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

[Dallasfann]

I just have to believe that the Cowboys coaching staff has been told they are allowed to use a 2nd round pick to get a RB at the trade deadline if they show competence. Nothing can convince me that professional people, inside the football industry, think Zeke Elliot being our best RB is the plan all season. I don't even want to hear the softball posts about "tHiS iS tHe CoWbOyS"..no something will happen to bring in a threat at RB.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Pierce regressed a little behind Devin Singletary (sp?) this past season but he impressed me during his rookie season before Ryans took over the Texans. I would have gotten behind that trade if it had happened.

Not a sexy possibility, but a guy that can probably probably give you 900 or so yards and about 4 a carry cheap for a couple yeara

 

[Streifenkarl]

"In a vacuum, though, was this really one of the worst moves of the offseason? It might have been uninspiring, but it's a little unfair to Elliott. He essentially signed for the vet minimum and can still be a serviceable runner. He's also a stud in pass protection and is a fantastic locker room presence."

So no, it's not the worst off season move lol. Not even close. What a stupid click baiting article. And yes I know they basically said what I said, but that's why there was no point in the first place. **** all the media during offseason.

 

[Creeper]

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

The silly season is in full swing. Signing Zeke is not even a blip on the radar, or at least it shouldn't be. A dumber move would have been to sign him or someone like him for a big contract. I actually think the dumber move is doing nothing, like they did.

 

[Jumbo075]

Pick a pundit, any pundit, who agrees with your take on the Cowboys (or any other players or team.)

The only people who care are those who want to push the same agenda as the pundit in question.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

It unequivocally awful.

 

[Manster_Mash]

They signed a LB and RB who are almost as old and obsolete as the artifact defensive coordinator they signed. What's the problem?

 

[Flamma]

I think people are making too much out of this offseason. There is no master plan. There is no creative genius in that front office. If you have 100 bucks and spend 99, you can't buy much else without using a credit card. And they're not using one.

Once the decision was made to keep Dak at a 55M cap hit, everything else fell into place. There's no money left. That's why we got Zeke. That's the reason for the mass exodus.

 

[Sydla]

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….

This isn't hard.

It's a bad offseason signing because the Cowboys had a MASSIVE hole at RB given Pollard was let walk in FA and the Cowboys turned to Elliott as the replacement (and yes, if you listen to the Jones' they act/say things that indicate they look at Zeke as a solution to their RB issues).

You are focusing on the money when the money isn't the reason why they are deeming it a bad free agent signing. They are deeming it a bad free agent signing because he's an aging TB with little tread left on his tires yet the Cowboys are out there thinking he fixes their problems.

 

[HonoluluCowboy]

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.

Fallacy :

4 . The best new approach is a QB1 on a ROOKIE Contract . Thus able to afford quality starters around him .

The Davidians clearly can't comprehend Dak on his last year .

 

[big dog cowboy]

If we use him properly he could help.

To sell merch?

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

This isn't hard.

It's a bad offseason signing because the Cowboys had a MASSIVE hole at RB given Pollard was let walk in FA and the Cowboys turned to Elliott as the replacement (and yes, if you listen to the Jones' they act/say things that indicate they look at Zeke as a solution to their RB issues).

You are focusing on the money when the money isn't the reason why they are deeming it a bad free agent signing. They are deeming it a bad free agent signing because he's an aging TB with little tread left on his tires yet the Cowboys are out there thinking he fixes their problems.

It’s not hard….ha! Ok.


I’m not focusing on the money I brought up money to back up what Zeke’s role will be. He’s not here to be a Pollard replacement. It will be a running back by committee. We can sit here and argue how stupid or smart that is but to me it’s silly to harp on a backup being a terrible signing. If he gets 20 carries a game then yes I’ll understand the outcry. But I have a strong feeling he’s a goal line back and on passing downs….

 

[CATCH17]

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.

This is worse because they brought in 0 talent.

 

[glimmerman]

I'm a fan of Lupke as well. The Cowboys generally have traditionally had an explosive bell cow rb but not this season. Can't wait to see if it works or fails like the wr by committee did.

I think or am hoping we are going to see which RB is having more success behind this O-Line and then give them more carry’s. They will give Elliot the start because of experience. Luepke could be mixed in especially early in the game. Dowdle will likely get injured again.

