There is a new trend in the NFL with regards to building a championship team. The Seattle Seahawks were the original model and have since been followed by the teams such as the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles and the 2019 NFC champion Los Angeles Rams. That trend is building a team around a young (and cheap) quarterback, drafting well and spending short term money on quality free agents before having to pay an extravagant amount of money on that quarterback. For years the Dallas Cowboys salary cap situation had been in turmoil and they were unable to use this strategy but this year is a different story. The Cowboys will have $54 million in free cap space to play with and are actually in a position to emulate this model but unfortunately for them time is running out fast.
The Dallas Cowboys finished the season 10-6 and won a playoff game last season but don’t be fooled into thinking they are one are two players away. They need to seriously upgrade several positions such as safety, defensive tackle, tight end and wide receiver. Before they can spend that $54 million dollars on doing that they have to sign some of their own free agents. Here is a list of Dallas Cowboys free agents in 2019.
| Player | Pos | Age |
| DeMarcus Lawrence | DE | 27 |
| Tavon Austin | WR | 28 |
| Cole Beasley | WR | 30 |
| David Irving | DT | 26 |
| Cameron Flemming | OT | 27 |
| Jamize Olawale | FB | 30 |
| L.P Ladouceur | LS | 38 |
| Marcus Martin | OG | 26 |
| Caraun Reid | DT | 26 |
| Datone Jones | DT | 29 |
| Damien Wilson | LB | 26 |
| Rod Smith | RB | 27 |
| Darian Thompson | S | 26 |
| Justin March Lillard | LB | 26 |
| Geoff Swaim | TE | 28 |
| Daniel Ross | DT | 26 |
Demarcus Lawrence is the most important player on that list and he will likely cost the Cowboys around $20 million per year to retain. There are also some key depth players there that the Dallas Cowboys will have to either resign or replace via the draft or free agency. Some players wont be back, like Cole Beasley and Geoff Swaim who are likely going to be too expensive for the Cowboys to keep and David Irving who has proved unable to stay on the field. The Dallas Cowboys will also have to set some money aside to sign their draft picks and if they hope to land a big free agent like Earl Thomas, $54 million dollars seems like an insignificant amount of money to improve the team.
$54 million may not be the limit of the Dallas Cowboy salary cap room in 2019 though. There will be some opportunities to free up more cap space. Some players can be extended to lessen their cap hit for next season such as Amari Cooper. In addition to that, there will most certainly be some cap casualties that will free up more dollars if cut from the team. If the Cowboys part ways with Sean Lee, Allen Hurns and Terrance Williams for example, they would save an additional $14,250,000 against the salary cap. If the Cowboys are able to create some extra spending money, there are some big name veteran free agents available that may be willing to sign a one year deal to chase a ring or prove that they are still elite
players. Ndamukong Suh, Tyrann Mathieu, Sheldon Richardson and Golden Tate are all talented veteran players who could upgrade positions of need for the Dallas Cowboys if they want to make a championship run. This would be the season for the Cowboys to take such risks as beyond 2019 the Dallas Cowboys salary cap situation becomes mirky.
An unfortunate side effect of the Cowboys having such a successful draft in 2016 is that those contracts all expire at the same time. In 2020 the contracts for the following core players and contributors will expire: Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, Byron Jones, La’el Collins, Maliek Collins, Randy Gregory, Anthony Brown, Jeff Heath, Kavon Frazier, Antwaun Woods, Rico Gathers, and Joe Looney.
The Dallas Cowboys will have to take into consideration not only this years free agents but next years as well when committing long term money to D-Law and any other free agent they wish to sign. Not only that, they will have to make some major decisions on which direction they wish to go in the future. Will they make good on their word and pay Dak as their franchise quarterback? Will they extend Zeke, or franchise him and run to the ground like the Steelers did with Leveon Bell? These questions and many more will have to be answered by the Cowboys front office because the Dallas Cowboys championship window, if open at all, is closing quickly.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
All data obtained and verified from https://overthecap.com/