Jerry Jones said these words to the media a few weeks ago as he teased that the Dallas Cowboys would be more aggressive in free agency this summer. Will we dare to imagine that the Cowboys’ front staff will suddenly change its tune after a long period of conservative free agency spending? Has Jerry finally had enough and decided to change things?
Not likely.
The Cowboys will continue to construct their roster in the manner that they believe is best, but this summer may be a little different than previous seasons, and we may have the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers to thank (or blame, depending on your perspective). That’s because last year, the Cowboys felt obligated to wheel and deal, trading away three of their future draft picks. With that, three of their seven draft picks were gone.
Fourth-round pick GONE was traded to San Francisco for Trey Lance.
5th round pick. GONE: traded to Kansas City to advance and select Eric Scott Jr.
Sixth-round pick GONE was traded to Houston for Brandin Cooks.
At the time, it didn’t seem like a lot. Day three draft picks are like darts, so the Cowboys aren’t sacrificing valuable draft capital for those acquisitions. At the same time, three draft picks represent three darts that the Cowboys no longer possess.
On the good side, the Cowboys will earn three additional draft picks this year, two of them from this year’s compensatory picks, which will be granted based on who they lost in free agency a year ago, and one from a pick obtained in a previous trade in 2022.
5th round compensation is due to the loss of Connor McGovern.
The loss of Dalton Schultz resulted in a 6th round compensatory pick and a 7th round draft pick from Las Vegas in the 2022 Johnathan Hankins trade.
Following the net gains and losses, the Cowboys have the following draft picks for 2024, with their original picks highlighted in bold (compensatory picks are projected from overthecap.com):
AD: First Round (choose 24)
2nd Round (Pick 56)
Third Round (Pick 88)
5th Round (compensatory pick, around 174ish)
6th Round (compensatory pick, around 214ish)
7th Round (Pick 234, Raiders)
Seventh Round (Pick 245)
The Cowboys still have seven draft picks, but as you can see, there is a significant gap between when they choose in the third round and their projected compensatory pick in the fifth round. Between these two picks, around 86 players will be taken off the board. This implies the Cowboys will miss out on the guys in this bracket of the draft unless they resume wheeling and trading.
Missing out on a fourth-round pick is disappointing, especially given how successful the Cowboys’ player personnel staff has been in acquiring quality players. Four of the Cowboys’ eight draft picks (Dak Prescott, Tony Pollard, Tyler Biadasz, and Jake Ferguson) have gone on to play in the Pro Bowl.
This also increases the burden on their earlier picks because they will be missing out in the middle of the draft. How will this affect the Cowboys’ draft strategy? Will they trade an earlier pick for later picks if they have their eye on players in that range? Trading quality for quantity is not necessarily an all-in move.
Or, knowing they’ll have fewer darts to fire in the draft, will they be more aggressive in free agency this offseason? The squad has a lot of gaps to fill, with several of their own players set to leave in free agency. Not only that, but they’ll need a few new defensive players who fit better with what new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer intends to do with his team.
Jones has openly acknowledged that they need to improve their running game, run defence, and physicality. They cannot address all of these issues with a lesser amount of draft capital. Free agency may be a reality this year because the Cowboys don’t have many other options if they actually want to enhance their roster.
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