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Check out today’s latest and greatest news surrounding America’s team!
Facing salary cap uncertainty, would Cowboys QB Dak Prescott be wise to get his money now? - Michael Gehlken
It’s time to pay Dak.
The NFL salary cap’s value is based on league revenue, which includes proceeds tied to television and radio contracts and stadium ticket sales. No one can say categorically what the 2021 cap will be, but there is belief that even if the 2020 season is lost entirely, the 2021 cap should remain fairly flat, not dropping lower than today’s $198.2 million figure.
Revenue simply would be borrowed from future years to keep the cap afloat.
This ability to borrow from the future and protect the cap from collapse — a cap reduction from, say, $198 million to $150 million would sap free agency while forcing some high-priced veteran players to be released or accept a pay cut — is an important benefit from the recent CBA agreement.
For Prescott, the NFL’s 11-year labor stability allows him to wade more comfortably in uncertain COVID-19 waters. A $31.4 million franchise tag is currently on the table from the Cowboys. He could play whatever exists of the 2020 season at that price, pending force majeure clause adjustments, and revisit negotiations in 2021. If those talks do not produce a long-term deal, Dallas likely would tag him again at about $37.7 million.
That 2021 price is more palatable for a team in a year when the cap continues to rise steadily.
But if needed, the Cowboys begrudgingly could stomach it.
Despite the cap’s life raft through future borrowing, multiple agents who represent high-profile players suggested that Prescott would be wise to act now.
The No. 1 Jamal Adams Trade Blockade For Cowboys? Jets Anger - Mike Fisher, SI.com
The Jets don’t want to trade Adams, and they are kind of mad at the Cowboys anyway.
The Dallas Cowboys, who happen to top Adams’ trade-destination wish list - but who also happen to be the source of Jets anger.
Adams, the 24-year-old All-Pro safety, “wants to be traded to the Cowboys,’’ said a source close to the situation. And that’s a start, as Adams officially requested permission to seek a trade from the Jets on Thursday, the reason being the All-Pro’s feeling of betrayal over a contract extension he feels was promised him. ESPN reports that there are seven teams on his wish list, Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas.
But while Jamal has Dallas love - he’s hanging out in his hometown, including a golf outing this week in Frisco - the Jets have a “Dallas problem.’’
Sources tell CowboysSI.com that Jets management remains irate about the October leaks regarding negotiations - leaks they blame on the Cowboys front office. We’d contend that the Jets camp and Adams’ camp have also been fairly forthcoming with information, but the Jets think what they think.
Favorite Dallas Cowboys of all time? John Owning breaks down his top 3, none of whom are skill position players - John Owning, DMN
John Owning names his three favorite Cowboys, and #3 is a little bit of a shocker.
La’Roi Glover, DT
I thought about putting an active player in this spot — Zack Martin or DeMarcus Lawrence — but we get to talk about them all the time. Instead, I wanted to shed light on a former Cowboy who’s often forgotten.
During my formative years following the Cowboys in the early 2000s, La’Roi Glover was without a doubt the best player on the team as stalwarts like Darren Woodson and Emmitt Smith were slowed by age. In four seasons with the Cowboys (2002-05), Glover was voted to the Pro Bowl four times — even in the disappointing 2002 and 2004 seasons when the Cowboys went a combined 11-21. In fact, Glover was the first player in franchise history to play more than three seasons get voted to the Pro Bowl every year (Zack Martin is doing that now).
Listed at 6-2, 285 pounds, Glover was an undersized but wildly effective defensive tackle. Glover was even moved to nose tackle at times, when double-teams were regularly on the menu and proving just how strong and powerful he was despite his small frame by defensive tackle standards.
Glover’s smaller frame enabled him to be quicker than the slower-footed guards who dominated the late ’90s and early 2000s. That combined with his inherent play strength made him a nightmare matchup in one-on-one situations.
LB Francis Bernard has Best Shot at Making Roster of all Cowboys UDFAs - Jess Haynie, Inside the Star
UDFA LB Francis Bernard could surprise people in camp.
