For all the grief I have given the Cowboys and their cap management I actually think their handling of the Free situation has been very well done. They allowed to let the market dictate a price for Free and by waiting have limited Free’s options if released. If Dallas would have approached Free earlier in the year the likely response would have been “why would I take a paycut”. Dallas was not in a great position to release him and Free could always have a chance of earning money elsewhere. For it to be worth Free’s time Dallas would have probably needed to meet in the middle, going for a $2 million dollar paycut. In essence Free is going to get paid extra money than he would earn on the market by agreeing to help the Cowboys salary cap.
Now Free’s options are less appealing. Teams have drafted tackles. Clabo just signed with Miami. Eric Winston is still floating around in free agency. This isn’t a scenario where Free can say “Ill just sign elsewhere rather than cutting you a break” anymore. $3 million is probably the most money Free can now get from anyone in the NFL. You may even be able to say that it’s a generous offer for Free to get this much money. So he is almost in a position where he is stuck to take the paycut because he has almost no leverage anymore.
