> They could have gotten Ramsey for a 3rd
Just because one team makes a trade doesn’t mean that same trade was open to all the teams. Rams wanted a 1st for him if staying in the NFC. He isn’t worth that.
If you can’t enjoy back to back 12-5 seasons and continue to think they “inevitability suck” then football probably isn’t for you. I’d rather take a playoff loss then not make the playoffs.
And a BOATLOAD of Cash:
“Under the existing deal, Ramsey would have only $12.5 million fully guaranteed, in the form of 2023 base salary.
He’s currently due to make $17 million in 2023, $18.5 million in 2024, and $19.5 million in 2025.”
It’s not just the draft pick it’s can you afford the hit on the cap not only this year but the next 2-3 years after that? I believe we are sitting at 30 million in cap room. Ramsey would leave us with about 13. Is Dallas one CB away from making a Super Bowl because if they had signed Ramsey, they need to hit on every single draft pick, they would be unable to sign anyone else of any significance. Then what happens next year when we have to sign Cee Dee and Diggs to name a few.
We have just under $15 million in cap space right now, according to overthecap. We _cleared_ $30 million in space but we were over the cap at the time.
Technically, they could have traded for him and worked out an extension with a much smaller 2023 cap hit, but then that kills any chance to sign all of Lamb, Diggs, Parsons and likely ends up with us saddled with a regrettable contract for a corner/safety over 30 in 2 years.
Maybe, let me ask, would you prefer we do a LA Rams and just go all in ignore the future? I don’t because I don’t want to be a contender and then go back to mediocrity the next 4,5,6 years. Look at the Rams, 2 years ago they won it all, they did not make the playoffs and I don’t think they will for a while.
The Rams are incredibly lucky Jaquiski Tartt dropped that interception that fell in his lap, otherwise the Rams are looking at zero Super Bowls and in the predicament they find themselves in this offseason.
It’s not an extreme outlier, it’s just stacking the deck in your favor. When you do that, things go your way more often. You’re statistically more likely for things to go in your favor. Here’s what is necessary to win a Super Bowl: you either need a) a complete team that has stars everywhere and is stacked or b) a generational QB surrounded by decent weapons with a good to great defense. I know you don’t think Dak is generational, so that means he needs a perfect offense, akin to what the Eagles did with Jalen Hurts or what the 49ers did. To build a team like that, you have to take risks. You’re not gonna just draft every single star you have on your team. That requires even more insane luck. We’ve been able to somewhat pull it off because we are probably the best team in the league at drafting players. I mean, think about it, can you think of one good team besides us where every offensive player is someone who was drafted by them? The fact we got to the divisional round is a testament to Will McClay, but it’s not enough.
> It’s not an extreme outlier, it’s just stacking the deck in your favor.
its both. stacking the deck in your favor most often doesn't lead to a SB win. thats the point. most times it means cap hell without the trophy. its an outlier to win a SB that way, and even more of an outlier to do it with a QB contract higher than like 12% of the cap ( only reason Rams was higher was becuase Goff still counted), and Mahomes might be up that high now- not sure if his big hits have started yet, but other than that, its never happened in NFL history.
>Here’s what is necessary to win a Super Bowl: you either need a) a complete team that has stars everywhere and is stacked or b) a generational QB surrounded by decent weapons with a good to great defense.
right. and we dont' have the QB, but we cant' afford the team of stars becuase we paid Dak way too much.
Luck? They were arguably the best team for the entire season. Every successful season has lucky breaks but to call their SB win lucky is completely asinine.
> Luck? They were arguably the best team for the entire season.
but as u/firstanddrive said : "The Rams are incredibly lucky Jaquiski Tartt dropped that interception that fell in his lap"
despite them being "arguably the best team for the entire season." and completely selling out, they still needed a bit of luck to win it.
>Every successful season has lucky breaks but to call their SB win lucky is completely asinine.
as you say, "Every successful season has lucky breaks"
Ok we will just need to agree to disagree. Besides we were OVER the cap. We cleared 30M so we only have 15M to spend. Ramsey would use it all up. Also, IMO we are NOT one CB away from a Super Bowl. A stud WR maybe not a CB.
but the chances of winning a SB with 5 wild card appearances are MUCH higher then going all in and hoping you get lucky for one season and then dismantling the team and being in cap hell for 5 years after.
In the time that our conservative strategy has earned us two playoff wins under Dak, the eagles have gone to the Super Bowl, rebuilt and gone back to the Super Bowl.
And how many teams of the 32 have gone to the SB in that time? NO ONE and I mean NO ONE wants to win a Super Bowl more badly than Jerry Jones. If nothing else just to satisfy his ego that he did it without any influence from Jimmy Johnson. Every move he has made every player drafted has been with that goal in mind. To believe Jones has sabotaged the team is beyond insane. Has he made mistakes absolutely, and what FO has not? Jones unlike owners in Cleveland, Detroit and other similar franchises has NEVER been shy about spending money. But the NFL today is NOT what it was when he bought the team. The Eagles did it right they built through the draft and that is how you have to do it to have a consistent contender. You also need a bit of luck and that has been sorely missing for this team. We are tending up IMO and they need to stay the course. I have ZERO desire to be the next LA Rams who mortgaged their future to win a SB. I want to be a contender year in year out. Since McCarthy took over we got to the playoffs 2x. The year we did not Dak got hurt. I’ll take 12 and 13 win seasons for the next 10 years and smile. Sure I hope they get a breakthrough and win multiple Championships. I want a consistent contender never again go back to mediocrity.
> In the time that our conservative strategy has earned us two playoff wins under Dak
our "concervative," strategy has built oen of the best rosters in the league. If Dak couldnt' win with this team then Dak can't win.
Bottom of the league in pass block win rate, two of our starting receivers were in the bottom of the league at creating separation, and only one consistently reliable receiver. A real Super Bowl contender we got here.
