Cowboys Corner- Soap Opera

By: Greg Rector

The off-season is always so much fun with the Dallas Cowboys. Whether it was the coaching rumors from the head coach or the two coordinators, the possibility that Jerry Jones would get Sean Payton to be the next head coach (He’s regretted Payton leaving for years) had Cowboys fans all excited, despite what would have been a huge price in compensation, the fanbase certainly wanted Payton. Both Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore will be back after they flirt with becoming head coaches elsewhere, Quinn’s return has been suspected of having Mike McCarthy’s possible replacement under contract. Folks assistant coaches for the Cowboys generally get two-year deals, don’t read too much into things. The cause of so much consternation of course was good old Jerry himself remaining quiet the week after the playoff loss to the Niners and other pronouncements he made on radio and TV. Of course, that meant the “Brand,” was front and center on the sports networks. Good ole Jerry loved that. McCarthy was left hanging and there can’t be a great deal of confidence throughout the organization that he’s the right guy or that he has any security. Pretty sad that it’s the head coach and not the guys on the field who failed in a big way but they remain more secure than the head coach. Let’s take a look at the off-season that could unfold.

FREE AGENCY

Yes, folks, the new league year will start in a month on March 16th, with the so-called “legal tampering,” period beginning two days earlier. Hate to disappoint y’all but there are zero signs that “Cap Boy,” Stephen Jones is about to change his spots. In Frisco, at “The Star,” it’s all about keeping their guys. One main reason for this is Stephen is loathed to follow what teams like the Saints and Rams have done with the salary cap. Now if he suddenly decides to copy that aggressive strategy and hands out maximum restructure deals, the Cowboys would go from being 21 million over the cap to having over 65 million to spend. Many myself included would like to see this happen, maybe not to that degree but getting this team to 30 to 40 million dollars of cap space would be a nice change. It would signal though that the strategy used for years hasn’t worked, and we all know if you are a part of the Jones clan it’s easier to come up with excuses rather than admit being at fault. So we may see some players like Zach Martin, Dak Prescott, and Demarcus Lawrence get restructured. That would give the Cowboys to re-sign Randy Gregory, who appears to be free agent priority number one, though for my money that should be Jayron Kearse. The controversial decision will be what to do with receiver Amari Cooper, cutting or trading him could give the Cowboys $16 million in cap relief. As you all know I have been on board with moving from Cooper, especially after his COVID episode. I would call the NY Jets and get back one of their early 2nd round picks (35 and 38) this upsets people in Cowboys Nation but I don’t care. My affinity is never for the names on the backs of the jersey, it’s to the Star. “Fanatics,” don’t see it that way and because of a flawed habit of loyalty the Cowboys overpay their own (See the Ezekiel Elliott contract) and it’s happened repeatedly. Going the route of a larger cap and possibly signing a bigger name-free agent could shore up with a proven veteran the offensive line. I would look at a major improvement for the so-called “swing tackle,” spot given Tyron Smith’s health issues and he’s not getting any younger, along with Terence Steele moving to RT and La’el Collins going back to left guard. It would also mean not reaching in round one of the NFL draft if the top OL are taken before the Cowboys’ 24th pick. Depending on what direction they go with we could see Michael Gallup return or Cedric Wilson and possibly Malik Turner come back instead. On defense given the unit’s huge leap from 2020 and having Quinn back as the DC, I believe they need to bring back several of the free agents. That means to me the Cowboys will need to create more space than they normally have.

THE DRAFT

I will repeat this until I am blue in the face, free agency is where you address “needs,” the draft is where you get value. This draft class does not have the franchise savior types, there’s no player that anyone can say will turn around a team’s fortunes. There are a large amount of very good players who could be helpful for many years. In other words, this draft has more substance than style. It’s too early to know what direction the Cowboys will take on April 28th. However, as I kept telling you last year for months before the draft that the Cowboys needed to address the LB position and not the corners that so many kept saying would be the pick, I believe again if they go out and shore up that O-Line through free agency, then we can shore up the linebacking room one more time. Simply put it’s unlikely Leighton VanderEsche returns, Francis Bernard and Luke Gifford are sub-package players at best. Sure, Jabril Cox will be back but he had limited snaps. That means the flexibility to use Micah “The Lion is Always Hungry,” Parsons at the edge would be lessened and no one wants to see that after his huge rookie season. So if a Nakobe Dean is sitting there at 24 I am taking him in a heartbeat. The other positions I can see this year will be TE, WR, and Safety with OL depth you can take one in later rounds. (Though we know it won’t be a top 100 player ugh) The Cowboys will get an extra 4th round comp pick for the Andy Dalton signing, and if they trade Cooper as I would like, that would be at least another second-round pick. The depth of this draft despite the lack of “superstars,” means no matter who is there at 24 and on down the line, that BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE, will be the choice. Every draft as we well know players fall (Ceedee Lamb & Trevon Diggs) so even if they draft a WR early it will be because they have that player as the BPA on their board. Once the free agency is over I will have a much better idea of where they might go in this draft.

HYPE VIDEO?

Are you kidding me? The Cowboys released their hype video for 2022 Super Bowl weekend. Sorry, you can count me in as a hard pass on any of that nonsense. The only things I want to see are the Jones’ doing EVERYTHING possible to be the most competitive team possible on the field. The video talked about changing the mindset? This proves what I have said for years, the mindset has been a huge problem for decades. The players are too comfortable, have too much security and that leads to them not being prepared for their biggest challenges. They don’t seem to get that no matter where they play, what day of the week game day is, they are the hunted. Micah Parsons talked about being hated and said people are jealous, that’s come with being a Cowboys since NFL Films labeled them “America’s Team.” That’s the first mindset change required by every player, and by the coaches. It’s time complacency was replaced by playing with a chip on their shoulders. There were signs of that in 2021, against Philadelphia (Sirianni t-shirt) and Washington (We Want Dallas chants) for the Cowboys though it needs to be a 17 game priority. You bet you’re hated by 31 other teams and their fans. Use it, don’t care about anything other than not being a notch on other team’s belts. Use the 17 games to be prepared for the real battles in the playoffs. This applies to the players and coaches. From week one to week 8 you dictated the game, thereafter you were reacting to every opponent. That’s the mindset change needed for the 2022 Dallas Cowboys.

As always you can find me on Twitter @GregCowboys