DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys structured Dak Prescott’s four-year, $240 million contract in such a way that it really has no escape clause — none that you would want to ever consider using, anyway, unless you were content to target a 4-13 season as a goal. A team with Dak’s contract has to be all in.
CeeDee Lamb’s contract is no slouch, either. You wouldn’t pay a player like Lamb a guaranteed $100 million entering the prime of his career without thinking about going all the way.
But the real clincher for me that says the Cowboys’ offense is all about right now is the George Pickens trade. An out-of-character move for Dallas, trading for a proven player at the end of his rookie deal, Pickens has the talent to be the perfect No. 2 wide receiver to Lamb and to get Dak back into his days of pursuing 5,000-yard seasons (he tends to come close in odd-numbered years). But the significant thing about Pickens is what happens after this year.
If Pickens has a good year, then the Cowboys add another hugely expensive wide receiver to their payroll or they lose him for a compensatory pick and he was essentially a one-year rental. So, again, a team making that kind of acquisition has to be all about 2025.
As the Cowboys prepare to do battle with the Eagles on Thursday night in Philadelphia, then how does one explain the defense? A team that ignores its best player’s agent all offseason and packages him off to Green Bay a week before the opener is not interested in being a contender. The comments from both Jerry and Stephen Jones in last week’s press conference were laughable, suggesting that new nose tackle Kenny Clark would help the run defense so much that this team could be better right away.
If that’s the case, why weren’t the Cowboys the team tossing two first-round picks into the deal instead of the Packers? No one asked that question because the notion is so preposterous. But it goes beyond just letting Micah Parsons go. In the last two seasons, the Cowboys have unceremoniously ditched DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong and Parsons. Those were by far their top three edge rushers (and in Lawrence’s case, an exemplary run defender) and all the replacements are young and — except for Dante Fowler, who is something of a journeyman by now on his second tour in Dallas — unproven.
The Cowboys have their third defensive coordinator in three years. They have new faces at linebacker and along the defensive front. There is some stability in the secondary, especially if Trevon Diggs is healthy and starting Thursday night, but it’s not like those defensive backs have never shown any holes. Think back to the Cowboys’ last playoff game against Green Bay and all those receivers running open and free. Yes, that was two coordinators ago, but something tells me the defense is set for a long night at Lincoln Financial Field as the Eagles get their Super Bowl band back together.
It’s not just the season opener that looks troubling for Dallas. It’s the all-over-the-place manner in which this roster and payroll have been constructed. The Cowboys aren’t the first team in this era to pay a quarterback close to 20% of their entire salary cap and then be forced to remove a top defensive talent from the roster. It has happened in Philadelphia, in Kansas City, in Buffalo, in San Francisco. They’re just the first to do so without numerous trips to Super Bowls or conference championship games.
Through injuries to Prescott, the Cowboys have been forced to rely on their defense at various times in recent seasons. That simply cannot be the case any longer. The manner in which this team has paid top players and drafted linemen with first-round picks is almost exclusively the property of the offense now. Yes, occasionally a player like cornerback DaRon Bland gets a nice new deal, but the bulk of the money, the draft capital, the promise — because promise is all the Cowboys are really capable of selling these days — lies with Dallas’ offense. And it’s a unit that takes the field together for the first time Thursday night. In Dak’s case, it’s his first game in 10 months. Just what kind of a show is it reasonable to anticipate?
The money says it’s fair to expect a good show. The Eagles’ defense has some new faces, too, especially in the secondary. The highest-paid player in the league, the second-highest paid wide receiver and a new receiver poised to show Pittsburgh made a big mistake have to be enough to keep this game close. That can be the Cowboys’ only realistic expectation. The idea that Saquon Barkley and the running legs of Jalen Hurts are in for a long night because Kenny Clark is in town is just a little too much for even the Joneses to try to sell.
The Cowboys are disjointed in the way they are building (or deconstructing) their offensive and defensive units. The challenge is not to become dysfunctional in the process.