 

[shabazz]

You said the evidence was overwhelming. What evidence? There’s plenty of time to sign all 3 of them Lamb and Dak this year. I wonder if Jerry enjoys triggering fans because there are hundreds here who are triggered beyond help. But as soon as the Cowboys start winning in the playoffs, you “bandwagon fans” will start hoping back on the ship you jumped off of years ago. But we’ll remember, don’t you worry.

Ok, for the 20th time

Key Starters from last season allowed to walk out the door
Franchise qb STILL not extended...HC not extended....both LAME DUCKS
New DC and other players on 1 year contracts
Only 16 million spent on entire Free Agency....no Blue Chip players signed
Micah and Ceedee still not extended


I'm not quite sure how much more evidence you need that the FO is getting leaner in contracts and evaluating who they really want to have on this team

......and I see it as a new POSITIVE outlook and love it because the old way WASN'T WORKING

You're salty and frustrated about it because of just one reason.....they haven't extended Dakota.

 

[Sydla]

It’s not hard….ha! Ok.


I’m not focusing on the money I brought up money to back up what Zeke’s role will be. He’s not here to be a Pollard replacement. It will be a running back by committee. We can sit here and argue how stupid or smart that is but to me it’s silly to harp on a backup being a terrible signing. If he gets 20 carries a game then yes I’ll understand the outcry. But I have a strong feeling he’s a goal line back and on passing downs….

His role will be the starting RB. You can convince yourself they brought him in as a backup/split carries type but deep down, you know what's going to happen.

The Cowboys needed an upgrade at TB. They did not get one. Instead they went cheap and thought adding a retread that has struggled recently and clearly lack the skills he had 5 years ago will fix what ails them. Hence why it was a bad FA signing. It's not surprising that the only people struggling with this are the homers. Again, if the Cowboys gutted the RB room and brought in a Josh Jacobs or Henry and then also brought in Elliott as a true third TB, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad signing. But the fact he was literally the ONLY guy they signed to fix what was a massive hole on the roster................. well, as I said, it's not hard to see the logic here from the writer.

 

[xwalker]

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.

The Chiefs and in the past the Patriots traded away multiple All-Pro players...

 

[805BoysInBlue]

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.

If that is the case and they're going in for the 2025 season, then they're bigger idiots than I thought. The free agent class of 2025 is one of the worst I've seen. The 2024 class literally lined up with their needs, DT, RB and LB. When the season ended vs GB I told my buddies that if the Cowboys EVER had a time to go all in was thos free agency. Jerry and Stephen proved what they care about, and I don't think it's winning.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

His role will be the starting RB. You can convince yourself they brought him in as a backup/split carries type but deep down, you know what's going to happen.

The Cowboys needed an upgrade at TB. They did not get one. Instead they went cheap and thought adding a retread that has struggled recently and clearly lack the skills he had 5 years ago will fix what ails them. Hence why it was a bad FA signing. It's not surprising that the only people struggling with this are the homers. Again, if the Cowboys gutted the RB room and brought in a Josh Jacobs or Henry and then also brought in Elliott as a true third TB, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad signing. But the fact he was literally the ONLY guy they signed to fix what was a massive hole on the roster................. well, as I said, it's not hard to see the logic here from the writer.

So because they needed a running back Zeke is a horrible signing. So why stop there? What about Royce Freeman or Edoga?

If you sign him and Derrick Henry it’s not a bad signing. This logic is flawed especially if the Cowboys have no intention of salary for future years.

 

[Cowboys5217]

"In a vacuum, though, was this really one of the worst moves of the offseason? It might have been uninspiring, but it's a little unfair to Elliott. He essentially signed for the vet minimum and can still be a serviceable runner. He's also a stud in pass protection and is a fantastic locker room presence."

So no, it's not the worst off season move lol. Not even close. What a stupid click baiting article. And yes I know they basically said what I said, but that's why there was no point in the first place. **** all the media during offseason.

It was the worst off season move. There is no logic to the signing and no logical explanation for it. It's bad GM'ing by a self appointed GM who can't be fired for his decades long streak of incompetence.

It was also a "screw you" to the fan base. Jerry is basically gloating and lording over you that he can make these patently stupid decisions and there's nothing that can be done about it.