The Dallas Cowboys have a star in CeeDee Lamb who leads the wide receiver locker room. Yet going into 2024, the rest may be a bit foggy, at least for now.
The first question we all will have to wait for is whether or not Dallas will let Lamb play on his fifth-year option or try and get a long-term deal done.
Signing Lamb to a multi-year contract would allow Dallas more wiggle room with cap hits.
Run It back?
Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert, and KaVontae Turpin are all under contract in 2024.
Dallas could just run it back, but doing so would cost Dallas nearly $45 million of their salary cap.
I would not run it back with Gallup on the roster. They are paying him over 50 million dollars to do nothing every single week.
Cowboys have two options here: cut him outright a get $800K in cap relief, or make him a June 1st cut and get $9.5 million.
Trading Amari Cooper and signing Gallup has been one of the worst moves this team has done in recent memory.
The problem is Jerry Jones LOVES being loyal to his players and it is biting him in the behind right now.
Move forward with the post-June cut and use some of that money to get a deal done with Micah Parsons.
Cooks came alive in the second half of the season, and I would keep him around for the 2024 season.
He finished the year with 54 catches, 657 yards, and eight touchdowns.
With the emergence of Jake Ferguson, they can cut Gallup, save the money, and use more of Jalen Tolbert who looked good at the end of the season.
Draft a young wide receiver, or add someone like D.J. Chark.
Above-Average
Dallas will have an above-average group going into the 2024 season, they just need to figure out the run game.
Lamb is on track to be the best player to ever wear No. 88 for the Cowboys. I don’t say that lightly.
Lamb led the league with 135 receptions and finished with 1,749 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.
Teams knew Dallas was throwing the football 95% of the time and they still couldn’t guard him.
If the Cowboys add a back like Derrick Henry or a bigger physical one during the draft, things will open up for Cooks, Tolbert, and whomever else is on the depth chart.
If Jerry Jones is serious about going “all-in” in 2024, make it work. Cut Gallup, sign/draft another wide receiver or running back, and give this offense a deeper bag to work with.
If this team fails to make the NFC title game in 2024, then it might be time to blow it up.
That will be easier said than done if they sign Dak Prescott to an extension this offseason to avoid his 59 million-dollar cap hit.
I just want this team to win so badly, and writing this stuff year after year is getting old. Players have to play, but at some point, Jerry Jones has to do what the Rams did a few years ago.
Take the hit for a couple of years going “all in” and get himself another championship.