The Dallas Cowboys were set up to make the playoffs in 2020 after a successful NFL draft and what many believed to be a productive free agency period. Things quickly began to fall apart as nearly all of the offseason additions were off the roster by October and the Cowboys injury report looked like a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street every week.
America’s Team finished 6-10 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. However, many think the Cowboys can bounce back and win an NFC East in 2021 whose division winner, the Washington Football Team was a below-average 7-9 last season. Pro Football Focus recently ranked six teams that are most likely to improve from their 2020 campaign and the Cowboys came in the third spot.
PFF’s offseason to-do list for the 2021 Cowboys
- Re-sign Dak Prescott
- Re-sign Aldon Smith
- Draft CB Caleb Farley with the 10th pick
Prescott is the Cowboy’s most important priority heading into the 2021 season. He’s entering his third round of negotiations with the organization to lock up a long-term contract. Two years ago, Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said a deal was “imminent” after Prescott threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns against the New York Giants in the season opener. After nothing materialized, 2020 seemed like the perfect time to end the contract saga. Unfortunately, with Prescott’s desire to ink a four-year deal as opposed to the team’s five-year offer, the former fourth-round pick played on the franchise tag for $31.4 million.
There’s been some positive momentum lately for Prescott to receive a lucrative extension. Talks between the Cowboys and Prescott agent are “better than they have been” as the March 9 deadline for the franchise rapidly approaches. The 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year is looking to land a deal “right behind” Patrick Mahomes’s $45 million per season average, and slightly above Deshaun Watson’s $39 million annual salary.
The Cowboys and Prescott remain adamant that a long-term deal is what both sides want to avoid a second franchise tag that would cost $37.7 million in 2021.
Smith was one of the NFL’s feel-good stories from last season. He spent five years away from the NFL after multiple suspensions which forced him to face some troubling off-the-field issues. After getting his life back together, with much help from Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, Smith got another shot at redemption when the Cowboys signed him to a one-year deal last April.
The former All-Pro came out on fire with four sacks in the first three games, highlighted by a three-sack performance against the Seattle Seahawks. However, that flame quickly extinguished as he would only record one sack in the final 13 games. Nonetheless, Smith showed some flashes of his dominant days with the San Francisco 49ers, and bringing him back to join DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory would give the Cowboys quite the trio rushing the passer from the edge in Dan Quinn’s scheme which will go back to a traditional four-man front.
The cornerback position has been a big talking point in Dallas since they lost Byron Jones to free agency a year ago. They hit a homerun with Trevon Diggs in the second round of last year’s draft, and the addition of Farley could give the Cowboys their two starting corners for the foreseeable future.
PFF’s assessment of Farley.
“As for the draft, Dallas is in a great spot to secure PFF’s CB1, Caleb Farley. He has all the physical tools one could want in an outside corner — with his trump card arguably being his blazing speed — and displayed a true lockdown season in his final year at the collegiate level. Before opting out of the 2020 season, Farley allowed one or fewer catches in seven of his 11 starts in 2019 while intercepting four passes and breaking up nine, leading to a 26.8 passer rating allowed and 90.5 coverage grade.”
Farley would opt-out of the 2020 college football season due to the coronavirus pandemic. In his two seasons on the field for Virginia Tech, the First-Team All-ACC performer displayed amazing ball skills with six interceptions and 19 pass breakups. His playmaking ability would be a welcomed addition opposite Diggs who led the Cowboys in interceptions (3) and pass breakups (14) as a rookie.
Only time will tell how the Cowboys will approach things before the 2021 season begins. However, if this plan were to be executed, along with other strategic offseason moves, the Cowboys could put themselves back among the top contenders in the NFC.
It’s sad that the once proud Cowboys now are supposed to be excited about winning the sorriest division in football but here we are and I don’t see it getting better as long as Jerry is in charge
1) Release Prescott
2) Sign Dalton
3) Dreft a QB with the 10th pick or, trade for Wilson.
4) If you trade for Wilson, skip #3 and draft a decent CB/FS
And if they resign Prescott to his demands (really, anything over $25M per year) you might as well write them off for the entire decade of the 2020s….
$25 mil a year would put him behind Goff, Wentz, Cousins, Ryan, Tannehill, Brissett, Jimmy Garapollo, and Matthew Stafford. If you think he’s worse than those quarterbacks, I’d ask you to go back and actually watch Dak Prescott play quarterback.
