FRISCO, Texas — For the second time in three seasons, the Dallas Cowboys are sitting on the couch while the Philadelphia Eagles, one of their NFC East division rivals, prepare to play in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The last time this happened in the 2022 season, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones mistakenly labeled the Eagles’ approach to free agency and roster building as “putting it all out there and paying for it later.” The Eagles have used their approach of being aggressive in both free agency and re-signing their own, top drafted players to early extensions to win NFC titles in both 2022 and 2024.
Now, Jerry Jones and his son, Cowboys COO and EVP Stephen Jones, admitted they’re at least open to evaluating their approach and potentially making changes when they spoke at new head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s introductory press conference Monday.
Dallas went 7-10 in 2024 — following three consecutive 12-5 seasons from 2021 to 2023 — after spending an NFL-low $20.47 million in free agency, per OverTheCap.com, since the last Super Bowl was played. It almost exclusively relied on its own draft picks to provide immediate impacts, including rookies, and that didn’t work out. That was Jerry Jones’ “get it done with less” approach.
“We’re obviously evaluating where it didn’t go right in terms of this drought that people say we’re in in terms of a championship game or a Super Bowl. We just have to continue to make this roster better,” Stephen Jones said Monday. “Certainly we’ll do a real deep dive on putting some personnel together whether it be through the draft, free agency. I know typically that’s not been the way we’ve done this team, but we’ll certainly look at it. … We’re going to take a long hard look at how we’ve looked at free agency. And if we need to change some things there, we will.”
Injuries to quarterback Dak Prescott (hamstring tear), edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence (foot), edge rusher Micah Parsons (high ankle sprain), cornerback DaRon Bland (foot stress fracture), cornerback Trevon Diggs (knee), wide receiver Brandin Cooks (knee) — just to name a few — also contributed to Dallas’ 2024 erosion.
Stephen Jones pointed out that the San Francisco 49ers, which won NFC titles during the 2019 and 2023 seasons, battled a similar injury bug as well in 2024, but he also acknowledged that being more aggressive in free agency could put the Cowboys in a much better spot come draft day. That’s how they were able to feel comfortable drafting three-time All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb 17th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft despite already having Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper on their roster.
“We weren’t necessarily in that draft looking for a receiver, but with Lamb sitting there, and you know it’s obvious what you do there,” Stephen said. “I think if you do some things in free agency like we’ve done in the past to really take care of your roster before the draft comes around, you have a much better chance. But certainly you look at the blueprints, everybody does it differently.”
The Chiefs, who are the gold standard in the sport and one win away from a never-before-seen Super Bowl three-peat, can get away with mostly building through the draft because their three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes is locked in on a 10-year deal. It also helps that Mahomes’ play helps paper over some weaknesses the Chiefs have.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, was able to sign 2024 NFL rushing champion Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million contract this past offseason, among other moves, because its six largest contracts in terms of average per year salary — quarterback Jalen Hurts (five years, $255 million), wide receiver A.J. Brown (three years, $96 million), wide receiver DeVonta Smith (three years, $75 million), left tackle Jordan Mailata (three years, $66 million), left guard Landon Dickerson (four years, $64 million) and right tackle Lane Johnson (four years, $80.75 million) — were all signed well before the players were set to hit free agency.
That allowed general manager Howie Roseman to structure those contracts in ways that optimized the Eagles’ salary cap each year. It certainly helps that the league’s salary cap number continues to rise thanks to the NFL’s 11-year, $110 billion media rights deal signed in 2021.
“Kansas City is doing a great job bringing young guys along. … A team like Philadelphia, you certainly look at the way they’re doing it where they went out and did some things with some veteran players,” Stephen Jones said. “You have to take a look at that, and then you got to find exactly what fits your core, your DNA with our players and what we have. What gives us the best chance to compete. You start with your division: the Eagles, the Commanders and the Giants. Then, you stretch that out and what does it take to beat the 49ers, to beat the Rams, certainly those are all things that come in the mix.”
The Jones family’s largest problem when it comes to cap management over the years is waiting until their players are either a year out from free agency — as was the case for the latest extension of Lamb (four years, $136 million) and Prescott (four years, $240 million) latest extensions — or set to hit free agency.
Parsons has attempted to help out Dallas’ front office by beginning negotiations early for his upcoming contract extension, a topic he touched on at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. The Cowboys getting that deal done before free agency in March would allow them to get ahead of the market and help them structure his contract in a way so that they can help out their new head coach and the rest of their players both in 2025 and beyond.
Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones just have to be completely honest with themselves when they evaluate their roster-building approach this offseason. The football world will find out over the next few months how open to change they truly are as the Cowboys’ NFC championship game appearance drought rapidly approaches being turning 30-years-old.
“I want our fans to know that I can manage really good. I do real well managing. I do real well managing,” Jerry Jones said Monday. “I know that the bank account is full, but that doesn’t mean you got money. It just means you hadn’t paid your bills to 60 days. So you got to look around the corner. You got to be good at it, and you have got to live with the time that you’re looking around the corner.
“So that’s what you see here. No apologies. Everybody has to do it. We obviously hadn’t done it well enough. I think our first Super Bowls that I was involved in were before the cap. So we have to do a better job in that area. Can we? You bet you can. You bet you can. Now all in, we just spent of it for Dak. We spent some of it for Lamb. We spent some of it for several of our players. It was an allocation — an anticipation of what we were or weren’t going to spend in the future.
“All of that said, we — Stephen and me — spend a lot of time in this area. I’m not talking about just sitting there in the office on the chalkboard. I’m talking about three o’clock in the morning when you can’t sleep, and you’re doodling that cap.”
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Author: Garrett Podell
January 28, 2025 | 7:15 pm
