This Cowboys Free Agent Signing Pegged One of NFL's Worst Offseason Moves

[DallasEast]

This Cowboys free agent signing pegged one of NFL's worst offseason moves​

By Jerry Trotta | The Landry Hat
May 30, 2024

The Dallas Cowboys had an all-too familiar approach to free agency this offseason. While the roster wasn't crying out for Jerry Jones to spend like a drunken sailor, it had a couple glaring weakness that reared their ugly head in the wild card loss and the Cowboys bypassed chance after chance to fix them.

There's something to be said about the signing of linebacker Eric Kendricks, who has years of experience in Mike Zimmer's defense from their time with the Vikings. Additionally, cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who re-signed on a one-year deal, fits Zimmer's scheme like a glove... Read more

 

[shabazz]

It's the worst if a team is trying to win a championship, however if a team is prepping for the future by getting lean, it's exactly the right way to do it.

The evidence is overwhelming so far.

 

[Sydla]

Yes, I think the Cowboys will regret how they went about “fixing” the RB spot. This smells a bit like the whole WR by committee approach that failed years ago.

 

[jwitten82]

Everyone knows replacing Pollard with Elliot is a horrible move except a few on this site, and Pollard wasn't all that last season either. So that should tell you how bad they handled that position

 

[glimmerman]

Yes, I think the Cowboys will regret how they went about “fixing” the RB spot. This smells a bit like the whole WR by committee approach that failed years ago.

Yeah. We have always had more of a bell cow starting RB. Always works best with a physical RB early to break down opposing defenses. Then mix in speed and change of pace. Elliot can’t take the pounding he did before. Had a chance to get a big banger. Unless they use Luepke. Which I am a fan of.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Should have looked to draft one, but I guess "they didn't see the value!" lol

 

[DogFace]

Yea. It’s getting old. But what else are we going to talk about?

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

It's the worst if a team is trying to win a championship, however if a team is prepping for the future by getting lean, it's exactly the right way to do it.

The evidence is overwhelming so far.

The fact that people are still in denial about this pretty clearly being a year in which the Cowboys are pretty much just going to eat a bunch of bad contracts without much intention of winning anything is pretty crazy to me.

Every single move they have made is very clearly indicates a "win later" strategy.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Seems like they could’ve invested more time in the worst signing..signed the guy for 2 million…..they’re acting like we gave him 15.

 

[Bobhaze]

This Cowboys free agent signing pegged one of NFL's worst offseason moves​

By Jerry Trotta | The Landry Hat
May 30, 2024

The Dallas Cowboys had an all-too familiar approach to free agency this offseason. While the roster wasn't crying out for Jerry Jones to spend like a drunken sailor, it had a couple glaring weakness that reared their ugly head in the wild card loss and the Cowboys bypassed chance after chance to fix them.

There's something to be said about the signing of linebacker Eric Kendricks, who has years of experience in Mike Zimmer's defense from their time with the Vikings. Additionally, cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who re-signed on a one-year deal, fits Zimmer's scheme like a glove... Read more

What frustrates me to no end is if the Jones boys had already shown that their off-season strategies had led to a resume’ of play-off success in the cap era, we could have a little hope that a strategic plan was in place that could work.

In the modern cap era, the teams winning lots of playoff games have a three pronged approach to roster building:

1. The draft
2. Strategic free agent signings (usually for immediate help at key starting positions)
3. Strategic trades to either bolster the roster OR equally important, trading current players for future draft capital.

Sadly, our FO puts all their chips on the draft. Which has been pretty good overall and it has kept us regular season relevant. But it’s not enough in the playoffs without the other two parts of team building.

In short, what this FO chooses to do every year is to stand at the roulette wheel hoping they get lucky. Because their jobs are never on the line, there’s always next year. Meanwhile the better front offices are led by people who need to win or they will be fired.

 

[Sydla]

The fact that people are still in denial about this pretty clearly being a year in which the Cowboys are pretty much just going to eat a bunch of bad contracts without much intention of winning anything is pretty crazy to me.

Every single move they have made is very clearly indicates a "win later" strategy.

But the problem is the way they are going about this if their intention is "win later" is idiotic. Which I guess shouldn't surprise anyone.

