Category: 2024 free agency

10 potential replacements for Parsons includes Randy Gregory among candidates

Potential replacements if the Cowboys need to look outside the organization for fresh help at the edge position. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Things might be getting testy for Dallas’ defense in the very near future. While the team performed much better in their 20-15 win over the New York Giants on Thursday night, one shouldn’t confuse the performance with a flag planting. Facing Daniel Jones was certainly part of the equation in the bounce-back defensive performance after being mauled for two straight weeks by Derek Carr and Lamar Jackson’s groups.

Jones missed several receivers with underthrows and the Giants receivers themselves dropped five passes. So despite limited the Giants to 1.1 yards a carry and separating themselves for a game from the historically bad run defense they had against Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry, there’s still plenty to improve on. The question is, will Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence avoid major injury to be part of the immediate solution?

Related: Watch video of Micah Parsons leaving airport with a limp

If not, Dallas will need to consider looking outside the organization for help, as their troops have already been depleted. After seeing Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler, Jr. follow Dan Quinn to Washington during free agency, the Cowboys also lost third-year up-and-comer Sam Williams to an ACL injury this summer.

The club added Carl Lawson to the practice squad and he’s been elevated the last two games. Chauncey Golston is a fourth-year pro who hasn’t made much impact on the edge and second-year pro Tyrus Wheat hasn’t seen much defensive action in his career.

They may need to go outside the organization to get help.

One name in particular is Randy Gregory, who was drafted by Dallas back in 2015. Gregory had been suspended multiple times for running afoul of the league’s marijuana policy before those bylaws were lifted. He was recently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was released after an extended unexcused absence from the team.

Gregory famously spurned the Cowboys’ contract offer in 2022 free agency to sign a similar deal with the Denver Broncos.

Here’s a list of players who are available in free agency, after Yannick Ngakoue signed with the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday.

  • Marquis Haynes
  • Shaq Lawson
  • Kemoko Turay
  • Austin Bryant
  • Randy Gregory
  • Rasheem Green
  • Shane Ray
  • Elerson Smith
  • Rasheem Green
  • Frank Clark

The club could also look through other club’s practice squads to see if there’s a player they’d like to poach.

Geriatric Cowboys continue calling on veteran FA, hoping they’re fine wine

With two more veterans visiting the team, the Dallas Cowboys continue to add older players to the 2024 roster. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys like the players they’ve got, unless they don’t. When that happens, they turn to older players who’ve had past success. Stephen Jones’ philosophy over the past decade-plus is the team doesn’t spend money in free agency because they like the core players they have. Improvement will come from drafting and the Cowboys’ ability to develop their own players.

That was what the Joneses tried to sell the fan base on this offseason while sitting on their hands for months on end. Yet now, the organization seems to be in a bit of a panic. They are lacking depth – which could’ve been avoided by being proactive in free agency – and now Dallas is the place to be for any veteran player looking to stay employed in the NFL.

After signing a few older players recently, the trend has continued. The latest invites are more experienced options in running back Dalvin Cook and pass rusher Tyus Bowser.

Cook played for the Minnesota Vikings for six years, which included four straight 1,000-yard seasons and four Pro Bowl appearances. He’s just two years removed from his last 1,000-yard campaign, but Cook fizzled out last year with the New York Jets before they released him and he wound up signing with the Baltimore Ravens for the playoffs. Between the two teams, Cook rushed for just 214 yards and a career worst 3.2 yards a carry.

At 29-years old, the best days are behind Cook. Yet the Cowboys are interested in him to pair with another older, plodding RB in Ezekiel Elliott, who is ironically the same age.

Bowser is another 29-year-old the team is bringing in for a workout. After having a few good years with the Ravens and topping out at seven sacks in 2021, Bowser tore his Achilles in the same season, which limited his output in 2022. The defensive end was hurt last summer and never played in the 2023 season.

However, the Cowboys need pass rushing help and don’t seem swayed by the injury history from Bowser, who has played a full season just three times. Bowser could replace another older pass rusher the Cowboys had signed recently, Carl Lawson, who happens to be the magical age of 29 but was released on Tuesday. Another veteran the Cowboys signed this summer is defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, who wears number 92, which is the inverse of his age, 29-years old.