Get used to the reality that Prescott is going to make more money than you want him to, because that’s just how the quarterback market works.
Matthew, do you realize that signing Prescott puts them OVER the cap space available, no matter how you try to structure his contract? What is your plan for re-signing Prescott & Smith (putting Dallas about $24M over the cap with appropriate salaries)? Once you finish telling me who you are cutting/re-structure contracts; what is your plan to make enough salary cap space for the draft picks, including #10 overall (202 #10 pick AAV is $5M per year, it goes up this year). Which players are you cutting before the draft? How do you plan on re-signing Gallup next year? What are your plans for CeeDee in three years?
You seem to be very short sighted in terms of anything past today. To sign, Prescott, Smith, and the draft picks you will need about $76M ($50M for Dak, $12M for Smith, and the remaining for your draft picks), Dallas has less than $27M in cap space: How do you get your plan under the cap?
Dak’s cap hit isn’t gonna surpass $30 million in year one. You can bet on that. Most projections have him at about $25 million in year one.
You likely aren’t bringing back Michael Gallup next year because of the investment in Cooper and Lamb. By the time Lamb comes up for a new contract, the Salary Cap will balloon.
They’ll restructure Amari and get $14 million. They can restructure Tank and get another $11 million in cap space.
They have $20 million currently
Plus Amari’s $14 m, Zack $7m, Tank’s $11m you’re at $52 mil. Say you need $8m for rookies. You’re still in good shape.
Jeffrey Williams…Draft a QB and sign Dalton? Dalton was horrible even for a backup…Gilbert was much more productive in his one start w 0 reps…and nearly beat the undefeated steelers! Imagine if he had an entire pre season practicing w the receivers!? No …SIGN Dak and Gilbert and focus on the Oline…CB…and safety! We get those figured were suoerbowl bound…depending on the coaching anyway…who knows on that part…
We as a team were 1 and 3 when Dak got hurt. We were 8 and 8 year before, and Dak is asking for 40 million. ? 1 play off win ? Dak will not solely carry team, if we sell the farm for him we will continue to loose !
Wins are a team stat.
Look at the player. The defense hasn’t even been average.
Dak has done nothing to deserve anything close to what he is asking for. Empty stats when u are down 2 touchdowns every game? Cmon.
They may have been down two touchdowns, but then they got back into those games.
Ok, DONT’T SIGN DALTON, I,VE SEEN ONE TOO MANY BENGALS GAME. HE WANTS TO STAY IN THE POCKET WAY TO MUCH. NEED TO LET HIM GO ELSEWHERE. SIGN DAK, TELL HIM TAG HIM THIS YEAR AND HAVE INSENTIVES , SIGN HIM NEST YEAR. GO AND BUILD A LINE ON BOTH SIDES MAKING SURE HE KEEPS SAFE, GIVE HIM SOME STOCKS IN THE TEAM. HE KNOWS THIS TEAM KNOWS HIM THEY CAN RALLY TOGETHER KEEP TEAM IN TACK. MAKE LEE A LINE BACKER COACH.
Release Dak or tag non exclusive and pray some gullible team will offer Cowboys 2 first rounders.
Then draft one of the 5 elite quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are likely unobtainable.
The remaining 3, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, and Mac Jones may all go higher than 10 so may need to trade up. Worth it. Unload Dak and his unreasonable demands and fact Cowboys have barely sniffed playoffs with him as quarterback. Then with the saved money go after free agent defensive players especially a good cornerback and draft all defense except maybe one offensive lineman, and of course the new quarterback.
This plan makes you worse at quarterback. This team doesn’t spend money in free agency.
