Last night the Dallas Cowboys granted Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup permission to seek a trade.
The news was first reported by Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.
It’s not surprising, but hard to see anyone wanting to give anything up for a player who hasn’t been the best since his injury.
Here is the unusual situation about this. Gallup is already likely to be a released candidate, so why would teams want to trade for him when they can wait?
To add, he has three years remain on his contract. Therefore a team would have to swallow those years if they traded for him.
This doesn’t really make much sense.
What Happened?
Gallup is set to count $13.85MM against the cap in 2024, with that figure rising to $15.85MM in 2025 and ’26.
He hasn’t preformed since signing that five-year, $62 million dollar extension.
If the Cowboys can’t find a trade partner that is willing to take on the rest of his deal, Gallup will likely be a post-June 1 release. That route would create $9.5MM in cap space.
Gallup finished 2023 with 34 catches, 418 yards and two touchdowns.
That clearly isn’t good enough for the $60 million dollars he is making.
He hasn’t posted 500 yards since he signed that contract back in 2020. I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence after recovering from his ACL surgery or what.
Jalen Tolbert outs snapped him in a handful of games last year, and after we all thought Tolbert was going to be off the roster, might find himself with a larger role in 2024 if Gallup is playing elsewhere.
Didn’t See It Coming
Now, I was never a fan of trading Amari Cooper, I thought signing Gallup after he tore his ACL was a bad idea, but I didn’t see this coming.
Gallup really hit the decline, and for one of the best contested catchers in football, it is a shame to see.
If no trade partner can be found, I would cut Gallup, and draft a young cheaper wide receiver in the 2nd or 3rd round of this years draft.
You get a younger player, who hasn’t had a knee injury and you get him for 60 million dollars cheaper than what you are getting from Gallup.
Or if you don’t want to go that route, The Cowboys and Zack Martin have reworked their contract to free up about $13 million for 2024.
Dallas is going to make even more room if Gallup is gone, so go sign a veteran to bring in who has been somewhat decent recently.
We can try and say as long as Dak Prescott is here, nothing will change. You are probably right, but let’s not act like this team had playoff success before he got here.
Year after year this organization continues to ruin talented players.
Until Jerry Jones looks in the mirror and starts to care more about winning in January than appearing on his radio show, nothing will change.
I do like the Mike Zimmer hire on defense, he isn’t here to be your friend, Zimmer is an old school coach.
If you don’t want to be coached, then he won’t deal with it & with some of the ways the players act, it might be good for them.
Dallas is about to waste Tyron Smith’s career, Zack Martin probably only has a three year window of the best guard in football left.
I just hate that I have never seen this team win more than one playoff game in a season in my lifetime.
They’ve had the talent 90% of the time dating back to when Tony Romo and Prescott both took over.