In even the craziest of possible scenarios, there’s not a person closely connected to the NFL who would believe that the Dallas Cowboys might make a play for Kirk Cousins in free agency next month.
That’s until we realize who is actually running the Cowboys. Sure VP Stephen Jones has some say about what happens with the franchise. But it’s still owner Jerry Jones who has final say.
It’s in this that Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams, who covered the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for years, believes that America’s Team might actually enter the Cousins’ sweepstakes.
“We’ve seen it so many times with his intrigue with quarterbacks. We saw it back with Johnny Manziel. He just gets in his head some of these quarterbacks that he falls in love with,” Williams noted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a little love there for Kirk Cousins and is thinking about those down-the-field throws.
Despite some struggles last season, Dak Prescott is still viewed as a franchise quarterback for the Cowboys. He’s under a rookie contract and under team control for a total of just $1.5 million over the next two seasons.
That would likely be the major factor preventing Dallas from actually being able to land Cousins. The team is just $20 million under the cap and will soon place the franchise tag on defensive end Demarcus Lawrence. There’s no real possibility that Dallas could contend financially with a Jets team that’s reportedly willing to offer Cousins $60 million in Year 1 and has kept open the possibility of giving him a fully-guaranteed contract.
If the Cowboys were to somehow land Cousins, it would set into motion a trickle-down effect unlike anything we’ve seen in recent league history. First off, Dak Prescott would then immediately be placed on the trade block. Quarterback-needy teams, in turn, would likely look to that route instead of investing a first-round pick on a signal caller.
This might not be anything more than a pipe dream. Though, it’s still rather interesting to look at.