Tag: Michael Gallup

Cowboys currently have 3 players among top-10 cap hits in 2025 who won’t be on the team

Often referred to as kicking the can down the road, there’s an argument that using future year’s cap hits is smart, but it’s reserved for winners.

While the NFL increases the amount of the cap by leaps and bounds every season, teams can often find themselves up against the ceiling on a regular basis. The Dallas Cowboys generally have preferred to exist right up against the cap routinely. For the last decade plus, since the last CBA was agreed to, Dallas has preferred to give their big-money players lengthy deals with a ton of years, which gives them the wiggle room to manipulate the cap as they see fit, but still be as close to the cap limit as possible.

Manipulating the salary cap in any given year is easy. The Cowboys put language in their player’s contracts that allow the club to convert a season’s base salary into a restructure bonus and take advantage of league accounting rules that then spread that money across future year’s caps, even though the player gets the money in that same season. Over the last decade, they’ve used void years in the contracts to place the cap hits on seasons the player isn’t even going to be on the team.

This is one of two ways of having dead money on a specific year’s cap ledger, along with more common way when a team releases a player who still has unallocated bonus money that hasn’t yet hit the cap. In 2025, Dallas is going to run into both situations in a major way.

Out of their top 10 salary cap hits already on the books for 2025, according to Over the Cap, three of those are dead money hits.

Zack Martin (3rd) and DeMarcus Lawrence (10th) are both set to be unrestricted free agents in 2025 after 11 years, each, with the club. Their expiring contracts contained void years into the future, cap loopholes that allow a player to have a salary for a season that will be voided no matter what.

It’s literally cap cheating and is a ridiculous benefit the owners have given themselves to skirt their own rules.

Martin is scheduled to count over $27 million against the cap in 2025 for money that was paid to him already. Lawrence is on the books for just under $7.5 million.

Even if the Cowboys use the June 1 rule they included in Martin’s deal to split his dead money across both 2024 and 2025, the $10 million would rank him sixth in cap hits this coming season.

Meanwhile, Michael Gallup (7th) still exists on the Dallas books as well. The former third-round wide receiver was released this past offseason and has retired, but he will count $8.7 million against the Cowboys’ cap in 2025 because he was a June 1 release that split his cap hit over two seasons.

Often referred to as kicking the can down the road, there’s an argument to be made that it makes a lot of sense to use future year’s cap hits to account for a player’s salary.

If a team pays a player $10 million in 2024, but they don’t have to account for it against the cap until a future year when the salary cap is higher, it gives the team more bang for the buck because it takes up a lower percentage of the cap.

But that can only be realized if the team is winning, which the Cowboys are not. If the team isn’t good enough to compete for a championship, then using future cap space is an impediment to the club improving. That feels like the situation the 2025 Cowboys will find themselves in.

Biggest dead money cap hits illustrate Cowboys’ decision-making mistakes

The Cowboys have repeatedly gambled and lost when signing sub-superstar talent on speculative deals

Contrary to popular belief, signing superstar players to big deals rarely gets an NFL team in trouble. No matter what the Cowboys front office tries to say, there’s always room for talent under the salary cap.

Good players who meet or exceed the expectations of their contract are value-added, pure and simple. They take on a bigger proportion of the cap, but they also often take heavier snap counts and make bigger contributions. Teams can save money in rotations and at other positions if highly paid players simply live up to their billing.

Best of all, superstars are usually no brainers. Dak Prescott was an obvious re-signing this past summer. CeeDee Lamb was also an obvious re-signing this past summer. Micah Parsons and Tyler Smith will be obvious re-signings in the near future, while DaRon Bland and DeMarvion Overshown are trending to be obvious re-signings soon after. Health permitting, they will all be well worth the price of doing business.

Where teams get themselves into trouble is by signing players who underachieve and don’t live up to the expectations of their contracts. That’s what really kills the salary cap. Many of these bad contracts are speculative in nature. They involve middleclass players who have shown enough to indicate they could be great but just haven’t done so consistently enough to make it a sure thing. They are calculated gambles by the front office. It’s here where the Cowboys have struggled.

In recent seasons the Cowboys gambled on players like Michael Gallup and Terence Steele. Both offered inconsistent performances throughout their careers, and both were coming off major injury. They represented significant speculation from the Cowboys front office when they were re-signed and now stand as cautionary tales moving forward.

Looking at things today, the biggest dead money cap hit the Cowboys face is from Gallup. Signed to a five-year, $57,500,000 contract in 2022, Gallup fell well short of the expectations implied in the deal. After contributing just 73 receptions for 842 yards, Gallup was released two years into the deal. The contract was a gamble from the start since Gallup had only once posted a thousand-yard season and he was now coming off a significant knee injury. He represents $4,350,000 in dead money this season and a team-leading $8,700,000 in 2025.

Steele is another player the Cowboys seemingly gambled on and lost. After suffering a major knee injury late in 2022, the Cowboys signed him to a five-year, $87,500,000 extension to be their cornerstone at right tackle. Like Gallup, Steele was gamble from the start. His last ten games of 2022 he showed he was a dominant force in the running game but his game play in the years leading up to that were far more pedestrian. In fact, his pass protection was some of the worst in the NFL.

Steele now potentially faces the axe in 2025. At a cap charge of over $18 million next season, Steele is one of the highest paid players on the Cowboys roster. He has an out in his contract in 2025, but it would come with an immediate cap charge of $13,500,000 in dead money. The Cowboys could designate him a post June 1 cut but that would only push more dead money into future years.

The lesson to be learned is sub-superstar contracts that involve speculation are far riskier than max-level contracts that simply demand health and a continued level of play. The Cowboys have a poor track record when it comes to speculating the future of their own midlevel performers and it’s come back to bite them over and over again.

Does this mean the death of midlevel contracts going forward?

Possibly. With so many star players set to make star money, the Cowboys may just round out their roster with rookie contracts and bargain bin pickups. It could mean non-superstar players like Osa Odighizuwa, Chauncey Golston and Rico Dowdle (all pending free agents in 2025) are too expensive and/or risky to bring back.

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Former Cowboys 2nd-round OL draft pick abruptly retires after starting all 2024, joins unique group

Interior OL Connor Williams strangely becomes the third member of Cowboys’ 2018 draft at AT&T Stadium to call it quits this year. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Do Cowboys fans remember Connor Williams? The former University of Texas product was part of the hometown, 2018 draft class that appeared to be sending the franchise in the right direction.  AT&T Stadium was the location of the festivities that year, one of the first times the NFL allowed cities outside New York to host.

Dallas walked away with what they thought was a foundational class, three players taken in the first three rounds all having an immediate impact on a playoff team which actually went on to win a game.

Nope.

On Friday, Williams became the third of three to end their careers this season. The eyebrow raising thing is, Williams has retired in the middle of a season where he’s started every game for his club, the Seattle Seahawks.

Williams left the Cowboys after the 2021 season in free agency, landing with the Miami Dolphins who successfully moved him to center. His knee injury made him a risky proposition in  free agency this season, but the Seahawks were reaping the rewards of the small gamble on a one-year, $4 million deal. That is until he abruptly called it a career nine games into the season.

 

The Cowboys lost their first-round pick that year, LB Leighton Vander Esch, to a neck injury in October of last season; one of several he suffered in his short career. Vander Esch officially called it quits in March.

A few days earlier, the team had released Vander Esch and 2018 third-round WR Michael Gallup. After sustaining a torn ACL in 2021, the team waited and waited for Gallup to recover, but he never again attained the ability he had shown in his first few years in the league.

After signing as a free agent with the Las Vegas Raiders, Gallup also abruptly retired, but on the eve of reporting for training camp.

Now, all three of the club’s premiere picks are gone. No player who was part of the 2018 draft class remains with Dallas, with DE Dorance Armstrong leaving in free agency to join former DC Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders.

Another fourth-round pick, TE Dalton Schultz, left in free agency last year to join the Houston Texans and will return to AT&T Stadium on Monday Night in the Week 11 clash. WR Cedrick Wilson, who was with Williams in Miami for two seasons, is currently on the New Orleans Saints roster and played against the Cowboys in the Week 2 matchup.

Former top Cowboys draft pick needs breakout game in worst way to justify strong camp buzz

Jalen Tolbert got off to a slow start in 2024 but there’s reason to believe the Cowboys WR will break out

Jalen Tolbert won the Cowboys’ third receiver spot rather handily this summer. The former third-round pick has been a slow burn since joining the Cowboys in 2022. The South Alabama product logged just two receptions as a rookie and 22 as a second-year player. Year 3 is supposed to be his coming out party.

