After the 2024 season, the Dallas Cowboys will have plenty of decisions that will significantly impact their immediate future. Like last year, the Cowboys have numerous key contributors set to become free agents at season’s end.
The hope among Cowboys fans was that last year’s no-show in free agency would lead to at least some sort of increased spending in 2025. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones threw water on that fire earlier this week when speaking about Dallas’ future spending, citing how hard it is going to be for the Cowboys to be active in acquiring outside talent this offseason.
“I think we knew we were going to have a challenge this year and next year,” Jones said of the team’s ability to spend on players.
“It’s going to be really, really tight because we still have some money left over from some guys who aren’t here today. And you’re going to have some other guys that won’t be here in the future that you still have their cap count.”
As we all know, Jones’ belief that the Cowboys cannot spend with the current big contracts hitting their cap is just not true. Dallas could easily free up an additional $25-30M after this season with some simple contract restructures, giving them $50M or so in cap space to pursue any outside free agent of their choosing.
Nonetheless, it’s evident the Cowboys’ front office will not change their viewpoint and it appears we are in for another spring of penny-pinching in Dallas. Last offseason, Dallas signed just a few outside free agents, linebacker Erik Kendricks, running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Royce Freeman among them, to short-term deals.
It wasn’t just that Dallas did not spend on signing free agents from other teams, they also let four or five key contributors from their own 2023 roster walk away. The Cowboys’ 2025 free agent class features some heavy hitters, including DeMarcus Lawrence, Zack Martin, Brandin Cooks, and Jourdan Lewis. There’s a realistic chance all four players are not Cowboys next season, and at this point, it would be pretty surprising if they re