The consequences of the 2024 off-season

[deerhunter11]

Jerry and Stephen, though, have put the handcuffs on what McClay, the pro scouts and coaches can do, though. If you know you have just $3 million to spend on a running back, you know you are limited in your ability to shop. You can bring back and Ezekiel Elliott, because of his poor averages, but can't get a Derrick Henry.

I absolutely do not believe the Joneses are doing most of the shopping for players (and probably didn't even know who some of the players we got were), but they are the ones with the philosophy that costly free agency doesn't pay off just because when Jerry was indiscriminate with salaries they made some poor choices on how to spend it.

I hear ya and agree common sense ain't real common for Ol Jerry you will never figure him out .Will McClay and the scouts and the coaching staff are running the show right now it seems.But how long before Ol Jerry throws a wrench into the gears or so to speak.Jerry is in charge of the Parsons contract hows that going ,how many millions have been lost.

 

[gimmesix]

Look I'm not reading past your first line, because I'm not going to agree with any of it,

But I think I'm through with this conversation. When someone tells me that they are not going to read past the first line of my response (when they write books in response) that tells me that they are not interested in having a discussion. They are only interested in pushing their point of view.

 

[gimmesix]

That's all I got to say about this i'm done conversations over for me you can argue with somebody else i'm not doing it Jerry may not be a genius front office guy but he's also not the worst GM in the league and I'll continue to say that he might be average like mid level but he is definitely not the worst one...

Good. We're on the same page.

I've never said Jerry is the worst GM in the league. But since you don't read the responses to you, you seem to just jump to whatever conclusions you want. I've said this FA strategy is Jerry's and all the evidence says that it is.

 

[TwistedL0g1k]

Guys just don't have the common sense gene that I have,

LOL. Priceless.

Nobody with any sense at all uses 1,000 words to say what can be said in 10.

 

[gimmesix]

I hear ya and agree common sense ain't real common for Ol Jerry you will never figure him out .Will McClay and the scouts and the coaching staff are running the show right now it seems.But how long before Ol Jerry throws a wrench into the gears or so to speak.Jerry is in charge of the Parsons contract hows that going ,how many millions have been lost.

Certainly, all of the pickups this year (except maybe Pickens) seem to be the work of the coaches and scouts to find players that fit the pay parameters. I was pleased that the strategy was at least tweaked to where we looked for these players at the beginning of free agency instead of after the "feeding frenzy" passed.

I don't know if that will bring us a higher-caliber cheaper player, but at least it could mean that we didn't wait until even those players were gone and all we were left with was the dregs. I think maybe the Joneses have seen that some players bought for cheap early in free agency turned out well.

Maybe watching the Eagles sign Zack Baun last year to a cheap one-year deal during the first week of free agency was the straw that broke that camel's back. Before last year, the Joneses seemed to think they had to completely sit out those first couple of weeks in order to let prices come down and get value.

 

[Rockport]

This is the delusion of ownership. They either really believe we are so stacked we can sign a bunch of cheap fa's and have success, or blatant incompetence. We can take it a step further with Shotty. That guy was on absolutely no ones short or long list of head coaching candidates, but here we are with him leading Dallas. Jerry has become cheap in his final years, guess it takes a lot of $$ to operate that yacht.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that sentence. They truly believe that their way is the best way to build a consistently good team. The problem is, consistently good is just average in the NFL.

 

[deerhunter11]

Certainly, all of the pickups this year (except maybe Pickens) seem to be the work of the coaches and scouts to find players that fit the pay parameters. I was pleased that the strategy was at least tweaked to where we looked for these players at the beginning of free agency instead of after the "feeding frenzy" passed.

I don't know if that will bring us a higher-caliber cheaper player, but at least it could mean that we didn't wait until even those players were gone and all we were left with was the dregs. I think maybe the Joneses have seen that some players bought for cheap early in free agency turned out well.

Maybe watching the Eagles sign Zack Baun last year to a cheap one-year deal during the first week of free agency was the straw that broke that camel's back. Before last year, the Joneses seemed to think they had to completely sit out those first couple of weeks in order to let prices come down and get value.

Nice Post,this off season really surprised me Dallas got in early and grabbed some good players Jack Sanborn looks like he might be a player.I like how he came with Eberflus,he might do for Dallas what Baun did last season for the eagles.Dante Fowler was another good move a good off season it was ,hope it continues.

 

[gimmesix]

They either really believe we are so stacked we can sign a bunch of cheap fa's and have success, or blatant incompetence.

I think there's a third option, which is what I believe based on what we've heard from Jerry over the years. I believe they think the way to success is to retain their key players and build around them through the draft, and free agency should be used to temporarily fill in the cracks and not counted on for success.

