“Yeah, here we go,” indeed.
The Cowboys made headlines this offseason by: (1) claiming they were all in for 2024; and (2) do absolutely nothing to prove it. This dichotomy helped hide a much bigger problem within the team, one that could prevent them from going all-in.
They have contract issues with three of their key players: quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons. And they have shown no inclination to do anything other than delay, delay, and delay.
That’s how they got into their current mess with Prescott. By not offering him a fair contract after his third season as an opening-day fourth-round starter, the Cowboys postponed the deal until his four-year contract expired. Then they used the franchise tag and didn’t sign him to a long-term deal before the mid-July deadline, delaying the issue once again. Faced with the application of a second tag and the inability to clear for another year (for his third tag he would have gotten a 44 percent raise over his second tag), the Cowboys panicked, giving to Prescott a four-year, $160 contract. A million dollar contract that guaranteed he would hit the open market without an extension.
Now they seem content to let him finish the contract and hit the market in 2025. Basically, he will be next year’s Kirk Cousins.
The Cowboys appear to be banking on the fact that no other team will pay him what he asked for during negotiations to extend the deal last year and this year. They also appear to be daring him to leave, believing that the lure of playing for the Cowboys – with the marketing and post-career opportunities that entails – will lead him to accept their best offer, whatever that may be. .
It’s a calculated risk that the Cowboys have no choice but to accept, as they’ve put themselves in a bind by dragging their feet early in Dak’s career.
They do the same thing with Lamb. Four years into his first-round contract in 2020, they can squat him for the fifth-year option (at $17.99 million) and a franchise tag, or two. However, in the meantime, they only make the eventual contract more expensive. Especially after other receivers (like Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase) got their second contracts.
The Cowboys could end up finding themselves in a corner again while they wait, and that could lead to them letting Lamb hit the open market without ever giving him a second multi-year contract.
And then there’s Parsons. Some believe the team’s flagship radio station considers his act “wear thin» was planted by the team, with the aim of encouraging them to want less. If that’s not the case (and we think it’s not), the Cowboys should probably find a way to publicly repudiate that opinion, given the breath of legitimacy that the relationship between the Cowboys and 105.3 carries. The Fan.
The Cowboys had no qualms publication on their official website an article that twisted Lamb’s words to make it seem like he won’t boycott offseason workouts. Why not take 15 or 20 minutes and concoct something that pushes back against the comments about Parsons?
It’s a strange situation, all things considered. And that raises the question of whether the Cowboys really know how to manage and appease star players in the era of the salary cap and free agency.
Their last championship series came with a team built and nurtured at the start of free agency. Since then, they have not compiled a squad for the championship. Their current efforts to achieve this have been undermined by misguided delaying tactics when it comes to paying their best young players.
They did it with Dak, they do it with Lamb, and it could come with Parsons.
How is it going ? Despite everything Jerry and Stephen Jones have done to keep the team as big, successful and valuable as a company, they haven’t really been able to refine a team capable of thriving on the field – as in testifies TWENTY-NINE YEARS OLD between NFC Championship appearances.
As suggested Tuesday Live PFT, the Joneses (for all they do well) seem to be three things when it comes to properly handling young star players: (1) cheap; (2) myopic; and (3) not as smart as they think they are. (All due respect.) And that keeps the Cowboys from being as good as they can be.
So that’s what you need to be crazy about, Cowboys fans. Don’t be mad at players who want fair contracts. Don’t be angry at the media for highlighting the dysfunction. Be mad at the Cowboys, who seem to think that playing for the team has some sort of inherent value that should make players take less of it.
This tactic does not work. And they don’t seem willing to admit it.
News Source : www.nbcsports.com
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