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By Calvin Watkins 1h ago
The Cowboys’ annual golf tournament, an event where sponsors meet players, coaches and team executives, is where Stephen Jones made his statement about marketing.
Jones noted the Cowboys wanted to extend as many players as possible, which can be interpreted as a good thing. Then Jones threw marketing into the mix. The Cowboys’ executive vice president seemed to intimate the organization wants players to take a little less because outside endorsement monies of playing for America’s Team can make up some lost salary. Jones’ thought process is that Once a Cowboy, Always a Cowboy can help in future earnings, and that is accurate. Several former Cowboys players remained marketable into retirement, and we’re not just talking about the Troy Aikmans, Roger Staubachs and Emmitt Smiths of the world. Darren Woodson, Nate Newton, Randy White, DeMarcus Ware and Tony Romo are just a few names that have cashed in on playing for the Cowboys.
“It’s not their job to manage the cap, I understand that,” Stephen Jones said. “But it is my job and Jerry’s job, so they will understand why we’re negotiating hard to make the very best deal we can, because the money, if we can talk them into not maxing out – doing well, but not maxed – then that allows us to have other good football players around them. We all know what happens. You look at the TV booths, and you look at what these players do off the field. If we can put Super Bowl rings on these guys, then they’ll be legends around this area for many, many, many years to come. What they give up a little bit in their contract, they should be able to invest in being a Cowboy and making our teams better. Now we’ve got to go get the job done as an organization, which means winning Super Bowls and doing great things on the field.”
This brings us to Dak Prescott. He’s expected to get the richest contract in franchise history, and soon. The $65 million in guarantees defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence received this year is going to get surpassed. Prescott will get roughly $70 million guaranteed just to start, and his total compensation should reach between $120 million and $130 million. These are mind-boggling numbers for a fourth-round quarterback who was an afterthought when training camp opened in 2016.
“It’s all generational money, life-changing money,” Prescott said. “So it’s just a blessing to be able to be in this position. But as far as the numbers are concerned, my focus is on the locker room, and that will all take care of itself.”
Prescott has the right mindset that he’s going to receive life-changing money. Anything in the ballpark of that nine-figure number is remarkable considering he’s from the ‘sticks’ – what old people call the deep country of Louisiana – and never entered a season as the primary starter at Mississippi State. Just don’t expect him to take a lower dollar amount than he can reasonably get.
Of course, Stephen Jones sees the quarterback landscape change every year with huge sums of money being devoted to the position.
Last month, Seattle’s Russell Wilson, whom Prescott outplayed and defeated in the postseason, signed a four-year contract extension worth $140 million, $107 million of which was guaranteed. Kirk Cousins inked a fully-guaranteed $84 million deal last year with Minnesota. Is Cousins better than Prescott? If you believe that, expect Prescott to perhaps receive $80 million guaranteed just to start the conversation. Cousins had leverage as an unrestricted free agent, but Prescott is younger and has a better track record of winning. The first two quarterbacks taken in the 2016 draft, Carson Wentz (Eagles) and Jared Goff (Rams) will enter the final year of their rookie contracts in 2020, though their franchises can exercise fifth-year options. New York and Philadelphia will keep a close eye on what the Cowboys will pay Prescott this summer.
Prescott has leverage in these contract talks and should take advantage of it.
Quarterback salaries will only continue to climb. According to Over The Cap, five teams will spend at least $30 million on quarterback position in 2019. Eight more will commit between $25 million and $30 million, with four others shelling out between $20 million to $25 million. Compare that to last season, when just one team spent at least $30 million (San Francisco) on the position and six teams dropped between $25 million and $30 million.
Stephen Jones has always been on point when it comes to contracts. He ended the impasse between the organization and Lawrence by personally calling the defensive end. For now, there don’t appear any issues between the Cowboys and Prescott’s agent Todd France. So all we have to do is wait on something to happen at some point this summer. But one thing is clear from the early conversations: Prescott will not take a team-friendly deal. [HR][/HR]
Travis Frederick is lifting weights, hitting baseballs and running around. It’s a sharp contrast from last September, when he could barely lift his arm over his shoulder due to Guillain-Barre syndrome.
After months of rehab, medications and learning about his illness, there’s now an expectation Frederick will return for Week 1 of the season.
“I feel solid. I’m very cautious and realistic along the way,” Frederick said. “I wouldn’t say it’s an awesome feeling to be back where I am because I don’t know where I am, and I won’t know until August. But I do feel confident in my ability to be at the point where I am, and I’m excited that I get to do all the regular things that everybody else is doing.”
Frederick’s health is more complex than originally thought. He’s nearly recovered from Guillain-Barre and his offseason shoulder surgery, but The Athletic has learned Frederick also had surgery for a hernia. A source said the operation isn’t considered serious and is different than a sports hernia, which occurs when there’s a tear in the abdomen/groin area. And from watching Frederick run around on a baseball field last week during a charity home run derby, it appears he’s on target to play. Frederick hasn’t done any punching with his arms as yet, due to his recovery from shoulder surgery, but outside of that he’s moving laterally and regaining some quickness.
The Cowboys don’t expect Frederick to participate fully in the offseason program, particularly during June’s veteran minicamp. The goal is to have him ready for training camp. Nevertheless, the team has a contingency plan if Frederick can’t go. Joe Looney is battle-tested after starting last year, and the Cowboys are also giving 2019 third-round pick Connor McGovern a look at center as well. McGovern was taking snaps at the rookie minicamp last week. The more flexibility the team has along the offensive line, the better, especially if Frederick has a setback.
As of now, Frederick is improved physically. He believes that last year’s absence has helped him in other ways.
“I think it’s going to be super beneficial for me [to return in 2019],” he said. “I see the game in a different way that I had before. When you’re playing, you’re worried about the technique and all that stuff. You lose the ability to focus on some of the bigger-picture stuff. I learned a new way to read a defense, and I think that’s been super helpful. I learned a lot more about coverages and pressures and defensive recognition, and hopefully, it will help us this year being able to recognize things.” [HR][/HR]
One of the great things about working for The Athletic is the different ways writers look at the NFL. I’ve always taken an old school approach to the game – run on first down, blitz on third down, make sure the offensive line is the strength of your team, etc. Our Bob Sturm is great at coming up with different views of today’s NFL through film review and statistics. Over the weekend, Sturm surprised me when he agreed with Sports Info Solutions that NFL teams should take tight ends off the field when they decide to run the ball.
Sports Info Solutions’ data supports this idea. On the surface, I totally disagree because the numbers didn’t tell the whole story. Today’s tight ends can be viewed as a third or fourth receiver due to their ability to make plays in the passing game.
But I looked at the numbers again – this time in a different way – and discovered that maybe there’s something to this. Here are the Cowboys numbers on first-and-10 with one tight end and three wide receivers on the field (11 personnel):
| Down & Distance | Formation | Total plays | Total run plays | Rushing Avg. | NFL rank |
| First-and-10 | 11 Personnel | 228 | 91 | 2.01 | 22 |
| Down & Distance | Formation | Total plays | Total run plays | Rushing Avg. | NFL rank |
| First-and-10 | 12 Personnel | 84 | 59 | 3.62 | 4 |
| Down & Distance | Formation | Total plays | Total run plays | Rushing Avg. | NFL rank |
| First-and-10 | 11 Personnel | 286 | 103 | 2.68 | 3 |
When the Rams ran on first-and-10 with at least one tight end on the field, here’s what happened:
| Down & Distance | Formation | Total plays | Total run plays | Rushing Avg. | NFL rank |
| First-and-10 | 11 Personnel | 413 | 200 | 2.87 | 1 |
(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
We’ve been critical of the Cowboys bringing linebacker Sean Lee back to the team in 2019. After a chat with him last week and an understanding of how he’ll be used at strong-side linebacker, perhaps this isn’t a bad plan, after all.
If anything, Lee has humbled himself because he values playing with linebackers Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith.
“As the game changes, the standard linebacking positions are pretty similar at times,” Lee said. “Just different responsibilities. I think learning some of those new responsibilities I’ll be working on, and I have great help from [linebackers coach Ben] Bloom, and then I’ll be in similar positions at times.”
The reduced snaps playing strongside linebacker, with the Cowboys utilizing their nickel defense more, could also help Lee minimize the number of leg injuries he’s endured over the years. In some ways, Lee is in a similar situation as tight end Jason Witten. Witten came out of retirement for one last chance at a ring, Lee is probably in the same boat.
Lee admitted missing nine games last season because of hamstring injuries upset him.
“The frustration from last year, feeling like you’re letting the team down, not being able to help in certain situations – that bothered me greatly,” Lee said. “But having this opportunity is a blessing.” [HR][/HR]
During the draft, several NFL teams reached out to the Cowboys offering a safety in a trade. Stephen Jones declined the trade offers due to his confidence in the current safeties on the roster.
“And not just anybody fits in what we are trying as an organization to get accomplished at that position,” he noted. “A lot of people say there is this safety and that safety. It has to be a safety that works for us.”
Strong safety, in particular, is the spot where other teams have approached the Cowboys most often about upgrading. Jeff Heath is the team’s starter at that position, and joked last week the franchise has been trying to replace him for years. Heath said he plays with a chip on his shoulder because he’s an undrafted free agent. He takes that mentality because he doesn’t want to rest on the notion he has a guaranteed roster spot. To that point, the Cowboys have brought in competition by adding free agent George Iloka and sixth-round pick Donovan Wilson.
“We will just continue to work through that,” Stephen Jones said. “We are not going to be in any hurry. We are comfortable with the guys we have. We know we can go out there and play really good defense with the guys we have. And it’s going to be interesting to see how some of these new guys compete with the older group.”
