The Cowboys’ offseason strategy is forming, and will break open with contract extensions and free agency

The Cowboys are gearing up for the roster-building part of the offseason

It’s the time of unknowns for the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL in general. The season is over, and things are in the semi-limbo that occupies the time between the final gun of the Super Bowl and the time when teams can openly deal with potential outside free agents. That leaves many of us paging rapidly through anything about the Cowboys and crying out for input.

That’s one reason why we just saw a rather ridiculous story about Jimmy Johnson being on some kind of advisory board for the team flare up. Those of us who report, write, and podcast about the team can get a bit too eager for something to use as content. Johnson was just using a bit of humor to describe how the rift has been healed between him and Jerry Jones since his woefully overdue induction into the Ring of Honor. There is no advisory board, just Jones’ personal network of connections that he listens to. Sometimes. That didn’t stop some rather poorly considered reporting about his remarks on a radio show.

Hopefully Jones is listening to smart people, because this is when the team has to firm up their strategy for dealing with the next big objective of the soon to start NFL year – how to construct the roster. They have mostly taken care of their first one, replacing Dan Quinn with Mike Zimmer and getting a good start on restaffing the defensive coaching positions. That has been cussed and discussed extensively. So what should they do for their roster building strategy?

One big thing is whether to use the franchise tag, as our Brandon Loree has already looked into. Tagging players has been something they have done each year for the past six seasons, and there are some reports they are about to break that string. Dallas faces another tight cap situation and the high cost of a tag, with no ability to push the hit into future years, is not worth it. While there are certainly several of their own free agents they would do well to bring back, they are almost certainly going to be looking at much more favorable deals than tagging them. One of the most important is Tyron Smith, who reportedly wants to come back. He is still a premier left tackle when healthy, but there, as a famous guy once wrote, is the rub. He seems almost certain to miss some time, and it could be extensive. Look for them to try and negotiate something much cheaper than the $18 million plus cost of a tag for offensive linemen. That is going to be true of anyone else they bring back.

We discussed this idea on the latest episode of Ryled Up on the Blogging The Boys podcast network. Make sure to subscribe to our network so you do not miss any of our shows! Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.

One player on that list who is possibly not going to be a target to reach a new agreement with is Tony Pollard, who did play on the tag last year. Running backs are plentiful in free agency, and it has proven to be one of the easiest positions to replace productivity. Pollard’s performance last year was not what the team wished for, especially early. While we often gripe about the constant reliance on bargain shopping for free agents, running back is one where it makes a lot of sense. The team still has Malik Davis, Hunter Luepke, and Deuce Vaughn under contract. If they do want to re-sign one of their own, they might well want to target Rico Dowdle over Pollard. Dowdle would be probably be much more affordable. Then they could wait for outside free agency to settle down and find a serviceable fourth back for depth. They could get someone on a very affordable one year, prove-it deal, something they could also do with other positions like linebacker where they have some pressing needs.

While we focus more on players to add, they also could have some decisions to make on whether to release some players still under contract. That affects the cap situation, and here it is important to look at future costs. Two names that have surfaced lately as possible players to let go are wide receivers Micheal Gallup and Brandin Cooks. Cooks was much more valuable than Gallup. His yardage totals were not great, but he was a scoring weapon with eight touchdowns, as opposed to just two for Gallup. That makes the latter a good candidate for a release, as keeping him would have a much bigger cap cost over the rest of his contract. Dan Rogers provided a good analysis of this, and his take is that Gallup’s release is coming. It is solid reasoning. Don’t be surprised if he nailed this one on the head.

The next big event coming up is the NFL combine just a week from now. While the actual results of the drills and measurements of the Underwear Olympics are often overrated, the chance to sit down and talk to the invitees is very valuable. It can be where teams firm up the evaluations the scouting staffs have been working so hard to complete.

The Cowboys will almost certainly be looking harder at some positions. They won’t be that interested in quarterback, for example, but will be very intent on positions like offensive line, linebacker, center, defensive line, safety, and possibly wide receiver and running back based on the decisions discussed at those positions. That is a lot to try and cover with only seven draft picks currently scheduled for them, with too many of those in the last three rounds. This is a year when Will McClay and his scouting staff will be working hard to find possible diamonds in the rough late on day three of the draft. UDFAs are also going to be important in a year when there is limited draft capital to use.

It’s still a time where we are hungry for news, but have to work with a lot of rumors and inferences. We are still going to be waiting for any concrete developments, with contracts for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb big ones that we expect. Those are two places the team can generate a lot of cap space. Just restructuring Prescott in the last year of his contract could net them nearly $22 million in space. Extensions for both could give them over $39 million to work with. Those could come at any time, and they have to get something done by the start of the league year on March 13th, as they currently are about $22 million over the cap according to the appropriately named site Over the Cap. That will mean Prescott and Lamb are not the only players they will be looking at for restructures or extensions, and those others may come before the likely huge deals for the star QB and WR are done. Restructures are built in options that require no negotiations as it just shifts when the players receive their money to an earlier date at the team’s discretion. The management has no hesitation about using those.

It seems like a dead time to many, but there is so much bubbling away just beneath the surface. Things will break through, possibly very soon, and we will be eager to see just how it all works out.