The Cowboys locked up their top offseason extension candidate back in July, when they reached a long-term contract with Dez Bryant, but the team is hoping to get another key deal done before Sunday night’s opener. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), Dallas is “aggressively” working on an extension for defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford.
After playing somewhat sparingly in his rookie season and missing the 2013 campaign with a torn Achilles, Crawford had a breakout year in 2014, starting 15 games for the Cowboys and recording 35 tackles to go along with three sacks. According to Pro Football Focus’ data (subscription required), the former third-round pick was the NFL’s 15th-best defensive tackle out of 81 qualified players, grading particularly well as a pass rusher.
If the Cowboys and Crawford can get something done by Sunday, it’ll be interesting to see what the defensive lineman’s new deal looks like. As a 25-year-old coming off a strong year, Crawford should do well, but he’s also only really had one full, productive NFL season. He certainly shouldn’t be in line for the kind of huge payday that players like Corey Liuget and Cameron Heyward got this summer, but he’s an important player in Dallas and I think he’ll do fairly well.
For his part, Crawford didn’t seem eager to publicly discuss a potential extension. He tells Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter links) that “if it fits, it fits,” adding that he’s playing for something “way bigger than money.”