The Cowboys’ lack of outside additions in free agency and movement in terms of extending their top players has been a key talking point this offseason. Many of Dallas’ younger in-house options will be counted on to take a step forward in 2024, while plenty of attention remains focused on the financial futures of quarterback Dak Prescott, wideout CeeDee Lamb and edge rusher Micah Parsons. 
To no surprise, owner Jerry Jones has faced plenty of questions related to Dallas’ comparative inaction on the market in 2024. Linebacker Eric Kendricks and running back Royce Freeman represent the only veterans brought in to date, and the team’s tight cap situation is a key reason why. As Jones recently stated, retaining any or all members of the Prescott-Lamb-Parsons trio will lead to notable complications elsewhere on the roster.
“Our rules of this game is to have a salary cap,” Jones said, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota (subscription required). “There’s no question we’ve been operating on the credit card. That’s how we’ve had Dak Prescott plus his great supporting cast around him for the last three or four years… So if you decide to have a key player and you pay him to that extent, then he’s going to have less supporting cast around. Look around. That’s the way it works.
“We have known that you were going to basically have to have less in order to have some of the players that we want to have at the prices they are. You got to have less supporting cast. There’s no getting around it.”
The Cowboys have indeed enjoyed having Lamb and Parsons on their rookie contracts while retaining Prescott at a high cap hit. The latter is in line to play out 2024 on the final year of his pact, and while Dallas is hopeful a new agreement can be worked out, the 30-year-old recently suggested he is open to reaching free agency. Prescott could command $60MM per year on a new accord, and Lamb and Parsons could each approach the top of the market at their respective positions.
Especially in recent years, many teams around the league have attempted to get ahead of the curve by locking up top producers early and leaving others to react to a new price point. Jones confirmed the Cowboys are instead taking a different approach with their foundational players. In the case of Prescott and Lamb in particular, Dallas is content to wait for the next wave of new deals.
“We’d like to see some more leaves fall,” Jones added. “We’d like to see some more action… It’s on your mind. It’d be madness not to know that the contracts are ahead. I want to see a few more cards played, candidly. If you got trouble with when the timing is around here, it’s because I’m not ready to go.”
The top of the QB market has surpassed $50MM per season, while the league’s ascending receivers are benefiting from the position’s lucrative nature. Recent extensions for the likes of DeVonta Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown have offered a potential framework for a Lamb deal. The likes of Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and Jaylen Waddle could also push the top of the market even higher.
Lamb is absent from Dallas’ offseason program amidst the lack of negotiations on an extension. Given the way things are headed from a financial standpoint, any new deal (which could avoided for several months since he is set to play out his fifth-year option in 2024) will drastically alter Dallas’ cap situation. That is certainly true of Prescott and Parsons as well (both of whom also are still firmly in the team’s long-term plans), but a patient approach will apparently remain the Cowboys’ preference.
“…but a patient approach will apparently remain the Cowboys’ preference”.
Jerry is an octogenarian…he doesn’t have a lot of time left to play the patience game.
Fingers crossed
The rest of the division improved while the Cowboys got worse. It’s going to cost them this year.
The giants have Danny dimes who is a lot worse than Dak. Eagles are the only team in that division who will make noise. Washington always finds a way to be horrible and Dan Quinn isn’t in the answer
Any team paying Dak $60M/Yr deserves it
Should we assume he’s saying the players are to blame as they’re waiting for higher contracts? You would think getting one or more of these deals done sooner would benefit the Cowboys before the market rates escalate further. Or is it tear-down time?
Dallas is setting themselves up for Bill B. Lame duck HC and QB will clear the books for Bill to come in and draft horrible like he did in NE.
Jerry Jones would never work with someone like Belicheck. He’s always surrounded himself with yes-men.
@Gabe, Parcells was certainly not a Yes man. I may have cherry picked, but you said ‘always’
Seems most cowboy fans agree that instead of that linebacker with the 87th pick they should have taken a RB. I personally have no faith in Zeke at this point and would prefer to try Dalvin Cook. Maybe they could get Damien Pierce from Houston, they need to address the running back room eventually right?
This is too funny not to post and have others laugh at. Hope everyone feels bad for Cowboy fans (here come the haters) this is the type of things cowboy fans write.
Okay can’t post a link
Blogging the boys which is a cowboys blog just posted how the cowboys have handled their RB room perfectly. Anyone know here they get their herb?
If you read the BTBs article, it explains the draft boards and players’ value. Going deeper, it meant they didn’t overreach for a player based on that. Pointing out they didn’t get a potential top running back wasn’t the artical point, was it?
The article says the cowboys are comfortable with their current running back room and cowboys would’ve “reached” on any RB. Then in their great genius ways they go on to mention how CMC was terrible in Carolina and great in SF which is proof you need a good line to make use of a good running back. I’ll take Mel Kiper’s last line when he gave the cowboys a B- stating they would’ve got a higher grade if they grabbed a RB instead of a LB with the 87th pick. Haha CMC terrible in Carolina, pretty easy to tell that the guy who wrote it has no clue about football
The actual title of the article is
“ The Cowboys have handled the running back position perfectly this offseason”
It’s hard being a cowboys fan but I’m not the type to flip flop to another team. As sad as it is to say cowboys 4 life. Coming up on the 30 year drought since their last Super Bowl
The NFL cap is so convoluted so have no idea if the Cowboys can actually spend right now. But if they have cap room and aren’t spending they should be ashmed of themselves.
I get that they’re setting themselves up to sustain extensions to Parson, Lamb, and Prescott, but you’d figure at least one notable move could have helped. I don’t think that the Cowboys drafted horribly (and they usually draft very well), but they did lose several starters (Biadasz, Gilmore, Pollard) at key positions, and it would have been good to see someone brought in to help there or at another position that has needed attention lately.
That’s not to say that planning for those extensions isn’t wise, but to ignore free agency nearly completely also seems a bit inadequate. It doesn’t feel like they’re punting on the year, but that combined with it being the final year of McCarthy makes that “all-in” comment from Jones earlier seem pretty inaccurate.
Based on 2023 (with Dalvin Cook outright released, other top free agents struggling to get any offers), the Cowboys will have no problem picking up a top tier running back released from a big dollar contract by his original team for a few million per year. Not only is there no need to pay running backs, there’s not much need to draft running backs either.
Offensive linemen in the top 50% are expensive to pay, costly to trade for them and the only place to find them at reasonable salaries is in the draft. Most of those teams drafting QB’s with top ten or twelve draft picks will be sorry they didn’t invest in OT instead.
It is probably time to let Dak go. Maybe, maybe they can trade him before the deadline. But it’s time.
Pick up a stop gap QB next year. And draft the next QB. It’s not an easy route to go, but paying Dak a huge sum just to not win a SB isn’t a good plan either.
From all I’ve heard quoted from Jones and the trade for Trey Lance I’m not convinced Jones isn’t at least hoping to reset at QB. I don’t pretend to know the man’s mind but he’s built Super Bowl caliber teams the past 3-4 years and hasn’t sniffed one. Now he’s in a spot of simply trying to hold together key players of a team that can’t manage to get out of the first round. Is that Daks fault or more likely Mcarthys idk but sometimes especially in the NFL a shakeup is needed somewhere. One thing I do know is if the Cowboys take the super risky move of moving on from Dak he will get paid if he performs like has in the regular season. But you never know with Jerry his job is never on the line he’s free to make the boldest move he chooses