What’s Michael Gallup’s future with the Dallas Cowboys?
It’s a fair question and one that’s on a lot of minds of fans around Cowboys Nation. No one can say with any certainty what’s in store for Michael Gallup in the near future, not even the Dallas Cowboys. One things for sure though, there is no shortage of options as things stand right now.
Dallas Cowboys Options With Michael Gallup:
Option #1 – Do nothing. The Dallas Cowboys can simply let Michael Gallup play out his rookie contract and become a free agent after the 2021 season. In this scenario the Cowboys move on and likely receive a 2022 compensatory pick when Gallup signs a long-term contract elsewhere.
Option #2 – Trade him. If the Dallas Cowboys are looking for more immediate help or extra draft capital Michael Gallup is there most tradable asset. In this scenario any trade would likely have to be of greater value than the compensatory pick they’d receive by letting him become a free agent.
Option #3 – Lock him up long-term. Whether it’s now or after the 2021 season the Dallas Cowboys could decide keeping Michael Gallup via a long term extension is in the best interest of the organization. All of the variables with this scenario makes it the most intriguing.
Since options 1 and 2 are “wait and see” situations we can’t do anything but speculate about I thought we’d dig a little deeper into what it would take for option 3 to play out. Thankfully, the New York Jets and Corey Davis may have already laid the groundwork
Believe it or not, but Corey Davis’ second contract will likely be the baseline the Dallas Cowboys or any other teams will use in contract negotiations with Michael Gallup’s representatives whenever the time comes. I believe this is as fair of a comparison as there is both in age and production.
Corey Davis is one year older and has one more year of experience in the NFL than Michael Gallup (25). Surprisingly though up to this point in their careers their production nearly mirrors one another. Because of this, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Gallup’s second contract ends up being pretty close to Davis’.
| Corey Davis | Michael Gallup | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rec | Yds | TDs | Rec | Yds | TDs | ||
| 2017 | 34 | 375 | 0 | |||||
| 2018 | 65 | 891 | 4 | 33 | 507 | 3 | ||
| 2019 | 43 | 601 | 2 | 66 | 1107 | 6 | ||
| 2020 | 65 | 984 | 5 | 59 | 843 | 5 | ||
| Career | 207 | 2851 | 11 | 158 | 2457 | 13 | ||
From a production standpoint you can clearly see for yourself how favorably both Corey Davis and Michael Gallup matchup, especially over the last three years. Gallup of course will likely end up having slightly better numbers based on his 2021 production, but the fact remains it’s a fair comparison.
So, based on this information we can as accurately as we can predict Michael Gallup’s next contract will earn him at the very least $12.5 million per season. Since the 2022 salary cap is expected to increase significantly and the fact Gallup’s numbers will be slightly better than Corey Davis’, it’s also reasonable to presume it could end up being closer in the $15 million range.
I guess the question is do the Dallas Cowboys feel comfortable paying paying Michael Gallup somewhere between 12.5-$15 million per season? That’s likely a topic best save for another time because there are way too many variables to be considered. For now though, we at least have a pretty good idea of Gallup’s market value and that’s half the battle.