After cutting ties with the now-retired Michael Gallup over the offseason, targets are up for grabs in Dallas, pun intended. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Tolbert is in great position to gobble up the majority, even if Week 1 resulted in a rather slow start to the season.

Against the Browns, Tolbert logged just one reception; the same number of catches his primary competition for snaps, Jalen Brooks, pulled in. It’s not the type of inspiring debut many hoped for from the third-year pass catcher and gives credence to the idea the third receiver spot is destined to be a timeshare in Dallas this season.

While it’s true snaps will be divided somewhat between WR3-WR5, Tolbert’s standing as the true No. 3 is likely pretty solid. Even though the production wasn’t there, Tolbert still posted 42 snaps compared to Brooks who posted just 13.

Since the game was well in hand by halftime, it’s understandable Tolbert’s numbers were modest. Keep in mind, CeeDee Lamb only posted 61 yards receiving and Dak Prescott only threw for 179 yards. It just wasn’t an air-it-out kind of day in Cleveland.

An item working in Tolbert’s favor is the situation at tight end and how it threatens to impact the Cowboys different personnel groups. Jake Ferguson is nursing an MCL sprain which means he could miss time in coming weeks. Given the falloff in talent at TE after Ferguson, it’s likely Mike McCarthy will favor more WR-heavy personnel packages. 12 and 13 personnel (two and three TE packages) will probably see a decline while 11 and 21 will be more common.

The Cowboys have already stated their intention of having fullback Hunter Luepke take over much of Ferguson’s snaps. They also showed they’re happy to use blocking specialist Brevyn Spann-Ford to pick up the slack as well. It stands to reason with one fewer pass catching TE on the field, more opportunities downfield are coming Tolbert’s way.

There’s no reason to worry about Tolbert’s paltry impact in Week 1 because the situation didn’t dictate a big passing day for Dallas. Coming weeks will present better opportunities, and the idea Tolbert will build upon Gallup’s 34 receptions for 418 yards from 2023, remains perfectly reasonable.

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Tre Tucker: Raiders starting slot receiver is ‘my job to lose’

Tre Tucker: Raiders starting slot receiver is ‘my job to lose’

Tre Tucker’s time could be now.The 2023 third round pick came in as a slot receiver as a rookie on a team that already had a Pro Bowl slot receiver in Hunter Renfrow. Then they cut Renfrow and signed veteran Michael Gallup to compete at the spot. And the day before camp began, Gallup retired. Leaving the job in Tucker’s hands.

“It’s always going to be a competition,” said Tucker. “It’s my job to lose, you know. I’m going to take that approach, and whoever we bring in, and whoever we get, I’m just going to keep my head down and keep working.”

That approach has shown up on the field this offseason, even though he had a couple drops on Day two of camp. His teammates see the difference in him as well.

“So much better,” fellow receiver Jakobi Meyers said of Tucker. “I don’t think anybody worked harder this offseason. He had goals that he really focused on and he went and accomplished them. He catches the ball so much better.”

It’s saying a lot that Jakobi sees such a difference in Tucker from last season considering he had already been showing strides late in his rookie year. Particularly with his tracking, hands, and body control.

Along with continuing to work on his catching ability while putting on some strength. He came into the league as a speed guy, but has clearly taken big strides in his development. And it’s paying off as he has carved out a spot in this Las Vegas offense.

Cowboys contract ways look worse as Gallup retires same day Cooper gets raise

The Cowboys chose the cheaper of the two and the one more people seemed to get along with, but the decision once again rears it’s head. | From @KDDrummondNFL

 

Michael Gallup was a beloved member of the Cowboys’ organization, by most accounts Amari Cooper was not. Tuesday brought yet another reminder of how sometimes those things may not matter as much as a team wants to if their focus is solely placed on winning.

Gallup was revered as a good man, not just a player, and that’s the most important description anyone can strive for in life. Assuredly his Cowboys family is disappointed to hear that he has decided to retire from the NFL before ever playing a game for his new team, the Las Vegas Raiders.

No one is saying Cooper isn’t a good man, however he was not revered in the same manner. Cooper however is now set to play out his final year of the deal Dallas gave him then traded to the Cleveland Browns in 2022, but with a raise and new guarantees ahead of the new season.

Gallup was released this spring after he was unable to return to form following a 2021 knee injury. It was a tough decision at the time for Dallas, as Gallup’s relationship with Dak Prescott and many teammates was a sincere appreciation of the person, even as the player was no longer the contributor the team needed him to be.

Gallup was never able to live up to the promise of his 2019 campaign. The 2018 third-round pick seemed like a rising star in his second season, catching 66 targets for over 1,000 receiving yards as part of a receiving trio that totaled over 3,000 yards alongside Amari Cooper and Randall Cobb.

The club drafted CeeDee Lamb in 2020 after the Oklahoma star miraculously fell to them in the first round, moving Gallup down the pecking order, but still as a vital cog as he secured 59 catches for 843 yards. The following season Gallup was only able to play in nine games and his numbers plummeted, his season starting with a severe calf strain in Week 1 and ending with an ACL injury in Week 17.

Gallup returned in 2022, but was a shell of himself, unable to get much separation from defensive backs. The hope was that a year removed from the injury would see him return to form, but that didn’t occur with the former Colorado State star amassing 842 yards combined over the two years.

Dallas walked away from the five-year, $57.5 million contract they awarded him in Spring 2022 despite the injury. It was another head-scratching reward contract for a front-office favorite, an unwise decision similar to when the team had paid linebacker Jaylon Smith several years prior.

The Cowboys basically chose signing the cheaper Gallup rather than keeping Cooper, who was entering the third year of his extension after he rejuvenated the Dallas passing offense via a 2018 mid-year trade with those same Raiders.

Cooper has turned in back-to-back 1,100 and 1,200 receiving yard seasons with Cleveland despite their horrid quarterback situation through both campaigns.

And while moving on from Cooper allowed Lamb to evolve into one of the NFL’s top-five receivers, it’s an assumption his alpha ascension couldn’t have happened if he and Cooper still shared a locker room.

Perhaps the reasons the Cowboys’ front office soured on Cooper was something that was felt in the locker room as well, which would merit the decision to move on from the player despite missing his on-field play. Still, the financials of it all are a bit cringe worthy, especially coming out of an offseason where Dallas refused to spend on any free agent help or extend their remaining stars.

After Gallup’s release, which left $4.4 million of dead money on this year’s Cowboys cap and $8.7 million on 2025’s cap, he signed with the Raiders and seemed like an easy fit into their WR rotation.

Now he’s walking away from the game and leaving a whole in their depth charts.

Kolton Miller among five Raiders starting training camp on PUP list

Kolton Miller among five Raiders starting training camp on PUP list

The Raiders will begin training camp shorthanded along their offensive line. Tuesday evening the team announced they were placing five players on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list to begin camp. Three of whom are offensive linemen. Two are expected starters.

The five are:

LT Kolton Miller
G Jackson Powers-Johnson
G Jake Johanning
WR Jalen Guyton
LB Darien Butler

Expected to line up in place of Miller with the first team at left tackle is new addition Andrus Peat. Lining up with the first team at left guard figures to continue to be Cody Whitehair.

The team also announced the retirement of WR Michael Gallup. Along with Guyton not practicing, that puts the Raiders a tad thin at wide receiver, barring any moves to replace Gallup on the roster.

Raiders WR Michael Gallup retires ahead of training camp

Raiders WR Michael Gallup retires ahead of training camp

The Raiders wanted to add a veteran receiver this offseason, signing Michael Gallup to a one-year deal. Gallup is a former draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys, who was a long-time starter opposite of CeeDee Lamb.

However, injuries derailed his career after suffering a torn ACL and MCL at the end of the 2022 season. He wasn’t the same player in 2023 and now he is out of the game. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Raiders have placed Gallup on the reserved/retired list, meaning that he did not show up for camp.

The Raiders still have plenty of depth at wide receiver on the roster with Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Tre Tucker leading the pack. And with the Raiders expected to use multiple tight ends on most snaps, it was clear that Gallup wouldn’t have much of a role on the roster.

Gallup retires at the age of 28 with 3,744 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns. His best season came in 2019, playing 14 games while catching 66 passes for 1,107 and six touchdowns.

