The Dallas Cowboys proclaimed that the organization was going “all in” this offseason to turn the team into a Super Bowl contender. But thus far, the team’s lack of big moves has had many fans asking why the team’s actions haven’t matched their words.
Perhaps the biggest miss in free agency came when the Cowboys didn’t even offer on star running back Derrick Henry, who instead opted to sign with the Baltimore Ravens.
Instead, the Cowboys decided to sign Ezekiel Elliott. And while Elliott was obviously once a huge star who could change games for Dallas, the move didn’t exactly inspire much confidence at this point in his career.
Cowboys executive V.P. Stephen Jones explained this decision with Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio on Monday, blaming the team’s salary cap situation on missing out on Henry.
“Well, first of all, nothing but respect for Derrick Henry,” Jones said via Pro Football Talk. “I mean, he’s one of the top backs in this league. He’s had one of the great careers in this league. I wish him nothing but the best with the Ravens. I’m sure a great place for him. Our situation is just, you know, and no one ever wants to say it, but it’s salary cap, and we just didn’t have the money to allocate to that position in terms of where we were from a cap standpoint, knowing what we’re looking at with Dak [Prescott] and certainly Micah [Parsons] and CeeDee Lamb.
“We just didn’t have those type of resources to allocate to that position or we probably would’ve already had it filled with Tony Pollard. We hated to lose Tony Pollard. We had to lose Zeke the year before from a cap standpoint. And, you know, we just didn’t have the dollars to allocate to the running back position. And, certainly, looking to do it in a more efficient way in terms of how it complements the rest of our offensive roster.”
Jones does have a point here in terms of Henry obviously being more expensive for the team to bring in than Elliott. Henry received a two-year $16 million deal to sign with the Baltimore Ravens, while Elliott received a one-year deal worth as much as $3 million.
But if the salary cap is an issue, then why say that you are going all in in the first place? Instead, stress that you are going to try and retain your top players, which has obviously been the team’s focus this offseason.
It has simply been a blatant lie from the Cowboys toward their fans this offseason. And naturally, Cowboys fans are beginning to catch on to this.
The salary cap is Stephen Jones and the Cowboys escape goat for everything
— Fantasy Football Pill (@FantasyPill) May 6, 2024
Meanwhile, the Eagles signed approximately 47 guys. The cap is there to be manipulated.
— StevenShapiro (@shap62) May 6, 2024
we're ALL IN…if only not for that pesky salary cap!
— Lord 0f Barf (@lordofbarf) May 6, 2024
It's not the salary cap's fault…it went up 13%. It's your fault.
— David Isaacs (@swede700) May 6, 2024
It’s a pretty lame excuse to blame the salary cap on staying stagnant throughout this offseason. Every other team has to deal with the salary cap as well. And most if not every team has been able to make more improvements than the Cowboys.
Only time will tell how the Cowboys look in the 2024-25 season. But based on their offseason, things will largely look the same for them, if not even worse…
