The Cowboys Inability to Sign Dak Will Come Back to Haunt Them
It's been a while since we've checked in on the Cowboys. So how has the run up to training camp been for America's Team?
Not great.
Let’s be real. This offseason has been a roller coaster ride. The draft went better than anyone could have planned with CeeDee falling into Jerry’s lap, but as the franchise tag deadline approached it became increasingly clear that the Cowboys have NO plan when it comes to their “franchise” QB.
What the fuck is going on?
For a hot second, it looked like a deal would get done. A deal that would pay Dak somewhere between $33-$35 million a year with a $50MM first year signing bonus and a total of $110MM guaranteed, but alas, the clock ran out.
Dak’s own brother took to Twitter to throw dirt on the Cowboys franchise which to me, kind of seems like a proxy tweet on behalf of his little bro.
Dak of course is holding the line, being his respectful, politically correct self, saying all the right things, but don’t let that rhetoric fool you. This shit is getting messy. You can’t try to get a deal done for 16 months, fail, and then claim everything is gucci. You can’t wait on the sidelines while big money deals get done around you, like with Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott, and Demarcus Lawrence and feel good. It’s hard to feel like this team values you when every action shows you the exact opposite.
And for Cowboys fans, we’ve watched teams all summer get their shit together. Teams like the Chiefs and the Titans and even the BROWNS locked up their marquee guys, while Dallas continues to half step and set themselves up for harder, more expensive decisions down the road.
Ah, yes Jerry, please continue to kick the can down the road, why don’t you?
And the decisions will get harder. As the pandemic continues to send a ripple effect through major league sports and college sports alike, we’re now hearing news that for the first time ever the salary cap could actually shrink. And then what? The team will be hard pressed to get a deal done for Dak that wouldn’t put them over the cap.
And no matter how much Dak has wanted to be the quarterback of America’s Team since childhood, plenty of other teams will approach him with VERY aggressive offers and Jerry will have to either match or risk his franchise QB heading to financially greener pastures.
Saints, anyone?
All of that is to say that Dak is going to continue to get more expensive to lock up as time goes on, not less. Again, WTF is going on in Dallas?
It’s almost like Jerry and Stephen don’t think the NFL is a quarterback-driven league.
Ugh.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel Elliott seems to be feeling a little underrated and disrespected as well, for god only knows why. Maybe it was the new Madden ratings that ranked Derrick Henry AND Nick Chubb ahead of him but he is SPICY RN and ready to prove these amorphous critics wrong.
In case there is some sort of Zeke debate going on I’m unaware of, let’s not forget this man has been in the league 4 years and has 2 rushing titles already.
So you could say that, at least since that stellar draft, things have not been going so well down in Dallas. When you can’t sign your franchise QB (and his brother pops off on social) and your star running back appears less than happy, yeah, you could say things could have gone better.
Of course, none of that really matters if once the season gets rolling (IF the season gets rolling, that is) the Cowboys steamrolls the East like they should. But it’s likely the seeds of future discord were sewn this offseason with their shocking inability to lock up Dak or assure that he’ll be taken care of long term.