign players? do other teams not do that? im confused here, whats the question? we are doing the same as other teams here. it says nothing. you have to sign players, someone has to play on your roster.

Click to expand...

AsthmaField said:

Yeah it’s just that most teams don’t draft well enough and so have to sign their guys in free agency.

Click to expand...

ShiningStar said:

for some teams it works. we ve been drafting our butts off with nothing to show for it.

all last year "dallas has one of the youngest rosters, Dalass has one of the youngest rosters"

me: doesnt win you the SB.

DC FO: Shut up.

Click to expand...