All y’all are acting like Dak is the reason for lack of playoff games and wins. When I look at analysis and stats and run games back, the offense under Dak the pas 21 games ranks number 1 in the league overall, and yards per game and number 3 in scoring per game. Now, in the flip side, no QB in the SB era has a winning record in the regular season and only 1 playoff birth and it was a 1 and done situation while the defense has allowed 30 ppg average which has been Dallas’s D the past 2 seasons under 2 different coordinators. Who need to be let go is Tank, Smith, Crawford. That frees up enough money even with dead money hit to signed entire rookie class, get Dak signed whose been a top 5 QB the past 21 games(last 2 seasons he’s played) and bring in FA to help address the D and backup L tackle(rotational piece that can start if and when Smith ends up on IR again). Dak’s contract is going to be high but it’s market value and he’s earned market value, y’all say padded stats yet 49% of his yards through the air come in the 1st half over past few seasons so that’s loaded and not accurate when y’all throw the trash time garbage around. The hit to the cap won’t be so bad after the 2022 TV deals get negotiated and the teams cap space increases by 15-20%(that essentially consumes a franchise QB’s contract, and in itself allows Dallas to continue to extend and resign their core players). The new cap space is projected to be around 210-220 million.
These people wanting to get rid of Prescott are idiots. Dak isn’t the reason this team hasn’t been a contender. This sorry defense needs to be upgraded with real talent at corner and Defensive tackle. Get rid of the scrubs in our defensive secondary and draft some long ball hawks, starting with either Surtain or Farley, whichever is left at #10. There is no QB in the draft that Dallas can get that is going to be better than Dak. Period.
Tag and trade the overhyped Prescott. His image of himself is much different than the 12th spot he is in for QBs. Pay him 12th (range in the 28-32mil range) or tag and trade him – non-exclusive, they offer, we don’t match, they give us 2 1sts. As long as he is so great, others will gladly overpay the injured Prescott. We then draft Farley, Barrmore, and have another 1st next yr. Get Fitzmagic for a yr and move around as needed to draft a real franchise QB next yr.
The Cowboys aren’t getting better by allowing Prescott to walk.
Cut dak
2.draft surtain who already has chemistry with diggs
Sign wilson or dalton and let them have an off season with the starters
Signing dak will do nothing except ruin the cap situation so you cant afford any players for the defense or to give dak weapons. Weve all seen what dak does without his #1 offensive line and his #1 running back and his 3 #1 receivers and his top 10 defense. Dont get how no one sees that dak has to get babied to succeed. The man is garbage and greedy
You can’t “sign Wilson.” Dalton isn’t even close to the quarterback Dak Prescott is.
So how does ruining your salary cap make Cowboys better?
Your presumption is that drafting elite quarterback can not play immediately.
What is so good about having a quarterback who has lead the Cowboys to 1 playoff win in over 4 years and why should you waste millions of dollars on one player who puts up stats but doesn’t move team in playoffs which is the bottom line?
How can a team win rebuild pathetic defense when they don’t have any money left.
Just face the facts, Cowboys just need to start over.
stats mean little to nothing to me , Brady is the GOAT (though he has put up great stats in the past) and yet he beats Mahomes in KC when Mahomes won MVP of the league with 50 TDs and like 5000 yards passing in AFC championship game , and won a SB vs one of the most statistically explosive offense’s of the Rams
And after the fall of the Pats , Mahomes goes and faces the Ravens and La…… wait the Ravens lost to Titans ? yeah they lost , the MVP of the league that year , Lamar Jackson lost to the Titans of which the Titans then got demolished by the Chiefs and Chiefs beat 49ers in SB
Then , just when you think the King is dead , nah he back , and with a nice tan to boot , as Brady joined the Bucs , demolishes Rodgers in regular season , then beats Rodgers who was this year’s MVP , in the NFC championship game , and wins SB vs Mahomeboy , Patrick Mahomes , just demolished them ,
Even these guys who deserve to be called the best in the league can’t hold a light to that man Brady , for me , if you win then that’s great , if you win and you’re putting up stats then that’s even better , but if you are putting up stats but you’re losing , then those stats don’t matter to me , unless you’re in Watson’s place where he literally had nobody , you’re about as expendable as anyone else out there
and so for me , signing Dak to his big deal on a short 4 year contract makes no sense to me , and as i’ve highlighted in other comments on this site , you don’t HAVE to have a elite QB to make it to playoffs , and there’s a possibility you could still make SB or win it even with a average QB , Trent Dilfer , Nick Foles , Jimmy G , Jared Goff ,
do i feel like Jerry can put forth that kind of team that those QBs had ? No , but I feel better about that than i do about him trying to navigate a tight cap and finding players at cheap that can outperform their contracts so that Dak can be in a position to win , so with that if i was GM , i’d get rid of Dak