Mike McCarthy gets honest on Cowboys' lack of free agency moves after Jerry Jones' "all-in" promise
While the Dallas Cowboys haven’t done much during the first wave of free agency, coach Mike McCarthy isn’t worried about their slow activity.
He said during his Mar. 25 appearance on ESPN’s “NFL Live”:
“I'm a big believer in the second-to-third-year jump. You know we have some young players, we've got some guys coming back off of IR who are young players that we're excited about, so we are definitely improving. We're just not part of the free agent market right now.”
Some of their second-to-third-year players are cornerback DaRon Bland, tight end Jake Ferguson, offensive tackle Tyler Smith, defensive tackle Mazi Smith and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin.
The Dallas Cowboys’ relative inactivity contradicts what team owner and general manager Jerry Jones said during the 2024 Senior Bowl.
“I would anticipate, with looking ahead at our key contracts that we'd like to address, we will be all-in.
"I would anticipate we will be all-in at the end of this year. We will push the hell out of it. It will be going all-in on different people than you've done in the past. We will be going all-in.”
While going “all in” could have meant being aggressive during the start of free agency, the contrary has happened.
The Cowboys were relatively silent when the 2024 league year opened. Linebacker Eric Kendricks was the only player they signed who didn’t suit up for the Mike McCarthy-coached squad last season.
He does fill a void, especially after Leighton Vander Esch’s sudden retirement. However, his signing isn’t enough, considering that the Cowboys lost Tony Pollard, Dorance Armstrong and Tyron Smith in free agency.
Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys look forward to the 2024 NFL Draft
Sportskeeda’s Mock Draft Simulator says that Mike McCarthy’s roster has pressing needs at offensive tackle, running back, defensive tackle, center and safety. Their actions could mean that they address these needs first through the draft.
Barring any additional trades, the Cowboys will have seven picks, including compensatory choices in the fifth and sixth rounds. However, they don’t have a fourth-round selection, which could be a perfect spot to find quality offensive linemen.
However, as Mike McCarthy added, free agency doesn’t end before the draft.
“Also, there’s a lot left. You’ll probably have a market right before the draft or post draft, and then you got your June 1 market and obviously we’ll have another draft class. So, I have great confidence in our roster.”
The Cowboys will have key players on both sides of the ball, starting with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb on offense and Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence and Trevon Diggs on defense.
However, having only $5.1 million in cap space can limit their free-agent spending. Signing Prescott and Lamb to multi-year extensions can create more cap room by allowing them to push the money into later years.