2024 Draft & FA. Where do we start?

[jarntt]

I was listening to cowboy podcast and they started to break down the players. Some sound interesting. Some sound like bottom rotation guys that are special team material.

I ain't got a real clue how they will hold up in the pros.

Yup, who knows, but one of my favorite offseason things is reading about how the new guys are doing in camp once the pads come on

 

[Godstree]

Possibly. I think I have seen Stephens listed as a WR on some of the projected depth charts

I found an article from last summer that had PFF ranking Spann-Ford right behind Bowers. Spann-Ford was better in 21 and 22 is another thing I heard

He is an interesting prospect with that size. Problem is he had lots of drops in 23. His blocking ability could help him make the team though.

Red zone... but how many TE we gonna carry

 

[Godstree]

Yup, who knows, but one of my favorite offseason things is reading about how the new guys are doing in camp once the pads come on

I want to see trey playing almost exclusively in preseason. I want to see Mazi be what he was supposed to be. If we did hit on those we have a chance. Caveat is our injured comes back as good as before. But I am also counting on the top 3 picks this year to make the jump.

These are where my excitement hangs currently.

 

[Godstree]

TE is going to be very interesting... Ferguson, Schoony, Stephens Jr, Hendershot and Spann Ford. I think they may carry 4 and let go of Hendershot

I like hendershot. But he ain't a favorite on the team.

 

[tomodach10]

Zay Jones visiting Cowboys

" The Jaguars’ Zay Jones release moved an experienced wide receiver to the market post-draft, and teams have taken notice. Jones is set to log a third free agency visit this week. Already meeting with the Titans and Cardinals, Jones is now heading to Dallas. The Cowboys are bringing in the...

cowboyszone.com

Good news

 

[jarntt]

Zay Jones visiting Cowboys

" The Jaguars’ Zay Jones release moved an experienced wide receiver to the market post-draft, and teams have taken notice. Jones is set to log a third free agency visit this week. Already meeting with the Titans and Cardinals, Jones is now heading to Dallas. The Cowboys are bringing in the...

cowboyszone.com

Good news

Probably not related, but:

 

[UK Cowboy]

Zay Jones visiting Cowboys

" The Jaguars’ Zay Jones release moved an experienced wide receiver to the market post-draft, and teams have taken notice. Jones is set to log a third free agency visit this week. Already meeting with the Titans and Cardinals, Jones is now heading to Dallas. The Cowboys are bringing in the...

cowboyszone.com

Good news

Zay Jones is a talented kid. Would be a solid move

 

[jarntt]

The Nooch is loose...

 

[tomodach10]

The Nooch is loose...

Di nooooo!!

 

[UK Cowboy]

Di nooooo!!

Nice kid, but if you ever have to put him in a real game, you're fooked

 

[Godstree]

The Nooch is loose...

Crazy eh

 

[Godstree]

I have been thinking of this all in era a bit.

We seem to want to fix our O line. And we have a D that is 85% pretty damn good. Shedding our high price players maybe that blessing so that we can be aggressive 2 years down the road. From what I understand next years cap gonna suck again for us Cowboys. But we will have a still good D and fingers crossed, a good Oline. If it is about the trenches then it looks like we could be heading in the right direction.

All In on a rebuild...

 

[ArlingtonCowboys100]

I have been thinking of this all in era a bit.

We seem to want to fix our O line. And we have a D that is 85% pretty damn good. Shedding our high price players maybe that blessing so that we can be aggressive 2 years down the road. From what I understand next years cap gonna suck again for us Cowboys. But we will have a still good D and fingers crossed, a good Oline. If it is about the trenches then it looks like we could be heading in the right direction.

All In on a rebuild...

I liked how they focused on the trenches. I feel like they got good players. Guyton seems like a project, but when you draft at 29 you not finding a Tyron Smith. But if Guyton can become a solid LT I will be happy because I think Beebe is going to be a force at Center.

But yeah I do have some concerns with the Guyton pick. Hopefully this coaching staff develops Guyton and taps into that potential. Going to have to trust the scouts on this pick.

Nathan Thomas is a nice depth piece who can fill in. At multiple positions.. josh Ball will be forced off the roster. Ball is not beating out Thomas.

Waletzko appears to be made of glass and could also be gone.

Bass and Hoffman I think are locks. They both held up well last seasonand looked like legit players ,unlike Ball who IMO sucks

 

[jarntt]

I have been thinking of this all in era a bit.

We seem to want to fix our O line. And we have a D that is 85% pretty damn good. Shedding our high price players maybe that blessing so that we can be aggressive 2 years down the road. From what I understand next years cap gonna suck again for us Cowboys. But we will have a still good D and fingers crossed, a good Oline. If it is about the trenches then it looks like we could be heading in the right direction.

All In on a rebuild...

I don't think we have a cap problem next year at all. Remember that when CeeDee and Micah sign, their first year cap hits will be very low. We don't know for sure what will happen with Dak but if he signs it will also have a low year one cap hit. Right now we have $70M in cap space in 2025 and while it doesn't account for any free agents (Cooks, Martin, Tank, CeeDee, Dak) it does account for Dak's $40M in dead money and Micah as if tagged. Don't believe what you are hearing from the Jones Boyz about cap issues, it's BS.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I have been thinking of this all in era a bit.

We seem to want to fix our O line. And we have a D that is 85% pretty damn good. Shedding our high price players maybe that blessing so that we can be aggressive 2 years down the road. From what I understand next years cap gonna suck again for us Cowboys. But we will have a still good D and fingers crossed, a good Oline. If it is about the trenches then it looks like we could be heading in the right direction.