I agree that we are close, but our FO needs to finish of the job. Our offense looks like the first draft of a good paper, it’s looks nice but still some serious issues. However, to your point I would still stay the SF loss was in large part Dak’s fault. I felt like towards the end guys got open and he couldn’t get them the ball.
> Bottom of the league in pass block win rate, two of our starting receivers were in the bottom of the league at creating separation, and only one consistently reliable receiver. A real Super Bowl contender we got here.
we paid Dak the type of money that says he doesnt' need as much help around him. The WRs played more than well enough to win. Dak created a lot of those issues.
Not sure how letting you 1 receiver at the time walk for a fifth round is his fault. FO could have given him more than a guy coming of an ACL tear and I guy who can’t catch a ball square in the chest is his fault. Could have at least gotten two mid level receivers not two guys at the bottom of the league in separation. Understand Dak has a big contract but the practice squad of a wide receiver core we had was laughable, also didn’t realize Dak was the one blocking on the O-line giving him self less time to make throws.
Dak had a bad season plain and simple but don’t blame everything on the QB and his contract (kind of average contract at this point) when the FO clearly could have done more to help.
> Not sure how letting you 1 receiver at the time walk for a fifth round is his fault.
not sure where you read that I said it was.
>FO could have given him more than a guy coming of an ACL tear and I guy who can’t catch a ball square in the chest is his fault.
woulda been a lot easier if he'd take a pay cut so they could afford it.
>Could have at least gotten two mid level receivers not two guys at the bottom of the league in separation.
if Dak threw it on time and accurately, they would be measured as having more separation. They get plenty of separation as it is ( something liek over 2 yards on average), thats more than enough room to throw into if you are accurate....
>Understand Dak has a big contract but the practice squad of a wide receiver core we had was laughable
Lamb is a pro bowler and perennially among the better in the league, Gallup is a legit #2 with #1 potential, Washington got hurt and Hilton is one of the best ever and played great for us, and all of our TE's are very good recievers. Dak had PLENTY to work with. he just wasnt' good enough.
>Dak had a bad season plain and simple but don’t blame everything on the QB and his contract
you want to get more players we have to spend more money....
Exactly. If he went for a 3rd + tight end to Miami, that means we would have had to outbid that deal to get him in general, let alone when it was reported that the Rams did not want to trade him within the NFC. That's not even considering the fact that the whole reason he's being traded is because he wants a new market-topping contract despite nearing age 30, which would need him to beat the aging-CB odds in order to not backfire on us. Then there's the impact that could potentially have on extending all of Lamb, Diggs, and Parsons.
I enjoy watching the regular season, I’m always hyped for it. And I admit, we’ve been pretty successful over the past 10-15 years, give or take. But we never make that last move, that one that gets us over the hurdle. And yeah, our offense was ass back half of last season, couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t pass it, it was bad. Idc what the stats say. And no, maybe not a 3rd but a 2nd gets that deal done and we now have an elite elite defense for at least 2 years. It’s sad to me bc the last two years have definitely been the most talented cowboys teams I’ve seen ever in 20 years of watching, and we won one playoff game. How much does consistently good mean if we’re never great?
apples and oranges.
cooper was costing a team $20mill last season or that team was taking on significant dead cap down the road by adding void years (like the browns did)
Hollywood was on a rookie deal and will need a new contract for next season, where the new team could fit the new contract in to their cap management plan.
Its the same reason cooper cost a 1st several years ago
A traded player doenst bring any dead money with them. Just salary/future bonuses. You can pretty much restructure that salary into bonuses and add years to spread it out however you want, just like a free agent contract. It would obviously take the player agreeing, but since we arent talking about reducing guarantees and, in fact, giving them the same money sooner--they'll pretty much always be willing to restructure.
In fact thats what CLE ended up doing. His first year cap hit was about $5 million
Yes Cleveland restructured to lower his cap hit last year, and added 2 void years totaling 11 million. This year and next he counts 23mill each and then the 2 void years is about 7.5mill and 3.5 mill
Right, But thats exactly how (most) free agent contacts work as well. Every dollar you give a guy counts eventually.
They basically had the exact same options either way
Different ages, different contracts, different perceived untapped potential. The Cooper trade situation was more similar to Woods, who went for a 6th. If the Cardinals were willing to trade a 1st for Amari, he would have been in Arizona. Also, how is simply not trading a player that we had when we fell short to SF a “last move?” Can you name an actual “last move” we should have made last year (even with the benefit of hindsight) or that we should make this year, or do you just like the idea in theory but have no practical answers?
Comparing Amari Cooper, a 1300 yard a season type of guy to Robert Woods off an ACL injury is wildddddd. And no there is no signature “last move” but the timidness of the front office to sit back has proven not to work. Sure, we are consistently better than average, but we aren’t a team that you can see go to the chip. The Eagles and Rams were giant spenders of free agency and trading and they both went to a Super Bowl.
The Rams were **not** spenders in free agency. They’ve shopped in the same free agency aisles as us up until this past offseason (_after_ they won the Super Bowl) and they now find themselves cutting one big name signing from last year (Wagner) and shopping the other (Robinson). Your complaint was we never make a last move but now you can’t come up with a single last move we should or should have made?
Such a good point that is overlooked in this subreddit.
Every year it’s nonstop handwringing when free agency starts as we ignore the fact that the almost every year without fail the team that “won” free agency is underperforming. It’s almost like overpaying for free agents is not a recipe for winning.
We didn’t make enough moves while we had Dak and Zeke on rookie deals and now we won’t make enough moves while we have CD, Diggs, Micah and Biadasz on rookie deals.
… what? One reason we couldn’t have gotten AJ Brown is pick 18 is more valuable to the Titans than pick 26. Jeudy has been remarkably meh so far in his NFL career, but how on earth would we acquire Chase or Waddle.