The Cook and Bowser workouts come after the Cowboys traded for defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, who is currently 31, but will turn 32-years old in September, and signed another DT, Linval Joseph, off the streets at 35-years old. There’s not a lot of youth there for the recently added group.

Then again, adding veterans has been the tenor for the entirety of the slow offseason. The only two players who were considered quality acquisitions for the Cowboys were both around the age of 30. Elliott is 29, which is ancient for a RB, and linebacker Eric Kendricks, is 32-years old.

Now, late in the offseason, the Cowboys seem to continue to be heading down the same path. What makes adding these veterans this late so frustrating is the team could’ve just signed a much better, and younger, player or two when free agency began, instead of trying to find answers now. Dallas didn’t need to sign the best guys on the open market in March, but being a little aggressive in finding younger talent then could’ve avoided the search now, when their options are limited.

Perhaps we now know why Jerry Jones said the team would be “all-in,” because this is the last time many of these players will play in the league.

Just call them the geriatric Cowboys.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

Cowboys host free agent DE with ongoing pay grievance against Ravens

The Cowboys will host free agent defensive end Tyus Bowser, who has been on the shelf most of the last two seasons. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Running back Dalvin Cook will have company during his visit to the Star in Dallas as free agent defensive end Tyus Bowser will also meet with Cowboys officials.

Not convinced their edge depth is enough, Bowser provides an intriguing option for Dallas. The Cowboys previously have added defensive end Carl Lawson to help offset the loss of defensive end Sam Williams to a torn ACL. Lawson however didn’t play in the preseason finale this past weekend.

Bowser was a second-round pick, No. 47 overall, by the Ravens in the 2017 NFL draft. The University of Houston product and Tyler, Texas native showed the twitchy athleticism coveted by NFL teams.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound edge failed to live up to expectations in Baltimore starting only 23 games in six seasons with the Ravens generating 19.5 sacks during that span. That didn’t stop them from signing him to a four-year, $22 million extension in 2021.

Bowser played in all 17 games, notching seven sacks, but an offseason Achilles injury limited him to just nine games and four starts in 2022. Offseason knee issues forced him to miss all of 2023 and that’s how he ended up as a free agent.

Edge players Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence, and rookie second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland figure to be the primary edge players and that is where the questions start.

Al-Quadin Muhammed may have earned a roster spot on this team but is scheduled to be suspended for the first game of the season for violating the NFL’s PED policy late last season.

Muhammed missed the final five games of the 2023 season and has one game remaining to sit out before his punishment is served.

NFL rules allow teams to sign players to the practice squad and may elevate them to the game-day roster up to three times in a single season. Dallas could get an extended look at Bowser without committing to him for the season.

Bowser actually has a grievance filed against the Ravens for not paying him during the 2023 season. He apparently wasn’t paid his $4.5 million and the team is currently without $1.8 million of cap space because of it. If they win, they’ll get a credit for that amount, but if Bowser wins he’ll get the money and the Ravens will lose another $2.7 million in cap space.

Cowboys working out 4x-Pro Bowl RB coming off down season

Report: Cowboys to fly running back Calvin Cook to Dallas for a workout.

After signing wideout CeeDee Lamb to a massive extension, it appears as if Dallas has now shifted focus to the running back position. Sources tell NFL insider Tom Pelissero that the Cowboys will be flying free-agent running back and four-time Pro Bowler Dalvin Cook to Dallas for a workout.

Flirtations with Cook are nothing new but the team is extending their dance to a face-to-face meeting.

The Vikings selected Cook in the second round of the 2017 NFL draft out of Florida State. He failed to reach 1,000 combined rushing yards in his first two seasons, but broke out in his third year en route to four consecutive millenium campaigns.

He was named to the Pro Bowl four times, each season between 2019 and 2022.

After his release from Minnesota in 2023, Cook signed with the New York Jets in the middle of August but failed to find his footing and was released by the team in early January. The veteran back tallied 214 yards on 67 carries averaging 3.2 yards per rush.

Less than a week later, Baltimore signed Cook to their practice squad to help with their playoff push.

Cook dealt with a shoulder injury in 2023 but looks to be healed from the injury that may have impacted him last season. Something must give in the running back room if Dallas signs the veteran.

Ezekiel Elliott was brought back to Dallas after a one-year hiatus in New England. The team also employs RB Rico Dowdle, who figures to be the back who shoulders the heaviest of the load in the rotation. Second-year backs Hunter Luepke and Deuce Vaughn are among the favorites to land a roster spot but the addition of Cook could complicate his situation.

Dallas could also choose to add Cook after the season begins to avoid guaranteeing his salary for the entire 2024 season.

After sitting out free agency, Dallas has been very active adding players in the last few weeks. Cook would be another big name added to owner Jerry Jones’ “All In” offseason.

Cowboys’ newest addition fits defensive puzzle in multiple ways

Adding Linval Joseph, even at 35, gives Dallas a unique interior rotation on paper. If it works, things could get intriguing for Dallas’ defense. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Cowboys must’ve really been impressed with the opposition when they got their lunch handed to them last December. On December 17, Dallas sent their representatives up north to Buffalo for a cool, rainy road trip riding a five-game winning streak, boasting a 10-3 record. In all honesty, the 31-10 shellacking they took at the hands of the Bills was the start of the unraveling of their promising season.

A close, 22-20 loss to Miami the following week made it a losing streak and they escaped by the skin of their teeth at home against Detroit in the now infamous, OL substitution foot shooting by Dan Campbell. Dallas’ lessened ceiling wasn’t masked in a blowout road finale against inept Washington, and the Green Bay Packers marched into AT&T Stadium and jigsawed the Cowboys hopes and dreams in front of the world.

That was the final shot, but the loss to Buffalo was the beginning of the end. And if the two of the three recent DL additions are any indication, that had a profound impact on the way the front office wanted to put the puzzle pieces together for 2024. On Wednesday, Dallas acquired a second Bills defensive lineman from that day, inking free agent Linval Joseph.

“Breaking: I’m told the #Cowboys are signing DT Linval Joseph, per source. – Josina Anderson

Dallas will have recently acquired two veteran interior defenders to rotate with 3T Osa Odighizuwa, and 1T Mazi Smith.

Last week, Dallas traded for Jordan Phillips, who had signed with the New York Giants this offseason after being with the Bills for the previous two campaigns.

Phillips, 6-foot-6, 349 pounds, is the bigger of the linemen, but he’s primarily been a 3T his entire career who also is a run stuffer. Joseph is a former second-round pick of the Giants… from 2010. He’s going to enter his 15th season in the league and will be the Cowboys’ second oldest player at 35, four days younger than punter Bryan Anger.

Joseph played for Mike Zimmer in Minnesota from 2014 through 2019, and has also spent time in LA with the Chargers (2 seasons) and Philadelphia (one season) before landing in Buffalo last season.

He played in seven games and had 12 tackles and one sack.

Zimmer must be reminiscing somewhat about the days of old when he had the No. 1 defense in yards and points with Joseph making the Pro Bowl.

Joseph will rotate with Smith, and possibly could see starter snaps as the first-round pick from 2023 continues to try to acclimate himself to the league and the rigors of the NFL. It hasn’t been a smooth beginning for Smith, who has made progress from last season and has likely changed targets for what would be considered short-term success in his second season.

Smith played behind another elder statesman, Johnathan Hankins, last season. Hankins was allowed to leave the club and signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency.

Zimmer will now be able to deploy a rotation of three functional 320-to-340 pound interior defenders, along with Odighizuwa at 285 pounds as the pass-rush specialist. It gives him numerous intriguing possibilities along with defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence, Marshawn Kneeland and Chauncey Golston who can rotate inside as well.

Combined with the chess piece of Micah Parsons and what might be the league’s deepest secondary, things could quickly come together.

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Report: Cowboys to sign DT Linval Joseph

Dallas continues to beef up the interior with their latest expected signing. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys continue to address their defensive line on Wednesday. According to Josina Anderson, the club has agreed to terms with free agent DT Linval Joseph.

Joseph, 35, is a 6-foot-4, 329-pound nose tackle who is signing on for his 15th NFL season. An original second-round pick of the New York Giants in 2010, Joseph has played for five different clubs before this and spend last season playing seven games for the Buffalo Bills.

He has 676 career tackles and 26.5 career sacks as a run-stuffing one-technique. Joseph spent six seasons with Mike Zimmer in Minnesota, where he made two Pro Bowls (2016, 2017). He will rotate with second-year player Mazi Smith as the Cowboys continue to look to transform their run defense to improve a weakness from last season.

Joseph will look to quickly ramp up with the club now that training camp is over and preparation for the regular season opener will begin in earnest following the final preseason game of the season.

The Cowboys will travel back from Oxnard, CA and host the Los Angeles Chargers – a team Joseph played two seasons for – on Saturday to close out the exhibition schedule.

Dallas is 1-1 so far in the preseason, losing to the Los Angeles Rams on a last-second touchdown drive, 13-12, and taking down the Las Vegas Raiders, 27-12 this past Saturday.

The club has been on the west coast since the end of July and had a fire break out on the next-to-last day, requiring multiple players to be relocated and putting.a weird bow on the team’s summer.

Cowboys officially bring Carl Lawson on board, send Bostick to IR

Cowboys officially bring in defensive end help with the addition of pass rush specialist Carl Lawson. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Dallas was expected to sign free agent defensive end Carl Lawson and the move was finally made official. A former fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft by the Bengals, Lawson is expected to help fill the void of DE Sam Williams who was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

In his first four seasons in Cincinnati, Lawson started 14 games recording 21 sacks and 83 QB hits. That was enough for the Jets to sign him to a three-year, $45 million deal.

In New York, Lawson started all 17 games logging 7 sacks with 24 QB hits. His second season didn’t go as planned. A back injury in training camp limited him to just six games in 2022 and he finished the year by being a gameday inactive more than a handful of times.

In a cost-cutting move, the Jets released Lawson who now gives depth to a Cowboys team searching for pass rush help.

Edge players Michah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence are expected to carry most of the workload and rookie second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland will be part of the defensive line rotation. Behind those three, Dallas gets thin at the position. That is where Lawson is expected to help.

With 90 players already on the roster, the Cowboys had to free up a roster spot and moved offensive tackle Earl Bostick to injured reserve.

Bostick, an undrafted free agent out of Kansas in 2023, injured his right leg in practice which will reportedly require surgery.

NFL rosters must be trimmed down to 53 players before Tuesday, August 27 at 4 PM EST which doesn’t give Lawson much time to make a bid for a roster spot.

Cowboys finally ink top remaining free agent edge rusher

The Cowboys are bringing in more help along the defensive line, this time importing from the AFC. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Cowboys knew something had to be done when Sam Williams went down earlier this preseason with a torn ACL (and MCL) during practice. The third-year edge rusher was primed to take on a crucial role in Mike Zimmer’s defense, especially with the word that Micah Parsons would be lining up at linebacker more often, similar to his rookie season.

Dallas didn’t have any defensive ends who had the speed-to-power ratio as Williams, as rookie Marshawn Kneeland is more of a edge-setter despite having a tremendous camp that’s earned him Cam Jordan comparisons. With Parsons and starting LE DeMarcus Lawrence sitting out the first preseason game, the Cowboys’ pass rush was a non-factor, indicating there needed to be an improvement in talent and early Thursday morning that came with the signing of veteran DE Carl Lawson.

Lawson was among eight candidates Cowboys Wire identified as potential replacements once Williams went down, and after working out Lawson in a group on August 1, have now decided to bring him into the fold.

Also among the group the club worked out were Al-Quadin Muhammad and Shaka Toney, both of whom Dallas signed earlier, with Toney being waived/injured on Wednesday in a separate move.

Lawson, 29, brings with him 2 career sacks, including two seasons with at least 7, including 2022 with the New York Jets. His career high came in his rookie season, 2017 with the Cincinnati Bengals, as a rotational sub they drafted out of Auburn in the fourth round.

