I'll tell you this right now, re-sign Doug Free

[Crown Royal]

Someone will pay free more than the vet min. He would be a fool not to go elsewhere for an extra half mil per year.

 

[Bluefin]

Leary is a restricted Free Agent. He will be back next year.

Ronald Leary will be in the third and final year of his undrafted rookie contract next season.

Leary was only on the roster for 2 games at the end of his rookie season in 2012.

Players need 6 games in order to accrue a season of service towards free agency.

He will be a Restricted free agent in 2016 and scheduled for Unrestricted free agency in 2017.

I'll be shocked if neither Free or Parnell are re-signed.

It'd be nice to get something done, but it may not happen.

Doug Free lost $7M dollars when he agreed to taking a pay cut in 2013. The best way to get that money back is as a free agent.

Teams may also be willing to gamble on Jermey Parnell's upside as a free agent.

 

[Zman5]

Family, perhaps he likes playing for Dallas, likes his team mates, coach, direction of the team, living in Dallas. I'm not sure a few hundred thousand would be enough to lose him if he's that highly thought of by the coaches. A million dollar contract vs $720,000 doesn't seem like a big enough difference for him and mgt not to be able to work something out

It probably comes down to the contract. How much signing bonus and how much is guaranteed. Whether he stays for couple hundred thousand more remains to be seen.

My main point is that I think he will have options. I don't think we can assume he will just play here for the vet minimum because that's the only option he has.

 

[bodi]

Talking about T Williams, he has been disappearing of late.

and Street is just terrible

 

[yimyammer]

It probably comes down to the contract. How much signing bonus and how much is guaranteed. Whether he stays for couple hundred thousand more remains to be seen.

My main point is that I think he will have options. I don't think we can assume he will just play here for the vet minimum because that's the only option he has.

I agree and I don't think its the end of the world if they lose him. If they want to be successful in this league they have to have players waiting in the wings and not desperately sign every player that other teams are interested in

 

[Zman5]

I agree and I don't think its the end of the world if they lose him. If they want to be successful in this league they have to have players waiting in the wings and not desperately sign every player that other teams are interested in

Even though I don't think he'll sign here for vet minimum, I also don't think we'll over pay for him. If he wants more than $1.5 million per year, I think we'll let him walk.

 

[yimyammer]

Even though I don't think he'll sign here for vet minimum, I also don't think we'll over pay for him. If he wants more than $1.5 million per year, I think we'll let him walk.

I don't know what the right number for him is but I hope they figure it out and don't go over it.

They're going to have a lot of work in the off season dealing with all their free agents. I hope they try to sell them as a group on the benefits of sticking with the team and not going off to whomever gives them the most money

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

When you buy is just as important as what you buy in the draft. If you take a guy that is an UDFA projection in the 4th round and he turns out to be a backup/special teams player, that's not good value. If you could have gotten him later you should have. What would the actual 4th round talent that wasn't taken be doing in Dallas this year and in the future?

Of course the Cowboys disagree. But I don't blindly rubber stamp everything they do as if they're flawless. This is a poorly run team. They don't get any benefit of the doubt from me. If I didn't like Hitchens in the 4th round on May 9th, I don't like it on May 10th either. The fact that he's forced to play now on a bad defense and hustles doesn't change my opinion on him at all.

Remember Sean Lissemore? I thought that was a poor investment. Should have gotten him in UDFA. But he ended up being a nice role player and I admitted as much. The Cowboys were right on that.

Remember Matt Johnson? The biggest reach of the entire draft and he proved it. That was a clusterbleep from the get go. He didn't belong in the league.

I expect, and have always expected, Hitchens to fall in the middle of that.

BS...you have expected Hitchens to suck. You are a liar my friend.

 

[BigStar]

I don't think it's smart to rely on a rookie O-lineman period. Even the top 3 picks usually don't pan out right away, or at best they have to spend a year at RT (that's what happened with Tyron Smith). Heck, Smith was a bit of a liability his first few years. But our O-line was so bad that he was one of the least of our problems. If you stick a rookie Smith on an elite line like ours right now, he struggles big time and probably gets benched. Leary didn't pan out right away. Even Frederick struggled a bit his rookie year. Martin, on the other hand, was one of those rare "can't miss" talents. There were other guys with higher ceilings but nobody was denying that Martin would be a great player. We got a little lucky on this O-line and we made some wise picks. I still don't trust that we draft a 3rd round RT and he immediately comes in and plays better than Free or Parnell. I'd rather we drafted a 3rd rounder, resigned Free for cheap for a few years, and gave the 3rd rounder a few years to develop.