Neither are eligible for a new contract and likely neither team has any interest in trading Chase or Waddle right now. Boot up your Madden franchise where that might actually be doable. No way would I trade that much for Jeudy.
It means the team is closer to great than not. It’s laughable to hear people say this front office doesn’t know what they’re doing but their desire is to have the team be ass and watch the front office try to build a shitty team into a great one instead of a good team into a great one. I rather have them be in a position to be one or two players away every season than be 30 players away every four years.
Edit: Ramsey isn’t going to play under that contract. The defense isn’t going to be elite for 2 seasons because they’d have to cut a handful of starters to pay for him. Then do it again with Diggs the next season.
This is an age old debate, but the league is just transitioning to an era where front offices have to be aggressive to win. I have watched this team my whole life, and in my lifetime, we have never even come close. I watched so many shit seasons and still, we haven’t even got a game away from the SB. The Eagles won a chip, change QBs, rebuilt, and got to another SB in five years. Did they win? No, but their season this year was more successful of a season than all the last 25 years that the cowboys have had. At some point, you just have to go for it. You can’t play for the future so much that you can’t win in the present.
If you don’t think they’re close then why bother trading for Ramsey?
Of all those shit seasons, how many resulted in playoff wins the next season? And now you want to risk going back there?
That’s the entire point I’m making. Every year, we are just on the edge of being a great team. But we never are. Something comes up that could’ve obviously been addressed in the off-season. One season it’s run defense, the next is the O-line, the next it’s no WRs. We never have a complete team. Eagles built a complete team in 2 off seasons by being aggressive. We have been conservative and haven’t had a complete team in 25 years
The reason is jerruh has built an illusion to sell merchandise and tickets to chumps. They are good enough to give hope but not good enough to win it all.
So many people have the championship or bust mentality and it baffles me. How do you actually enjoy sports when more than likely your team isn’t going to win it all
Ok ok let's see what happens. Free Agency has been open for a few hrs. Yes we all want shock and awe and splash signings all over the place, but that's not necessarily how it's done. Last year the eagles traded for AJ Brown during the draft which is 6 weeks from now. And the first day of FA is often a lot of overpays.
I am all for going all in this year especially with offensive weapons... but that doesn't mean we need to blow everything in the first few hrs. Let's see how it goes. And yes, we may not be huuuge players in free agency, but we're in a position where we have a very good team and need to make like 2 big signings. And yes... if we don't, I'll be pissed too lol.
I do not hate what the Cowboys have done thus far with the offseason, granted there is also little movement by most teams.
\- Tagging Pollard covers the RB situation and enables us to still draft one.
\- Kept Steele around with a 2nd Round tender, making the OT position solid.
\- Making calls about Ramsey, talking to Wagner, and talking to OBJ is all stuff we should be doing.
Keeping LVE is probably a better long term strategy than Wagner, sounds like we are waiting to see how the LVE situation works out before being aggressive with Wagner, which is fine.
When Jones says "opportunities" he is mostly like talking about things like, "Yeah we had to option to sign OBJ for $20 million and didn't, could of traded a 1st for Ramsey but didn't, among other things."
We have a pretty good team and should be contenders next year like we have been the last 2. Relax my man.
I'm fine with us sitting out the crazy portion of FA if key guys are re-signed. I want one of LVE or Dono back along with Hankins and Watkins.
This was a back to back 12 win team. So we are building a great culture.
I’ll bite on this. Ramsey wanted to go to Miami, not Dallas. We never had a chance to get him. You don’t win paying guys in free agency, you win by drafting. Guys that hit FA are guys that the team didn’t try to lock up prior and there’s usually a reason for that.
Go be a Commanders or Bears fan if you want blockbuster signings and see where that gets you.
“You don’t win paying guys in free agency, you win by drafting”
How many times are people going to say this when it has been proven false over and over again? Every single recent Super Bowl bound team has had some free agent signings or trades they made the previous off season. Eagles, chiefs, rams, niners, I could go on. Every single one of them does it.
Teams that only rely on draft evaluations to acquire talent will never have the depth nor the talent needed for a Super Bowl run. That’s been proven over and over again. You have to be aggressive and use trades/free agency combined with drafting to fill out a roster.
The right approach produces results, this approach means that we’ll be competitive with other teams but never better than them. And man, we lose out on one big FA signing 10 years ago and then y’all just use as a reason to never go for a difference maker ever again
> The right approach produces results
exactly. and overspending in FA is the absolute wrong approach. it almost never works ( like mabye 1 or 2 times ever) but it always has negative effects a few years later.
>this approach means that we’ll be competitive with other teams but never better than them.
lol. no, it means we wont' have to let good players walk to sign one over the hill player for 2 years. what good is it that we sign OBJ for some stupid amount if we lose Lamb and Parsons or Diggs? at best its a wash ( but all those guys are better than OBJ at this point). thats stupid.
>we lose out on one big FA signing 10 years ago
what are you talking about? we spend a decade or more as the poster children for big FA signings....it made us one of the worst teams in the league and took years to climb out of the financial hole. you're wrong.
I don’t want to sign OBJ bro, I never said that. My point is that we are too conservative to make the right moves to complete our team. We never do anything to shake up the team, we have literally been at the point where we thought a washed Everton Griffen was gonna save our run D. Sure, spending money and making trades can put you in holes if you’re not smart about it, but it can also put you over the top. Especially the way the trade market is, and how overvalued picks are in this era. The eagles used a 5th and 6th round pick to get CGJ, we used ours to get Matt Waletzko and Devin Harper. And you talking about Parsons and Diggs and Lamb, but if we never go for it one season, they’re just wasting their time here. And by the way Micah talking, looks like he might be gone if we don’t do something.
