In the early goings of this year’s free agency, the Dallas Cowboys have seen their offense lose two key pieces – RB Tony Pollard is now with the Tennessee Titans and C Tyler Biadasz is with the Washington Commanders. LT Tyron Smith remains on the market so his future is in play.
The Cowboys need think about adding starters and depth on offense with needs at tackle, center, and running back through what’s left of free agency or the draft. They could also look at wide receivers.
The draft may be strong at these positions of need for Dallas, but it would still be unlike this front office to completely sit out free agency and not use it to at least try to address roster holes with players in their price range. Here are 10 names still on the market that could interest them.
WR Curtis Samuel
With the rival Commanders now led by former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn already landing three of Dallas’ free agents, it only seems fitting the Cowboys may move to add a player that spent the last three seasons with Washington.
Samuel had his best game of the 2023 season on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys, with season highs in targets (12), receptions (9), and his only 100-yard receiving game of the season. Despite all of the dysfunction surrounding the Commanders, Samuel is a proven steady contributor that rose above the turmoil to remain a playmaker in his seventh season.
Capable of lining up in the slot, the Cowboys are already being linked to other slot players like the recently cut Hunter Renfrow, to allow CeeDee Lamb to remain an outside ‘X’ receiver across from Brandin Cooks. Samuel can also line up in the backfield and give the Cowboys more of the overall speed they’re missing throughout the offense to stretch defenses more.
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
A 2018 draft pick of the Green Bay Packers under Mike McCarthy (his final year in GB), Valdes-Scantling was a member of this year’s Chiefs Super Bowl team. In what was supposed to be a down year for Kansas City’s receivers, savvy veterans like Valdes-Scantling made timely plays to keep this team in contention.
Valdes-Scantling had the game-sealing catch downfield in the AFC Championship game at the Ravens, but only caught a total of 21 passes for 315 yards and one touchdown in the regular season. Any interest that may come from the Cowboys at this point in MVS’s career likely says more about the Cowboys price range for any free agents and type of players they covet before turning their full attention to the draft, rather than being a receiver that moves the needle much in this crucial year for Prescott and McCarthy.
WR Tyler Boyd
The other side of the coin when it comes to bargain shopping for a player like Valdes-Scantling, Bengals WR Tyler Boyd is one of the best names still available. Coming off of a career low in yards, the Bengals pass offense as a whole of course took a hit with Joe Burrow’s injury this season.
Boyd has thrived as a third option behind Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and could step into a similar situation behind Lamb and Cooks with the Cowboys. Signing Boyd would change the narrative for the Cowboys at receiver heading into the draft, where a top 100 pick makes sense without him to add more young talent and playmaking ability, but finding a price tag that works for Boyd prior to April should allow the Cowboys to focus on other draft needs.
WR Calvin Ridley
Another player that will likely cost more than the Cowboys are willing to dish out in free agency, Calvin Ridley could be one and done with the Jaguars after they signed Gabe Davis. Coming off a career high in targets, Ridley is a player that can command touches the Cowboys already have allocated at the top of the WR depth chart, but also coexist in a pass offense that spread the ball around plenty when at its best for Dallas in 2023.
Much like a trio of Lamb, Cooks, and Tyler Boyd would give the Cowboys some security at the position, replacing Boyd with Ridley is a step further when it comes to big play ability and presenting new looks to defenses that this offense can build off of in 2024. Ridley’s run after the catch ability would fit in well here, as well as his flexibility to line up at multiple positions.
iOL Connor Williams
The former Cowboys left guard may not have exactly left Dallas on the best terms, as the team believed they could find a more physical downhill blocker that drew less penalty flags. Williams has only had six holding penalties combined in the last two seasons though, as a change of position in the Mike McDaniel Dolphins offense has served him well. McDaniel being one of the faces for the success of West Coast concepts in today’s NFL, there is some connective tissue to how the Cowboys want to play on offense under McCarthy that could help Williams find his way back to Dallas.
