The Window, How Open Is It?

Irvin88_4life

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As long as you have a franchise QB the window is open, for the most part. We have a franchise QB in Dak but some don't want to sign him. I don't care if it's 35 million a year it won't matter in a year or two when the average for QBs goes up over 40 million.
 

Diehardblues

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As long as you have a franchise QB the window is open, for the most part. We have a franchise QB in Dak but some don't want to sign him. I don't care if it's 35 million a year it won't matter in a year or two when the average for QBs goes up over 40 million.
I understand that argument . So why do we have to sign him to more than a 3 year contract?

Tell Dak that if he surpasses expectations then we can give him a bigger contract. If he takes us further than we’ve been this era then he can hold out for a top 5 salary which he will deserve.

For now I’d pay him what most middle tier passers are making. In the mid 20 million range. Otherwise we might not be able to surround you with Elliott and Cooper and you'll need to carry the team without an Elite supporting cast.
 

Irvin88_4life

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I understand that argument . So why do we have to sign him to more than a 3 year contract?

Tell Dak that if he surpasses expectations then we can give him a bigger contract. If he takes us further than we’ve been this era then he can hold out for a top 5 salary which he will deserve.

For now I’d pay him what most middle tier passers are making. In the mid 20 million range. Otherwise we might not be able to surround you with Elliott and Cooper and you'll need to carry the team without an Elite supporting cast.
Dak has already proven he can be successful. 6 or 7 years is what he should get.

Even at 35 million a year we can still sign Cooper. Zeke I would trade
 

Irvin88_4life

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But has he proven he can be successful without an Elite supporting cast?
He has had OL go in and out, running backs in and out, different receivers and TEs but yet he still wins. Every QB needs some type of talent, not sure why folks want to try and use this as a negative with only Dak.
 

Diehardblues

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He has had OL go in and out, running backs in and out, different receivers and TEs but yet he still wins. Every QB needs some type of talent, not sure why folks want to try and use this as a negative with only Dak.
3-3 while Elliott was suspended . 3-4 without a WR1.
You call that still winning?

And yes, everyone needs talent . It’s what they do with it that separates greatness. How much more talent does Dak need to take it to next level?
 

Brax

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3-3 while Elliott was suspended . 3-4 without a WR1.
You call that still winning?

And yes, everyone needs talent . It’s what they do with it that separates greatness. How much more talent does Dak need to take it to next level?
that's 6-7 I thought Dak only won, was super clutch and needed no high level talent to win games.
 

Hadenough

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I think Dallas has this season and next season. Then the window shuts. Daks contract will begin to have an affect on player depth.
If Dallas let's Dak play out his contract this year and franchises him the following year the Cowboys can reload and draft another rookie and have him for 4 years on that rookie contract.
 

CouchCoach

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The only teams in Cap era who can manage the Cap more effectively and maintain a competitive team or consistent contender are those with Elite QB’s because you can surround them with less than Elite talent supporting cast throughout.

They might have an occasional down year but usually is because of an injury to QB or too many losses of surrounding support. All QB’s need a supporting cast but it’s what they do with it when they have enough that separates them from the rest.
Agree with that but there are just so many elite QB's to go around. They're in the minority.
 

starfan1

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Don't need Byron. We have Cheeto and j. Lewis. You can't pay everyone and as good as Byron is, he's not a playmaker. L. Collins is as good as gone too. Gotta keep jaylon Smith though.

I think our window is at least a few years if Dak shows to be a true franchise QB.
it depends on what your definition of a franchise QB is.Is it wins? Is it stats? is it leadership ability? is it all of the above? I believe Dak and the cowboys can win it all. Just as i felt Tony and the cowboys could. I got more faith now because we have a solid team
 

Jake

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This thread reminded me of the Sporting News predicting the Cowboys to beat the Chiefs in this season's Super Bowl. Seemed like a stretch when I first saw it, and it's not improving with age.
 

cowboyblue22

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We've basically got a 1 year window. One way or another, we are going to lose some seriously talented players by this time next year.

I personally am a fan of the "hang around and contend, hope to catch lightning in a bottle" approach that the Cowboys have been taking, because in a sport filled with injuries and single-elimination playoff games, it really is down to luck more than anything (unless you're the Patriots). There are times when it's appropriate to go all-in, like what the Saints and Rams are doing now, but the Saints showed exactly what is wrong with that strategy; their contender got eliminated from the playoffs with a single bogus PI call.

Basically, if you keep drafting well and sign good contracts, I think the rest sorts itself out. Our problem though is that we almost drafted too well and now have too many mouths to feed, and a couple of our star defenders like Jaylon, D-Law and Byron were late bloomers who didn't give us maximum value on their rookie deals. If they had all become stars in say 2016, we would have had 4 straight seasons with a championship caliber defense and good enough offense to make runs in the NFC. As it is, they didn't break out until 2018 and really only gave us a 2 year window. That's not to say they were bad picks, I'll take Pro Bowl defenders however I can get them, but the key to winning in the NFL is to exploit the value difference between rookie deals and second contract / free agent deals and we didn't get that value for long enough to really be a contender.

So what's going to happen is we're going to have a talent exodus in 2020, fire Garrett, hang around in the 7 to 9 win range for a bit, and then go on another run once we either hit on more underpriced talent or we find a better coach than JG. If our drafting slips, then I think we could see this roster built on draft-and-develop start decaying pretty quickly, and we could end up spending some more Campo years lost in the woods.
very good post and really accurate
 

Diehardblues

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Yup, Pro Football 101 pretty much. Exceptions to every rule of course but for the most part, this is the accurate blueprint to success in the NFL.
Unfortunately like Coach said, there’s only a few out there and those are usually the most consistent contenders.

The key is snagging the next one coming out in draft. The better team you have the greater chance the young stud to excel.
 

buybuydandavis

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This is about as close as we’ve been. One of the most talented rosters we’ve had this era. How much more Elite talent do we need to surround Dak with to take the next step? All Pro OL, league leading RB, WR1, HOF TE and #7 ranked defense.

Reducing that supporting cast doesn’t sound like the answer to me. Do you see the window opening up further down the road?

Most teams in Cap era win it early with their QB’s before they have to start paying everyone and reducing the supporting cast. I’d argue our greatest Window with Dak is now.

You're arguing to mortgage the future to keep the band together from last year. A band that just wasn't that great.

You open up windows by drafting great. By developing what you have. If you could do it by throwing money at players, we would have had a bunch of SBs in the 2000s. We signed a bunch of our guys to bad contracts and the window closed for a long time because of it.
 

Diehardblues

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You're arguing to mortgage the future to keep the band together from last year. A band that just wasn't that great.

You open up windows by drafting great. By developing what you have. If you could do it by throwing money at players, we would have had a bunch of SBs in the 2000s. We signed a bunch of our guys to bad contracts and the window closed for a long time because of it.
What future? There’s no guarantees. Do you really believe Dak is going to be more effective with less supporting cast?

I can’t see us surrounding him with anymore talent than we are right now. The FUTURE IS NOW.
 

Diehardblues

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Start cutting loose Elite talents and it will set this team back. We just can’t depend on this FO to draft well consistently.

What’s the odds of drafting this level of OL again while Dak is here or another RB like this? And receiving Corp?

While also drafting the defense we have. No, this is probably about as good as it gets this era. Unless you're thinking we will draft a more elite QB.
 

buybuydandavis

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What future? There’s no guarantees. Do you really believe Dak is going to be more effective with less supporting cast?

I can’t see us surrounding him with anymore talent than we are right now. The FUTURE IS NOW.

When the FUTURE IS NOW, the actual future after now gets a lot darker. I plan on being a Cowboy fan after this year.
 

Diehardblues

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When the FUTURE IS NOW, the actual future after now gets a lot darker. I plan on being a Cowboy fan after this year.
You’re missing the meaning ..
Next year could be just as bright if we sign everyone.

This year could be dark and wasting the core of talent we have.
 
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