This has been a very puzzling offseason for the Cowboys. It is hard to write this article when the strategy that the front office is presenting to us is very nebulous. Normally they do not spend in free agency since they perceive that they were burned by the Brandon Carr contract many many years ago. In retrospect, they really did not get burned that badly so it is unclear if they are learning from experience or using this as an excuse not to spend money. However, they have always managed to signed their own players at least. This season they are neither signing their own players or anyone else for that matter.

They have allowed several starters to leave for other teams. While some of these players may have not been worth re-signing, they have made no effort to replace them. The only outside player they have signed is LB Eric Kendricks. This was a fairly good signing as the were very thin at LB. They allowed their starting RB Tony Pollard to leave (not necessarily a bad thing) but did not make any serious effort to sign any of the free agent running backs. While they can draft a decent tailback in April's draft, they do not have enough draft picks to fill all the holes they had going into the off-season and now they have added several new holes by allowing future hall of fame left tackle Tyron Smith to go as well as starting DT Jonathan Hankins and starting center Tyler Biadasz. They also let DE Dorrance Armstrong to go. Additionally they are unlikely to sign Stephon Gillmore. While they will be getting CB Treyvon Diggs back, he will be recovering from an ACL tear and we cannot be certain what to expect early in the season.

The front office expects development from some of last year's draft picks to fill some of the holes but that could be insufficient. Their first round pick last season, DT Mazi Smith, did not play well and will be out for the next 4 -6 months following shoulder surgery. At this point they do not have anyone to play 1 technique DT. Considering that one of their greatest problems was stopping the run, this is a position that needs to be addressed. They do not seem to be interested in signing any free agents and again, the smaller number of draft picks will make these holes hard to fill. They are counting on a good season from last year's 3^rd round pick, LB DeMarvion Overshown. However, he also tore his ACL in training camp last season so nobody knows what to expect from him.

Their other glaring weakness was running the ball. I am uncertain how letting your starting tailback, left tackle, and center will address these needs without trying to sign anyone to replace them. Additionally they released Michael Gallup, who they signed after he tore his ACL and decided he was more valuable to them than Amari Cooper, who they traded 2 off-seasons ago for a 6^th round pick. While they traded for Brandin Cook last year, he did not make the kind of impact they were hoping for. They have not made any moves to add another receiver and they are counting on the play of 3^rd year WR Jalen Tolbert to help them. While he showed some improvement from year 1 to year 2, he has not shown enough to be considered a starter.

At this moment, as a result of these moves, they are weaker at offensive line, defensive line, running back, cornerback and wide receiver. There is talk that they are not planning to extend the contract of QB Dak Prescott. This is the last season of his deal and he will count 54.5 million cap dollars in 2024 and although he may not be on the team, he currently will count for 40 million dollars in dead cap space in 2025. He has a no trade and no franchise tag clause in his contract so if they let him go after 2024, they will get nothing for him other than a mid to late round compensatory pick and they have not plan on who will play QB. To add to this, it is also the last year of Trey Lance's contract, who they traded their 4^th round pick in this draft for.

With all these moves, it is hard to figure out what they are trying to do. Perhaps they want to negotiate with Dak at the end of this coming season and by setting him up for failure, they think they can sign him to a cheaper contract. Maybe they are trying to make Dak give up his no trade clause by making the team bad, so they can get something substantial for him like early draft picks than can allow them to draft a young cheap QB. It must be said that while Dak was on his rookie deal, they were still not signing free agents, so I do not see why it will be different with the next young QB. Considering how many early round quarterback draft picks fail, I believe it is foolish to move on from a decent quarterback who is still in his prime. Although he has not produced in most of his playoff games, there are many reasons why this happened and many of those reasons are not his fault.

Hopefully by next month's eye in the sky report, I will have a better idea of what they are trying to do but at this time, there is a great deal of confusion and dismay in Cowboy Nation.

End.