BTB The Cowboys might have made the wrong choice at wide receiver last offseason

[CTcowboy203]

The mistake in hindsight isn’t is ceedee a number 1 - he was. The mistake was whose going to do for lamb what lamb did for cooper. Cooper was the 1 and lamb was an adequate 2. Lamb was the 1 this year and there was no adequate 2 for him.

Way too much faith placed into MG and unproven guys like Tolbert.

 

[Motorola]

The mistake in hindsight isn’t is ceedee a number 1 - he was. The mistake was whose going to do for lamb what lamb did for cooper. Cooper was the 1 and lamb was an adequate 2. Lamb was the 1 this year and there was no adequate 2 for him.

Way too much faith placed into MG and unproven guys like Tolbert.

Cowboys continually tried to address the situation by signing FA James Washington last spring. Struck out on that player too.
Throw in Fehoko (before he was injured), along no PS members (Calloway, Drummond, Houston) improving enough to get a shot at contributing a little...the WR room was subpar overall.

 

[gimmesix]

Does anyone think they might be preparing to make the same potential mistake with Pollard?

No. I think they'll either re-sign Pollard or franchise him. He's one of our top offensive weapons and we missed him when he went out against San Fran. The mistake may be what we do with the No. 2 RB position. We need a young stud to pair with Pollard and eventually take over the No. 1 spot when Pollard's wheels fall off like Zeke's have.

 

[Chuck 54]

oh dear goodness

we went 12-5 and CeeDee took over as number 1 with more yards than Cooper who didnt sniff the playoffs with the browns and probably wont next year

and I LOVED Cooper here but this needs to die in the hottest fire

The difference is when Cooper was here, Ceedee was the #2 and feasted on defenses as a young guy.
Ceedee proved he could be the #1, but there was no #2 this year. Gallup was never a consistent #3 before the injury. He was a big play guy from time to time who also dropped passes and disappeared in games. Noah Brown was a #4/#5 who was a good blocker.

This year we tried to make Gallup a #1, but he should have been a #4.
Brown played more like a #2 than Gallup, but the harsh reality is that he should still be a #4.

We don’t need much on offense. We need a #2 and a fresh starting RB. Cut Zeke, and even if Pollard takes a team friendly contract, do not go into the season counting on him like we did Gallup this season. That surgery had nothing to do with the broken bone. It will heal. His surgery was a tightrope procedure for a severe high ankle sprain….we are talking ligament/tendon surgery. Maybe he’s 100%, but no guarantees.

 

[jrumann59]

I have said from jump that re-signing gallup to huge contract was dumb. At best he would be a shell of his former self this season, he was and now they have to figure out if he will return to form. His knee did not look right most of the season, too many INTs and near INTs when he was targeted because he cannot explode out of a break.

 

[Wilson]

No. I think they'll either re-sign Pollard or franchise him. He's one of our top offensive weapons and we missed him when he went out against San Fran. The mistake may be what we do with the No. 2 RB position. We need a young stud to pair with Pollard and eventually take over the No. 1 spot when Pollard's wheels fall off like Zeke's have.

Let's hope he recovers from the injury and returns to form. I'm not convinced that a more affordable version of Pollard can't be obtained in the mid-rounds of the draft.

 

[jterrell]

BTB has done some good work and I really appreciate them allowing articles to be posted here....

But this is just Dumb with a capital D.

Michael Gallup was signed for 57M over 5 years with an expectation he was going to be limited in 2022.
And yes I am sure they expected more than they got but the contract wasn't written for 2022, it was written as a great value for 5 years.
His cap hit was no where near Amari Cooper level and he wasn't paid anything in the realm of the 3 years and 66m in cap hits we had coming for Amari.
Gallup's deal is written so you can add void years each season going forward to reduce his cap hits even further.
It is very team friendly.
But yes he has to return to form.

The choice Dallas made was between Michael Gallup and Ced Wilson.
Wilson has grown in the offense but produced little outside one contract season.
Wilson almost certainly would have been better last year. But 5 year deals shouldn't be judged off 1 season.

The Amari Cooper thing is all the way dumb.
Dallas had Amari Cooper in 2021 and lost at home to the exact same defense.
Amari was inconsistent and middling as a WR1 again this year.
Good player, simply a costly one that was below CeeDee in the pecking order and unhappy with his targets.

The cap cash you saved on Amari was spent on Hankins and Peters and just general depth.
Dallas was stepping back on offensive skill to be more balanced, not just on offense but as a team.