Tis the season for roster cuts. Whether a team is flush with cap space or over the allowed limits, the early part of the offseason is fat trimming time. Sometimes the names are surprising, other times the names are quite obvious. For the Cowboys, it’s the latter category.
Michael Gallup, named the Cowboys player most likely to be cut this offseason by The Athletic, is coming off his third consecutive season with less than 40 receptions and less than 500 yards. Slated to count $13,850,000 against the salary cap in 2024, his compensation has seemingly far surpassed his production.
The Cowboys can save $9,500,000 by designating Gallup a post June-1 cut per OTC. Given the Cowboys currently sit $21,570,700 over the cap, it provides instant relief to the bottom line. When packaged with a handful of other extensions and restructurings, it’s money that can be used to upgrade the elsewhere on the roster.
Since suffering a knee injury in Week 17 of the 2021 season, Gallup has struggled to regain form. Gallup had long held an identity as a downfield sideline weapon and contested ball wizard, but the injury seemingly robbed him of that ability. Since 2019, Gallup’s yardage totals have consistently declined year over year, making his release a fairly predictable action this offseason.
Gallup, drafted in the third round of the 2018 draft, was handed a near-impossible job from the start. The Cowboys, having just moved on from Dez Bryant, were suddenly employing a WR-by-committee approach to their offense that season. And much of that committee weight fell on the shoulders of their rookie receiver from Colorado State.
Like most mid-round WRs, Gallup struggled with consistency his rookie season. While he managed 33 receptions for 507 yards over the course of the year, it was clear by the trade deadline the committee approach wasn’t working in Dallas. The Cowboys shipped off a first-round pick for Amari Cooper and Gallup was relieved of much of the burden which not long before had been irresponsibly bestowed on him.
As WR2 Gallup thrived. In 2019 he logged his only +1,000-yard season of his career. He served as an excellent complement to Cooper and could work from a variety of places including the ultra-physical X position.
Michael Gallup. What a catch pic.twitter.com/Abo7n7zb6A
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 3, 2021
The good times didn’t last for Gallup. Dallas drafted CeeDee Lamb in 2020, bumping Gallup down to WR3 and reducing his overall opportunities. Then a season-ending injury to Dak Prescott took a slice out of those opportunities even more as the Cowboys prolific passing attack got shelved with Prescott sidelined.
2023 served as a final chance for Gallup to prove he’d rebounded from that knee injury that had plagued him for so long. Sadly, it only reaffirmed what the Cowboys had already feared.
With younger players on the roster eager to develop bigger roles in Dallas, Gallup has become a high-priced progress stopper. His departure this offseason – a forgone conclusion.
With very few significantly sized long-term deals on the books, there aren’t any other obvious cuts this offseason. Gallup is the obvious choice here for reasons outside of his control. He was once a very good player with a handful of jaw-dropping highlight catches. He should always be remembered fondly even if things seem destined to end poorly.
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