Defensive end Dante Fowler agreed to return to the Cowboys this month and the veteran’s first meeting with the media since signing his contract included discussion about his spike in production after leaving Dallas for Washington last year.
Fowler had 10.5 sacks for the Commanders after picking up 10 over two seasons with the Cowboys. Fowler played in Dan Quinn’s defense all three seasons and he explained why he felt he was able to turn things up a notch in Washington and why he thinks this can be his new normal.
“I feel like I got the most reps I got in a long time. . . . I feel like that played a role in it, I had a really good offseason, taking care of my body, working out, stuff like that, so I felt really confident going into the season,” Fowler said, via the Cowboys website. “I already knew what kind of work I was going to put out because I put the work in in the offseason, so I was very confident in what I was going to do this season. I’m just going to take the same formula here in Dallas, we have better resources down here too, so I’m excited to see where it’s going to go. I don’t know why, maybe I was a late bloomer or something, but I definitely started to click and make sense last year, I don’t see why it would just stop right now.”
The change in defensive schemes would be one reason to think Fowler could fail to repeat his 2024 success, but he called himself “a hybrid that can adjust to anything” defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus wants to do and the Cowboys would welcome that kind of productivity in Fowler’s return to the team.
Wide receiver Michael Gallup’s NFL return will come in Washington.
The Commanders announced that they have signed Gallup on Thursday. He visited with the team earlier this month.
Gallup retired after spending the offseason with the Raiders last year and was released from their reserve/retired list when he moved to return this year. He last played for the Cowboys in 2023. Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator in Dallas that season.
Gallup had 34 catches for 418 yards and two touchdowns that season. The 2018 third-round pick had 266 catches for 3,744 yards and 21 touchdowns over 86 games for the Cowboys.
The Commanders have also traded for Deebo Samuel and re-signed Noah Brown this offseason. Terry McLaurin and Luke McCaffrey are other leading names in the receiving corps for Washington.
NFL business keeps booming. And the latest evidence of the ongoing spike in franchise value comes from the latest sale of a non-NFL team.
Via Shams Charania of ESPN.com, Bill Chisolm will buy the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion.
That beats the highest price ever paid for an NFL franchise by $50 million. In 2023, a group led by Josh Harris bought the Commanders for $6.05 billion.
No NFL team is currently for sale. After seeing the price tag for the Celtics, some owners might consider taking the money and running.
Several years ago, we were told that, sooner than later, the average NFL team would be worth $8 billion to $10 billion. We seem to be there.
And imagine what a team like the Cowboys would fetch on the open market. $15 billion? $20 billion? More?
It doesn’t matter because the Cowboys aren’t for sale. Even if most Cowboys fans wish they were.
With other high-profile non-quarterbacks getting new contracts in recent weeks, Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons is still waiting for his second deal. More specifically, Parsons is still waiting for the talks to get off the ground.
On Tuesday night, conflicting reports emerged as to where things stand.
It all started, as best we can tell, when someone named Ernie The Cowboys Fan claimed that the Cowboys and Parsons are “closing in on a 5 year, $200M contract extension.” Later, Mike Leslie of WFAA reported that the Cowboys and Parsons have held discussions about a long-term extension. Leslie also reported that owner Jerry Jones “called Parsons to The Star on Tuesday” to discuss a possible deal.
Jane Slater of NFL Network, the outlet owned and operated by the league and influenced significantly by the Cowboys, reported that nothing is close and that “meaningful talks haven’t even begun yet.” Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of All City DLLS got the same information from the team.
It’s possible to harmonize the various reports like this: Talks have begun, but they’re not “meaningful” (whatever “meaningful” means). And here’s the basic reality, as demonstrated by the recent contracts signed by Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby and Texans cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr.: These contracts can be done quickly, if the two sides are motivated to get them done.
As reported in the aftermath of the Crosby deal, it all came together in a few hours. And the Stingley deal was accomplished less than three months after the window first opened on the Texans’ ability to sign him to a second contract.
By the way, Stingley and Parsons are represented by the same agent — David Mulugheta of Athletes First. As the Stingley deal shows, Mulugheta can be trusted to not take advantage of a desire by the team to get a fair deal done quickly.
It would not be difficult to do a deal for Parsons. A deal in principle could be done in an hour or less. Given that the Ja’Marr Chase contract set a new non-quarterback bar at $40.25 million per year ($250,000 per year higher than the Myles Garrett average of $40 million), the Cowboys and Parsons could do a four-year extension that pays $40.5 million per year in new money.
That’s $162 million. Throw in the $24 million that Parsons is due to make this year, and it’s a five-year, $186 million deal.
The structure would entail fully guaranteeing the first two years, flipping the third year from injury-only to full guarantee in March 2026, and perhaps flipping the fourth year from injury only to full guarantee in March 2027.
To encourage Parsons to show up for the offseason program, the deal would also include significant salary de-escalators ($1 million per year) if he fails to participate. (The Cowboys use those in lieu of workout bonuses.)
That’s it. There’s the outline. If the Cowboys actually want to do it, they should call Mulugheta right now, work out the cash flow and the guarantees, and get it done.
The longer things linger without a deal for Parsons, the more obvious it is that Parsons and his agent aren’t the impediment. Especially given the team’s history of inexplicably dragging its feet until the last possible minute, even if it results in the player holding out and not being as ready as he needs to be for the first year of the new deal.
And if it keeps the team from realizing cap savings that would allow other players to be signed.
On Friday, the Cowboys reportedly “made a push” for Cooper Kupp before an update only a few hours later that the team was not the likely landing spot for the veteran wide receiver. Kupp instead agreed to a three-year, $45 million deal with the Seahawks later Friday night.
Adam Schefter of ESPN today provided more detail to his back-to-back reports about the Cowboys’ overture to Kupp that ultimately led to nothing.
“Last Thursday, the Cowboys reached out about Cooper Kupp and they were interested,” Schefter said on his podcast, via Clarence Hill of All City DLLS. “Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, who I understand it, were on the phone with Cooper Kupp talking to him about the idea of coming to Dallas, and it was floated out there. And then the Cowboys heard the numbers, and they were at numbers that the Cowboys weren’t going to get to.”
The Cowboys have not spent big money on a free agent since giving cornerback Brandon Carr a five-year, $50.1 million deal in 2012. They weren’t going to spend it on a No. 2 wide receiver after signing Lamb to a four-year, $136 million deal last summer.
Kupp went where the money was, leaving the Cowboys with Parris Campbell as their only outside free agent addition at the position.