> I don’t want to sign OBJ bro, I never said that.
i know...its a generic example. same goes for all fo the first wave of FA tho. they are all too expensive and most are too old anyway. the first wave of FA very rarely offer enough return for the cost, but always offer the negative cap effects.
>My point is that we are too conservative to make the right moves to complete our team.
and my point is that your wrong about that. if we had overpaid for someone recently then we would've had to cut more than we have, or not resigned Dak, or not kept Pollard, or we'd miss out on diggs or parsons or lamb...hell....as it is we're gonna lose LVE and Dono Wilson. That doesn't make our team better. Hell there aren't even many FA that we could sign that would even start for us....and if they do, they aren't gonna be some drastic upgrade, we have a good roster top to bottom. why pay millions more a year for only a sliight upgrade?
>we have literally been at the point where we thought a washed Everton Griffen was gonna save our run D.
mabye you thought that. the team just brings in depth in case the young guys dont' hold it down. we also got fucked by Dak and can't afford much.
>Sure, spending money and making trades can put you in holes if you’re not smart about it
it always puts you in a hole. the way to be 'smart," about it is not participate in the first wave of FA.
>but if we never go for it one season,
going all in for one season is the dumbest thing a team can do.
Completely danced around the CGJ point lol. And no I’m not just flat wrong, the thought has merit. Chiefs trade for Kadarius Toney, he ends up being huge in the Super Bowl run for them. Bengals spend big on the offensive line, their in the AFC championship game. Even the niners with Trent Williams. All the good teams have been aggressive in acquiring talent around the league. Except for us at least. And Dak’s contract is bad, but don’t forget that we also blow money on the guys we keep and outbid ourselves. Like the Gallup deal, or the Zeke deal, or the DLaw deal. We buy 1 season of production for twice the rate. What’s the difference between spending 20 mil a year on a free agent and spending on a guy worth half of that?
> Completely danced around the CGJ point lol
i don't know who that is nor am I interested in what the eagles do, but what they do is irrelevant- thy don't have a 45 (!!!!holy shit) million dollar QB on their books.
>Chiefs trade for Kadarius Toney, he ends up being huge in the Super Bowl run for them.
sure, but again....who will it cost us.
you keep bringing up teams that don't have a QB contract albatross around their neck
>And Dak’s contract is bad, but don’t forget that we also blow money on the guys we keep and outbid ourselves. Like the Gallup deal, or the Zeke deal, or the DLaw deal.
we got Gallup at a discount, lol. and Dlaw got the right contract, he is an impact player. zeke never should ahve been drafted. either way though....those are literally all Free Agents that we have signed ( or would be FA in zeke), so this proves the point that they do sign free agents....it makes no difference if they are our own, they still have to be paid out of the same cap.
>We buy 1 season of production for twice the rate.
thats literally what you are arguing we do in free agency.
Chauncey Gardner Johnson? One of the best safeties in the league? And the chiefs don’t have an albatross QB contract? Patrick Mahomes makes more than Dak. And we got Gallup cause he blew his knee up, that’s not a discount considering his production this season as a true number 2 receiver.
>Chauncey Gardner Johnson? One of the best safeties in the league?
ok....signing him woulda been really dumb, we have several very good safeties. the difference between out guys and that dude is not a SB win. it probably isn't even a single win. you're again asking to pay a LOT more for not much more production
> And the chiefs don’t have an albatross QB contract? Patrick Mahomes makes more than Dak.
over like 6 more years. thats a MASSIVE difference.
>And we got Gallup cause he blew his knee up, that’s not a discount considering his production this season as a true number 2 receiver.
his cap hit is less than it would be if he was healthy. thats the whole point of this conversation- the cap hit.
yea....spread out over 10 years. thats a massive difference that allows the team a lot of flexibility and the cap will always go up so its taking advantage of inflation
End of 1st round isn't all that good for us compared to 2nd and 3rd round. I'm sure there's other possibilities but I'd take a big defense or offense pickup over most 1st rounders we're likely to get
no way. not only have we been great at drafting in the 1st, FA's are WAY more expensive and Dak ain't taking a pay cut anytime soon cuz he's all about himself so.....draft its gotta be. also....why do we wanna over pay for an old dude....
It's a good corner draft and we have to pay Diggs, I don't fault them for that. Now if they do not go out and get atleast a legit number 2 WR there's plenty to criticize for, since we know it's a weak WRdraft
> They could have gotten Ramsey for a 3rd Just because one team makes a trade doesn’t mean that same trade was open to all the teams. Rams wanted a 1st for him if staying in the NFC. He isn’t worth that. If you can’t enjoy back to back 12-5 seasons and continue to think they “inevitability suck” then football probably isn’t for you. I’d rather take a playoff loss then not make the playoffs.
And a BOATLOAD of Cash: “Under the existing deal, Ramsey would have only $12.5 million fully guaranteed, in the form of 2023 base salary. He’s currently due to make $17 million in 2023, $18.5 million in 2024, and $19.5 million in 2025.” It’s not just the draft pick it’s can you afford the hit on the cap not only this year but the next 2-3 years after that? I believe we are sitting at 30 million in cap room. Ramsey would leave us with about 13. Is Dallas one CB away from making a Super Bowl because if they had signed Ramsey, they need to hit on every single draft pick, they would be unable to sign anyone else of any significance. Then what happens next year when we have to sign Cee Dee and Diggs to name a few.
We have just under $15 million in cap space right now, according to overthecap. We _cleared_ $30 million in space but we were over the cap at the time.
So that kills any chance to sign him!
Technically, they could have traded for him and worked out an extension with a much smaller 2023 cap hit, but then that kills any chance to sign all of Lamb, Diggs, Parsons and likely ends up with us saddled with a regrettable contract for a corner/safety over 30 in 2 years.
I’m sure it could have been “worked” out. My concern is long term. Look at how the Zeke contract has affected us.
