2012 Dallas Cowboy Free Agent List; Hard Decisions Coming Soon

The Dallas Cowboys will have some hard decisions to make very soon concerning their free agents. Nick Eatman of dallascowboys.com released a breakdown of all the Cowboy free agents on the current roster on Friday. In this article, I will go through the list and attempt to assign a value to each player and determine if they are worth keeping.

But first, let’s take a look at all the players and their specific Free Agent category. To see the breakdown, click on the following link: 

Here’s the free agent list according to Nick Eatman of dallascowboys.com. It is broken down into three different categories; Exclusive Rights, Restricted Free Agents, and Unrestricted Free Agents.

Exclusive Rights (4)
	96	Geathers, Clifton	DE
	16	Holley, Jesse	WR
	78	Parnell, Jermey	T
	30	Washington, Chauncey	RB
Restricted Free Agent (3)
	24	Fiammetta, Tony	FB
	14	Greisen, Chris	QB
	85	Ogletree, Kevin	WR
Unrestricted Free Agent (13)
	20	Ball, Alan	CB
	80	Bennett, Martellus	TE
	51	Brooking, Keith	LB
	75	Dockery, Derrick	G
	26	Elam, Abram	S
	64	Holland, Montrae	G
	56	James, Bradie	LB
	3	Kitna, Jon	QB
	1	McBriar, Mat	P
	23	Morris, Sammy	RB
	81	Robinson, Laurent	WR
	93	Spencer, Anthony	LB
	25	Walker, Frank	CB

Here are the definitions for each of the different Free Agent categories, as provided on footballcalsci.com:

An Exclusive-Rights Free Agent is an NFL player who is not under contract, but has only two years of NFL experience. If his former club makes him an offer at the three year veteran minimum salary, then that’s it, he has to take it or leave the NFL. These guys have no right to negotiate with other teams. They are “free” only in the sense that they’re free to quit.

A Restricted Free Agent is an NFL player who is not under contract, but has only three years of NFL experience. If his previous team has made him a Qualifying Offer, then that team has a right of first refusal on the player. This means the player may negotiate with other teams and receive an offer, however the previous team may agree to the offer that the player has received, in which case the player stays with his former team.

An Unrestricted Free Agent is a player who is not under contract with any team. This player may sign a contract with any NFL team, and their previous team gets no compensation in any form. You become a UFA if you get cut, or if your contract runs out and you have at least four years of NFL experience.

Go to the next page to see my breakdown of each Free Agent and whether I think they’re worth keeping or not: