Abnormal year of running back success has brought more heat to the Cowboys approach to free agency
Running back has been a complicated position for the Cowboys in recent years.
The offseason for the Dallas Cowboys is often filled with frustration for fans because of the way they go about building their roster. The front office’s approach consists of the following strategies:
- Selectively decide which of their free agents to keep
- Make low-cost investments in outside free agents
- Put a lot of emphasis on the upcoming draft
Rinse and repeat every year. This is the way.
One part that people take particular issue with is their lack of involvement in free agency. The Cowboys don’t like to splash around in free agency. While other teams spend away like a Storage Wars auction, the Cowboys sit back and wait, and eventually sift through the bargain bins. Here is the free agent spending distribution for the 2024 season.
| FREE AGENT SPENDING | # OF TEAMS |
| Over 200 million | 3 |
| 100-200 million | 13 |
| 50-100 million | 12 |
| 20-50 million | 3 |
| Less than 20 million | 1 |
It should surprise no one that the one team who spent less than $20 million in free agency is the Cowboys. In fact, Dallas hasn’t allocated over $50 million to free agency since 2016 when they barely eclipsed it at $53.8 million. And you’d have to go back to 2012 to see them do it again when they spent $84 million in free agency with the most notable expenditure being the Brandon Carr signing.
Many view the Cowboys' scarce free agent spending as a lack of trying, or some inability to take roster building seriously. But that’s not the case. The Cowboys front office just views free agency as a roster-building pitfall. Stephen Jones has repeatedly said that free agency is not a good way to get a good return on your investment. And he’s right. Statistically, it’s a losing proposition, but that doesn’t stop teams from taking shots each year as they look for those prize purchases.
This perception is something we deal with every year when the Cowboys aren’t players in the free-agent market and they get criticized for it. But this past season, the criticism has come with greater force. A big reason is the success of the free-agent running backs combined with the Cowboys' struggles in the running game. The team lacked talent in this area while many other teams strengthened their rushing attack with free-agent purchases.
But there is something about this that needs to be understood. The success of the recent free-agent running backs is not the norm. To gain a better sense of this, let’s run through the key position groups and examine how well the top players performed relative to their contract, starting with the group responsible for creating this mess.
RUNNING BACKS
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Saquon Barkley | Eagles | three years, $37.8 million | exceeded expectations |
| Josh Jacobs | Packers | four years, $48 million | exceeded expectations |
| D'Andre Swift | Bears | three years, $24 million | below expectations |
| Derrick Henry | Ravens | two years, $16 million | exceeded expectations |
| Tony Pollard | Titans | three years, $21 million | met expectations |
| Aaron Jones | Vikings | one year, $7 million | met expectations |
| Devin Singletary | Giants | three years, $16.5 million | below expectations |
| Austin Ekeler | Commanders | two years, $8.3 million | below expectations |
This past year consisted of a great free-agent running back group, but you won’t find such a rich arrangement of talent like this every year. For example, the 2025 free agent RBs consist essentially of Aaron Jones and Najee Harris and nobody else (unless you count the injury risk of Nick Chubb). And if you look at the 2023 group, you had whiff after whiff with Dalvin Cook, Miles Sanders, Jamaal Williams, Samaje Perine, and Alexander Mattison. Yucky. Only one of the top free-agent running backs had a good season in 2023 and that was David Montgomery.
Oddly enough, there’s a common denominator with Montgomery and the RBs who were successful this past season as they all are good players who entered great situations. The Lions, Eagles, and Ravens all have great offensive lines and effective run-game coaches. They were capable of maximizing their investments.
Not only was this past year’s running back group an aberration, but it was also very different from other positions in general. Let’s continue to take a look.
QUARTERBACKS
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Kirk Cousins | Falcons | four years, $180 million | below expectations |
| Gardner Minshew | Raiders | two years, $25 million | below expectations |
| Sam Darnold | Vikings | one year, $10 million | exceeded expectations |
| Jacoby Brissett | Patriots | one year, $8 million | below expectations |
| Tyrod Taylor | Jets | two years, $12 million | below expectations |
| Marcus Mariota | Commanders | one year, $6 million | below expectations |
| Drew Lock | Giants | one year, $5 million | below expectations |
| Joe Flacco | Colts | one year, $4.5 million | exceeded expectations |
We wouldn’t read too much into this group as quarterback is tricky. The Falcons invested a lot of money in Kirk Cousins only to see him benched in favor of first-round rookie Michael Penix. Sam Darnold surprised everyone when he was asked to step in for the injured first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy. And while a couple of these guys played okay, they played so little that they just served as insurance policies. They didn’t provide a good return, but still served their purpose.
WIDE RECEIVERS
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Calvin Ridley | Titans | four years, $92 million | met expectations |
| Gabe Davis | Jaguars | three years, $39 million | below expectations |
| Darnell Mooney | Falcons | three years, $39 million | exceeded expectations |
| Mike Williams | Jets | one year, $10 million | below expectations |
| Curtis Samuel | Bills | three years, $24 million | below expectations |
| Marquise Brown | Chiefs | one year, $7 million | injury |
| Kendrick Bourne | Patriots | three years, $19.5 million | below expectations |
| Josh Reynolds | Broncos | two years, $9 million | below expectations |
Wide receiver was discussed a lot as the Cowboys continued to lack support behind CeeDee Lamb. However, there was a lot of money thrown away in free agency. The Falcons Darnell Mooney was the only receiver on this list who outplayed his contract, but as you can see, many other teams got a poor return on their investment.
OFFENSIVE LINE
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Robert Hunt | Panthers | five years, $100 million | met expectations |
| Jonah Jackson | Rams | three years, $51 million | below expectations + injury |
| Jonah Williams | Cardinals | two years, $30 million | below expectations |
| Damien Lewis | Panthers | four years, $53 million | exceeded expectations |
| Lloyd Cushenberry | Titans | four years, $50 million | below expectations |
| Jon Runyan | Giants | three years, $30 million | below expectations |
| Tyler Biadasz | Commanders | three years, $29 million | met expectations |
| Jermaine Eluemunor | Giants | two years, $14 million | below expectations |
A lot of money was spent along the offensive line and many buyers were disappointed. Tyler Biadasz had a solid season but was on a short list of investments that panned out.
DEFENSIVE LINE
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Christian Wilkins | Raiders | four years, $110 million | below expectations + injury |
| Danielle Hunter | Texans | two years, $49 million | exceeded expectations |
| Jonathan Greenard | Vikings | four years, $76 million | exceeded expectations |
| Bryce Huff | Eagles | three years, $51 million | below expectations |
| Arik Armstead | Jaguars | three years, $44 million | below expectations |
| Chase Young | Saints | one year, $13 million | below expectations |
| Sheldon Rankins | Bengals | two years, $25 million | below expectations |
| Dorance Armstrong | Commanders | three years, $33 million | below expectations |
Like the offensive line, far too many free agents came with a huge price tag and didn’t deliver relative to their cost. A couple of players, Danielle Hunter and Jonathan Greenard, worked out, ironically for the team the other one left from. This group features different levels of disappointment, from a decent season from Washington’s Dorance Armstrong to a complete dud in Philadelphia’s Bryce Huff.
LINEBACKERS
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Patrick Queen | Steelers | three years, $41 million | met expectations |
| Azeez Al-Shaair | Texans | three years, $34 million | below expectations |
| Frankie Luvu | Commanders | three years, $31 million | exceeded expectations |
| Jordyn Brooks | Dolphins | three years, $26 million | below expectations |
| Kenneth Murray | Titans | two years, $16 million | below expectations |
| Blake Cashman | Vikings | three years, $23 million | below expectations |
| Jerome Baker | Seahawks | one year, $7 million | below expectations + injury |
| Bobby Wagner | Commanders | one year, $6.5 million | exceeded expectations |
Cowboys fans have complained often about missing out on Bobby Wagner, and he had a great year for the Commanders. Washington shows up quite a bit on the “hit” list for free agents which only frustrates Cowboys fans even more. Every year there are a small number of teams that have more success than others and it just so happens that the Commanders and Eagles have landed some of these good players this past year. People shouldn’t get too caught up in that as it’s not sustainable, and this list, like the others before it, shows too many free-agent busts.
SECONDARY
| PLAYER | TEAM | CONTRACT | PERFORMANCE |
| Xavier McKinney | Packers | four years, $67 million | exceeded expectations |
| Chidobe Awuzie | Titans | three years, $36 million | below expectations |
| Chauncey Gardner-Johnson | Eagles | three years, $27 million | exceeded expectations |
| Sean Bunting | Cardinals | three years, $26 million | below expectations |
| Darious Williams | Rams | three years, $23 million | below expectations |
| Kevin Byard | Bears | two years, $15 million | below expectations |
| Kendall Fuller | Dolphins | two years, $15 million | below expectations + injury |
| Justin Simmons | Falcons | one year, $8 million | below expectations + injury |
Same story. Another group with a low success rate. The only thing we wanted to point out is that the Giants are always making the wrong decisions in free agency. Players they signed like Jon Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor were duds, while players they let walk, Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney, had great seasons with their new teams. You could simplify the 2024 free agency for the NFC East with the following statements:
- The Washington Commanders were good at it
- The New York Giants were bad at it
- The Philadelphia Eagles spent a lot
- The Dallas Cowboys spent very little
Putting all the position groups together produces the following results...
| GROUP | HITS | HIT RATE |
| Running Back | 5 | 63% |
| Quarterback | 2 | 25% |
| Wide Receiver | 2 | 25% |
| Offensive Line | 3 | 38% |
| Defensive Line | 2 | 25% |
| Linebacker | 3 | 38% |
| Secondary | 2 | 25% |
| Total | 19 | 34% |
This is just a small sampling that features the higher-cost players, but it’s a good representation of what free agency provides. There are good finds to be had, but most teams get ripped off. That is why it’s important not to get too caught up on certain players who hit or even a certain position group that hit in a given year. It’s not the norm and taking those risks is not the best way to configure the roster.
The argument that the Cowboys should be more active in free agency is still valid, but when it’s proven to be a costly endeavor, we shouldn’t lose our minds when the Cowboys take a standoffish approach. The front office is cautious and isn’t likely to be swayed by all the Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry rhetoric, and neither should we. Instead, making safer purchases and effectively hitting on draft picks with four years of cheap salary remains the financially smart way to build the roster.
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