Dallas Cowboys: Prioritizing free agency positions and potential candidates

The Dallas Cowboys offseason is now underway, well sort of, the coordinators for the Cowboys have been interviewing for potential head coaching positions while the front office begins to reassess their roster. Last off-season owner Jerry Jones and de facto general manager and son Stephen Jones made the choice to release, trade, and let walk players they lost faith in. That decision may have benefited the defensive side of the football as they were able to get faster and tougher on that side of the football.

On the offensive side, it was a different story, the front office thought that quarterback Dak Prescott would be able to make plays with CeeDee Lamb and an underwhelming receiving group and it backfired on them.

Now the team is in a position where they have a defense that can dominate games but a sporadic offense that has let them down once again in the playoffs and free agents on both sides of the football they really need to bring back. While some of the players they may see as replaceable they can’t replace all of them and we know they are going to spend money to keep their own players, they do it every year, but this year they are going to need to also spend money in free agency if they want to improve on the offensive side of the football.

Let’s take a look at the free agents the Cowboys have along with the potential free agents on offense and defense they could make a play for in free agency.

Dallas Cowboys Free Agent List

Unrestricted Free Agents: CB Anthony Brown, WR Noah Brown, Edge Dante Fowler Jr., LB Luke Gifford, CB C.J. Goodwin, DT Johnathan Hankins, WR T.Y. Hilton, K Brett Maher,    G Connor McGovern, LS Jake McQuaide, LS Matt Overton, OT Jason Peters, RB Tony Pollard, QB Cooper Rush, TE Dalton Schultz, LB Leighton Vander Esch, DE Carlos Watkins, S Donovan Wilson

Restricted/Exclusive-Rights Free Agents: RB Rico Dowdle, OT Terence Steele

The Cowboys have 19 unrestricted free agents about the hit the open market along with two restricted free agents and they aren’t going to be able to pay all of them. So the job of this front office can’t really begin until they figure out which players they intend to keep or make offers to and who they are going to let test the market and just collect compensation picks for the 2024 draft, it’s been the gameplan thus far for them, but it hasn’t worked out that well.

So I expect a change in philosophy this offseason from the Cowboys’ front office as they look to improve this roster from top to bottom and it starts with their free agents. At the top of their list will obviously be running back Tony Pollard but what will the rest of their must-sign players list look like, well I have an idea of how it should look.

1. Tony Pollard
2. Leighton Vander Esch
3. Johnathan Hankins
4. Connor McGovern
5. Donovan Wilson
6. Terence Steele
7. Anthony Brown
8. Noah Brown
9. Cooper Rush
10. Dalton Schultz

Of the 21 unrestricted free agents, these are the only players the Cowboys should be focusing on and if I’m being honest Schultz might not even be on their list after the impressive rookie seasons of Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot. The Cowboys will have the option of tagging Pollard but that will take quite a bit of their cap space much like this season with Schultz and Dallas couldn’t get a deal done. We know they could move money around by restructuring contracts as they have in the past but it will still be tough to get all of these players under contract.

The players that aren’t on this list aren’t going to be seen as a priority to this front office whether it be because of play on the field, injury concerns, or just wanting to find a younger player to fill that role through the draft or free agency.

Free Agency Candidates

2023 Cap Space: $5,103,002

Projected Cap Space with offseason moves: $46,647,832

As I said in the previous slide the Dallas Cowboys are in a position once again where they are in need of bringing in outside talent, something in the past they’ve been reluctant to do in order to overpay for players and build through the draft. After losing in the playoffs once again the San Fransisco 49ers this time in the divisional round and seeing their offense fall apart they might shift that philosophy in order to finally get over the hump and make it back to a Super Bowl. That shift may come via signings and spending more money than in previous years or trading with a team at a time when draft picks are a valuable commodity.

According to OverTheCap, the Cowboys currently have $5,103,002 in cap space, not enough to get the job done. So they will look to restructure or even extend contracts in order to make space. As they sit now if they were to restructure the contracts of Zack Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence, then extend Dak Prescott and make Ezekiel Elliott a post-June 1st cut they would add another $41 million in cap space and have plenty of money to play with in order to bring in talent outside of the organization.

Talent at positions of need such as receiver, defensive tackle, cornerback, and kicker to name a few. Here are a few that they could or should look at.

Players to sign:

• Wide Receiver: Odell Beckham Jr, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Jakobi Meyers
• Defensive Tackle: Da’Ron Payne, Dalvin Tomlinson
• Cornerback: Jonathan Jones
• Kicker: Matt Gay, Eddie Pineiro

Players to trade for:

• Wide Receiver: DeAndre Hopkins
• Cornerback: Jalen Ramsey

How does the old saying go “You need to spend money to make money” well the same can be said about NFL teams, you need to spend money to make a Super Bowl? The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are prime examples of that philosophy and they are now one game away from the game that has eluded the Cowboys since they last won it back in the 1995-1996 season.