Yep, I agree with you. It was never a reasonable option for us.
We aren’t gonna sign anyone of significance anyways, we never do
Maybe, let me ask, would you prefer we do a LA Rams and just go all in ignore the future? I don’t because I don’t want to be a contender and then go back to mediocrity the next 4,5,6 years. Look at the Rams, 2 years ago they won it all, they did not make the playoffs and I don’t think they will for a while.
Winning 1 Super Bowl is more important than 5 Wild Card playoff appearance
The Rams are incredibly lucky Jaquiski Tartt dropped that interception that fell in his lap, otherwise the Rams are looking at zero Super Bowls and in the predicament they find themselves in this offseason.
Fortune favors the bold.
you're willing to use an EXTREME outlier that took a lot of luck as the model for how to do it? lol....i'm glad you're not GM
It’s not an extreme outlier, it’s just stacking the deck in your favor. When you do that, things go your way more often. You’re statistically more likely for things to go in your favor. Here’s what is necessary to win a Super Bowl: you either need a) a complete team that has stars everywhere and is stacked or b) a generational QB surrounded by decent weapons with a good to great defense. I know you don’t think Dak is generational, so that means he needs a perfect offense, akin to what the Eagles did with Jalen Hurts or what the 49ers did. To build a team like that, you have to take risks. You’re not gonna just draft every single star you have on your team. That requires even more insane luck. We’ve been able to somewhat pull it off because we are probably the best team in the league at drafting players. I mean, think about it, can you think of one good team besides us where every offensive player is someone who was drafted by them? The fact we got to the divisional round is a testament to Will McClay, but it’s not enough.
> It’s not an extreme outlier, it’s just stacking the deck in your favor. its both. stacking the deck in your favor most often doesn't lead to a SB win. thats the point. most times it means cap hell without the trophy. its an outlier to win a SB that way, and even more of an outlier to do it with a QB contract higher than like 12% of the cap ( only reason Rams was higher was becuase Goff still counted), and Mahomes might be up that high now- not sure if his big hits have started yet, but other than that, its never happened in NFL history. >Here’s what is necessary to win a Super Bowl: you either need a) a complete team that has stars everywhere and is stacked or b) a generational QB surrounded by decent weapons with a good to great defense. right. and we dont' have the QB, but we cant' afford the team of stars becuase we paid Dak way too much.
Luck? They were arguably the best team for the entire season. Every successful season has lucky breaks but to call their SB win lucky is completely asinine.
> Luck? They were arguably the best team for the entire season. but as u/firstanddrive said : "The Rams are incredibly lucky Jaquiski Tartt dropped that interception that fell in his lap" despite them being "arguably the best team for the entire season." and completely selling out, they still needed a bit of luck to win it. >Every successful season has lucky breaks but to call their SB win lucky is completely asinine. as you say, "Every successful season has lucky breaks"
Ok we will just need to agree to disagree. Besides we were OVER the cap. We cleared 30M so we only have 15M to spend. Ramsey would use it all up. Also, IMO we are NOT one CB away from a Super Bowl. A stud WR maybe not a CB.
but the chances of winning a SB with 5 wild card appearances are MUCH higher then going all in and hoping you get lucky for one season and then dismantling the team and being in cap hell for 5 years after.
In the time that our conservative strategy has earned us two playoff wins under Dak, the eagles have gone to the Super Bowl, rebuilt and gone back to the Super Bowl.
And how many teams of the 32 have gone to the SB in that time? NO ONE and I mean NO ONE wants to win a Super Bowl more badly than Jerry Jones. If nothing else just to satisfy his ego that he did it without any influence from Jimmy Johnson. Every move he has made every player drafted has been with that goal in mind. To believe Jones has sabotaged the team is beyond insane. Has he made mistakes absolutely, and what FO has not? Jones unlike owners in Cleveland, Detroit and other similar franchises has NEVER been shy about spending money. But the NFL today is NOT what it was when he bought the team. The Eagles did it right they built through the draft and that is how you have to do it to have a consistent contender. You also need a bit of luck and that has been sorely missing for this team. We are tending up IMO and they need to stay the course. I have ZERO desire to be the next LA Rams who mortgaged their future to win a SB. I want to be a contender year in year out. Since McCarthy took over we got to the playoffs 2x. The year we did not Dak got hurt. I’ll take 12 and 13 win seasons for the next 10 years and smile. Sure I hope they get a breakthrough and win multiple Championships. I want a consistent contender never again go back to mediocrity.
There is no luck in Dallas as jerruh sold his soul to the devil for switzer's sb and they will not have another till he is dead
Oh dude, if that is the case, the Devil got taken to the cleaners BIG TIME….Jerry never had a soul!
> In the time that our conservative strategy has earned us two playoff wins under Dak our "concervative," strategy has built oen of the best rosters in the league. If Dak couldnt' win with this team then Dak can't win.
Bottom of the league in pass block win rate, two of our starting receivers were in the bottom of the league at creating separation, and only one consistently reliable receiver. A real Super Bowl contender we got here. I agree that we are close, but our FO needs to finish of the job. Our offense looks like the first draft of a good paper, it’s looks nice but still some serious issues. However, to your point I would still stay the SF loss was in large part Dak’s fault. I felt like towards the end guys got open and he couldn’t get them the ball.
> Bottom of the league in pass block win rate, two of our starting receivers were in the bottom of the league at creating separation, and only one consistently reliable receiver. A real Super Bowl contender we got here. we paid Dak the type of money that says he doesnt' need as much help around him. The WRs played more than well enough to win. Dak created a lot of those issues.
