2024 NFL Offseason Primer: Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

Projected Cap Space: -$12.9 million

Draft Picks: 7

• 1st (No. 24)
• 2nd (No. 56)
• 3rd (No. 87)
• 5th (No. 173, comp)
• 6th (No. 213, comp)
• 7th (No. 231, LV)
• 7th (No. 242)

Notable Free Agents: 

• LT Tyron Smith
• CB Stephon Gilmore
• RB Tony Pollard
• C Tyler Biadasz
• DE Dorance Armstrong
• S Jayron Kearse
• DT Johnathan Hankins
• DT Neville Gallimore
• CB Jourdan Lewis
• DE Dante Fowler
• RB Rico Dowdle

Top Three Needs

1 – Offensive Line

Dallas’ success on offense over the past few years starts up front. The Cowboys have regularly had one of the best offensive lines in football and the years in which they’ve dipped have usually lined up with a dip in quality up front. Heading into 2024, they still have G Zack Martin as one of the best in the game and OL Tyler Smith, who has been outstanding at either left tackle or left guard in his first two years. 

Starting RT Terence Steele isn’t nearly as good as those two but he’s still an above-average starter at right tackle and under contract with a guaranteed salary. He’s not going anywhere. The Cowboys are slated to lose their starting left tackle and center to free agency, and those are the holes they have to fill to ensure they remain one of the league’s best units. 

Fortunately for the Cowboys, they have some options at left tackle as Tyler Smith has already replaced Tyron Smith at times and shown he’s up for the challenge. Finding starting interior linemen is easier than starting blindside tackles too, but Smith’s flexibility gives the Cowboys tons of options if the opportunity to land a starting left tackle falls in their laps. 

Dallas would probably like to re-sign Biadasz if his price is reasonable but they will have limited resources this offseason and will need to make some hard choices. Fortunately, it’s a good year to need a center, with plenty of highly-rated draft prospects and a good wave of free agent options. That’s another factor that could help them retain Biadasz if his market isn’t as strong as he anticipates. 

2 – Wide Receiver

The Cowboys have one of the best receivers in the NFL in CeeDee Lamb and will likely have to give him a deal that reflects that this offseason — particularly because it could actually give them more cap space to work with. The dynamic with QB Dak Prescott is similar, except Prescott will cost probably twice as much and has way more leverage. 

Prescott had an MVP-caliber season in 2023, but his performance has shown some sensitivity to the quality of the supporting cast around him over the course of his career. All signs point to Dallas extending him, but they should also look to ensure he has the weapons to remain productive. While Prescott was just fine throwing to Lamb, WR Brandin Cooks, TE Jake Ferguson and WR Michael Gallup last season, there’s no guarantee that’s enough going forward. Cooks and Gallup are both cut candidates, as Gallup hasn’t been the same since his knee injury a few years ago and Cooks’ production has tailed off in his 30s. 

Moving on from both players would give the Cowboys a chance to get younger, cheaper and more dynamic in their receiving corps. In recent years, more and more receivers have been able to have an impact right away coming out of college, even if overall it’s still a difficult transition to make. 

3 – Defensive Tackle

Dallas’ upset loss in the playoffs exposed a big flaw with the defense. While it’s been one of the NFL’s best over the past few years, it was too light in 2023, especially up the middle. Injuries at linebacker that forced the Cowboys to rely more on converted safeties or dime packages only exacerbated the issue. 

While the Cowboys did anticipate this to a degree and tried to forestall it by using a first-round pick on DT Mazi Smith last year, Smith wasn’t ready to contribute much as a rookie. Dallas won’t give up on him but they do need to have alternatives in place. New DC Mike Zimmer is also expected to change some things up with a different scheme than former DC Dan Quinn, and Dallas has some pending free agents who may or may not be retained. 

One Big Question

What does “all in” look like for the Cowboys, and is it enough to get them over the hump?

After the third straight year featuring an unceremonious exit from the playoffs, a not-small number of NFL people expected Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to pull the plug on HC Mike McCarthy and chase one of the big-name coaches who were available. That didn’t happen, and McCarthy is back for another year, albeit the last on his current contract. 

The stakes are always high in Dallas but this year they seem higher than ever. The Cowboys will have some attrition and are about to enter a new phase of their build with several stars no longer playing on cheap rookie deals and a new deal presumably for Prescott. But they should still be talented enough to make a run in 2024, and Jones has said he plans to more aggressive than usual and go “all in” on this coming year. 

Jones says a lot of things, so we’ll see what he means by “all in.” He’s both the owner and the general manager, and despite his reputation as a loose cannon, the Cowboys are one of the more traditional front offices in terms of how they operate philosophically. They prefer to build through the draft — where they have quietly been outstanding under VP of player personnel Will McClay — are conservative when it comes to trades and don’t like to push out a bunch of cap space onto future seasons with void years. 

Do they change with perhaps just one more year of a clear Super Bowl window ahead? More importantly, does it work to finally get this team over the top? That’s what we’ll find out.