That's fair in saying it isn't a "just pick one and you're done" spots. We saw Free took half his career to figure out how to counter his lack of strength into an accommodating starting T (even @xwalker on highlighting the scheme difference with him in there (esp 13) . I'm more the child who wants to finish the project and see one glaring weakness left Great points on how it takes some to develop these talents we take for granted (outside of Martin).

 

[50cent]

I think you have to try to resign him! The chemistry would be unreal for years. However , if there's a tackle sitting there you have to grab him (regardless of round). I feel the same about QB. This year's draft is built beautifully for sticking to the board and not reach. Defense is obviously the need, but I don't think anyone can argue with taking a QB in the 1st after seeing Romo go down again. OL for that matter too. I wason board with last year's line coming back after their performance a year ago. We'll we all see what an upgrade Martin is to Berny and I'm glad I was wrong about that.

So yea, I try to resign Free without even blinking to draft another tackle if will clay and crew feel it's an upgrade.

 

[BigStar]

Someone will pay free more than the vet min. He would be a fool not to go elsewhere for an extra half mil per year.

Good Let them scheme around his inability of taking the inside move (strength). RG going outside in explains a lot tbh...

 

[BigStar]

I think you have to try to resign him! The chemistry would be unreal for years. However , if there's a tackle sitting there you have to grab him (regardless of round). I feel the same about QB. This year's draft is built beautifully for sticking to the board and not reach. Defense is obviously the need, but I don't think anyone can argue with taking a QB in the 1st after seeing Romo go down again. OL for that matter too. I wason board with last year's line coming back after their performance a year ago. We'll we all see what an upgrade Martin is to Berny and I'm glad I was wrong about that.

So yea, I try to resign Free without even blinking to draft another tackle if will clay and crew feel it's an upgrade.

Nah, make it better dude! Don't have to settle for Free/Parnell when there is talent that can make this work even more efficiently. That's how you get old/stagnant; not allowable anymore. Don't put icing on it cake.

 

[MRV52]

Sign Free and Leary. The Ol was not the same in those two losses.

 

[Bullflop]

A while back, he took his reduced salary like a real trooper, then proceeded to prove himself more than before.
I surely won't have any objection to giving him another contract. I'd leave the financial part up to the front office.

 

[Macnalty]

Because if I know, as much as you can know in the draft, that I can get that player in the 4th round I'd be getting less value and talent taking him in the 1st. Because I could take a more consensus 1st round projection at that spot and the sleeper player I like later. Instead of taking that sleeper in the 1st and a lesser prospect than the 1st rounder I would have otherwise taken.

You want to draft the player where he's about to go off the board. Not a round or two earlier.

I agree with your premise but clearly we are working off different data sets than the professional scouts. I feel like I study for the draft very diligently each year and without fail I at best get one pick correct for the cowboys in a good year. I always have a feel for where talent should go but beyond the second round I might as well just throw a dart. So many things are manipulated by the media and it is easy to get sucked into their false sense of knowledge or irrelevant stats.
I had to look up on my excel sheet who Hitchens was this year he was in my late late section if nobody dropped aisle. He is clearly a player the mainstream draft media missed on big time. We can only be as accurate as the data we are provided, never believe we have all the good data and try not to act surprised when a "Hitchens" is drafted in the fourth.
This is hopefully the start of some incredible draft coup with draft meister McClay, chapter one is exciting enjoy the ride.

 

[MissouriCowboy]

I would just leave Martin alone. Free I worry if he gets a big contract he go back to his mode where he did not work hard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,like years ago

 

[YosemiteSam]

Doug Free is s must re - sign .

We have nobody on this team including Parnell that has his game.

He's become a nasty player and is the vocal leader of that group.

I would rather draft a RT in the first round. Thanks.

 

[Smith22]

Depends on the price. Martin is playing great at guard, so I would be pretty hesitant with moving him to RT.

 

[conner01]

Not for too much money. Parnell will be fine if he wants too much money

who is to say parnell does'nt want just as much money. after the season we will see. who ever we can sign to the best deal is who we will keep. but that does mean we have to sign another tackle this off season either way, unless we signed them both again

 

[atlantacowboy]

I would have said no way back in July. But there is a noticeable difference in the run game when Free is out there. If we can get him back for 3-4 million per and not more than 2 years, then keep him. We have plenty of cap space going into 2015. Plus, it would be nice to address the defense in round 1 next draft without worrying about a gaping hole at RT. I don't think Parnell is the answer.