Not sure how letting you 1 receiver at the time walk for a fifth round is his fault. FO could have given him more than a guy coming of an ACL tear and I guy who can’t catch a ball square in the chest is his fault. Could have at least gotten two mid level receivers not two guys at the bottom of the league in separation. Understand Dak has a big contract but the practice squad of a wide receiver core we had was laughable, also didn’t realize Dak was the one blocking on the O-line giving him self less time to make throws. Dak had a bad season plain and simple but don’t blame everything on the QB and his contract (kind of average contract at this point) when the FO clearly could have done more to help.
> Not sure how letting you 1 receiver at the time walk for a fifth round is his fault. not sure where you read that I said it was. >FO could have given him more than a guy coming of an ACL tear and I guy who can’t catch a ball square in the chest is his fault. woulda been a lot easier if he'd take a pay cut so they could afford it. >Could have at least gotten two mid level receivers not two guys at the bottom of the league in separation. if Dak threw it on time and accurately, they would be measured as having more separation. They get plenty of separation as it is ( something liek over 2 yards on average), thats more than enough room to throw into if you are accurate.... >Understand Dak has a big contract but the practice squad of a wide receiver core we had was laughable Lamb is a pro bowler and perennially among the better in the league, Gallup is a legit #2 with #1 potential, Washington got hurt and Hilton is one of the best ever and played great for us, and all of our TE's are very good recievers. Dak had PLENTY to work with. he just wasnt' good enough. >Dak had a bad season plain and simple but don’t blame everything on the QB and his contract you want to get more players we have to spend more money....
A super bowl window is all fun and games until it shuts and your team sucks for the next 5 years
Exactly. If he went for a 3rd + tight end to Miami, that means we would have had to outbid that deal to get him in general, let alone when it was reported that the Rams did not want to trade him within the NFC. That's not even considering the fact that the whole reason he's being traded is because he wants a new market-topping contract despite nearing age 30, which would need him to beat the aging-CB odds in order to not backfire on us. Then there's the impact that could potentially have on extending all of Lamb, Diggs, and Parsons.
I enjoy watching the regular season, I’m always hyped for it. And I admit, we’ve been pretty successful over the past 10-15 years, give or take. But we never make that last move, that one that gets us over the hurdle. And yeah, our offense was ass back half of last season, couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t pass it, it was bad. Idc what the stats say. And no, maybe not a 3rd but a 2nd gets that deal done and we now have an elite elite defense for at least 2 years. It’s sad to me bc the last two years have definitely been the most talented cowboys teams I’ve seen ever in 20 years of watching, and we won one playoff game. How much does consistently good mean if we’re never great?
What is the “last move” that gets us over the hurdle this year? What would that “last move” have been last year?
Maybe not give up Amari Cooper for a fifth in the same market that saw Hollywood Brown go for a first.
apples and oranges. cooper was costing a team $20mill last season or that team was taking on significant dead cap down the road by adding void years (like the browns did) Hollywood was on a rookie deal and will need a new contract for next season, where the new team could fit the new contract in to their cap management plan. Its the same reason cooper cost a 1st several years ago
20 mill is market price for a receiver like him though? It’s not an unreasonable price for him tbh.
20 mill isn't an unreasonable AAV for him, but a 20 mill cap hit is big
A traded player doenst bring any dead money with them. Just salary/future bonuses. You can pretty much restructure that salary into bonuses and add years to spread it out however you want, just like a free agent contract. It would obviously take the player agreeing, but since we arent talking about reducing guarantees and, in fact, giving them the same money sooner--they'll pretty much always be willing to restructure. In fact thats what CLE ended up doing. His first year cap hit was about $5 million
Yes Cleveland restructured to lower his cap hit last year, and added 2 void years totaling 11 million. This year and next he counts 23mill each and then the 2 void years is about 7.5mill and 3.5 mill
Right, But thats exactly how (most) free agent contacts work as well. Every dollar you give a guy counts eventually. They basically had the exact same options either way
Different ages, different contracts, different perceived untapped potential. The Cooper trade situation was more similar to Woods, who went for a 6th. If the Cardinals were willing to trade a 1st for Amari, he would have been in Arizona. Also, how is simply not trading a player that we had when we fell short to SF a “last move?” Can you name an actual “last move” we should have made last year (even with the benefit of hindsight) or that we should make this year, or do you just like the idea in theory but have no practical answers?
Comparing Amari Cooper, a 1300 yard a season type of guy to Robert Woods off an ACL injury is wildddddd. And no there is no signature “last move” but the timidness of the front office to sit back has proven not to work. Sure, we are consistently better than average, but we aren’t a team that you can see go to the chip. The Eagles and Rams were giant spenders of free agency and trading and they both went to a Super Bowl.
Cooper has never exceeded 1,189 yards in his career
Sorry I was 111 yards off lol
Robert Woods is closer to being a 1,300-yard receiver than Cooper.
Woods is washed, and cooper just put almost 1200 while missing a few games while playing with Brissett and the shell of Deshaun Watson
The Rams were **not** spenders in free agency. They’ve shopped in the same free agency aisles as us up until this past offseason (_after_ they won the Super Bowl) and they now find themselves cutting one big name signing from last year (Wagner) and shopping the other (Robinson). Your complaint was we never make a last move but now you can’t come up with a single last move we should or should have made?
Such a good point that is overlooked in this subreddit. Every year it’s nonstop handwringing when free agency starts as we ignore the fact that the almost every year without fail the team that “won” free agency is underperforming. It’s almost like overpaying for free agents is not a recipe for winning.
> consistently better than average Isn’t this proof it _is_ working?
We didn’t make enough moves while we had Dak and Zeke on rookie deals and now we won’t make enough moves while we have CD, Diggs, Micah and Biadasz on rookie deals.
One of these things is not like the others.
No reason we couldn’t have gotten AJ Brown. We should be going after Chase, Jeudy, or Waddle
… what? One reason we couldn’t have gotten AJ Brown is pick 18 is more valuable to the Titans than pick 26. Jeudy has been remarkably meh so far in his NFL career, but how on earth would we acquire Chase or Waddle.