 

[Sydla]

Seems like they could’ve invested more time in the worst signing..signed the guy for 2 million…..they’re acting like we gave him 15.

It's not the money that's their issue. It's the fact that the Cowboys thought Elliott would somehow fix a deficiency we had this offseason.

Knowing Pollard was done and for many, not good enough last year as a TB, if you polled fans here what would be the worst possible option to fix the running game, signing Elliott likely would have been the most popular pick. And yet that's the option the Cowboys chose.

Hence why the article calls it a bad offseason signing. Another way, if the Cowboys tore apart the TB room and signed Derrick Henry AND Elliott, Elliott is not such a bad signing because he fills a specific role he can handle - 3rd TB, situational use. That's not what the Cowboys did. They signed Elliott as a solution.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It's not the money that's their issue. It's the fact that the Cowboys thought Elliott would somehow fix a deficiency we had this offseason.

Knowing Pollard was done and for many, not good enough last year as a TB, if you polled fans here what would be the worst possible option to fix the running game, signing Elliott likely would have been the most popular pick. And yet that's the option the Cowboys chose.

Hence why the article calls it a bad offseason signing. Another way, if the Cowboys tore apart the TB room and signed Derrick Henry AND Elliott, Elliott is not such a bad signing because he fills a specific role he can handle - 3rd TB, situational use. That's not what the Cowboys did. They signed Elliott as a solution.

It’s a bad offseason signing based on what? He got paid like a back up. There is nothing that says he was brought in to back up Rico…..using this argument Kendrick’s was a bad signing because we could’ve got Bobby Wagner?

I can’t even say the Cowboys qualify as having the worst signing because they signed no one of significance….

 

[Reality]

It's the worst if a team is trying to win a championship, however if a team is prepping for the future by getting lean, it's exactly the right way to do it.

The evidence is overwhelming so far.

When you factor in these actions ..

• Bringing back McCarthy on the last year of his contract with no extension.
• Bringing in Zimmer on a one-year contract.
• Holding off extending Dak, Ceedee and Micah.
• Letting Tryon Smith leave.
• Resigning Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year low-cost team-friendly contract.
• Avoiding resigning several mid-level players as their contracts expired.

It's quite obvious their priority for 2024 is not to go "all in" but to simply compete and reset for 2025.

I have been saying all off-season that the Cowboys seem to be treating 2024 as a "reset" year for the salary cap and team contracts.

Ever since Romo became the starter, Cowboys fans and the media have been used to seeing the Cowboys attempt to prepare for a Super Bowl run every year. In all of that time though, it never worked and season after season ended in failure.

I am not very confident the Cowboys will fix things in 2025, but I think resetting the salary cap and contracts is the best strategic move they have made in a long time.

While it will not guarantee success in 2025, at least they can finally start with a fresh deck of players, coaches and perspective next season.

These moves, or lack thereof, will not make this year overly exciting for Cowboys fans, but with lower expectations by most fans, it should make the wins a little more enjoyable and the losses a little less annoying in 2024.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

When you factor in these actions ..

• Bringing back McCarthy on the last year of his contract with no extension.
• Bringing in Zimmer on a one-year contract.
• Holding off extending Dak, Ceedee and Micah.
• Letting Tryon Smith leave.
• Resigning Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year low-cost team-friendly contract.
• Avoiding resigning several mid-level players as their contracts expired.

It's quite obvious their priority for 2024 is not to go "all in" but to simply compete and reset for 2025.

I have been saying all off-season that the Cowboys seem to be treating 2024 as a "reset" year for the salary cap and team contracts.

Ever since Romo became the starter, Cowboys fans and the media have been used to seeing the Cowboys attempt to prepare for a Super Bowl run every year. In all of that time though, it never worked and season after season ended in failure.

I am not very confident the Cowboys will fix things in 2025, but I think resetting the salary cap and contracts is the best strategic move they have made in a long time.

While it will not guarantee success in 2025, at least they can finally start with a fresh deck of players, coaches and perspective next season.

These moves, or lack thereof, will not make this year overly exciting for Cowboys fans, but with lower expectations by most fans, it should make the wins a little more enjoyable and the losses a little less annoying in 2024.

I think for some of us it’s the lack of commitment to starting over. You can’t have one foot in one foot out.

