Your Sunday morning Cowboys news

2024 NFL free agency: Five targets to sign, potential deals – Mike Tannenbaum, ESPN

This contract proposal for Tyron Smith feels ridiculously low. It’s almost assured the Cowboys opened with something incentive-based like this and Smith’s side shot it down quickly.

Tyron Smith, OT

The deal I’d offer: One year, $15 million ($5 million guaranteed)

This is among the most fascinating free agent situations that we’ve seen in recent years. Smith has been one of the best left tackles in the NFL over the past decade — but he is 33 years old and has not played a full season since 2015.

So many teams need offensive line help and when Smith is on the field, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound blocker is tough to get around. His pass block win rate still shows that he is a solid option, ranking 26th out of 69 tackles last season with Dallas (89.1%). And if you have a run-heavy offense, you’ll love Smith. He was fifth among tackles in run block win rate last season (79%).

I’d be in on Smith if I could get him on a short-term deal with low guarantees. Consider that his 13 games in 2023 were his most since 2019. The durability concerns are real. But if it’s a one-year deal with around $5 million guaranteed, it could be a steal.

3 realistic free agent signings for the Cowboys in 2024 – Mark Heaney, Inside the Star

The Dallas Cowboys are routinely connected to high-profile free agents but that’s not the way the Cowboys operate. Here are few free agents the Cowboys could sensibly sign when free agency begins.

Linebacker, Eric Kendricks.

A 1-year deal to former Vikings and Chargers Linebacker, Eric Kendricks, is perhaps the most Cowboys free agency signing possible. That does not mean it’s bad, but it is just very predictable. Kendricks, a veteran with more experience than true ability at this point, would bring a short-term fix at the team’s biggest weakness while also getting a guy with immense experience under Mike Zimmer. He was brought in by Zimmer as a rookie and had his best seasons while in his system.

This move brings in a tackle machine with leadership and experience in a system that is otherwise completely new to the rest of the Cowboys’ defense. So, again, this is not a bad signing, but it is limited in potential and long-term prospects. Kendricks is undoubtedly on the back end of his career, and you have to worry about the end being sooner rather than later.

At 32 years old, He is not making another Pro Bowl trip anytime soon. If Dallas were to combine this with another signing or a high draft pick, the linebacker room could improve drastically. If this is the lone move to improve the linebacking corps, close your eyes when this group is on the field in 2024.

Dallas Cowboys are giving wide receiver Michael Gallup permission to seek a trade – Calvin Watkins, DMN

Can the Cowboys and/or Gallup find a trade partner before March 17, when $4 million of Gallup’s $8.5 million base salary for 2024 will become guaranteed?

A person with knowledge of the discussions told The Dallas Morning News that the Cowboys have given Gallup’s agent, Kevin Robinson, permission to seek a trade.

Teams have been reluctant to make a deal for Gallup, [expecting] he’s going to be released.

Without Gallup, the Cowboys would look at the rising Jalen Tolbert, who will enter his third season, and Jalen Brooks, a 2023 seventh-round pick. The Cowboys also have returner KaVontae Turpin, who emerged in the passing game last season.

Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson seemingly fires back at Dalton Schultz’s slight to franchise – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports

The culture of the Cowboys has come under fire stemming from comments made by former tight end Dalton Schultz. However, their current TE1 seemingly explained his side of the environment in Dallas.

Ferguson uploaded an Instagram story of a picture of the Cowboys’ facilities with the phrase “It is a privilege, not a right, to play, coach and work for the Dallas Cowboys.”

The message itself might not sound like anything special but context is key. Although Ferguson doesn’t make any allusions to it directly, it likely is not a coincidence that the story was uploaded days after former Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz took a shot at the way things are done in Dallas.

State of the Cowboys roster: Wide receivers and tight ends- Tom Ryle, Blogging the Boys

Evaluating the Cowboys pass catchers ahead of free agency.

Wide receivers

Starters: CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks

Depth: Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks, Martavis Bryant, Jalen Cropper, David Durden, Racey McMath

Lamb and Cooks are easy. Lamb is going to get a new deal at some point, and if the team gets its act together they will do so before things drag out and animosity might set in. An extension for Lamb could net nearly $13.5 million in cap space as well. Cooks is on the final year of his deal (with two void years, one of the many cap manipulation tools team use) and will probably be allowed to play it out before the team makes any decision on him hanging around longer.

The reason for not listing the three starters the Cowboys typically use with 11 personnel is that there is a sense that Gallup will be released or possibly traded. He simply has not been a consistent producer for the team since his injury late in 2021. The team made the gamble that he would return to form with a five-year contract extension, but so far that has been a losing bet. This is the first year of his extension that they can release him and get a cap benefit, especially if he is designated a post June 1 cut. (There are those weird cap machinations again.) A trade seems very unlikely, which is not to the team’s advantage. It would be nice to get some additional draft capital for a player you are moving on from.

That would leave the WR3 job open, and even if Gallup stays in Dallas this fall, there is no guarantee he would get it. Tolbert is the leading contender for the third starter’s position, having played the most of any of the remaining WRs. KaVontae Turpin should be back with the team on the strength of his return skills. Fans keep hoping for him to be incorporated more in the offense, but his usage has been limited.

The rest of the bunch is basically the core of the annual competition for the remaining wide receiver slots on the 53-man roster. There should be at least a couple of additions at some point, probably UDFAs. Bryant, Durden, and Cropper all have been with the organization for a bit, and Brooks has the advantage being a draft pick carries with the Cowboys. Hopefully Racey McMath hangs around somehow because that is such a great name.

Should Gallup be on his way out, that at least opens up consideration of using a premium pick (day one or day two) on the position. There may be other positions where the need is seen as far more pressing. OK, there almost certainly are. With only seven picks, including none in the fourth round, Dallas does not have a lot of draft capital to spend, and may just not be able to use a premium pick on wide receiver. Free agency seems an unlikely path. But if Will McClay and his scouts should spot another Cooks out there that the team could get on the cheap, they really should be willing to make the move.

Bo Scarbrough retires from football with an all-time great quote – Mike Florio, NBC Sports

Former Cowboys running back Bo Scarbrough, whose NFL career never worked out (he also had stints with the Jaguars, Seahawks, Lions, and Raiders), has retired from football during UFL training camp with the Birmingham Stallions.

In the press release announcing his departure from the game, Scarbrough provides an all-time great quote.

“You can love this game all you want,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the game can’t love you back because it’s not a person; it’s a ball.”

The brilliance of the quote is in its simplicity. And he’s absolutely right. Many love the game. The game can never truly love them back.

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