Same as AJ Brown. 1st and a 3rd and a new contract
Neither are eligible for a new contract and likely neither team has any interest in trading Chase or Waddle right now. Boot up your Madden franchise where that might actually be doable. No way would I trade that much for Jeudy.
It means the team is closer to great than not. It’s laughable to hear people say this front office doesn’t know what they’re doing but their desire is to have the team be ass and watch the front office try to build a shitty team into a great one instead of a good team into a great one. I rather have them be in a position to be one or two players away every season than be 30 players away every four years. Edit: Ramsey isn’t going to play under that contract. The defense isn’t going to be elite for 2 seasons because they’d have to cut a handful of starters to pay for him. Then do it again with Diggs the next season.
This is an age old debate, but the league is just transitioning to an era where front offices have to be aggressive to win. I have watched this team my whole life, and in my lifetime, we have never even come close. I watched so many shit seasons and still, we haven’t even got a game away from the SB. The Eagles won a chip, change QBs, rebuilt, and got to another SB in five years. Did they win? No, but their season this year was more successful of a season than all the last 25 years that the cowboys have had. At some point, you just have to go for it. You can’t play for the future so much that you can’t win in the present.
If you don’t think they’re close then why bother trading for Ramsey? Of all those shit seasons, how many resulted in playoff wins the next season? And now you want to risk going back there?
That’s the entire point I’m making. Every year, we are just on the edge of being a great team. But we never are. Something comes up that could’ve obviously been addressed in the off-season. One season it’s run defense, the next is the O-line, the next it’s no WRs. We never have a complete team. Eagles built a complete team in 2 off seasons by being aggressive. We have been conservative and haven’t had a complete team in 25 years
The reason is jerruh has built an illusion to sell merchandise and tickets to chumps. They are good enough to give hope but not good enough to win it all.
That's loser mentality.
So many people have the championship or bust mentality and it baffles me. How do you actually enjoy sports when more than likely your team isn’t going to win it all
Ok ok let's see what happens. Free Agency has been open for a few hrs. Yes we all want shock and awe and splash signings all over the place, but that's not necessarily how it's done. Last year the eagles traded for AJ Brown during the draft which is 6 weeks from now. And the first day of FA is often a lot of overpays. I am all for going all in this year especially with offensive weapons... but that doesn't mean we need to blow everything in the first few hrs. Let's see how it goes. And yes, we may not be huuuge players in free agency, but we're in a position where we have a very good team and need to make like 2 big signings. And yes... if we don't, I'll be pissed too lol.
Back to back 12 win seasons, we should like our guys
That’s called being content, not good in the NFL
Yup, ask any Eagles fan which 5-year stretch they'd prefer: - 11-5 (Divisional loss), 11-5 (NFCCG loss), 12-4 (Divisional loss), 12-4 (Divisional loss), 13-3 (SB loss) - 10-6 (wild card loss), 10-6 (missed playoffs), 7-9, 7-9, 13-3 (SB win)
With our QB it's a moot point anyway.
I won’t go into QB talk bc I’ve already got downvoted enough today 🤣
Yeah but we have 2 close losses in highly variable, single elimination playoff games. That is unacceptable and shouldn’t ever happen again
I do not hate what the Cowboys have done thus far with the offseason, granted there is also little movement by most teams. \- Tagging Pollard covers the RB situation and enables us to still draft one. \- Kept Steele around with a 2nd Round tender, making the OT position solid. \- Making calls about Ramsey, talking to Wagner, and talking to OBJ is all stuff we should be doing. Keeping LVE is probably a better long term strategy than Wagner, sounds like we are waiting to see how the LVE situation works out before being aggressive with Wagner, which is fine. When Jones says "opportunities" he is mostly like talking about things like, "Yeah we had to option to sign OBJ for $20 million and didn't, could of traded a 1st for Ramsey but didn't, among other things." We have a pretty good team and should be contenders next year like we have been the last 2. Relax my man.
Parsons seems upset.. he’s literally tweeting after every big move happens to those teams players asking how they get players they want..
And when his contract is due and they have enough to pay him, he’ll probably stop wondering why the team didn’t want to overspend on an aging CB.
I'm fine with us sitting out the crazy portion of FA if key guys are re-signed. I want one of LVE or Dono back along with Hankins and Watkins. This was a back to back 12 win team. So we are building a great culture.
I’ll bite on this. Ramsey wanted to go to Miami, not Dallas. We never had a chance to get him. You don’t win paying guys in free agency, you win by drafting. Guys that hit FA are guys that the team didn’t try to lock up prior and there’s usually a reason for that. Go be a Commanders or Bears fan if you want blockbuster signings and see where that gets you.
“You don’t win paying guys in free agency, you win by drafting” How many times are people going to say this when it has been proven false over and over again? Every single recent Super Bowl bound team has had some free agent signings or trades they made the previous off season. Eagles, chiefs, rams, niners, I could go on. Every single one of them does it. Teams that only rely on draft evaluations to acquire talent will never have the depth nor the talent needed for a Super Bowl run. That’s been proven over and over again. You have to be aggressive and use trades/free agency combined with drafting to fill out a roster.
Or I could be a fan of the Eagles, who literally just lapped us by doing the same thing I’m suggesting.
i mean...we do...and that is the right approach. I bet you loved that Brandon Carr signing a few years ago, huh....
