Sturm on why the Cowboys sit out free agency

[baltcowboy]

Here’s my problem with the assumption about all those guys (except Micah)- what has this team accomplished WITH them? Answer: Not much.

Diggs is good but great? No. Lamb? Good. Not great. Dak? Good, not great. Parsons? Great. So why is having 3 of those guys critical? Answer: Because the FO doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Come on now. If Lamb and Diggs were free agents today they would both make top dollars. They are both under 25 years of age and play premium positions. Cowboys fans seem to underestimate these guys. Other teams would love to have Lamb and Diggs.

 

[TWOK11]

Its an excuse nothing more

bottom line is the bottom line to the clown show

They are making money hand over fist with the status quo; why change it?

You realize the Jones family makes the exact same amount of money regardless of how much cap space we use, right?

Probably the funniest dumb fan take across the NFL is that owners get richer when their teams spend less on players, as if they get to personally pocket the extra cap space.

 

[visionary]

Let’s project this out: Diggs (five years, $100 million, $20 million per), Lamb (five years, $125 million, $25 million per) and Parsons conservatively at five years for $150 million ($30 million per), and you hope Dak Prescott remains at around $40 million per year. Now, you understand the Cowboys’ roster has four guys at $115 million per season and that is their core for now. They should have roughly that total again to fill out the other 50 guys on the roster. Now you know the Cowboys aren’t chasing too many things in free agency.

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There just isn't enough pie when in the next couple of years you may be giving half of it to 4 players.

But we should be quite used to this....

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Since Carr in 2012? The five biggest free-agent signings are all small with no impact: Henry Melton, Benson Mayowa, Cedric Thornton, Nolan Carroll and Gerald McCoy … I guess? Five biggest impacts? Robert Quinn has to count, technically a trade. Jeremy Mincey? Jayron Kearse? We really cannot come up with five. They have literally stopped shopping in free agency beyond one-year deals almost at all. Maybe they have something planned this year. Don’t cross your fingers.

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That is a scary list. We just don't do free agency. Free agency bad. Add to that the impending deals for Diggs, Lamb and Micah that they have to budget for and you can see why any hopes for a Wagner or Hopkins or even OBJ are probably just a pipe dream.

This is why I’ve germ saying, trade Diggs now

 

[Bobhaze]

Like I don't even care about Zeke's cap hit at this point. I care that he's on the team.

If he's there they will use him and using him holds back this offense significantly.

This ^^^^^!

 

[TWOK11]

Here’s my problem with the assumption about all those guys (except Micah)- what has this team accomplished WITH them? Answer: Not much.

Diggs is good but great? No. Lamb? Good. Not great. Dak? Good, not great. Parsons? Great. So why is having 3 of those guys critical? Answer: Because the FO doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Roughly a third of the franchises in pro football have never had a QB as good as Dak or a defensive player as good as Parsons in their entire history. Let alone at the same time. Chicago Bears fans would crawl miles over broken glass for a Dak Prescott at any point since the Second World War.

The ease with which some of you believe replacing good players comes just astonishes me.

 

[NotForLong]

I am not paying Diggs 20 per year, and the way Parson's has been vocal, will he even want to sign here? I hope so, but we will have to wait and find out. When the Rams won the SB, they had like the 15-16 ranked defense. Where was KC defense ranked last season, something like 9th? We don't need a top 3 defense to get us far, just be consistent on the offensive side of the ball. Get another WR, pay Ceedee, focus on extending Parsons, and invest in the trenches. All that would remain is for our 40 million dollar man to execute consistently.

All this is easy right?

If Dak is the QB . . . You Do need a top 3. . Dak just got extended . . . so

 

[NotForLong]

Roughly a third of the franchises in pro football have never had a QB as good as Dak or a defensive player as good as Parsons in their entire history. Let alone at the same time. Chicago Bears fans would crawl miles over broken glass for a Dak Prescott at any point since the Second World War.

The ease with which some of you believe replacing good players comes just astonishes me.

 

[Bobhaze]

Roughly a third of the franchises in pro football have never had a QB as good as Dak or a defensive player as good as Parsons in their entire history. Let alone at the same time. Chicago Bears fans would crawl miles over broken glass for a Dak Prescott at any point since the Second World War.

The ease with which some of you believe replacing good players comes just astonishes me.

I didn’t say cut Dak. I’m fine with him here. But if keeping Diggs and Lamb means we can’t put a good team around Dak, it’s just stupid.

 

[TWOK11]

Never has a collection of good but not great players, who have accomplished almost nothing, been given so much in return. It’s stupid.

There are two types of franchises that operate the way you seem to want this one to. On one side the New England Patriots from 2001-present, and then literally every other franchise that has ever consistently tried that formula in the history of the sport on the other. I know you won’t admit it but I suspect I don’t need to explain the obvious outlier here.

Virtually every successful team/franchise in history has consistently resigned as many of their good to great players as they possibly can because that’s how you win. Cycling through every other position with the greatest coach and QB ever is not the normal model.

If many you had your way, we’d cut or trade Dak, let most of our good players walk, hire a coach you think will be great, draft a QB in the top 5 and magically you believe we’d be better quickly. History shows that it’s the same teams that do that cycle over and over again because it’s so hard to get right, and even once you do you still eventually have to retain a lot of your talent.

 

[Teague31]

Stephen is cheap.

End thread

 

[Sandyf]

Let’s project this out: Diggs (five years, $100 million, $20 million per), Lamb (five years, $125 million, $25 million per) and Parsons conservatively at five years for $150 million ($30 million per), and you hope Dak Prescott remains at around $40 million per year. Now, you understand the Cowboys’ roster has four guys at $115 million per season and that is their core for now. They should have roughly that total again to fill out the other 50 guys on the roster. Now you know the Cowboys aren’t chasing too many things in free agency.

