During the 2021 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys jumped the gun more than any other team in the league. Fifty times the Cowboys got ahead of themselves at the line of scrimmage and drew a pre-snap penalty.
Patience was not this team’s calling card.
So forgive Cowboys fans for their unfamiliarity with the now ever-cautious approach the club embraces ahead of free agency kickoff. The Cowboys abstained as bold trades for quarterbacks and a pass rusher headlined NFL news this week. With free agency poised to begin Wednesday and the NFL’s legal tampering period opening Monday, decisions even on many of their own two-dozen impending free agents remain fluid.
Cowboys fans, meet angst.
“The salary cap is real,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, touting one of his favorite personnel cliches, said recently at the NFL scouting combine. “There are some moving parts to that which we’ll have to continue to massage forward.”
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Questions at receiver and defensive end are creating the most fog. Expect Dallas also to bolster depth at linebacker, offensive line and tight end via free agency, the draft or both.
What have the Cowboys said on the record and what can fans deduce from those comments? Here’s a breakdown based on conversations with executive vice president Stephen Jones, head coach Mike McCarthy and NFL agents at the scouting combine in Indianapolis and since:
Receiver roundup
The increasingly likely release of four-time Pro Bowl receiver Amari Cooper has shaken Cowboys fans more than Cooper’s deadly route-running shakes defensive backs. But the discrepancy between Cooper’s production and his pay for him, coupled with a conveniently structured contract to allow the Cowboys to release him with zero further guaranteed money and just $6 million in dead cap, make this result an outcome that for two years fans could have predicted.
At 27 years old and seven seasons in, Cooper is not past his prime. His 865 receiving yards and eight touchdowns ranked 30th and 12th, respectively, in 2021. But production demands opportunity, Cooper receiving fewer targets than 31 fellow receivers across the league. The Cowboys’ concern lies less in questions about his ability than in determining whether a system rooted more in progressions than the emphasis of a star wideout can justify his $20 million salary. They also believe their wide receiver riches can stand trimming as Dak Prescott’s $40 million annual salary demands cuts somewhere. (The quarterback’s contract, however, was restructured this week to provide cap relief for 2022.)
“It’s an offensive philosophy and when we had the players that we had, between (offensive coordinator) Kellen (Moore) and Dak, there was a progression of where you threw the ball,” Stephen Jones said. “Depending on how the defense played you would point the ball to certain places. If they are going to double over here and they are going to double over the top over here, that is going to dictate that the ball goes here. So I think it more of a system deal.”
With Cooper’s release inching closer, to whom will Prescott throw in 2022? Second-year receiver CeeDee Lamb led Cowboys weapons with 1,102 yards and six touchdowns last season, franchise-tagged tight end Dalton Schultz extremely reliable and opportunistic with 808 yards and eight touchdowns. The Cowboys are nearing a deal with 2018 third-rounder Michael Gallup (expect his salary from him in the $11 million / year range), who has proven an acrobatic threat when healthy. And another promising player whom Cowboys fans have lobbied for more action for could increase his receiving-game threat, McCarthy revealed in Indianapolis earlier this month: running back Tony Pollard.
“Tony’s a multi-positional player, so we just got to keep spreading him out,” McCarthy said. “You got to make sure you have the packages at least in place conceptually, so when you shift gears and you hit those adversity moments during the course of year, you’re able to lean on a (running back Ezekiel Elliott) or a Tony or a CeeDee or however this thing shakes out.”
And the Cowboys’ biggest reason for confidence in the receiving game might be stability at quarterback. For the first time in four offseasons, the club need not expend energy on negotiating with Prescott.
“It’s super nice not to have to be focused on just him,” Stephen Jones said. “It does allow you to look at the bigger picture.”
Who will disrupt the passer?
Contrary to what his 13-sack season might imply, 2021 defensive rookie of the year Micah Parsons remains primarily a linebacker. The Cowboys want that, coaches and front office members quick to note how frequently Parsons’ pocket-wrecking moves came from up the middle and how meaningfully his sideline-to-sideline speed and do coverage instincts improve defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s unit.
