What’s done and what’s next for Cowboys early in offseason

DALLAS — Despite all odds, the first week of free agency was busy and productive for the Dallas Cowboys. Making moves early is not something that the team has been known for recently. Normally, Jerry and Stephen Jones take a more methodical approach to adding players in the offseason, but with so many holes to fill on the roster, the front office went into overdrive.

There’s one problem with all of the moves, however. Just being busy doesn’t mean what the Cowboys have done this far was smart or effective at improving the roster, but at least they’re showing some effort, something many felt they lacked last offseason. And the pedigree of the talent acquired is solid, even if the production hasn’t matched yet.

Here’s a look at where the Cowboys stand a week into the new league year:

Dallas loves to keep their own priority free agents, which has been a primary reason for why they don’t sign many outside players. However, they failed to keep a few of their top players on the market this go round. 

The team wanted Jourdan Lewis back, but he got a hefty contract from the Jacksonville Jaguars that made him the highest paid slot CB in the NFL.

That deal was something unlikely to be matched by the Cowboys, just like it felt the team was priced out of keeping defensive linemen DeMarcus Lawrence and Chauncey Golston, with the veteran pass rushers heading for Seattle and New York respectively. 

The Cowboys are usually aggressive in keeping their own players, but they only managed to secure deals with defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and KaVontae Turpin. The other options that they wanted to keep left for greener pastures.

Coming into the offseason, the Cowboys had 27 free agents – some restricted – and that might be the case again next year with the team handing out so many one-year deals. Of the 10 contracts agreed to by outside free agents, nine of them are for just one year. DT Solomon Thomas is the lucky guy who bargained his way into a two-year deal.

Even the players they traded for – Kaiir Elam and Kenneth Murray – only have one year left on their contracts. 

Not many teams operate this way and put themselves in a position to have so much roster turnover from year-to-year like the Cowboys. It’s clear that the team needed to sign players and wanted to add depth, but they don’t like any of the guys they added enough to keep around for very long. That speaks volumes about the talent that the franchise acquired.

The All-Pro pass rusher is eligible for an extension, and he has expressed on numerous occasions that he’d prefer to get his deal done quickly so the organization could bring in quality players to help win. 

Parsons also said that he didn’t need $40 million annually, but with two other edge rushers scoring deals that went past that number already this offseason, it might not be realistic anymore. That’s the price the Cowboys pay for waiting, just as they paid a premium for waiting until the last moment to extend players last offseason.

Parsons’ negotiating tactics fall right into the Cowboys’ hands, yet the front office is already showing signs of dragging their feet.

Dallas has plenty of cap space, so that’s a non-issue, and when Parsons does sign his deal, it should free up even more money, so there’s no logical reason that this extension hasn’t been done already.

Before the league year began, the team worked to restructure the deals for quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to free up close to $57 million in cap space. That led Cowboys fans to believe the team would be signing a few quality players in free agency.

The fans were duped. The money remains, but there hasn’t been much quality added to the roster. The Cowboys have the ninth most cap space in the league, with little more than added depth on short deals to show for it.

It begs the question, why would they free up the space under the cap if they weren’t going to use it? The restructured deals just kick the can down the road and eventually will force the team to take a huge chunk of dead money, or to work out another lucrative extension with either player.

If the team wasn’t going to use the cap space, they would’ve been better off keeping the salaries of one, or both players this year and saved money at the end of the deals. Not utilizing the room they created is the latest head-scratching decision by the Cowboys.

There’s time for the masterplan to reveal itself, but the organization looks foolhardy with options flying off the board and cap space sitting in reserve right now.

Despite the Cowboys being somewhat aggressive in free agency thus far, there aren’t many positions that have been improved that were weak to start the offseason. Linebacker might be the only place where the team can feel like they’ve adequately addressed a need, but most of the other weak spots remain.

The team still needs help on the interior of the defensive line, and they still must improve at pass rusher even with the addition of veteran Dante Fowler back in the fold.

With Lewis no longer around and with the uncertainty of Trevon Diggs’ timetable for a return, the Cowboys are woefully thin at CB.

The offense hasn’t found a better option than Brock Hoffman at right guard, and there’s still no starting running back or a No. 2 WR on the roster. The team is paying Prescott handsomely, but they haven’t surrounded him with the pieces to be successful.

Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders are complimentary RBs, but neither are good enough to help take the offense to the next level, and wideout Parris Campbell has speed, but he’s not a receiver that improves the offense on every down.

The draft can help supplement these positions, and trying to win the draft has become Dallas’ bread and butter, but free agency could’ve been a better opportunity to build the roster back up and allow for the team to draft the best player available, rather than draft for position of need, as they have done in the years where they’ve produced their best draft classes. 

The Cowboys have money to spend, they’ve just been spending it on cheap deals with too many average players. The team would’ve been better off signing good players to larger deals, which would’ve improved the roster. What good is signing players if they don’t make your team any better? 

There’s still too much work for the Cowboys to do after adding 10 new players; that’s not how free agency is supposed to work. It’s how it works in Dallas, though.

Do you think the Cowboys have done enough so far in free agency? Share your thoughts with Ben on X (formerly Twitter) @BenGrimaldi.