The Dallas Cowboys are in a unique spot heading into 2024; contract extensions may be more important than any new deal to a free agent.
Whether it be players on expiring deals, extensions to free up cap space, or young guys that will need to be paid eventually, key players on the Cowboys roster need new contracts this offseason.
The decision is picking the right guys to give that new money to.
We saw Dallas make questionable extensions in 2023 with Terence Steele, in 2022 with Michael Gallup, and in 2019 with Jaylon Smith.
The Cowboys can not afford to make new deals like those three again.
Some of these moves in 2024 might be controversial, but sometimes that is just part of the business, and we have to remember that controversy around extensions does not mean they are bad moves.
There are big choices ahead for Dallas, and they have to look internally before they make moves elsewhere.
Here is a look at five guys the Cowboys should give contract extensions to in 2024.
Quarterback, Dak Prescott
Surely there won’t be too much debate about this one.
In all seriousness, regardless of Dak Prescott’s playoff shortcomings and the intense debate around this topic, Dallas has to extend their quarterback this offseason.
By now you have heard about the massive 2024 cap hit that comes with not extending Prescott; without a new deal pushing that money down the road, the Cowboys can do virtually nothing in free agency.
Proving a point by making Prescott play on the last year of his deal hurts the team’s chances far more than it helps.
They have major holes to fill in free agency and other players that need extensions.
Additionally, and fans might not want to hear this right now, but Prescott had the best regular season of any quarterback in the NFL in 2023, far better than Lamar Jackson who won MVP.
He has consistently been a top-ten quarterback in the league for years now and simply replacing him after this season would blow up in the Cowboys’ face.
Extending Prescott this offseason helps the team in the short term with the salary cap and in the long term by keeping the franchise quarterback in place.
This should be a no-brainer for the front office.
Cornerback, DaRon Bland
The most common defensive name you’ll hear this offseason to extend is Micah Parsons, and for good reason, but the other Cowboy that got Defensive Player of the Year votes is just as important to extend.
DaRon Bland is coming off a stellar season.
He was not perfect in coverage, but don’t let anybody tell you he was getting burned constantly. That is simply not what happened.
Cornerback is the most difficult position in football, naturally, you are going to give up some yards, but what Bland did this season in creating turnovers and being near the ball is irreplaceable.
Not to mention, he is heading into year three as a fifth-round pick. His impact on this defense came out of nowhere.
Bland has exceeded all expectations and pairing him with Trevon Diggs long-term is essential to the longevity of this defensive unit.
He is set to hit the market in 2026, which is a lot closer than it sounds.
He is essentially on a two-year deal from here on out with 2024 and 2025 under contract.
If Dallas lets him play next season and the year after on his rookie deal, his price might just skyrocket.
The Cowboys should be proactive when it comes to locking down Bland.
Linebacker, Micah Parsons
Similarly to Prescott, the aforementioned Parsons needs an extension for than just performance reasons.
Dallas will free over $1M in cap space if they extend Parsons this offseason, which does not sound like a lot, but when you can save money and keep a generational talent in-house, you do it immediately.
Parsons is the most talented Cowboys defensive player this DeMarcus Ware and when he is off the field you see just how much the unit relies on his presence.
Considering how young he is, Dallas can hunt for a very long extension, somewhere near 6 or 7 years; this would give the front office the ability to restructure his deal to save money consistently.
It is also just smart for on-field purposes.
If Dallas let Parsons touch free agency, the offers that would come his way would be insane. He would be the highest-paid defensive player in history by a landslide.
Parsons has been an All-Pro three times in his three-year career; you lock that talent up right now when you get lucky enough to have it, especially when it saves you money.
Tackle, Tyron Smith
The debates about resigning or letting Tyron Smith walk will go on until a deal is done, but at the end of the day, it is hard for a team in win-now mode to walk away from a left tackle as talented as him.
When Smith was on the field last year, he was elite.
The problem with him has never been about performance, it is about how often he is available to play.
With his age and the amount of injuries he has had at this point, it makes sense why some would say it is time to move in a younger direction.
The best-case scenario for Dallas is if they can go in that younger direction by drafting an offensive lineman in the first round while also keeping Smith around for another year or two.
This was basically what the Cowboys did by drafting Tyler Smith in 2022; he was supposed to be the successor to Smith at left tackle, and he has now blossomed into one of the best-left guards in football.
Whether or not he can stay on the field for the season is less of a concern if you do draft a tackle in the first round.
Essentially, resigning Smith does not stop you from improving the offensive line in the draft.
Giving him an extension just means you have an elite left tackle in 2024.
Wide Reciever, CeeDee Lamb
Lastly, we have another extension that can save Dallas a ton of money.
Superstar receiver, CeeDee Lamb had his breakout year in 2023 and cemented himself as a top-five wideout in the game.
It was good timing for Lamb, as he is headed into the last year of his contract in 2024.
Just like the situation with Parsons, an extension for Lamb saves Dallas money and keeps an absolute star in place without the risk of losing him in free agency.
Now, the money they would save with a Lamb extension is a little bit more significant than the $1M from extending Parsons; the Cowboys are projected to save upwards of $12M in cap space if they give Lamb a new deal this offseason.
That is a huge number. It is almost as much as a Prescott extension would save them.
When you make both of those extensions, you are looking at saving over $30M in cap space just by keeping your star players in place.
If you have been a Cowboys fan long enough, you remember the chaos that surrounded Dez Bryant’s contract extension in 2015.
It would be very smart of Dallas to lock up Lamb now and avoid a situation like that.
It saves you a ton of money, keeps one of the league’s best receivers in-house, and keeps the team away from Lamb holding out for a new deal at some point.