Undrafted free agents have provided some of our favorite success stories in recent memory. From Tony Romo to Cole Beasley to La’el Collins, some of the Cowboys’ top players have come from among their ranks. But first they have to make the team, and in 2020 the undrafted rookie with the best chance at doing that is Linebacker Francis Bernard.
Bernard enters the NFL after two seasons with the Utah Utes. He was named to the first team for All-Pac-12 honors and played in the Senior Bowl in 2019.
Prior to transferring to Utah, Francis spent a few years at BYU. A running back in high school, Bernard transitioned to linebacker after his freshman year. He had to sit out in 2017 after violating BYU’s “honor code” with a DUI arrest.
Despite this tumult in his college career, Bernard did enough that he was given 4th/5th-round grades by Dane Brugler and other analysts heading into the 2020 NFL Draft. While he’s on the smaller side at just 6’1″ and 230 pounds, Francis was a standout at Utah for his recognition and coverage skills.
Francis Bernard is easily one of the top rookie free agents that the Cowboys signed this year. What really gives him the best chance at making the roster, though, is the relative thinness at his position.
NFL coronavirus: How justified COVID-19 restrictions could wildly disrupt playoffs, Super Bowl hopes - Patrik Walker, CBS Sports
The COVID-19 could complicate the NFL season.
With news of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott being one of several players who’ve recently tested positive for COVID-19, allow me to paint a picture for you many aren’t yet discussing. Flash forward to a tumultuous 2020 NFL season marred by the pandemic having finally approached it’s apex — the playoffs. As clubs ready to clash for the right to hoist the all-important Lombardi trophy, something happens to one or more of them that sends shockwaves throughout the bracket.
Several players across the board test positive for coronavirus, potentially including a quarterback(s) and/or other key players.
Clubs scramble to bring backups up to speed, but that’s easier in theory than in a real life application, depending on who the depth guy is being tasked with replacing; and who the backup is in the first place. With the entire season’s worth of work on the line, said players who test positive would then have to be quarantined for upwards of two weeks, listed on the injury report with an ‘illness’ designation, even if they’re asymptomatic (as Elliott is currently). Meanwhile, everyone who’s been in contact with them must be immediately tested as well, and the respective team can only hope for good news.
Lamb projected top rookie WR, but will Cowboys offense allow for it? - Tony Thompson, Cowboys Wire
Will Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy set CeeDee Lamb loose?
Expectations for rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb are sky high. He will wear the famed No. 88, joining the likes of Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant in Dallas Cowboys lore. He ranks sixth in terms of odds of winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year at +1500. And now NFL.com’s Cynthia Frelund is projecting Lamb to be the most productive first-year receiver in the league.
But how much room is there for a rookie wide receiver in a room that already holds veterans Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup? And what would it take for Lamb to outstrip his draft class in terms of numbers?
Here’s what the best rookie wideout from each season have been able to put up over the last decade:
NFL.com predicts the Dallas Cowboys team MVP in 2020 to be Leighton Vander Esch - RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys
LVE for Cowboys MVP?
NFL.com predicted Leighton Vander Esch as the Cowboys team MVP in 2020
Who is the most important player on the Cowboys this season? Who will play the biggest role? Contribute the most? There are a number of ways to look at that idea.
Dak Prescott obviously plays a far more critical role than any individual player because he is the team’s quarterback and this is the game of football. Aside from him though, who else could you see being the team’s most valuable player throughout the year?
NFL.com predicted team MVPs for every team this season and they just so happened to pick Leighton Vander Esch as the one for the Dallas Cowboys.
Around The NFL Podcast colleague Gregg Rosenthal put it well in a recent write-up on key homegrown players, pointing out that Vander Esch is the Cowboys’ modern-day version of Sean Lee — the defense is simply not the same when he’s missing in action. Vander Esch was a sideline-to-sideline tackling machine as a rookie, but a neck injury limited him — and the Dallas defense as a whole — in 2019. Vander Esch recently said he is feeling “wonderful” as he looks ahead to 2020, and his presence in the middle of the Dallas defense is the rising tide to lift all boats. To put it another way, peak Vander Esch could be the difference between 12-4 and 8-8 at Jerrah World.
BTB Podcast
Let’s talk about Jamal Adams, shall we?
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