All In on a rebuild...

I agree. I think it one again comes down to Jerry's idiotic big mouth setting off the fan base. When your team wins 12 games, then gets their doors blown off at home the opening game of the playoffs and the Owner says "We are all im next year", the fans are expecting them to resign Dak before FA and go out and pay for Derrick Henry for a year, bring back Gilmore, bring back Hankins and Tyron, draft an immediate impact 1st rounder...do something that pushes the team deeper in the playoffs. If the Jackwagon had simply said, we have a lot of big contracts, we have to take a step back next year bit it'll get us where we want to be going forward, everything done so far makes good sense.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I liked how they focused on the trenches. I feel like they got good players. Guyton seems like a project, but when you draft at 29 you not finding a Tyron Smith. But if Guyton can become a solid LT I will be happy because I think Beebe is going to be a force at Center.

But yeah I do have some concerns with the Guyton pick. Hopefully this coaching staff develops Guyton and taps into that potential. Going to have to trust the scouts on this pick.

Nathan Thomas is a nice depth piece who can fill in. At multiple positions.. josh Ball will be forced off the roster. Ball is not beating out Thomas.

Waletzko appears to be made of glass and could also be gone.

Bass and Hoffman I think are locks. They both held up well last seasonand looked like legit players ,unlike Ball who IMO sucks

I like all three of the young OL. Guyton has an insane ceiling, Beebe is going to be a beast, but I agree with you most on Thomas. That kid had a shot

 

[Godstree]

I don't think we have a cap problem next year at all. Remember that when CeeDee and Micah sign, their first year cap hits will be very low. We don't know for sure what will happen with Dak but if he signs it will also have a low year one cap hit. Right now we have $70M in cap space in 2025 and while it doesn't account for any free agents (Cooks, Martin, Tank, CeeDee, Dak) it does account for Dak's $40M in dead money and Micah as if tagged. Don't believe what you are hearing from the Jones Boyz about cap issues, it's BS.

Ok. And I am not a cap guy but the "talking cowboys" podcast said something to the nature of next year is worse...

 

[UK Cowboy]

Ok. And I am not a cap guy but the "talking cowboys" podcast said something to the nature of next year is worse...

A lot of that depends on whether or not Dak is resigned as well as Micah and Lamb and how they are structured. If Dak walks, its my understanding we have a big hit coming next year in dead money for his signing bonus

 

[jarntt]

Ok. And I am not a cap guy but the "talking cowboys" podcast said something to the nature of next year is worse...

A lot of that depends on whether or not Dak is resigned as well as Micah and Lamb and how they are structured. If Dak walks, its my understanding we have a big hit coming next year in dead money for his signing bonus

We won't have a cap problem next year. New contracts will all be backloaded

We have $40M in dead money for Dak next year whether he re-signs with the team or not. That $40M is already accounted for and we still have $70M in cap space with that. This dead money is mostly due to restructuring him every year. If Dak is re-signed, any cap hit is in addition to the $40M and if he walks it's just the $40M. The only way to help next year by signing Dak is to sign him now and cut this year's salary which would then roll more money into next year. But, that would be about the dumbest thing we could do at this point for a lot of reasons and would push an incredible amount of money out into the outer years of said contract. If Dak signs next year his cap hit will be the $40M plus a $1M base salary plus 1/5 of his SB which will probably add $8M to $10M.

We will not have a cap issue next year. These are probably the closest comps but you can add some to each and still be fine.
Dak - Kirk Cousins 2024 cap hit $25M but his salary is $12.5M, Dak's salary will be closer to $1M so say more like $15M plus the $40M
Micah - Bosa year one of new deal 2024 cap hit $14M (Micah's 5th year option is $21M and included and still have $70M in cap space)
CeeDee - Amon St Brown 2025 cap hit $13.9M

IMO Martin will be the only problem because we can't really spread his contract over a lot of years. But we will restructure Diggs, we will restructure or cut/trade Steele and Micah's 5th year option of $21M is included with the $70M in cap space so his cap hit more than likely goes down for 2025.

 

[UK Cowboy]

We won't have a cap problem next year. New contracts will all be backloaded

We have $40M in dead money for Dak next year whether he re-signs with the team or not. That $40M is already accounted for and we still have $70M in cap space with that. This dead money is mostly due to restructuring him every year. If Dak is re-signed, any cap hit is in addition to the $40M and if he walks it's just the $40M. The only way to help next year by signing Dak is to sign him now and cut this year's salary which would then roll more money into next year. But, that would be about the dumbest thing we could do at this point for a lot of reasons and would push an incredible amount of money out into the outer years of said contract. If Dak signs next year his cap hit will be the $40M plus a $1M base salary plus 1/5 of his SB which will probably add $8M to $10M.

We will not have a cap issue next year. These are probably the closest comps but you can add some to each and still be fine.
Dak - Kirk Cousins 2024 cap hit $25M but his salary is $12.5M, Dak's salary will be closer to $1M so say more like $15M plus the $40M
Micah - Bosa year one of new deal 2024 cap hit $14M (Micah's 5th year option is $21M and included and still have $70M in cap space)
CeeDee - Amon St Brown 2025 cap hit $13.9M

IMO Martin will be the only problem because we can't really spread his contract over a lot of years. But we will restructure Diggs, we will restructure or cut/trade Steele and Micah's 5th year option of $21M is included with the $70M in cap space so his cap hit more than likely goes down for 2025.

Over the cap shows us at 40 players under contract and $79 Million in cap space so you look to be right about next year not being a problem. It will be interesting to me to see how they structure the contracts for Dak, Micah and CeeDee.