2024 Cowboys Free Agency Thread

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
122,809
The Cowboys say they are "All In" for this year in free agency.

This is one bit of propaganda that might not be so easy to dismiss.

Recent statements from the Joneses have openly stated the possibility of straying from their usual and predictable plan in unrestricted free agency. Their tendency has been to toe dip in the shallow pool after waiting out the big contracts in the first two weeks.

The last time they were anything close to being aggressive was back in 2012.

OG Nate Livings
S Brandon Pool
FB Lawrence Vickers
OG Mackenzy Bernadeau
QB Kyle Orton
CB Brandon Carr

Ignoring the horrific nature of that class, it does provide a little insight on how they may approach the period. One big splash for a "need" and then four-five middle of the road types. They had the idea partially right back then. But the players they chose were absolute mistakes.

It can be assumed that a good bit of our defensive FAs will disperse to Washington and/or Seattle, leaving depth a problem. It

LB - Zimmer will definitely want a veteran and you cannot depend on rookie LB starters, especially out of this class. Getting a starter like Josey Jewell, Willie Gay or Blake Cashman would go a long ways towards getting a defense that can rush and stop the run.

RB - Sorry Rico Dowdle is not a capable NFL back and the strength of this draft is not at the position. So go get a Zach Moss or A.J. Dillon who could at least be a strong part of a rotation should they bring back Pollard.

RG - Dallas has a choice. The best plan would be to flip Tyler Smith to LT , let Tyron Smith go and then have an instant need for a LG, which is easier to find than a LT. Bass showed a lot of promise, but it would be tough to count on him just yet. Seattle's Damien Lewis, Detroit's Jonah Jackson or Baltimore's John Simpson would do the trick.

DE - It is possible both Armstrong (Thank God) and Fowler depart. That leaves only Sam Williams around and I am positive he will drive Zimmer insane really quick. The pool here is actually not bad. Bring in A.J. Epenesa on the cheap or swing for the fences with Danielle Hunter.

DT - It is unlikely the Cowboys draft another DT early, so the plan may be to fatten Taco Mazi up and get a veteran to help out. The tackle class is pretty rich with good rotational types like Daquan Jones, Maurice Hurst or Shelby Harris.

There are other wildcards like safety. It is not likely that Zimmer's scheme will be as dependent on role players at safety. Kearse will be gone. Assuming that Hooker gets one of the deep safety roles, that leaves it questionable if Donovan Wilson can be capable of playing more in coverage than he does.

Of course, at the end of the day, there is the possibility the Joneses are full of shit and we do nothing.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,949
Of course, at the end of the day, there is the possibility the Joneses are full of shit and we do nothing.
When we come out and do nothing at least they have now provided ammo that should be shoved in their face over it. But this media won't. Not directly anyway.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
122,809
When we come out and do nothing at least they have now provided ammo that should be shoved in their face over it. But this media won't. Not directly anyway.
It is unlike them to break their patterns of behavior. Unless they just want the backlash for attention, they will likely do more than we are used to.
 

Simpleton

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
17,522
Here's a quick and easy way to look at who is in our price range/realistic and who isn't. I adjusted a little bit this year because I think they'll actually make some sort of attempt to be a bit more aggressive but it'll ultimately end up being half-hearted.

Never in a million years (a handful of these guys will be tagged but you get my drift)

Justin Madubuike
Jonathan Greenard
Josh Allen
Brian Burns
Christian Wilkins
Chris Jones
Leonard Floyd
Za'Darius Smith
Lavonte David
Patrick Queen
Devin White
Bobby Wagner
Josh Uche
Saquon Barkley
Derrick Henry

Maybe after shotgunning a bottle of Johnny Blue, but probably not even then

Danielle Hunter (only because of the Zimmer tie, normally he'd be a lock to go in the "never in a million years" group)
DJ Wonnum (again, Zimmer tie)
Javon Kinlaw
Denico Autry
Michael Danna
Quinton Jefferson
Adam Butler
Leonard Williams
AJ Epenesa
Justin Jones
Grover Stewart
Mike Hoecht
Greg Gaines
Marcus Davenport
DJ Reader
Carl Lawson
Sheldon Rankins
Josey Jewell
Frankie Luvu
Blake Cashman
Willie Gay
Jerome Baker
AJ Dillon
Zack Moss
Devin Singletary

Now you're talking Stephen's language

Charles Harris
K'Lavon Chaisson
William Gholston
Romeo Okwara
Tyquan Lewis
Rasheem Green
Leki Fotu
Marquis Haynes
Yetur Gross-Matos
Tim Settle
Teair Tart
Dawuane Smoot
Derek Barnett
Shaq Lawson
Linval Joseph (Zimmer tie)
James Smith-Williams
James Lynch (Zimmer tie)
Oren Burks
Zack Baun
Anthony Barr (Zimmer tie, of course)
D'Onta Foreman
Josh Kelley

To be clear, I think some of the guys in the last category would be very solid signings (i.e. Teair Tart, Smoot, Gross-Matos, etc.), the problem is I think our dumbo braintrust will mostly limit themselves to just that group and probably won't end up making the right choices overall.

I think an ideal but somewhat plausible scenario would be something like: Grover Stewart, Josey Jewell, Mike Danna, DJ Wonnum, Teair Tart while resigning a handful of our own (i.e. Gilmore, Tyron, Hankins, Pollard).

If I had to bet we'll probably end up with something like: Leki Fotu, Oren Burks, DJ Wonnum, Anthony Barr, Yetur Gross-Matos while resigning a handful of our own.

And as an added bonus, I bet Minnesota releases Harrison Smith and Zimmer snaps him right up.
 

data

Forbes #1
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
50,457
Seeing the name K'Lavon Chaisson reminds me of when we he was strongly rumored to be drafted by us….which reminds me of a wayback name. Anyone remember Matt Jones? Baseball athlete that was a QB-turned-WR ended up a Jaguar, IIRC
 

Rev

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
19,596
Is this the new Offseason thread?
 

Chocolate Lab

Mere Commoner
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
20,239
Seeing the name K'Lavon Chaisson reminds me of when we he was strongly rumored to be drafted by us….which reminds me of a wayback name. Anyone remember Matt Jones? Baseball athlete that was a QB-turned-WR ended up a Jaguar, IIRC
Jim Thorpe? Couldn't forget him.
 

Simpleton

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
17,522
Seeing the name K'Lavon Chaisson reminds me of when we he was strongly rumored to be drafted by us….which reminds me of a wayback name. Anyone remember Matt Jones? Baseball athlete that was a QB-turned-WR ended up a Jaguar, IIRC
Yea I think he was 2005? The dumbass contingent on our fan base wanted him with our second first I believe.
 

GShock

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
6,393
Yea I think he was 2005? The dumbass contingent on our fan base wanted him with our second first I believe.
Chris Mortensen’s son played with him at Arkansas and he was shilling for that coke head pretty hard, IIRC.
 

Chocolate Lab

Mere Commoner
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
20,239
He was a pretty freaky athlete.

But yeah, knuckleheaded unserious dopers don't usually make it.
 
Top Bottom