With free agency rapidly approaching, the Dallas Cowboys will have plenty of decisions to make regarding their roster for 2020. They have 25 unrestricted free agents, which will indeed cause for plenty of turnover from 2019.
The two most important free agents for the Cowboys, Dak Prescott, and Amari Cooper, are both seeking long-term deals with the organization. Saturday evening, however, some important news broke that affects these two players specifically. The Cowboys have an additional 48 hours to decide what to do with either Prescott or Cooper or both if long-term deals aren’t reached.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL and NFLPA have delayed the designation date to apply the franchise tag from February 25 to February 27, and the end date from March 10 to March 12.
If a new CBA isn’t reached before the start of the new league year on March 18, which the players will likely vote on this week as the scouting combine takes place, teams will be able to use both the franchise or transition tags.
Teams now have two extra days to decide if they’re going to use the tags and who they’re going to use them on. The date of March 12 is key because it’s just four days prior to when the legal tampering period begins before the new league year on March 18.
Prescott will be the first domino to fall in this scenario and rightfully so, he’s a franchise quarterback. If a long-term deal for him isn’t reached, the Cowboys will undoubtedly use the franchise tag on him which comes in at about $26.8 million, far less than the $35 million per-year average that is currently the top of the quarterback market.
For Cooper, a franchise tag would run around $18 million, which is in the range of Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill, currently the third-highest paid receiver.
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