3 Dallas Cowboys that should stay and 3 that should go

Dallas Cowboys Offseason

Stay: Randy Gregory

Cap Figure: $13.2 million (per Spotrec estimation)

Age: 29 

Argument: Randy Gregory played the best ball of his career this past season and hits free agency at the ripe age of 29. As everyone knows, Gregory comes with some baggage and even though the NFL has changed their substance abuse policy, that means there’s risk.

Gregory’s last game against San Francisco sends him into free agency with a bad look. He was undisciplined and unproductive. He’s not hitting free agency with as much of a market as it may seem on paper and the price to re-sign him may not be as high as we think.

With Randy and Tank on the edges, it allows Dallas to be creative with Parsons as a pass-rusher. Three pass-rushers are tough to stop and give the Dallas Cowboys a decisive advantage. It’s hard to see any rookie or free agent pass-rusher producing the pressure Gregory will next season so re-signing Gregory should be Dallas’ top objective.

Go: Dalton Schultz

Cap Figure: $12.6 Million (Spotrec estimation)

Age: 25

Argument: The Dallas Cowboys like Dalton Schultz and they should. The former 4th round pick turned into quite the player for them. He worked his way up from TE4 to TE1 in a few short years and now looks to be one of the hottest names on the free agent market.

The problem is he regressed as a blocker and became fairly one-dimensional in 2022. The Dallas Cowboys already have a one-dimensional TE in Blake Jarwin under contract, and he comes at half the cost.

Assuming he’s partially a product of the system, Dallas could save a lot of money and not lose much (if any) production on the field by letting Schultz go elsewhere this offseason. There are many options both on the market and in the draft this year so now may be a right time to explore those.

Other players

Jayron Kearse and Brent Urban are two other critical free agents the Dallas Cowboys should try to re-sign. But their salary demands will be less than those just discussed so we didn’t include them in this exercise. It’s possible Kearse will try to test the market and cash in on his career season, so him coming back is far from a likelihood.

There are a handful of other free agents that deserve contracts depending on their demands as well. But this is about the big-time players. Amari Cooper, DeMarcus Lawrence and  Randy Gregory are all key players that cannot be replaced in 2022.

If the Dallas Cowboys decide to punt this year and don’t think they can compete in 2022, then by all means, save money and let them walk. But if winning is the goal, keeping them is both important and financially digestible.

Would we like to keep Schultz, Williams, and Gallup? Of course! But if tough decisions need to be made, they are the ones that are expendable. Let’s not focus on “underperforming” but rather look at “irreplaceable” because the players that so many people want to jettison for cash savings, are not so easily replaceable.