Responding to your Responses: Free Agency
The Dallas Cowboys philosophical approach has generated plenty of chatter.
A few days back, I wrote a piece about free agency and how the Cowboys sort of do this exact thing going back every year since they last participated in the high-end of free agency with Brandon Carr in 2012.
Since then, the best way to summarize the Cowboys approach to free agency would be:
Low-end bargain basement signings of 3rd tier options
Simply plugging holes with a pro so they can draft without huge pressing needs.
Players that last about one year, so they do it again next spring with someone else.
That piece generated a number of responses that I wanted to react to, but rather than making the comments section even a more confusing place, I thought it beat wandering down any other roads on this Friday Morning.
So, here are some general responses to some frequently-offered reactions I hear from Cowboys fans. I figured we should all have them in a somewhat central location here that I can reference when we do this again next year:
Participating in the high-end of free agency never works.
I am willing to concede that it is not a place to live. I am willing to make you a list of top free agent signings that are comically disastrous for the teams that gave Albert Haynesworth (Washington, 7/$100m in 2009), Nnamdi Asomugha (Philadelphia, 5/$60m in 2011), and even Kenny Golladay (New York Giants, 4/$72m in 2021) all that money. I find it pretty interesting that the three NFC East teams that are always very active and aggressive in free agency are being lauded for being active and aggressive in free agency in 2024.
You would think if history is our guide, the Cowboys division mates would swear off free agency, but the Eagles and Commanders are probably right there at the top of the NFL as historical contenders for the most active franchise in NFL history in this aisle. And also burned the most with very bad ideas. Heck, I didn’t even mention the Eagles big contract on DeMarco Murray (5/$40m in 2015), Washington on Dana Stubblefield (6/$36m in 1997), and the Giants with Nate Solder (4/$62m in 2019).
Honestly, the best way not to make a massive mistake in free agency is to not participate in any area of free agency where massive mistakes can be made. If you are never the team that signs the top free agent, you cannot be laughed at. Take the Texas Rangers, who signed Jacob DeGrom to a massive contract (5/$185m) and within a month of pitching, his arm fell off and he needed Tommy John. Obviously, that was a tremendous risk and unlikely to work, right! Why did they act so foolishly? How you can you win big if you are going to be so foolish?
Well, we should ask the Rangers and the Eagles how their parades went, despite a few bad signings along the way.
If you want to tell anyone that free agency never works, I wish to offer you an easy five rebuttals: