foolish not to hang on for a bit, at least through the draft. Someone out there values him, if not today then when they don't sign the guy they want in FA or draft. I could see if OTAs rolled out and nothing happening but eh

disregard

David Irving deal is delicious. Amazed Jack Crawford got what he got from Atlanta. And I like the guy a lot.

Irving's a ERFA, they were 100% doing that unless he died in the offseason. He's a good candidate for extension if he has a good camp and starts the season strong. We'll see.

Crawford got about fair market for who he is, T McClain maybe a tad high, but there's definitely demand for guys iike that. The trick is finding them before the rest of the league figures it out, which Dallas did in both cases. Then you have Leary and Church who both got paid, another two guys who we got a ton out of for relatively little.

Have to see what Dallas does in FA--and there's a lot to do--but looking like they might land a little compensatory help next year. They can't swing too many big deals and need all kinds of CBs, safeties, DL, backup QB, at least one WR and possibly a RB. Going to be really tough for them without much cap space and low draft position so hopefully they do a great job.

The secondary in particular is just a huge question mark, curious to see what happens there.

TWill re-signs, 4 yrs/$17m with $9.5m guaranteed. I'm tempted to be meh about it, but Kenny Stills just inked a 4yr deal for almost double that. And I have to credit TWill for playing in every game since he was drafted. If nothing else can scratch WR off the needs list.

Nolan Carroll 3/year, $10 deal. Since he's 30 it's probably structured more like a 1 or 2-year. Not much to see here, they're looking for cheap JAG corners/reclamation projects, and he's a cheap JAG corner.

So I guess next up is QB2, safety, and a DE (if they can afford anyone worthwhile).

I'm just neutral on TWill. I think the offence has good chemistry so whatever, bring it mostly back.

There's some pretty raw athletic TE's skulking around in this draft too. Curious if they go there on day 2.

Thanks for signing Nolan Caroll. :fist:

As far as TE, you never can be sure with the Cowboys, but I don't see this is as a year they go in on that. Witten doesn't seem to be retiring, they extended Hanna, and working on developing Swaim who has seen a little play time. Plus if you're looking for raw/athletic, Gathers is pretty much the definition of that.

Obviously if you spot the next Jason Witten late in the 3rd you take him, and I've generally been hearing this is an exceptional draft class for TE...but I suspect they like what they have with this group. If not, make sure the guy can at least block.

Anyway, Doug Free retiring, which is best-case for us.

How Leary is already gone are gonna draft a guard or tackle that can instantly start?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Didn't realize we had lost both church and wilcox. Yeah I guess they gotta draft D every single round now, and hope they draft well.

Regardless of need, a 33-year-old Doug Free does not in any way justify a $7.5m cap spend. They immediately save $5m on him, and have far too many needs to pencil in that kind of cash on Free. Maybe they can't replace the production at RT but it's possible it helps shore up holes elsewhere (like the secondary).

I'm not sure what they'll do at RT but if they struggle there I'll live with it. It's not like Free assures you of anything special at this point anyway. I think they'll just have to gamble that Chaz Green can stay healthy or be prepared to start a rookie or some old stopgap.

Honestly - the offense already gets the majority of resources and they are returning all of the other starters and a fair amount of depth players. Has any other team turned over less of their offense from last year? If they can't get it done it won't be because Free retired.

Well, Nolan Carroll gets me fired me up (not)

Okay I hear you, I'm not banking on Collins staying healthy either so that's 2 lineman gone from last year and Zeke is gonna get suspended for pulling a girls tit out at the parade so I'm starting to worry some lol

In Collins' case we're lucky to even have a guy like him on the roster to worry about losing the first place. I don't see any long-term problem with his health, he tore a ligament in his toe last year but should be fine now. There are 31 other teams in the league who'd love to have him signed at league minimum salary and sweat that. Before tagging anyone injury prone I like to see recurring specific injuries (concussions, bad hamstrings, shot knee) and not just random one-off type that people recover from. He's 23 and is healthy now so far as I can tell.

Zeke on the other hand is shaping up to be a headache and I assume he'll miss some time due to suspension. Maybe they'll be able to re-sign DMC but cost is a severe consideration there as with all veteran backs. They could dust a 4th to pull a new one.

I actually think Zeke needed the 2 games he's gonna get for the tit thing. I assume it will be 2. The earlier he gets into this stuff, the better chance they have at getting his mind right.

