There was a time that the NFL free agency period was an exciting time for Dallas Cowboys fans. Jerry Jones was always willing to make a big splash and spend whatever it took to bring in the best players on the market. Those days are long gone and that does not sit well with a lot of Cowboy fans.
The Dallas Cowboys have changed their philosophy and have adopted the belief that free agency is not the best way to build a team. They refuse to overspend on free agents that typically don’t produce enough to warrant the big contracts and instead aim at drafting and developing players at a fraction of the cost. This change in philosophy has come out of necessity in years past, but with the recent success of teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (still can’t say that without cringing) should the Cowboys change their approach?
I think that it is relevant to point out that Jacksonville in particular is a bad example to follow. The Cowboys have the ability to create some more salary cap space by restructuring contracts but they have nowhere near the cap space the Jaguars had before they started writing cheques. The Jaguars have been throwing an insane amount of money at free agents for several years now AND have been combining that with premium draft picks. A total rebuild would be in order to emulate that situation. The Jags had a great year and have a ton of talent, but they did not win it all and things change quickly in the NFL.
It is also important to consider that while some teams have had success in signing big money free agents others have failed miserably. If you look back at the perceived winners and losers of free agency over the last several years there are as many complete failures as there are success stories. The 2011 “dream team” Eagles, the 2015 Colts fresh off an AFC Championship berth are two prime examples. How about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Last season was not the first time that they have dished out big money in free agency then laid an egg the following season. Then there are teams like the 2016 New York Giants and 2015 Jests who appeared to have improved significantly after being active in free agency but then completely fell apart the year after.
What about teams that are less active in free agency? There are several examples of teams that are labelled free agency losers who defy the odds and succeed. The 2015 Panthers went 15-1 and made it to the Super Bowl. The 2016 Dolphins surprised all of the experts and made it to the playoffs. Don’t forget about the 2014 Dallas Cowboys, the closest that the franchise has come to playing in the NFC Championship game in over 20 years.
The most important model to follow is that of our Dallas Cowboys. We Cowboy fans have seen firsthand how frivolous spending in free agency can handcuff the franchise for several years. We have also seen the Cowboys draft pro-bowl players like Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin, Demarcus Lawrence, Sean Lee, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten along with promising young talents like La’el Collins, Maliek Collins, Jourdan Lewis, Chidobe Awuzie, Jaylon Smith, Anthony Brown, Taco Charlton and the vast majority of their starters and contributors. Keep in mind too that Dallas has an impressive 10 draft picks this year thanks to their reluctance to overpay even to keep their own players. Recall also that the 2012 Brandon Carr signing was the last time the Cowboys spent big free agent money on a marquee player. During the Jason Garrett era that type of big spending earned the Cowboys no better than 8 wins in a given season and they never made the playoffs. Since adopting the frugal approach in 2013 the Cowboys have posted 12 and 13 win seasons and advanced to the division round in both of those seasons.
The current approach of building through the draft is not popular, but I am among those in favour of this philosophy. The unsexy free agent moves they have made recently have not been an utter failure as is perceived. They have provided some plug in free agents that have contributed at a low cost like Alfred Morris, Jeremy Mincey and Terrell McClain. I will concede only this, the Cowboys have to make sure that the majority of their bargain free agents are of better quality than guys like Nolan Carroll, Byron Bell and Robert Blanton.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode