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Why the Cowboys need to start wheeling and dealing right now, and why they're in the perfect spot to do it
By Tim Cowlishaw, Staff Columnist
Let's say right off the top that there are no prizes for being the most interesting NFL team in the first week of March. In fact, if reports are true, and the Minnesota Vikings are set to reward Kirk Cousins with a $91 million fully guaranteed contract Wednesday when the offseason officially begins, I can't tell you what the Norseman are winning.
Other than the rights to a quarterback with a 4-19 record against winning teams.
Still, the Super Bowl champs are on the move. The Giants have stepped into the fray. The Rams are all over the place, acquiring elite defensive backs, shedding good front-7 players, and who knows what that's about other than preparation for the coming years where they must issue second contracts to Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley and Jared Goff.
Michael Bennett, brother of the occasionally beloved Marty B and a man who still produced 81/2 sacks while playing hurt in 2017, is now an Eagle. For a championship team that was probably going to lose defensive tackle Vinny Curry, to scoop up what remains of Bennett -- another good year, maybe two -- for a fifth-round pick is a steal.
Howie Roseman continued to deal Friday as the Eagles GM sent wide receiver Torrey Smith to Carolina for a young cornerback, Daryl Worley. No rest days for the champs.
The desperate Giants began to regroup by landing former Rams captain Alec Ogletree and a seventh-round pick for a four and a six. Moving third-day draft pieces across the table to claim veteran starters is a move every team should make whenever possible. This is especially true if you happen to be the Cowboys and the league has bestowed four compensatory picks upon you for last year's free-agent defections.
Those picks, now tradeable, give the Cowboys a 1, a 2, a 3, two 4's, two 5's, two 6's and a 7. And while NFL owners love the cheap labor that draft picks represent, it doesn't really make sense to head into the 2018 season with 10 rookies from the draft board. The Cowboys' history at scoring with those third-day picks can certainly be called into question.
Now there is plenty of time to start shuffling some of these picks around in order to move up in the first or second round or wherever. The draft at AT&T Stadium does not commence until April 26. To say that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will hope to gain some national attention for his team's draft performance is an understatement. But beyond that, the time to strike is now because the team's star power at quarterback and running back is operating on rookie contracts well below their true value. This is especially true with Dak Prescott, set to make a base salary of $630,000 with a cap hit of $725,000 in 2018.
What's that make him -- about 21/2 percent of Kirk Cousins?
"We need to take advantage of structuring and putting this team together at the contract level we've got right here," Jones said while in Indianapolis for the scouting combine. Of Prescott, Jones said, "He's going to get his extraordinary contract. But while we can put a team together and take advantage of where he is in his contract, we've got to maximize that advantage."
In other words, the Cowboys must follow the Seattle plan. With Russell Wilson starting as a third-round rookie and never missing a game, the Seahawks won a playoff game his first season, won a Super Bowl in his second and were at the 1-yard line in search of another Lombardi Trophy in his third.
When you have a quarterback performing at a high level but making roughly $15-20 million less than his counterparts, that's the time to strike. The Cowboys did exactly that in Prescott's rookie season but took a pass last year. In fact, the last meaningful game the Cowboys played -- no, it was not the one Jason favored up in Philadelphia -- Dallas lost at home to a Seahawks team that is now starting to pull the plug on its five-year run of success.
Bennett is gone. Cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Jeremy Lane were released Friday. Safety Earl Thomas wants out and would gladly come to Dallas, but the Cowboys would have to work the offseason trade circuit which is not their strength. Still, Thomas makes more sense for the Cowboys than either cornerback, and with plenty of money to move around in the salary cap game, Thomas' $8.5 million base salary is not overly burdensome.
"It's difficult for me to put a finger on why we haven't made a trade in awhile," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "It's certainly not conscientious."
Opportunities are out there. While division rivals make their moves, the Cowboys are free to join the fight.
By Tim Cowlishaw, Staff Columnist
Let's say right off the top that there are no prizes for being the most interesting NFL team in the first week of March. In fact, if reports are true, and the Minnesota Vikings are set to reward Kirk Cousins with a $91 million fully guaranteed contract Wednesday when the offseason officially begins, I can't tell you what the Norseman are winning.
Other than the rights to a quarterback with a 4-19 record against winning teams.
Still, the Super Bowl champs are on the move. The Giants have stepped into the fray. The Rams are all over the place, acquiring elite defensive backs, shedding good front-7 players, and who knows what that's about other than preparation for the coming years where they must issue second contracts to Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley and Jared Goff.
Michael Bennett, brother of the occasionally beloved Marty B and a man who still produced 81/2 sacks while playing hurt in 2017, is now an Eagle. For a championship team that was probably going to lose defensive tackle Vinny Curry, to scoop up what remains of Bennett -- another good year, maybe two -- for a fifth-round pick is a steal.
Howie Roseman continued to deal Friday as the Eagles GM sent wide receiver Torrey Smith to Carolina for a young cornerback, Daryl Worley. No rest days for the champs.
The desperate Giants began to regroup by landing former Rams captain Alec Ogletree and a seventh-round pick for a four and a six. Moving third-day draft pieces across the table to claim veteran starters is a move every team should make whenever possible. This is especially true if you happen to be the Cowboys and the league has bestowed four compensatory picks upon you for last year's free-agent defections.
Those picks, now tradeable, give the Cowboys a 1, a 2, a 3, two 4's, two 5's, two 6's and a 7. And while NFL owners love the cheap labor that draft picks represent, it doesn't really make sense to head into the 2018 season with 10 rookies from the draft board. The Cowboys' history at scoring with those third-day picks can certainly be called into question.
Now there is plenty of time to start shuffling some of these picks around in order to move up in the first or second round or wherever. The draft at AT&T Stadium does not commence until April 26. To say that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will hope to gain some national attention for his team's draft performance is an understatement. But beyond that, the time to strike is now because the team's star power at quarterback and running back is operating on rookie contracts well below their true value. This is especially true with Dak Prescott, set to make a base salary of $630,000 with a cap hit of $725,000 in 2018.
What's that make him -- about 21/2 percent of Kirk Cousins?
"We need to take advantage of structuring and putting this team together at the contract level we've got right here," Jones said while in Indianapolis for the scouting combine. Of Prescott, Jones said, "He's going to get his extraordinary contract. But while we can put a team together and take advantage of where he is in his contract, we've got to maximize that advantage."
In other words, the Cowboys must follow the Seattle plan. With Russell Wilson starting as a third-round rookie and never missing a game, the Seahawks won a playoff game his first season, won a Super Bowl in his second and were at the 1-yard line in search of another Lombardi Trophy in his third.
When you have a quarterback performing at a high level but making roughly $15-20 million less than his counterparts, that's the time to strike. The Cowboys did exactly that in Prescott's rookie season but took a pass last year. In fact, the last meaningful game the Cowboys played -- no, it was not the one Jason favored up in Philadelphia -- Dallas lost at home to a Seahawks team that is now starting to pull the plug on its five-year run of success.
Bennett is gone. Cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Jeremy Lane were released Friday. Safety Earl Thomas wants out and would gladly come to Dallas, but the Cowboys would have to work the offseason trade circuit which is not their strength. Still, Thomas makes more sense for the Cowboys than either cornerback, and with plenty of money to move around in the salary cap game, Thomas' $8.5 million base salary is not overly burdensome.
"It's difficult for me to put a finger on why we haven't made a trade in awhile," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "It's certainly not conscientious."
Opportunities are out there. While division rivals make their moves, the Cowboys are free to join the fight.