So what gives, with starting right defensive end Randy Gregory poised to hit free agency and left defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence declining the team’s pay-cut request?
As of midday Friday, neither Gregory nor Lawrence’s future was settled, people with knowledge of those conversations told USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of negotiations. What was clearer than either player’s 2022 affiliation: the frustration stemming from people close to each player feeling the Cowboys are dragging their feet.
Why might this be happening? Let’s revisit Jones’ line about moving parts that need massaging.
Lawrence, whom Dallas signed to a five-year, $105 million deal in 2019, cannot go anywhere without team permission. He also, informed people confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the talks, declined an initial pay cut request from the club. Whether a financial middle ground can be reached remains to be seen, the Cowboys acutely aware Lawrence is owed no further guaranteed money even if a pre-June 1 cut would trigger $19 million in dead money. Gregory is inching closer to hitting free agency, with the freedom to negotiate with 31 other teams Monday if a deal is not reached (it’s unlikely a deal will close sooner). The Cowboys defense, which rebounded from 28th in points allowed in 2020 to 7th last year while also leading the league in takeaways, would be hard-pressed to maintain its level of play without either party. The most likely scenario is one of the two edges—Gregory disrupted the passer more efficiently last year, Lawrence more reliably stopping the run—returns, but it’s still possible both stay on. The Cowboys trust Quinn to maximize his talent and scheme but without some degree of personnel investment, they teeter on expecting too much from the coach.
“The constant here is we have great coaches, great staff,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said this offseason after Quinn agreed to return for 2022. “It was a major coup to get Quinn here. If we can have the continuity we want there, that will be a big deal and give us the best chance.”
Getting over the postseason hump
Personnel questions must be answered now as the league year turns over and deadlines prompt deals. But McCarthy discussed several other global factors that he believes must come into play for the Cowboys to avoid another untimely postseason exit (only Dallas lost at home in the wild-card round this year). Reducing their league-leading penalties is the team’s No. 1 focus, McCarthy said. He wants all flags reduced but particularly the pre-snap errors, coaches careful how they dissuade “combative” or in-snap penalties since they don’t want to discourage the controlled aggression that drives playmaking like cornerback Trevon Diggs’ 11 single-season interceptions .
“But the pre-snap and disciplined penalties, we have to be much better,” McCarthy said. “I got to coach it better. We got to emphasize it better. And it will definitely be a heightened point.”
Second on the to-do list is improve “adversity football” response, which McCarthy defines to include situational work, momentum swings and close end-of-game opportunities, like the botched quarterback draw with which the Cowboys inadvertently ran out the clock in their 6-point wild-card loss.
Expect McCarthy to collaborate more on scheme and offensive philosophy with Moore as Moore enters his fourth year coordinating. Expect attempts to streamline the offensive line roles, McCarthy quick to point out the Cowboys’ 5-1 start with line continuity last season. And expect McCarthy to continue tuning out the myriad of off-field conversations that seem to reverberate around his team. He dismisses rumors about Sean Payton and Quinn taking his job; focusing on his team and locker-room culture as voyeurism and paternity disputes capture headlines from alleged front-office incidents before he was hired. The talk, some stirred by McCarthy’s boss Jerry Jones, will continue. McCarthy says his commitment to winning must supersede it.
“Welcome to the Dallas Cowboys,” McCarthy said. “The question is: Do you allow it to affect winning? I think if I allowed it and I reacted to it and put my personal feelings in front of my professional commitment and goal, then yeah, it probably would.
“(So) I have developed a different version of the filter I’ve always worked with: Does it affect winning? If it affects winning, it is really important to me and everyone knows that. Everybody. I am all about winning. … That is all that really matters, how we spend our time and energy and focus.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jori Epstein on Twitter @joriepstein.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism