The Dallas Cowboys have been notoriously prudent when it comes to spending money on free agents ever since they ran into salary cap issues several years ago. This year the Cowboys finally have a substantial amount of cap space to play with but they also have a long list of free agents they need to resign. In addition to that they also intend to negotiate a long-term contract with QB Dak Prescott but had to use the franchise tag to extend the negotiation period and thus are taking on a substantial cap hit. Typically, instead of diving in and paying top dollar for the most coveted free agents, the Dallas Cowboys tend to wait and hunt for bargains to fill out roster spots before the NFL draft. This year, they appeared to be more aggressive and landed a couple former Pro-Bowl free agents at two positions of need that they have typically ignored in past years, Defensive Tackle and Safety. Those free agents were none other than DT Gerald McCoy from the Carolina Panthers and Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix from the Chicago Bears.
While many Cowboys fans are pleased that the team addressed two positions of dire need with those acquisitions, those same fans are equally upset the the Dallas Cowboys chose not to retain three key free agents, CB Byron Jones, DE Robert Quinn, and WR Randall Cobb. Those players all received substantial pay raises with their new teams and the Dallas Cowboys were not willing to offer nearly the same amount of money. Meanwhile, they were able to get favorable deals for both McCoy and Clinton-Dix. Despite the past production from both of those players, that should come as no surprise they obtained as cheaply as the were. Gerald McCoy is 32 years old and while he is still a disruptive pass rusher, his best years are behind him. I was initially a little surprised that the Cowboys were able to sign Clinton-Dix on a cheap one year deal, even cheaper than now former Cowboy Jeff Heath received with the Raiders. Clinton-Dix is still young, had success in the past under new head coach Mike McCarthy in Green Bay, and was decent last season in Chicago. The issue with Clinton-Dix is that he struggled during the end of this tenure in Green Bay and also with the Redskins in 2018. It makes sense then that since neither the Packers, the Redskins, nor the Bears were willing to keep him around, Clinton-Dix came so cheap. Regardless of his struggles though, it is still an improvement over what the Dallas Cowboys had. Clinton-Dix at the very least has a history of creating turnovers which is a focus for the new defensive coaching staff.
So, despite signing a couple of big name free agents early in the game, really the Dallas Cowboys philosophy appears unchanged. The players they signed thus far, Gerald McCoy, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and CB Maurice Canaday, have all been bargain signings. Most of the players they retained, aside from franchising Dak Prescott and signing Amari Cooper, have been bargain signings with depth and special teams the primary focus. The Dallas Cowboys were not willing to spend significant money to retain the players they lost in free agency like, Quinn, Jones, Cobb, Heath, Maliek Collins, and Jason Witten. They also lost on a couple of players they were reported to have interest in such as WR Emmanuel Sanders, CB Chris Harris, S Karl Joseph, and Edge Rusher Leonard Floyd. Some of the players they missed out on, such as Sanders in particular, signed pretty affordable deals with other teas but it appears that the Dallas Cowboys have a budget for what they want to spend at these positions and they will not overpay for any free agents. In fact, they actually allowed Amari Cooper to hit free agency and risked losing him to the division rival Washington Redskins who reportedly offered him more money. Meanwhile, other teams like the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC, and the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC are improving their team not only in free agency but with trades at excellent value landing valuable acquisitions like CB Darius Slay, WR DeAndre Hopkins, and DT Calais Campbell.
The Dallas Cowboys still have a lot of holes to fill on their roster and with only 6 draft picks, they will need to secure several more free agents to construct their final roster. Despite having a large amount of salary cap space, the knowledge that the new CBA will allow for much more future cap space, and a relatively slow market perhaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dallas Cowboys are still sticking to their guns when it comes to not paying free agents. I tend to be in favor of this philosophy on the whole as it is unwise to pay top dollar for past production and allow the market to determine the price. Although there is one recent front office trend that I hope has been altered under the new coaching staff. That is the reluctance to invest in the Nose Tackle or the One Technique Defensive Tackle. Instead, the Cowboys tend to value Defensive Tackles who can rush the passer as opposed to ones who excel at plugging holes and stopping the run. There is little evidence that this philosophy has changed after the McCoy signing. Furthermore, there was an abundance of quality players at that position available when free agency began, but now only a select few remain. Of those, Damon Harrison (snacks) who was recently released by the Detroit Lions is the most popular name. If the Dallas Cowboys front office can at least change their position on how they value the big defensive linemen, regardless of their frugality in free agency, this Dallas Cowboys fan would have zero complaints.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All-Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode