3 worst contracts on the Dallas Cowboys’ 2022 roster

This offseason, the Dallas Cowboys had to say goodbye to a couple of fan favorites due to their muddied salary cap situation. Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson will be playing elsewhere due to the cap restraints — and their lack of flexibility also cost them a shot at landing Von Miller in free agency as well.

It might seem hard at first to figure out how a team full of young talent that they drafted is so cap-strapped, but the answer to that comes down to a few bad contracts. Here are three of the worst, which have kept the front office from building an elite roster.

The 3 worst Dallas Cowboys’ contracts heading into 2022

3. Michael Gallup, WR

Wide receiver Michael Gallup was quite a find in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The Colorado State product had recorded 2,902 yards and 15 touchdowns in his career. His best campaign came in 2019 when he had 66 receptions for 1,107 yards and six touchdowns — all of which are career highs.

Having said that, he’s also coming off a season full of injuries, including a torn ACL in January. Even so, the Cowboys’ front office elected to send Amari Cooper to Cleveland and sign Gallup to a five-year contract worth $62.5 million.

Now, if Gallup turns out to be a superstar, this could be a steal. However, he’s been a solid No. 2 up until this point and at 26 years of age, he’s only two years younger than Cooper. It might have made more sense for Dallas to keep Cooper, who has had five seasons over 1,000 yards and isn’t coming off a serious injury, which is why this deal looks so bad. This amount of money on a guy returning from a major injury is a huge gamble. To pay him instead of a healthy star is a bit of an odd choice, especially without seeing Gallup return to play.

2. DeMarcus Lawrence, EDGE

In 2014, the Cowboys traded their second and third-round picks in the NFL Draft to move up to No. 34 overall. That’s where they selected Boise State pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, who was being asked to do something impossible by replacing DeMarcus Ware.

Lawrence had a slow start due to injuries, recording just nine tackles and no sacks as a rookie, but he came up huge in their playoff win over the Detroit Lions that season. He followed that up with eight sacks in year two but had only one in 2016.

Then in 2017, Lawrence finally broke out. In a contract season, he had 14.5 sacks for the Cowboys and was hit with the franchise tag for his troubles. While playing under the tag, he was able to rack up 10.5 more sacks, which finally convinced the Cowboys to give him a long-term deal.

Lawrence signed for $105 million over the next five seasons. Since signing the deal, he has just 14.5 sacks in three seasons. Despite that fact, he was given another extension worth $40 million over three seasons.

While it’s true Lawrence is a great run-stopper and a disruptive pass-rusher, he doesn’t get home nearly enough to make the money he does. His defenders will say that there’s more to his game than stats, and while this is true, the elite players (T.J. Watt, Von Miller, Myles Garrett) find a way to get home.

Lawrence is being paid similar to those players, but not making near the impact they are — except for the two years when he needed a new deal.

1. Ezekiel Elliott, RB

It’s hard to find a contract in the entire NFL worse than the one the Cowboys gave to Ezekiel Elliott. He held out in 2019 despite having two years left on his current deal and even with Dak Prescott and Cooper having less time on their deals, the Jones family gave in and allowed Zeke to jump the line.

What’s worse is they didn’t even just give him a new deal, but instead, they added six years and $90 million onto the contract he already had. That means he’s under contract until 2027. It didn’t take nearly that long for the rest of the world to point out how bad this contract was.

Outside of Dallas, the rest of the NFL gets it. Nick Chubb was given a four-year deal, with an out for the Cleveland Browns after two seasons. The same happened with Derrick Henry. But for Dallas, they added six years to a deal with two years on it — meaning they gave Elliott eight years to play a position that is usually too demanding to play effectively more than four-to-six seasons total.

That terrible move cost them a shot at keeping CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and Cedrick Wilson together. Instead, they have just Lamb and Gallup (coming off a torn ACL) in a pass-first league.

To prove they also don’t get it, they have gone on record and blamed their quarterback and his contract for their inability to retain players, while calling their running back the “straw that stirs the drink.” Again… in a pass-happy NFL.