NFL Rumors: Insider reveals details of contract offer Cowboys made Dalton Schultz
By Jerry Trotta
Before Tuesday, there were rumblings that the Dallas Cowboys might be able to retain Dalton Schultz on a team-friendly deal.
The tight end market has been moving at a snail’s pace since the start of the legal tampering period, and the consensus was that multiple teams liked Schultz but weren’t willing to pay him top-tier money for the position.
When the dust settled, Schultz inked a one-year, $9 million contract with the Texans, who plucked Noah Brown in the first week of free agency.
It’s nowhere near the money Schultz was looking for, but it puts him in a great position to become a security blanket for a (likely) rookie quarterback, see massive volume in an offense that doesn’t have many proven pass-catchers — even fewer after they traded Brandin Cooks — and earn a big pay day next year.
All that said, something tells us Schultz is regretting betting on himself and playing on the franchise tag last season.
In his latest MMBQ column, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer revealed the details of the lucrative contract offer the Cowboys made Schultz last offseason before the tag-extension deadline.
.@AlbertBreer’s free-agency takeaways:
— The MMQB (@theMMQB) March 20, 2023
✅ Aaron Rodgers update
✅ Laremy Tunsil, the businessman
✅ Jonah Williams’s situation
✅ Eagles keep their core four
✅ Todd Monken’s impact on Lamar
✅ Morehttps://t.co/pdbOZqvQjY
NFL Rumors: Dalton Schultz rejected lucrative contract offer from Cowboys before 2023 season.
"“One gamble that hasn’t worked—Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz betting on himself and playing on the franchise tag in 2023. Schultz had a three-year, $36 million deal at one point,” Breer noted. “I get why he’d pass that up. But the fallout hasn’t been pretty. Schultz played on a $10.9 million franchise tender last year, and now he’s unsigned and still on the market about a week into free agency.”"
That’s a tough pill to swallow for Schultz.
Three years and $36 million is undoubtedly a fair offer from Dallas. For context, $12 million per year would’ve made him the ninth-highest-paid TE in the league, and that doesn’t include the guaranteed money Dallas offered, which remains a mystery. Looking at tight end salaries, though, is fair to venture his guarantees would’ve clocked in north of $20 million, potentially even as high as the mid-20s.
In Schultz’s defense, he’s not wrong for thinking he’s worth more than David Njoku ($13.687 million per year), Dawson Knox ($13 million), and Hunter Henry ($12.5 million). A $13.8 million per year offer would slot Schultz just behind Ravens stud Mark Andrews as the sixth-highest paid tight end in terms of AAV.
Over the last three years, his numbers are right there with the NFL’s elite. Only three other tight ends during that span have managed 50 or more catches and 500 or more receiving yards in each season. That’s no small feat.
Dalton Schultz becomes the second Cowboys FA to join the Texans. WR Noah Brown also signed there. Schultz had a productive run with the Cowboys. Last 3 years, Schultz, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson are only TEs to have 50+ catches for 500+ or more yards.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) March 20, 2023
All told, Schultz is still probably kicking himself for rejecting Dallas’ reported offer. $12 million a year over a three-year span is nothing to sneeze at, and now the former fourth-round pick is forced to settle for another prove-it deal with a rebuilding team.
Maybe he parlays that into entering the Andrews realm of salaries next offseason. Maybe he never lives down declining the Cowboys’ offer.
It’s anyone’s guess, but we’re rooting for him to make it work.
