Consensus top 100 free agents chart for 2026

[gimmesix]

They are tied to player number 1 Pickens so if they get that done you can forget other top 10 guys.
But they are also in on 32 at LB and a few guys at Safety.
NahShon Wright being 41 seems crazy but he is built for these new press zone schemes. Bring him home.

Dean is 32, Okereke is not listed because he is not a free agent (yet).

I don't know if Okereke would make the top 100 anyway. Probably him and Locke are more realistically the type of players we'll be looking at. Dean at 32 and Wright at 41 will be too pricey if we stick to our same FA strategy.

 

[john van brocklin]

Thanks, good stuff.
Some of those players have been tagged, however.

 

[jterrell]

I don't know if Okereke would make the top 100 anyway. Probably him and Locke are more realistically the type of players we'll be looking at. Dean at 32 and Wright at 41 will be too pricey if we stick to our same FA strategy.

That is probably true. Okereke is not very good yet somehow significantly better than what we had last year.

Dallas will be in on all the guys Parker knows and if Jerry is saying he expects to spend FA money then you can believe they will for once.

Where they sit right now is 10M under cap and where the team usually stays. But they have another 40M of cash to free up in the works. They aren't going to get in bidding wars but this isn't a year they'll look to stack comp picks.

 

[gimmesix]

That is probably true. Okereke is not very good yet somehow significantly better than what we had last year.

Dallas will be in on all the guys Parker knows and if Jerry is saying he expects to spend FA money then you can believe they will for once.

Where they sit right now is 10M under cap and where the team usually stays. But they have another 40M of cash to free up in the works. They aren't going to get in bidding wars but this isn't a year they'll look to stack comp picks.

I just don't know if what Jerry is saying is really any different than what they have promised in the past. All in sounded good until they weren't really and then explained it away as spending on their own. For all we know, busting the budget could be tagging Pickens, paying the top salary for a kicker and then the usual in outside free agency.

As I've said, I expect us to fill our defensive holes created by player loss (CB for Diggs/Elam, S for Wilson, DE for Williams/Fowler, possibly DE for Clowney, LB for Murray, possibly LB for Sanborn/Wilson), but I'm expecting us to do it with our typical FA strategy. This means a total of $20 million to $30 million on outside FAs, with most receiving around $2 million to $4 million on one-year deals.

I've also mentioned before that signs of change to me will be if they sign any outside FAs to three- or four-year deals. That shows commitment rather than getting a player for cheap for a year's rental because they haven't played to their potential or are coming off an injury or are old and may have hit the wall.

 

[jterrell]

I just don't know if what Jerry is saying is really any different than what they have promised in the past. All in sounded good until they weren't really and then explained it away as spending on their own. For all we know, busting the budget could be tagging Pickens, paying the top salary for a kicker and then the usual in outside free agency.

As I've said, I expect us to fill our defensive holes created by player loss (CB for Diggs/Elam, S for Wilson, DE for Williams/Fowler, possibly DE for Clowney, LB for Murray, possibly LB for Sanborn/Wilson), but I'm expecting us to do it with our typical FA strategy. This means a total of $20 million to $30 million on outside FAs, with most receiving around $2 million to $4 million on one-year deals.

I've also mentioned before that signs of change to me will be if they sign any outside FAs to three- or four-year deals. That shows commitment rather than getting a player for cheap for a year's rental because they haven't played to their potential or are coming off an injury or are old and may have hit the wall.

They have loudly declared in the past they were spending on their own and couldn't have everything because of the cap.
This is a very different tone and message. Jerry said he needed the money from the 3 DTs contracts so will restructure/extend them.
Do they have the follow through?? We shall see but they are talking to a lot of guys already.

The moves to add GP and QW were in fact VERY different as well.

There is a reason I say how fortunate it was for Dallas to move off of Micah.
It forced a change in modus operandi.
Paying your own and drafting with very low prized FA only didn't cut it.

 

[gimmesix]

They have loudly declared in the past they were spending on their own and couldn't have everything because of the cap.
This is a very different tone and message. Jerry said he needed the money from the 3 DTs contracts so will restructure/extend them.
Do they have the follow through?? We shall see but they are talking to a lot of guys already.

The moves to add GP and QW were in fact VERY different as well.

There is a reason I say how fortunate it was for Dallas to move off of Micah.
It forced a change in modus operandi.
Paying your own and drafting with very low prized FA only didn't cut it.

I don't think the tone and message are any different. We need the money from the 3 DTs contracts just to spend $20 million to $30 million on free agents. The money we cleared up through restructures just essentially allows us to break even on the cap (with the Pickens tag).

Now, if Dallas gave multiyear contracts to outside free agents, it could keep the cap hits low, but it doesn't like to do that. It would rather sign a Dante Fowler to a one-year, $6 million deal than sign a player to a 4-year, $40 million deal where they count $6 million the first year. This gets you those type of players that I mentioned.

Our fans were buying what Jerry was selling when he said all in and have bought into it before, believing that whatever year would be the year they changed their FA philosophy. Of course, you are free to do that. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[gimmesix]

They have loudly declared in the past they were spending on their own and couldn't have everything because of the cap.
This is a very different tone and message. Jerry said he needed the money from the 3 DTs contracts so will restructure/extend them.
Do they have the follow through?? We shall see but they are talking to a lot of guys already.

The moves to add GP and QW were in fact VERY different as well.

There is a reason I say how fortunate it was for Dallas to move off of Micah.
It forced a change in modus operandi.
Paying your own and drafting with very low prized FA only didn't cut it.

I will throw this into the discussion: One site I went to had Dante Fowler No. 32 among free agents last year and Javonte Williams either in the 70s or 80s. So that gives me a little hope that maybe they will do some shopping in the top 100. I could see them giving Parker the go-ahead with Dean if his asking price isn't too high. If we want to give him our usual one-year deal, it probably will be ($9 million or $10 million). But if we actually did give him a multiyear deal (like 4 years, $40 million), we could get that first-year hit (and possibly second-year) down closer to what we gave Fowler.

 

[unionjack8]

Devin Lloyd
Bryan Cook
Boye Mafe

 

[jterrell]

I will throw this into the discussion: One site I went to had Dante Fowler No. 32 among free agents last year and Javonte Williams either in the 70s or 80s. So that gives me a little hope that maybe they will do some shopping in the top 100. I could see them giving Parker the go-ahead with Dean if his asking price isn't too high. If we want to give him our usual one-year deal, it probably will be ($9 million or $10 million). But if we actually did give him a multiyear deal (like 4 years, $40 million), we could get that first-year hit (and possibly second-year) down closer to what we gave Fowler.

End of day everything is relative.
Dallas is almost certainly not going out and chasing the best possible free agents aside from GP which is their own guy. --unless they trade/move him.
BUT they are taking a very different tone regarding free agency.
The one thing you have to hand them is they are very upfront about not spending in outside free agency.
They loudly, proudly and belligerently have stuck to "we like our own guys" and "we can't have everything in a salary cap world".
That has shifted this year to we are going to free up cap by extending the DTs and go spend more than the past.

We shall see how that actually translates but there is zero debate about whether the tone is different or not because it very much is.