The asking price is known. The outcome isn’t.
Where will defensive end Maxx Crosby play next?
DraftKings has the Bears as the +200 favorites to secure his services via trade with the Raiders. Staying put with the Raiders is a +350 proposition.
Five teams are clustered at +700: the Rams (Fuck Them Picks, Part Two), Cowboys, Bills, Ravens, and Eagles.
The Patriots land at +1000, with the Lions and Buccaneers at +1200.
The Raiders, as PFT reported last week, want two first-round picks and a player for Crosby. Crosby, as Jay Glazer said during Super Bowl week, is “done” with the Raiders.
Whether this saga is done remains to be seen. Although no trades can become official until next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. ET, teams can reach tentative agreements now.
Everyone agrees that Cowboys restricted free agent Brandon Aubrey will re-set the market for kickers this offseason, but the sides may not be close on the dollar amounts.
Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said the Cowboys love having Aubrey on the team and are ready to make him the highest-paid player at his position in the league.
“We want to make him the highest-paid player,” Jones said. “We think he’s outstanding. Love his story, love the fact that the story is with the Cowboys. We feel good that what we are talking about is an appreciation of what he can do for us. That’s a way of, not trying to negotiate with anything that I might say here, but we’ve got a good offer on the table for him.”
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker currently has the highest annual average of any kicker at $6.4 million. The Cowboys reportedly offered Aubrey a long-term deal with an average salary of close to $7.5 million, but Aubrey reportedly wants close to $10 million a season.
The Cowboys are planning to put a second-round tender on Aubrey, which means that any team that signed Aubrey away from the Cowboys in free agency would have to give the Cowboys a second-round draft pick. It also means Aubrey would have a one-year, $5.8 million contract on offer that he could sign with the Cowboys if he chose to do so. But Aubrey’s sights are set on making a lot more than $5.8 million, from the Cowboys or from someone else.
Donovan Ezeiruaku is set for a key role at linebacker for the Cowboys as they transition to a 3-4 base look under new coordinator Christian Parker, but he’ll have some rehab work to do before he’ll be able to get on the field.
According to multiple reports, Ezeiruaku had hip surgery to repair a labrum injury. Ezeiruaku could be out until training camp as he recovers from the injury.
Ezeiruaku was a second-round pick last year and he started nine of his 17 appearances as a rookie. He had 40 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in those appearances.
The Cowboys are moving Marist Liufau to outside linebacker this offseason, but will need to add other bodies at the position with Jadeveon Clowney, Dante Fowler, and Sam Williams set for free agency.
The franchise tag sucks.
A product of the 1993 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the franchise tag gives each team the ability to squat on one unrestricted free agent per year. It keeps him from getting to the open market. From getting fair value on a multi-year deal. From pushing the bar at his position higher, which will help the other players at the same position.
The owners love it. They’ll never let it go. And while it only affects a limited number of players every year, all of them should hate it.
There’s a very specific reason to hate it. For several positions, the franchise tenders don’t come close to reflecting market value.
Case in point: Cowboys receiver George Pickens. He’ll make $27.298 million under the franchise tag at his position. The top of the market, however, is $40 million per year.
There’s a similar discrepancy at the multiple other positions.
At quarterback, the tag costs $43.895 million. The top of the market is $60 million.
At running back, the tag has been set at $14.293 million. The top of the market is $20.6 million.
At defensive end, the tag is $24.34 million. The top of the market is nearly twice that, at $46.5 million.
At cornerback, the tag is $21.6 million. The top of the market is $30.1 million.
For other positions, the gap isn’t quite as big.
At tight end, the tag is $15 million. The top of the market is $19.15 million.
For offensive lineman, the tag is $25.773 million. The top of the market is $28.5 million.
For defensive tackles, the tag is $27.127 million. The top of the market is $31.75 million.
At safety, the tag is $20.149 million. The top of the market is $25.1 million.
Linebacker is an odd position. The tag is $26.865 million, but the top of the market is $21 million. (That’s the result of some players who are more accurately described as edge rushers landing in the linebacker category, for tag purposes.)
For kickers and punters, the $6.649 million tag exceeds the market. The top of the market for kickers is currently at $6.4 million; for punters, it’s at $4 million.
At the positions where the tag lags behind the top of the market, it becomes a no-brainer for teams to use it. Where the tag approaches the market, it’s a closer call. When the tag outpaces the market, it’s a no-brainer to not use it.
Case in point: Because all offensive linemen land in the same bucket, the Ravens weren’t going to tag center Tyler Linderbaum. The top of the market at center is $18 million, more than $7 million below the tag amount.
The formula for determining the tag changed in the 2011 CBA. (It’s based on the cap percentage consumed by the franchise tag at the position on a five-year rolling average.) For the next CBA, here’s hoping that the union pushes for a revised calculation that results in a smaller gap between the tag and the top of the market, for all positions.
Before the Cowboys can “bust the budget,” they’ll need to balance the books. And there’s an easy way to do it.
Contained in almost every multi-year veteran contract is a clause that gives the team the ability to perform an automatic restructuring, converting the current year’s compensation package into a bonus, with the cap charge spread over multiple years.
Via Todd Archer of ESPN.com, the Cowboys will create $66 million in 2026 cap space by performing an automatic restructuring of quarterback Dak Prescott’s, receiver CeeDee Lamb’s, and guard Tyler Smith’s contracts.
The money doesn’t disappear. It moves to future cap years, where the $66 million in cap dollars will have a smaller relative impact, given that the salary cap increases each and every year.
It’s how most teams create spending money for the upcoming effort to sign new players. It’s a Band-Aid that gets applied annually. For many players, it leads to a significant cap hit once the player is traded or released, or when he retires.
Regardless, that’s how it’s done. Most if not every team does it. It’s one of the realities of opting not to pay as you go, absorbing lower cap numbers in the early years of the deal.
The Cowboys won’t have that luxury with receiver George Pickens unless his franchise tender is replaced with a long-term deal. Until then, he’ll count for $27.298 million against the 2028 cap — a huge increase over his $3.65 million salary and cap number in 2025.
Regardless, the Cowboys need cap space if they’re going to spend in free agency. The Prescott, Lamb, and Smith restructurings are the easiest way to create plenty of it.