At 6-foot-2, 265 pounds, he will be added to the defensive line along with veteran Jordan Phillips, whom the team traded for Wednesday evening.

The Cowboys have had a flurry of activity following their exhibition loss against the Los Angeles Rams, 13-12, on Sunday. Clearly they were waiting to see how some performed in actual game action and came away with a to-do list despite intercepting Stetson Bennett’s erratic passes four times.

Do the Cowboys need to add a RB from the outside before season?

It’s likely the Cowboys will only keep three of their eight RBs on their final roster in 2024, do they need to search for another? | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys have come under fire for their handling of the running back position this year. Letting Tony Pollard sign a three-year, $21,750,000 deal with Tennessee wasn’t an issue. Handing big money to the RB position has long been regarded as questionable behavior. Re-signing the veteran Ezekiel Elliott to a one-year, $2 million deal wasn’t an issue either. An inexpensive safety net like Elliott made sense in a back-up capacity.

Letting the draft tick by 257 players without the Cowboys claiming a single RB? That baffled a few folks. After years of accusations of overpaying, over-drafting and just generally overinvesting, the Cowboys have made a wild adjustment in the way they handle the RB position.

This 180-degree heel turn of theirs set them on the path to enter the 2024 season with some combination of Rico Dowdle, Ezekiel Elliott, Royce Freeman, Maliek Davis, Hunter Luepke, Deuce Vaughn, Snoop Conner and Nathaniel Peat. It’s a group that some have called the worst unit in the NFL and one even the most fervent of Cowboys fans has been having a difficult time getting excited about.

In the Cowboys first preseason game, Dowdle offered glimmers of hope. The fifth-year back out of South Carolina ran the ball three times for 14 yards. His day understandably ended early since he’s expected by many to be the top ball carrier in Dallas in 2024. Held out of action were Elliott and Freeman. The former, a veteran in whom the Cowboys are already well acquainted and the latter, a veteran who’s already banged up.

The rest of the lot played fairly uninspiring ball after Dowdle left the field. Conner led the rest of the group with a paltry 3.3 yards/carry average while no one else surpassed the 2.5 yards/carry mark. Blocking obviously played a big role in that inefficiency, but the ball carriers struggled to add anything of added value to the runs.

It’s all reaffirmed what many feared entering the preseason and supported what was happening in training camp; the Cowboys are weak at the RB position.

In a not-so-bold roster prediction, the Cowboys will likely round out their RB ranks with a player who’s not currently on the roster.

It’s fair to say other NFL teams will release someone who’s good enough to be claimed by Dallas and the Cowboys are just bidding their time until cutdown day arrives on August 27. Of the eight players listed above, it’s likely only three will make the Cowboys final 53 in 2024. It’s a list that includes Luepke the fullback since he’s reportedly beloved by the coaching staff and cross-training at the tight end position to boost his usefulness.

As things stand today, it looks like Dowdle, Elliott and Luepke are the only RBs currently in camp who are in line for a roster spot. Vaughn and Peat would then be the favorites to join the practice squad with a veteran to be named later to round out the rotation on the 53.

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New Orleans Saints sign offensive lineman Chandler Brewer

The Saints are adding some offensive line depth after multiple injuries at training camp. The team signed Chandler Brewer, per his agency:

After a couple of early training camp injuries, the New Orleans Saints have brought in some much-needed offensive line depth. The Saints are signing veteran Chandler Brewer per his agency Exclusive Sports Group.

Brewer played for four years at Middle Tennessee State, where he appeared in 53 games. He wasn’t drafted in 2019 but signed with the Los Angeles Rams, with whom he won a Super Bowl ring. Pro Football Focus gave him a 55.6 grade for his 228 snaps at right guard during the 2022 season. He wasn’t re-signed in 2023, at which point he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars and remained there until his release in June.

Besides Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Taliese Fuaga in the starting lineup, there are a lot of spots open for grabs. This gives Brewer a chance to come in right away and compete. At the very least it’s good to have another veteran adding more competition in the locker room.

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