-

There just isn't enough pie when in the next couple of years you may be giving half of it to 4 players.

But we should be quite used to this....

-

Since Carr in 2012? The five biggest free-agent signings are all small with no impact: Henry Melton, Benson Mayowa, Cedric Thornton, Nolan Carroll and Gerald McCoy … I guess? Five biggest impacts? Robert Quinn has to count, technically a trade. Jeremy Mincey? Jayron Kearse? We really cannot come up with five. They have literally stopped shopping in free agency beyond one-year deals almost at all. Maybe they have something planned this year. Don’t cross your fingers.

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That is a scary list. We just don't do free agency. Free agency bad. Add to that the impending deals for Diggs, Lamb and Micah that they have to budget for and you can see why any hopes for a Wagner or Hopkins or even OBJ are probably just a pipe dream.

Quite a list and would scare people especially fans but it does leave out the very good facts.

First the salary cap is rising and rising by quite a bit. In 2024, it is projected to be at $256 million and up to $328 million in 2027. Have to take that into the equation also.

Second, those are projected salary per year and we all know those are not the real numbers for each year as the 1st three years of the contract will be far less. The question always is what is the cap hit for each year and will they extend the contract or restructure those contracts when they need to have cap money.

Third, it is a myth that being over the cap puts you in cap hell. Why, look at the Rams and the Saints and half the stinking league every year. There are cuts, restructures, and on and on to not get under the cap but to also sign free agents.

Fourth, the fact is every year teams over pay for free agents in the first 10 days. Some work out but 70 percent never live up to their new contracts or perceive to work out to their new contracts.

The way Dallas does free agency frustrates fans every year because big signings energize the fan base with hope even if it is false hope. Sure I want them to sign a very good CB and Nose tackle and left guard but realistically they are gambles just like draft picks are a gamble. If neither were gambles then every draft pick would contribute day one. They don't and we know it. Over half of all 1st round picks fail, be it the wrong scheme or they just couldn't cut it.

Will we get some guys they will make a difference in free agency other than our own, I sure hope so. Will the draft provide needed run stopper and better offensive line and weapons, sure hope so. But like all, it is always a wait and see with Dallas because there aren't any BIG THING going to happen.

 

[CTcowboy203]

I’m not saying we need to break the bank in free agency but we just completely ignore anything above a value signing and that’s pathetic. Sure, we draft well and we have to maintain our own, which is very important but other teams have to do the same and don’t completely sit out the beginning of free agency.

There’s a happy medium. You can’t talk about a team getting over the hump and then tell us that only retaining our own is doing just that - when the players already weren’t enough to bust through. I’m far from a doom and gloom cowboy guy but the complete lack of free agent moves in terms of needle moving is horrible.

 

[Sydla]

Parsons is the only player that is irreplaceable.

I'd say Lamb is pretty close to irreplaceable especially as long as we are tied to Dak. Dak can only succeed if everything around him is top notch and that means having a legit #1 WR which Lamb is.

Diggs? Honestly, I am leaning towards not resigning him. Not that he isn't a great player, just that I am not sure the value is there given the makeup of the team.

 

[Sydla]

This is why I’ve germ saying, trade Diggs now

I've come around to this thinking. I like Diggs. I think he's very, very good. I think people that criticize him for this missed tackle or that are being ridiculous. There are games where he totally negates the team's best WR.

That being said, the cost to keep that kind of CB around just seems excessive in today's capped world. I'd rather plow that money into the DL and OL, which I think give way better ROI than CBs (or RBs for that matter).

 

[Chuck 54]

You must pay Lamb. You must have receivers who win and make plays.
You must pay Parsons. Elite pass rushers don’t grow on trees.
You must pay your OTs. The whole offense crumbles without them….interior guys easily replaced.

However, while I really like Diggs, you don’t need to pay CBs huge money. You don’t have to have a shut down corner to win. You should be drafting corners and developing them. Bland is no Diggs, but if you had 3 Blands, you could win. I’m not giving Diggs an elite contract unless I haven’t worked on the cb room ahead of time.

 

[bottleKids]

If Dak is the QB . . . You Do need a top 3. . Dak just got extended . . . so

I am trying to turn a new leaf and not fight with all the Stan's, but yes I understand and agree with you 100%, but in THEORY, it should be able to work they way I said it.... but notice how I kept using the word consistent... hehe

 

[TWOK11]

Stephen is cheap.

End thread

What does Stephen Jones gain financially by spending less of our cap space? Be specific.

 

[TWOK11]

Come on now. If Lamb and Diggs were free agents today they would both make top dollars. They are both under 25 years of age and play premium positions. Cowboys fans seem to underestimate these guys. Other teams would love to have Lamb and Diggs.

Lamb and Diggs on the open market this year would immediately become the highest paid receivers and corners in the NFL respectively. Now obviously that’s a year over year thing simply due to the inflationary nature of money and the cap, but the point is that Dallas is hardly the only team that would spend top dollar on them.

 

[Verdict]

WELL THEN SOMEONE HAS TO GO!!!!

There ya go. I would be shopping all three of Diggs, Lamb and Parsons (in that order) all the time. Those 3 guys will be in high demand and if you can get multiple first round picks for one or more of those guys and save the cap, you have to consider it.

If you want a healthy salary cap you can’t have more than three of these guys on a second (or later) contract unless it’s a team friendly deal:

Dak
Lamb
Diggs
Parsons

Preferably no more than two. Pick your poison.

 

[Cowfan75]

Enough talent to win some regular season games. Maybe even win a playoff game, but never enough to sniff the Super Bowl.

Exactly. It's literally just throwing money away for no results that matter. Why sign anyone at all when you are locking up the same team that can't get it done year after year?