4 great free agents the Cowboys could've signed but didn't

3. Marquise Brown, WR

It was tough to see Michael Gallup released but it was a move the Cowboys had to make. The third-round pick in 2018 had a huge campaign in 2019 with 1,107 yards and six touchdowns on 66 receptions. Since then, however, he hasn't been the same player.

Jerry Jones didn't mind though and he did what he's done far too often — he paid a player for what he used to be. Gallup had just 445 yards in nine games during the 2021 campaign and dealt with injuries all season. He even tore his ACL late in the year. Despite this, they traded Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns and extended Gallup for five seasons at $62.5 million.

Gallup continued to struggle and had 424 yards in 2022 and just 418 this past season. He ends up being a major cap hit and there's no one to replace him on the roster.

Jalen Tolbert is the primary option but hasn't proven he can handle the WR3 role full-time. That's why it would have been wise to add a free agent and Marquise Brown would have been a great fit. A former first-round pick, Brown had 1,008 yards in 2021 for the Baltimore Ravens. He was then traded to the Arizona Cardinals where his numbers dropped dramatically.

In two years with Arizona, Brown had 1,283 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had some awful quarterback play. Had he been added to the Cowboys roster, he would have been able to stretch the field as a deep threat and would have had favorable matchups thanks to the presence of CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks.

That never happened as Brown signed a one-year, $7 million deal (with incentives that could increase it to $11 million) with the Kansas City Chiefs. Working with Patrick Mahomes will lead to more success for Brown but if Dallas had been proactive, they might have landed the motivated speedster looking to prove himself.