For a team at the forefront of the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys have had an uncomfortably quiet offseason for their fan base. The Cowboys have sat on their hands for the vast majority of the past few months. They tinkered with their roster with a few lower-level free agents, but overall it was a fairly quiet offseason for a team that had high expectations before being ruthlessly defeated by the Green Bay Packers in a home playoff game . Teams have had quiet seasons before, but the Cowboys have handcuffed themselves by not making any moves on the core of their roster, especially when it comes to their star quarterback in light of all this.
According to Spotrac, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has the second-highest cap hit of any player in the NFL this year, with a whopping $55.5 million in cap space, as he enters the final year of his deal with the Cowboys. It’s been a major hindrance to the Cowboys’ offseason plans; they currently have just under $2 million in available cap space with training camp looming around the corner. The indecision about Prescott’s future hinders what is possible for this year, which in turn could hinder Prescott’s ability to have a strong season as he prepares for the future in his career.
What’s mind-boggling about this is that the Cowboys could easily do something about this situation if they had determination and an idea of what they wanted to do next. There are three paths for the Cowboys right now and they are currently taking the path of least resistance by just walking into the season, just like with this giant cap figure for Prescott. The other two paths would require a level of commitment they are not yet ready for – and they have missed the window to reap immediate rewards for both.
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The first option is to extend Prescott now, lock him in at quarterback for the foreseeable future and lower his cap hit for this season so they could have been more aggressive in free agent play. There’s no guarantee they could have gotten a big player in free agency with a lower grade for Prescott, but it could have happened. possible. By doing nothing they have a weaker selection than last season.
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The other path would have been radical, but trading Prescott when they aren’t sure he’s the quarterback of the future isn’t totally unreasonable as a thought experiment. They could have secured multiple first-round picks for Prescott and would have had the ammunition to shape the Cowboys’ future as they see fit. This would have had huge ramifications, like deciding what to do with stars CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons and their upcoming contract situations, but trading Prescott would have at least had the potential to jump-start the next era of Dallas football to give. Unfortunately, the 2024 NFL Draft is long over, so the picks they get wouldn’t take effect until next season. All signs point to them just moving forward without any innovation or creativity in their cap space.
Dallas is entering a pivotal year for their franchise without making any real moves to secure their future. Even beyond Prescott, they still need to make moves on long-term contracts for Lamb and Parsons, who have a similar level of value to Prescott in terms of what they could get back in a trade. Right now, the Cowboys are just floating in limbo. And it’s truly inexcusable that they haven’t taken the necessary steps to capitalize on such a huge season.
