I'm not gonna sit here and outline a grading scheme for non-moves; but come on.
If the team sits inactive on it's cap space and never does anything, except maybe by signing one player one time over years and years, and that player works out, well, technically, they are batting 1.000, right?
Except the inactivity is indictable. They messed up by not improving their team; but I can't sit there and point and say exactly what moves they "should have done." All I know is that the inactivity is not good enough, and therefore, a mistake.
That's where the Cowboys happen to be behind the curve right now. Too many other teams have gotten creative and aggressive and those moves have paid off. The Cowboys, prior to, say, the trade for Amari Cooper, were way too content to sit back and let things come to them, and it cost them, while everyone else was getting better. I like the move for Quinn, but it still feels to me like they could have been more active in free agency.
I think their hard-line negotiation with Lawrence is actually costing them perceived flexibility to jump in on guys like Earl Thomas, who would have made a world of difference. Maybe being more pro-active with Lawrence and getting this done sooner would have freed them up more in this free agency period to get more than castoffs and retreads. The only signing of true note is Randall Cobb. The rest are likely to be backups and role players who supplement our starters; which is nice insurance, but it doesn't move the needle in a divisional round playoff game.
The biggest example of their desire to sit back and let things flow to them, and how it's a mistake, is that they should have paid the price to move up for Carson Wentz or Jared Goff in 2016. Not doing so may end up being a huge anchor for this team as we can't let Prescott go, but he also may lose QB duels to those two guys every year; or at least more often than not.