Dallas Cowboys could find themselves in a frustrating CBA situation
The new CBA agreement could have ripple effects for the Dallas Cowboys if it’s accepted for the new league year starting March 18th.
The Dallas Cowboys could find themselves in a frustrating situation if the NFL owners and NFL Players Association (NFLPA) agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) before the start of the new league year.
That particular situation involves quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver Amari Cooper and even cornerback Byron Jones. With the potential of a new CBA agreement and the new league year set to begin on March 18th, it puts the Cowboys front office in a tough spot with key free agents needing contracts.
In the previous CBA agreement, Dallas was able to use two different tags for pending free agents. As for the new CBA agreement, teams may only be able to use one tag. According to ESPN Insider Adam Schefter, if a deal between NFL owners and the NFLPA isn’t reached by March 12th than each team can now use both the franchise tag and transition tag, similar to last year.
Why is this a big deal? Well, the Cowboys could use the franchise tag on Prescott and the transition tag on Cooper if the CBA deal isn’t agreed upon by the deadline date. This would allow the Cowboys to hang on to the contractual rights of both players and still be able to negotiate a long term deal later down the road.
In a perfect world, Dallas could sign Prescott before March 12th, use the franchise tag on Cooper and transition tag Jones as well. That would give them the ability to potentially keep all three players.
The difference between the two tags is that the franchise tag is a one-year guaranteed contract that prevents a player from hitting unrestricted free agency. While the transition tag allows players to sign offer sheets with other teams, but the original club has five days to match.
One of the top writers for the NFL, Gregg Rosenthal, elaborates and specifies more details concerning the two types of tags and discusses the impact on players such as Prescott and Cooper.
The new CBA deal isn’t official yet, as the NFLPA will head back to the negotiations table. If the new CBA agreement is agreed upon in the next several days the Cowboys need to meet a March 12th deadline with Prescott.
This will pose an issue for Dallas because the new CBA agreement would give Prescott and his team all the more leverage in the contract negotiations. If a deal with Prescott is not done by then, he will be franchise tagged and if the new CBA is agreed upon that would be the only tag the Cowboys could use.
This would make Cooper a free agent with no contractual ties to the Cowboys, allowing him to sign anywhere he wants. With that being said, you can forget about Jones as well. I do believe the Prescott deal will get done very soon and the new CBA is going to force it. Based on tweets from CBS Sports Writer Patrik Walker, he feels a large contract is looming. Whether this is a good or bad decision is debatable.
The #Cowboys don’t want to revisit this in 2023, though. And especially not if he has a SB win by then.
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) February 11, 2020
I expect an AAS on a traditional extension to touch down b/t $37M-$40M range — less if years are added & agreed upon (but then likely more guaranteed 💰 is awarded).
Cont’d.
Dallas Cowboys 15 best free agent acquisitions of all-time. dark. Next
The clock is ticking for the Dallas Cowboys organization and the pressure is mounting to get a deal done with either Dak Prescott or Amari Cooper. If the Cowboys want both on the roster come next season they must reach an agreement with at least one of them before the March 12th deadline, while tagging the other.