The Cowboys should do whatever it takes to keep the duo of Tyler Smith and Zack Martin at guard, even if it means leaving left tackle unaddressed until the draft with only Asim Richards, Josh Ball and Matt Waletzko as in-house options. This duo may be good enough to hide any deficiencies at center, where Williams is still a player they’re familiar with to start over developing backup option Brock Hoffman.
C Evan Brown
One of the few true centers still available in free agency, Evan Brown came into the league in 2019 but hasn’t gotten his chance to play until recently in 2021 with the Lions. After two seasons there, Brown started 16 games for the Seahawks last year. An offense known for wanting to run the ball between the tackles and get a push downfield, Brown is a UDFA out of SMU that the Cowboys surely did their homework on as a local prospect at one point.
At bare minimum, the Cowboys need to bring in competition and depth behind Brock Hoffman in their search for a new starting center. Better in pass protection than as a run blocker, the Cowboys already have Smith and Martin to lean on in the run game inside. If Brown can help keep the front of the pocket clean for Prescott while also serving as a swing backup guard, this has all the makings of a late in free agency signing the Cowboys may consider.
OT Tyron Smith
As Smith remains on the open market, it’s impossible not to include the Cowboys own internal free agent as one of the best remaining players. Other tackle needy teams may be looking to a draft class full of starting level talent as opposed to the aging Smith, but only Dallas knows intimately the level of play they got from Smith last season. Finding a way to retain Smith would allow the Cowboys to hone in on the center position in the draft, where they’ll also have strong options, and attempt to reassert themselves as one of the best offensive lines in the league.
Any real talks of the Cowboys being a championship team in 2024 requires the right mix of experienced veterans nearing the end of their career with the urgency to perform in big games. With only so many players that fit this bill available at the level of free agency the Cowboys want to operate in, and their stark inactivity elsewhere, talks of re-signing Tyron Smith should absolutely be taking place within The Star.
OT Trent Brown
Battling through an injury-riddled 2023 season, Trent Brown is a veteran left tackle option on the market after starting eight games for the Patriots. Brown’s last full season was 2018 in his first stint with the Patriots, as the 2015 seventh-round pick has also spent time with the Raiders and 49ers.
This year’s free agency has been slow for tackles in general, which makes it hard for any team to jump at signing Brown given the injury history. The Cowboys are no stranger to gambling on health at this position though, doing exactly that with Tyron Smith this past season and seeing him stay healthy for 13 games. Their in-house options at tackle have next to no experience compared to Brown’s 93 career starts.
RB A.J. Dillon
The only outside player with any real links to the Cowboys so far in free agency, A.J. Dillon found himself as part of an exodus at RB in Green Bay. After Aaron Jones ran all over the Cowboys in the Wild Card round, the Packers moved on from both him and Dillon to sign Josh Jacobs.
Dillon would give the Cowboys the physicality between the tackles they need, and though far from a lead back at any point in his career, he has the draft pedigree as a former second round pick. Reports of him being misused in the Packers offense could mean a change of scenery is best for Dillon, and he’ll find few teams in the free agency market that have the bulk of potential carries available to extend his career at just 25 years old than the Cowboys do.
RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire
The highest drafted running back on the current Cowboys roster is last year’s sixth-round selection Deuce Vaughn, who’s hardly ready for any kind of full-time role in a backfield that only has Malik Davis and Hunter Luepke under contract behind him. Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a former first-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, their lead running back in 2020 and 2021 before seeing his usage drop as the Chiefs have turned to Isiah Pacheco. Pacheco’s style gives the Chiefs more balance and physicality to pair with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes’ air attack, which is something the Cowboys may also be looking for in their ground game, but Edwards-Helaire will be just 25 years old when the season begins with 441 career carries at 4.2 YPA and 89 receptions.
A versatile back that may remind Cowboys fans of the best of Tony Pollard should the Cowboys actually improve their offensive line and get better push up front, the Cowboys could look to bring back Rico Dowdle to pair with Edwards-Helaire and make RB slightly less of a draft need. With CEH still on the market, the number of teams looking to pay him to be anything close to a first option out of the backfield is likely thin, meaning the Cowboys can do what they so often do in free agency and offer their own bargain price.