Why Dallas Cowboys Are Falling Behind: Salary Cap Strategy Explained

The Dallas Cowboys arent going to win the Super Bowl this season. At least thats the sentiment of the oddsmakers, as ESPN has them ranked 19th at 50-to-1 odds this season. The perception of this football team is pretty low. We get it. They had struggles last year, they have a new coaching staff this year, and Jerry Jones is running the team, which many would consider a kiss of death.

The Cowboys have their work cut out for them, but are things really this bad? Why are they so far behind the other good teams in the league?

We discussed the great advantage the Philadelphia Eagles have given themselves by how Howie Roseman operates and how its a stark contrast to the Cowboys. The Eagles aggressively use void years to spend money now and push out costs into later years. Philly is on an island with how they use this:

The Cowboys are ranked in the middle of the pack at 16th with $44 million, which is mostly comprised of the void years of Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.

Such a method is very satisfying for most Eagles fans, as having a stacked roster has produced favorable results for them. Cowboys fans, on the other hand, are left scratching their heads, wondering why their front office doesnt take more action in bolstering the roster.

The front office isnt cheap. They do spend money. They arent pocketing any surplus funds leftover from not using all their cap space. They just manage it differently and arent as accepting of the idea of allocating a large amount of their future resources to address their needs right now. But should they be?

If the Cowboys are being fiscally responsible and adhering to the intended spirit of the salary cap, but other teams are not, should Dallas consider changing their stripes? If enough teams start pushing more money into the future to acquire more talent, then the Cowboys will be left with a clear disadvantage if they stay the course. What type of disadvantage are we talking about?

Below is a breakdown of high-priced players for the Cowboys, as well as teams with the top five odds to win the Super Bowl. Based on the money players are making, the Cowboys dont have as much talent as these other teams.

The chart above shows the number of players who make at least $20 million annually (green), more than $10 million but less than $20 million (blue), and at least $5 million but less than $10 million (purple). Some things jump out at you. The Eagles and Lions have a lot of players making at least $20 million. The Cowboys, in contrast, only have three (Prescott, Lamb, and Osa Odighizuwa).

If you only look at players making at least $10 million, it goes like this:

• The Eagles and Bills have 10 players each making at least $10 million
• The Chiefs have nine players making at least $10 million
• The Lions and Ravens each have eight players making at least $10 million
• The Cowboys only have five players making at least $10 million

Not only do the Cowboys not have many players with a huge average annual salary, they also dont have very many hitting the $10 million mark.

Some people are quick to suggest that while the Cowboys dont have a large quantity of high-priced players, they still have a huge chunk going to their top-paid players, particularly one fella whose contract is constantly brought up. Everyone knows that Dak Prescott is the highest-paid player in the league at $60 million annually. Is his contract hamstringing the Cowboys?

No.

The other teams listed above also have a franchise quarterback who commands a huge chunk of change. Are they cheaper than Prescott? Yes, but if you broke down the costs of each teams 10 highest-paid players, youd see that the Cowboys are still not keeping up with the spending.

It seems evident that for the Cowboys to have a fighting chance at keeping up with these top teams, they need to open up their wallet more. The Cowboys arent a team that struggles to find talent. They are good at that part. But they are notorious for letting talent get away in free agency. To their credit, they havent let anyone get away who turned out to be a great value pick-up for their new team, but maybe the Cowboys should consider being the team to overpay a little to retain more good players.

Its a weird thing to consider, but the Cowboys need to adapt to some degree to keep up. We all know Micah Parsons is going to get a contract extension, and that will alter the above figures somewhat, but they need to do a little more than just Parsons.

This is not to say they should start gambling more in free agency and hope for the best. Its a tough ask to find quality players on the free agent market who perform relative to their cost. Thats a known losing endeavor. But there are other ways.

For example, George Pickens and DaRon Bland are entering the final year of their contract. If both players demonstrate that they are worth their weight in gold, then why not re-sign both instead of trying to figure out which one makes the most sense to keep? If theyre worth it, do it. Keeping Odighizuwa this offseason is a perfect example.

The Cowboys invested a third-round pick in Pickens. Hopefully, they already have a plan in place to keep him. Its fine if they want to wait to make sure this plays out okay, even if it comes with a slightly higher cost next offseason. Just have a plan in place to make that third-round investment pay off if he delivers results.

Being careful about how they use their resources is fine. The Cowboys will continue to go about things in that manner. However, when enough other teams start to zig, it might be time for Jerry and company to start getting ziggy with it.