This strategy was built around failed efforts to spend big in free agency to fill voids, so they abandoned that strategy instead of tweaking it. They equated spending big to quality even though the best player available at a position in a free agency period might not be top quality. Brandon Carr was a good example (and the last straw for them). He was the best (or second-best) corner available in that free agent class, but it wasn't like he was close to a Deion Sanders or anything. Dallas overpaid for him (based on his talent level, not his value in free agency) then was disappointed when he was just good not great.

Of course, that may fall under incompetence. They seem to be convinced this strategy will work even though they have plenty of evidence that it does not. Of course, there previous strategy of treating the draft like an afterthought and just buying whatever they wanted in FA also didn't work, so maybe they just can't conceive of a strategy that will work.

Me? I think using all the aspects of roster-building is the way to build a winning team. But what do I know, I'm not a billionaire NFL owner.

 

[gimmesix]

Nice Post,this off season really surprised me Dallas got in early and grabbed some good players Jack Sanborn looks like he might be a player.I like how he came with Eberflus,he might do for Dallas what Baun did last season for the eagles.Dante Fowler was another good move a good off season it was ,hope it continues.

I don't even mind all the cheap moves for the first-rounders. A lot was expected of Elam, Murray and Turner based on where they were drafted. They couldn't live up to those expectations but it doesn't mean they are necessarily bad players. Maybe not great players, but perhaps better than players we could have gotten in free agency on similar deals.

Now, we've again gone cheap and all of it could blow up in our faces, since there are reasons the players we got were cheap. But the Joneses have shown that they are not changing from their cheap FA ways, so best we can hope is that their personnel people can be allowed to employ that strategy in the best way possible.

I don't think any of the players we got for cheap puts us over the top. They are still crack fillers, but maybe they are at least higher-quality crack fillers.

Talents like Pickens are the type who can help you get over the top, but adding one Pickens every 10-plus years is not going to do it. I mean, the last acquisition we had on that level was Amari Cooper (2018) and we did that when we did not already have a No. 1 receiver on the team.

 

[DZSierra]

Jethro continues or his goal is to remain relative enough he can sell it. He can’t sell 5-12 and hope for next season and beyond.

And he doesn’t have ability to build from scratch. It’s why he hangs on to his stars too long normally . And continues to over pay Dak and others. He feels with that core of stars he can maintain which keeps most fans engulfed hoping this could be the year.

And it’s enough for him to hype he might have drafted or brought in enough support to break thru. It’s a very vicious cycle we have basically been in for most of last 3 decades. Especially since Parcells and Romo and I’d argue has continued with Dak. It’s why these two QB’s being less than Elite have enabled him to carry on his ways without down turning overall interest and revenue.

Unfortunately it’s not going to return the results we are all looking for. Instead we are stuck in this perpetual motion of mediocrity never reaching the pinnacle nor hitting rock bottom which is usually needed to bring the absolute changes necessary.

 

[DZSierra]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when #11 gets paid, isn't it possible for the Cowboys to have both the most expensive offensive player and defensive player on the same team?

Is it even possible that Jerry isn't thinking about renewing #11's contract because he has so much money on Dak?

 

[gimmesix]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when #11 gets paid, isn't it possible for the Cowboys to have both the most expensive offensive player and defensive player on the same team?

Is it even possible that Jerry isn't thinking about renewing #11's contract because he has so much money on Dak?

No, I don't think that's possible. They've said they want to get it done. The Joneses have just shown that they are never in a hurry. Some reasons why have been postulated, but I'm not sure why.

 

[kskboys]

Jerry and Stephen, though, have put the handcuffs on what McClay, the pro scouts and coaches can do, though. If you know you have just $3 million to spend on a running back, you know you are limited in your ability to shop. You can bring back and Ezekiel Elliott, because of his poor averages, but can't get a Derrick Henry.

I absolutely do not believe the Joneses are doing most of the shopping for players (and probably didn't even know who some of the players we got were), but they are the ones with the philosophy that costly free agency doesn't pay off just because when Jerry was indiscriminate with salaries they made some poor choices on how to spend it.

Not handcuffs, they just don't listen to them. Or, they listen to them and do what they want. If I know that Mazi was not a 1st round talent, there's no way they weren't told that.

 

[kskboys]

It would have been interesting to see if McClay had taken a GM job elsewhere if his strategy there would have been different. But Jerry and Stephen have both made it very clear that the strategy here is theirs. We don't have to guess about that. We also know that our personnel problems have been around longer than McClay has been here and our drafting has improved since he was put in charge of it. Could someone else do better? Maybe

He may be part of the problem with pro personnel acquisitions, but the handcuffs on that clearly belong to the Joneses. I mean, just this offseason, Jerry said, “I don’t think aggressive is the right word. I’m not looking at free agency as a place to fill voids.”

The odd 2nd round picks have been going on forever. The writers talk about it. McClay may do some of the piddle work of the GM because Jerry is too high and mighty, but make no mistake, Jerry controls everything.

 

[Acceptablename]

I have never seen a stranger buildup to a season than our FO had in 2024. And the reverberations continue today.

Last off-season was a complete kamikaze mission where the FO sat on their hands while losing key personnel, way overpaid for their QB with a growing injury history, wasted months not signing their star WR they KNEW they were going to sign. All the while keeping a lame duck HC who captained the worst home playoff loss in team history….because the richest owner in sports is too cheap to not pay off the last year of his HCs contract.

Before the flak comes flying, let me explain why this matters now: The consequences of those horrible decisions take more than a year to recover from.

What are those “bad decisions” where the consequences still remain?

• Keeping Mike McCarthy after that embarrassing home playoff loss to GB. Jerry should have fired him immediately and recognized that 2024 would be a reset/rebuild. Should have hired a new HC and we would already have a head start on 2025 with a new staff we have a year with.
• By not firing McCarthy, the team was faced with a season with a lame duck HC with an expiring contract. That almost never works in the NFL. We saw this bad decision with keeping Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett one more year because of their contracts not being “up” yet. Just stupid.
• Using 4th round picks to acquire Trey Lance in 2023, and Jonathan Mingo in 2024 were big setbacks to the 2024 and 2025 drafts. When we needed a RB it would have helped to have those 4th round picks.
• The Mike Zimmer Experiment failed, making our young defensive players in 2025 have their third DC in 5 seasons. Now they have to learn from the 4th DC we’ve had since 2020.
• If 2024 was supposed to be a reset for the cap, why did they resign Dak for a ridiculously over priced contract? Why keep a decent but aging QB who has struggled in bigger games? The list of QBs who get better as they age is very short.
• The 2024 season could have been a well designed plan to tank in 2024, and rebuild, get a better 2025 draft position, maybe even angle for the #1 pick in 2026 for the Arch Manning sweepstakes, or some other young emerging QB.

By throwing away what 2024 could have been, it sets you back at least a couple of years because you cannot completely replenish your roster only with draft picks. This organization has made it crystal clear they will not commit much cap space on free agents. Yes they have made some trades and a few low rent FA signings.

So when I take off the blue colored fan glasses, it’s hard to look at this team, now helmed by a first year head coach who according to Ian Rappoport, is one of the 3 lowest paid HCs in the NFL (His salary as far as I can tell is not public yet) and a roster that still has huge holes at DT, RB and perhaps others.

Does it mean 2025 is already a bust? No. It can be a year of major improvement. But to make the playoffs and make some noise while in it will require a major help from Lady Luck and the good ol’ policy of “Hope as a strategy.”

The 2025 season can still be lots of fun. But the really bad decisions of 2024 may slow this team’s development.

I think Fisher calls it organic rebuild. Aren't there other teams that try that. Philadelphia certainly did with great timing and success. Why am I not surprised

 

[deerhunter11]

One of these days Dallas will get lucky enough to win despite Ol Jerry being contrary.

 

[kskboys]

But I think I'm through with this conversation. When someone tells me that they are not going to read past the first line of my response (when they write books in response) that tells me that they are not interested in having a discussion. They are only interested in pushing their point of view.

Yup. IMO it's most obvious that he just wants to hear himself talk. Very few respond to his olio.

 

[kskboys]

LOL. Priceless.

Nobody with any sense at all uses 1,000 words to say what can be said in 10.

You mean 1,000 w/ no punctuation or paragraphs.

 

[gimmesix]

Yup. IMO it's most obvious that he just wants to hear himself talk. Very few respond to his olio.

I'm on here to try to converse with fellow Cowboys fans, so I'll usually try to respond until I see that someone is no longer interested in a discussion.

 

[gimmesix]

Not handcuffs, they just don't listen to them. Or, they listen to them and do what they want. If I know that Mazi was not a 1st round talent, there's no way they weren't told that.

I have trouble blaming draft picks on the Joneses (other than a few where it's clear Jerry wanted a splash ... but there's been less of that under our current draft philosophy). They are not doing any scouting of their own. They may ultimately be the ones turning in the selections, but the coaches and McClay's team have their input. The team had reason to believe that Mazi was a first-round pick since the Chiefs were rumored to want to trade up to our spot and take him there.

I think the Joneses listen to both their coaches and their personnel people, and a lot of what is done personnelwise is left up to those professionals. The only thing I think is completely on the Joneses is their free agent strategy. The personnel people have to go find players that fit that strategy. And most of the time you get what you pay for.