The Cowboys are about to make a big financial splash, but it’s going to be on players they already have. CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons are due new deals that should reset their respective positional markets. Dak Prescott holds all the leverage in his negotiations with the Cowboys, as the quarterback is entering the final year of his deal and cannot be franchised before the 2025 campaign. Those three players have combined to make just under $48 million per year on their current deals; their new contracts could add up to $135 million per season.
The only way to make that work is to cut back elsewhere, which is why the Cowboys have let a handful of starters leave this offseason without replacements. They are going to need to draft well and draft often to thrive with such a top-heavy roster, so moving down and adding two extra picks is logical. Pick No. 159 was originally theirs, but they traded it away last year to use a sixth-rounder on Eric Scott, a safety who spent all of 2023 as a healthy scratch and turns 26 before the start of the season.
The defending champs moved up from No. 29 to No. 22 two years ago, when they sent two picks to the Patriots and landed cornerback Trent McDuffie. The Chiefs were flush with selections then by virtue of the Tyreek Hill trade, which isn’t the case any longer. This would be a move up to address a critical position: left tackle, where Donovan Smith is a free agent and Wanya Morris didn’t impress as a rookie. Jumping the Packers and Ravens makes sense if there’s somebody Kansas City trusts to protect Patrick Mahomes’s blindside.