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Replacing Gallup isn’t as easy as it sounds for 2024 Cowboys

Replacing Gallup with Jalen Tolbert isn’t as simple as it sounds and may require the Cowboys to shake things up elsewhere, finds @ReidDHanson.

One of the sadder turns of event in recent years has been the injury-induced decline of Michael Gallup. The former third-round pick out of Colorado State struggled bouncing back from a 2021 ACL injury, eventually leading to his release this offseason and ultimately ushering in a new era in Dallas.

The Cowboys were prepared for this in many ways. Just two years ago they added Jalen Tolbert as a third-round pick. The South Alabama product came with a promising natural skillset that led many to believe at the time he was a steal for Dallas.

Adapting to the NFL proved difficult in Year 1, but after solid strides in Year 2, Tolbert appears primed to breakout in his third NFL season. As such, Tolbert seems like the obvious answer to the replacement question, but a deeper look shows it’s not as simple as just replacing Gallup with Tolbert in the top three. Adjustments to the different roles across the position group may also be required.

Despite the paltry receiving numbers, Gallup served a vital role in Dallas the past two seasons. His presence on the outside allowed the Cowboys’ true star receiver, CeeDee Lamb, to move inside and play out of the slot more often.

The slot position has become arguably the top playmaking position in the league in recent years. Without the sideline hindering release directions, route-runners are given a full 180-degrees worth of options up field. It makes the position increasingly difficult to cover and since most of the NFL’s top cornerbacks only play outside, it often produces favorable matchups against lower-rated covermen.

It’s not that Tolbert doesn’t appear equipped to play outside, it’s that he’s probably better suited for Brandin Cook’s spot. It’s Gallup who played most of the X snaps and Cooks who typically takes most of the Z snaps. The difference is small but significant.

Either position can line up on either side and run any route, but it’s the Z receiver who lines up off the line of scrimmage while the X lines up on the line.

This distinction means the X is situated to face closer positioned press coverage while the Z gets space to work with before a defensive back can get hands on him. It’s why strong and big bodied WRs typically play X while their leaner and quicker counterparts play Z.

At 6-foot-1, 195-pounds, Tolbert is physically comparable to the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Gallup. It’s not the ideal build for the position, but as Gallup showed, it’s enough to get the job done. But size alone won’t guarantee success. A strong upper body, quick feet and polished technique are also needed to consistently beat press. Given Tolbert’s small body of work in the NFL, it’s hard to say if he’s ready for such a role.

Cooks’ 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame isn’t a viable option. Neither is KaVontae Turpin at 5-foot-9, 153-pounds. From a traits perspective the rookie Ryan Flournoy is the best suited to play X. At 6-foot-1, 202-pounds and blessed with speed, strength and explosiveness, Flourney is the ideal X in the NFL. The only problem there is he’s making the jump from Southeast Missouri where he ran a very simplistic route tree and played against some pretty suspect competition. He’s not a likely solution in 2024.

There just isn’t an ideal candidate to take over at the X position on the roster. If Tolbert can do it, he’s the ideal solution. But until he shows it in training camp and the preseason no one can be sure. In all likelihood, Lamb will see more snaps at the X in 2024. He’s shown he’s up to the task and typically plays the X in 12 and 21 personnel groups already.

The Cowboys have much to sort out in training camp and it all starts with finding out who can play the X.

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Raiders sign former Chargers WR Jalen Guyton

Raiders sign former Chargers WR Jalen Guyton

Raiders GM Tom Telesco has brought a familiar face onboard in Las Vegas. Jalen Guyton, who played with the Chargers the past five seasons has been signed on in Las Vegas.

After not taking a wide receiver in last month’s draft, the Raiders have now signed two free agent wide receivers in the past week. Last Week they added former Cowboys WR Michael Gallup.

Adding some wide receiver help was crucial as they were woefully thin at the position. They had starters Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers along with second year man Tre Tucker and not a whole lot else. Giving both Guyton and Gallop a decent chance of cracking the roster.

Guyton’s best seasons came in 2020-21 when he put up a combined 59 catches for 959 yards and six touchdowns with 11 starts.

The last two seasons, however, he’s had just 12 combined catches for 153 yards and one touchdown. So, obviously, he will be hoping to revive his career with in Las Vegas.