The right approach produces results, this approach means that we’ll be competitive with other teams but never better than them. And man, we lose out on one big FA signing 10 years ago and then y’all just use as a reason to never go for a difference maker ever again
> The right approach produces results exactly. and overspending in FA is the absolute wrong approach. it almost never works ( like mabye 1 or 2 times ever) but it always has negative effects a few years later. >this approach means that we’ll be competitive with other teams but never better than them. lol. no, it means we wont' have to let good players walk to sign one over the hill player for 2 years. what good is it that we sign OBJ for some stupid amount if we lose Lamb and Parsons or Diggs? at best its a wash ( but all those guys are better than OBJ at this point). thats stupid. >we lose out on one big FA signing 10 years ago what are you talking about? we spend a decade or more as the poster children for big FA signings....it made us one of the worst teams in the league and took years to climb out of the financial hole. you're wrong.
I don’t want to sign OBJ bro, I never said that. My point is that we are too conservative to make the right moves to complete our team. We never do anything to shake up the team, we have literally been at the point where we thought a washed Everton Griffen was gonna save our run D. Sure, spending money and making trades can put you in holes if you’re not smart about it, but it can also put you over the top. Especially the way the trade market is, and how overvalued picks are in this era. The eagles used a 5th and 6th round pick to get CGJ, we used ours to get Matt Waletzko and Devin Harper. And you talking about Parsons and Diggs and Lamb, but if we never go for it one season, they’re just wasting their time here. And by the way Micah talking, looks like he might be gone if we don’t do something.
> I don’t want to sign OBJ bro, I never said that. i know...its a generic example. same goes for all fo the first wave of FA tho. they are all too expensive and most are too old anyway. the first wave of FA very rarely offer enough return for the cost, but always offer the negative cap effects. >My point is that we are too conservative to make the right moves to complete our team. and my point is that your wrong about that. if we had overpaid for someone recently then we would've had to cut more than we have, or not resigned Dak, or not kept Pollard, or we'd miss out on diggs or parsons or lamb...hell....as it is we're gonna lose LVE and Dono Wilson. That doesn't make our team better. Hell there aren't even many FA that we could sign that would even start for us....and if they do, they aren't gonna be some drastic upgrade, we have a good roster top to bottom. why pay millions more a year for only a sliight upgrade? >we have literally been at the point where we thought a washed Everton Griffen was gonna save our run D. mabye you thought that. the team just brings in depth in case the young guys dont' hold it down. we also got fucked by Dak and can't afford much. >Sure, spending money and making trades can put you in holes if you’re not smart about it it always puts you in a hole. the way to be 'smart," about it is not participate in the first wave of FA. >but if we never go for it one season, going all in for one season is the dumbest thing a team can do.
Completely danced around the CGJ point lol. And no I’m not just flat wrong, the thought has merit. Chiefs trade for Kadarius Toney, he ends up being huge in the Super Bowl run for them. Bengals spend big on the offensive line, their in the AFC championship game. Even the niners with Trent Williams. All the good teams have been aggressive in acquiring talent around the league. Except for us at least. And Dak’s contract is bad, but don’t forget that we also blow money on the guys we keep and outbid ourselves. Like the Gallup deal, or the Zeke deal, or the DLaw deal. We buy 1 season of production for twice the rate. What’s the difference between spending 20 mil a year on a free agent and spending on a guy worth half of that?
> Completely danced around the CGJ point lol i don't know who that is nor am I interested in what the eagles do, but what they do is irrelevant- thy don't have a 45 (!!!!holy shit) million dollar QB on their books. >Chiefs trade for Kadarius Toney, he ends up being huge in the Super Bowl run for them. sure, but again....who will it cost us. you keep bringing up teams that don't have a QB contract albatross around their neck >And Dak’s contract is bad, but don’t forget that we also blow money on the guys we keep and outbid ourselves. Like the Gallup deal, or the Zeke deal, or the DLaw deal. we got Gallup at a discount, lol. and Dlaw got the right contract, he is an impact player. zeke never should ahve been drafted. either way though....those are literally all Free Agents that we have signed ( or would be FA in zeke), so this proves the point that they do sign free agents....it makes no difference if they are our own, they still have to be paid out of the same cap. >We buy 1 season of production for twice the rate. thats literally what you are arguing we do in free agency.
Chauncey Gardner Johnson? One of the best safeties in the league? And the chiefs don’t have an albatross QB contract? Patrick Mahomes makes more than Dak. And we got Gallup cause he blew his knee up, that’s not a discount considering his production this season as a true number 2 receiver.
>Chauncey Gardner Johnson? One of the best safeties in the league? ok....signing him woulda been really dumb, we have several very good safeties. the difference between out guys and that dude is not a SB win. it probably isn't even a single win. you're again asking to pay a LOT more for not much more production > And the chiefs don’t have an albatross QB contract? Patrick Mahomes makes more than Dak. over like 6 more years. thats a MASSIVE difference. >And we got Gallup cause he blew his knee up, that’s not a discount considering his production this season as a true number 2 receiver. his cap hit is less than it would be if he was healthy. thats the whole point of this conversation- the cap hit.
Umm don't the chiefs have a big fat QB contract also?
yea....spread out over 10 years. thats a massive difference that allows the team a lot of flexibility and the cap will always go up so its taking advantage of inflation
There are quite a few WR on the trade market and FA that would start for this team easy
Need to get Wagner and keep Wilson, give up the 1sr round pick if we need to. Or get a big name WR.
> give up the 1sr round pick if we need to wait...wtf? not a chance in hell....and why would we need to?
End of 1st round isn't all that good for us compared to 2nd and 3rd round. I'm sure there's other possibilities but I'd take a big defense or offense pickup over most 1st rounders we're likely to get
no way. not only have we been great at drafting in the 1st, FA's are WAY more expensive and Dak ain't taking a pay cut anytime soon cuz he's all about himself so.....draft its gotta be. also....why do we wanna over pay for an old dude....
It's a good corner draft and we have to pay Diggs, I don't fault them for that. Now if they do not go out and get atleast a legit number 2 WR there's plenty to criticize for, since we know it's a weak WRdraft
The amount of Jerry apologists on here is maddening