If Lance is the future starter of the Cowboys he should be getting developed by Mike who has a solid track record with quarterbacks. Instead you make him a lame duck coach.

You sit in your hands and wait for Dak, Micah and Lambs deals to cost you more.

You waste yet another year of Martin and D Law….

The Cowboys never needed a reset. They needed rebuild. But you can’t properly rebuild with Jerry at top…..

 

[Reality]

I think for some of us it’s the lack of commitment to starting over. You can’t have one foot in one foot out.

If Lance is the future starter of the Cowboys he should be getting developed by Mike who has a solid track record with quarterbacks. Instead you make him a lame duck coach.

You sit in your hands and wait for Dak, Micah and Lambs deals to cost you more.

You waste yet another year of Martin and D Law….

The Cowboys never needed a reset. They needed rebuild. But you can’t properly rebuild with Jerry at top…..

I don't disagree with you at all on that. As a fan, I would love a complete rebuild season regardless of the win-loss outcome.

While this would likely not be a popular idea amongst Cowboys fans, I would trade every non-rookie-contract Cowboys player possible for 2025 and 2026 draft picks and focus on rebuilding.

Unfortunately though, the only likely priority Jerry has for the Cowboys each season to remain in contention for the playoffs as long as possible. Everything beyond that is a bonus.

As such, the best we can do is a "reset" year, and to be honest, it's better than the "add 1-2 good players and hope for the best" approach they have been taking for years.

 

[JW82]

The ironic thing Edoga was serviceable a Guard but atrocious at tackle, so naturally they make him the swing tackle...

 

[John813]

What frustrates me to no end is if the Jones boys had already shown that their off-season strategies had led to a resume’ of play-off success in the cap era, we could have a little hope that a strategic plan was in place that could work.

In the modern cap era, the teams winning lots of playoff games have a three pronged approach to roster building:

1. The draft
2. Strategic free agent signings (usually for immediate help at key starting positions)
3. Strategic trades to either bolster the roster OR equally important, trading current players for future draft capital.

Sadly, our FO puts all their chips on the draft. Which has been pretty good overall and it has kept us regular season relevant. But it’s not enough in the playoffs without the other two parts of team building.

In short, what this FO chooses to do every year is to stand at the roulette wheel hoping they get lucky. Because their jobs are never on the line, there’s always next year. Meanwhile the better front offices are led by people who need to win or they will be fired.

I think it's reasonable to stay out of the top FA signings, as most times teams bid against a handful of others, including teams with millions of money to blow, and you do pay a good player great money. See Robert Hunt signing in Carolina.
However, it seems like they've been scared off from the low-medium type of free agents that AAV's are under the teens, but the cap hits can be dirt cheap the first few years and the signing bonuses are cheap enough where year 3, 4 they can be cut and have little dead cap.

The team tied rope around their own hands and claimed to be strangled by the cap.

They say they want to keep Dak, re-signing CDL is a priority and how they want to build for the future, but yet they simply put no urgency into getting those things in motion. Now of course off-season talk is full of lies, so maybe they want a prove it year from Dak. But guys like CDL and Parsons should be their new core. It takes two to tango but I doubt the FO is actively reaching out to agents wanting to secure a deal. They've dragged their feet on Dak and Lawrence, and ended up paying more long term for both as the market kept exploding.

I doubt they are looking at any free agents/trades until training camp starts. Unless an agent blinks first and takes that near minimum offer.

 

[big dog cowboy]

It's too early to know how the RB situation will shake out. Signing Zeke was dumb, but it's possible he won't be much of a factor if the Cowboys make a move before the season begins over 3 months from now.

 

[conner01]

This Cowboys free agent signing pegged one of NFL's worst offseason moves​

By Jerry Trotta | The Landry Hat
May 30, 2024

The Dallas Cowboys had an all-too familiar approach to free agency this offseason. While the roster wasn't crying out for Jerry Jones to spend like a drunken sailor, it had a couple glaring weakness that reared their ugly head in the wild card loss and the Cowboys bypassed chance after chance to fix them.

There's something to be said about the signing of linebacker Eric Kendricks, who has years of experience in Mike Zimmer's defense from their time with the Vikings. Additionally, cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who re-signed on a one-year deal, fits Zimmer's scheme like a glove... Read more

I would agree