But also this team has a desperate need to start coaching these boys into men, and picking guys that are less nuts. If that isn't the #1 organizational priority, I don't know what is. Too many dudes risking throwing away their careers over being a-holes.

Jerry is quoted talking about how much he loves the risk pick, so we got to live with these type of guys until he's 6 ft under


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So about that defensive backfield....

This should be a fun season

^ this happened

1 yr/$1m, which is basically his minimum, and will count only $700k on the cap. Just $80k guaranteed too. So just a freeroll insurance policy while they see how things go with the draft, Zeke's possible suspension(s), and whether Alfred Morris shows anything. Lance Dunbar signed with Rams also.

As to the draft, I wonder if they can pass on Joe Mixon if he's on the board at #92. It's gotten to the point where you pretty much have to assume the Cowboys have him on the board somewhere...but if nothing there they should at least get their pick up UDFA backs. Definitely opportunity to make the roster the way it looks today.

lol who is actually left from our secondary? Jones and the rook? Oh and Scandrick too.

Scandrick - outside CB from here
A Brown - young but did enough to claim the slot CB spot
Carroll - JAG outside corner but may start out of necessity, depending on draft
Jones - stays put at FS, and I don't see a point in moving him anyway

Two other guys to keep in mind. Heath - signed a new deal last year, but ability beyond ST is unknown. Has shown a little bit though (remember GB game?). Still I don't care for the idea he could start for them.

Then, K. Frazier - Literally all I know about this guy is that Dallas had a 4th rd grade on him last year, he made the roster and stayed on it despite little play, and people like to compare him to Church. I'd point out also that Church (and Wilcox) played ok last year and Byron Jones rarely came off the field, so it doesn't really tell us anything about Frazier.

I think they did the right thing not overpaying Church or Wilcox. Is Church a $6.5/year player? And while Wilcox's deal isn't very big, it's still enough to say you're committing starter-type pay for him.

The bottom line is they lost half the secondary but it was a good time to rebuild. Church stuck around for 7 seasons, Carr is 30 (and got a long-term deal for similar money), Claiborne couldn't stay healthy, and Wilcox is a JAG. Add to that, Scandrick's getting old, and Carroll is a stop-gap and can be let go easily next year if he doesn't do enough.

With any luck they'll pick up some good pieces this and next draft, and it's likely they'll likely find some room to sang a decent FA next year if needed. Pretty scary but after so many years of over-priced mediocrity back there I'm ready for a change.

By the way, the Cowboys's compensatory pick situation for next season is shaping up pretty well. You can only get 4 picks max, and all of theirs would be Day 3, but sometimes you can get lucky. See: Prescott, Dak.



Obviously future signings could subtract from this, but right now it seems likely that they'll have several extra picks, maybe 4 like last year. If they stopped inking guys now, or at least qualifying UFAs, they'd get 4 players from rounds 4 and 5.

I know it doesn't smooth over losing some of the guys on the list, but remember how many of them came into the league. Several late round and UDFAs among those names. If they can continue finding talent that way then I'm all for it.

+Kellen Moore 1yr/775k. Doesn't really change anything except maybe making it a tougher climb for a late rd/UDFA/QB3 prospect. I won't mind seeing a mid-round pick used on another one this or next year and hoping to hell that Dak doesn't get hurt.

Still better than throwing a fully-guaranteed $6m (up to $13m with incentives) at a 38-year-old Josh McClown. How the hell does he get that? He was a sub-$1m contract last year and his play was atrocious. Lol Browns.

Damn Greg Hardy

Byron Bell/1 yr unknown money. That pretty much settles that question, he and Chaz Green can duke it out for starting RT position with the other being the swing, and I imagine the draft could produce another possibility (probably eliminate Rd 1 and likely 2 as far as o-line picks).

So now other than Church's spot, they've pretty much filled all of the starting roster holes, at least as best they could afford to. All relatively low-commitment, low-dollar deals. You can definitely see their loyalty to this approach lately, which I like a lot more than what they were doing. Of course it depends on continuing to draft well and get good results from your core players, but what strategy doesn't.

This has also flipped the strategy for drafting a bit too I think. Factoring in the most likely 2018 draft situation, with (hopefully) lower draft position, more money, and a bunch of extra Day 3's, it's much more defensible to move up for an impact player.

Romo to the broadcast booth. Was kinda hoping to see him make one good run somewhere and root for him, but no dice.

On a practical note, what does this mean for us cap-wise?