Cowboys, DeMarcus Lawrence Nearing Deal
The Cowboys and Demarcus Lawrence are nearing agreement on an extension, according to PFT. We have similar word from Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (video link) who hears the two sides are in deep negotiations with reason for cautious optimism. 
Both the Cowboys and Lawrence’s agent want to get a deal done sometime soon and there’s hope that a pact can be agreed to in the near future. Often times, franchise tagged players will not make real headway on negotiations until the deadline draws near in July, but this could all be sewn up months in advance.
Just a few days ago, things seemed to be at an impasse between the two sides. The Cowboys finally upped their offer to about $20MM per year, but Lawrence’s camp countered by asking for around $22.5MM per season. A deal worth $20MM/year on average would make Lawrence the NFL’s highest-paid 4-3 defensive end, but he’s now gunning for a contract that would put him in the same neighborhood as Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack.
Lawrence, 27 in April, has spent his entire five-year career with the Cowboys. He has posted double digit sacks in each of the last two campaigns and is currently cuffed by a second consecutive franchise tag. Unfortunately for Dallas, Lawrence has indicated that he will not play on the one-year tender, even though it would pay him $20.5MM.
Cowboys On Randy Gregory Extension
This week, the Cowboys surprised many when they signed Randy Gregory to an extension. The immensely talented edge rusher is serving the fourth substance abuse suspension of his career, one that has him indefinitely banned. Still, the Cowboys gave him a new contract to take him through the 2020 season.
The Cowboys believe that Gregory can be an impact player once again, and coach Jason Garrett says the organization appreciates the seriousness of what he is dealing with.
The Cowboys are hopeful that Gregory’s ban will be lifted sometime in 2019, but if it’s not, they plan to have him on the field in 2020.
Cowboys, Randy Gregory Agree To Extension
The Cowboys and Randy Gregory have agreed to an extension that will keep him under club control through the 2020 season, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. The news is somewhat surprising, given that Gregory was recently hit with the fourth suspension of his career for violating the substance abuse policy and is indefinitely banned from the NFL. 
The new pact will convert $310K of Gregory’s 2019 salary into a signing bonus. Meanwhile, he’ll gain an additional year worth $735K that can increase with a salary escalator.
For their part, the Cowboys are hopeful that Gregory can be reinstated for 2019. If not, he’ll have a home for 2020, provided that he can convince the NFL to allow him to return to the field once more.
The Cowboys aren’t necessarily banking on Gregory taking the field this year, but he would go a long way towards helping their pass rush. The Cowboys acquired defensive end Robert Quinn in a trade with the Dolphins last week, but it’s still possible that DeMarcus Lawrence will stay away from the club if he does not get the extension he is seeking.
Last year, Gregory finished out with six sacks, 25 total tackles, and two forced fumbles in just 522 snaps.
Cowboys' Pre-Draft Visit List Surfaces
- The Cowboys have made most of their 30 visits known, and some higher-level prospects reside on Dallas’ list — despite the team not holding a first-round pick. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel and safeties Taylor Rapp and Johnathan Abram are set to visit the Cowboys, Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News reports. Four defensive tackles, four safeties, three wideouts and three running backs appear on the Cowboys’ list. The past six Cowboys first-round picks visited the Cowboys pre-draft, Machota notes, though with Dallas not holding a selection until late in the second round (No. 58) could complicate matters. NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah rates Samuel, a South Carolina-honed receiver, as this class’ No. 6 wideout. He rates Abram (Mississippi State) as the class’ top safety.
Draft Notes: Sternberger, Jets, Thorson
The Patriots are on the lookout for tight end help in the wake of Rob Gronkowski‘s retirement, and the club will have a top-30 visit with Texas A&M TE Jace Sternberger, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. The Pats could use their No. 32 overall pick on a tight end, and while that may be a little high for Sternberger, top prospects Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson may be off the board by that point. Alabama’s Irv Smith Jr. could be available, though, and there is no reason why New England, which has deployed two tight ends to great effect in the past, could not use several of its 12 picks in this year’s draft on the tight end position.
Now for more draft-related rumblings from around the league:
- In addition to the Patriots, Wilson reports that Sternberger has visits lined up with the Chiefs, Packers, Lions, Cowboys, Vikings, and Seahawks.
- Brian Costello of the New York Post does not believe that the Jets will invest high-end draft capital on the WR, RB, or TE positions this year in light of their free agent expenditures, but he still thinks the club could bolster those units with collegiate prospects. He suggests that Gang Green could use a middle- or late-round selection on a wideout, particularly if that player offers return ability, and he thinks a Day 3 blocking tight end and power back could also be in the cards. Of course, with only six draft picks at the moment, New York may need to focus on areas of greater need.
- Penn State DE Shareef Miller will visit with the Ravens, Cardinals, and Jets, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Miller currently projects as a Day 3 pick, but all three clubs could use pass rushing help, and Miller has the raw ability to succeed as a 4-3 DE or 3-4 OLB.
- The Broncos may be hosting some of the top QBs in this year’s draft class, but they’re looking at more under-the-radar passers as well, as Mike Klis of 9News.com tweets that Denver will be working out Northwestern QB Clayton Thorson in early April. Thorson is expected to be a middle-round selection.
- Valdosta State CB Stephen Denmark has top-30 visits lined up with the Browns and Saints, per Wilson (via Twitter).
Community Tailgate: How Will DeMarcus Lawrence Saga End?
We heard several days ago that negotiations between the Cowboys and franchise-tagged pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence are at an impasse, and the circumstances behind that impasse are the stuff that offseason drama is made of.
Lawrence, who willingly played out the 2018 season under the franchise tag, does not want to go year-to-year anymore, and he has made it abundantly clear that he wants a long-term deal. The Cowboys are happy to give it to him, but they do not value Lawrence’s skill-set quite as highly as Lawrence himself does. Dallas reportedly would give Lawrence a contract that would make him the highest-paid 4-3 defensive end in football, which would mean an AAV of over $18MM, but Lawrence is seeking a pact that would pay him at least $22.5MM per year (of course, if Lawrence were to sign his franchise tender, he would earn over $20.5MM this year and be eligible for free agency again in 2020).
In fairness to the Cowboys, Lawrence is simply not worth that kind of commitment. The market for premium players in the NFL is reset each time a new extension is signed, so if Player X signs a $100MM pact in August, Player Y, who is good but perhaps not as good as Player X, could very well land a $110MM deal in September. But sometimes, the gulf between Player X and Player Y does not justify that type of raise.
Aaron Donald‘s contract with the Rams, which he signed just last August, pays him $22.5MM per year. Lawrence is not the kind of game-changing talent that Donald is, nor is he as impactful as Khalil Mack, who signed a $23.5MM/year deal right after Donald got his payday. To be sure, Lawrence is an excellent player, but he is just not on the same level.
Further complicating the issue is that Lawrence is trying to leverage the shoulder surgery that he needs in order to continue playing into the type of contract that he wants. Lawrence wants to wait to have the surgery, which carries a four-month recovery period, until he gets his extension, and the Cowboys obviously don’t want to play along with that plan. If Lawrence wants to be ready for the start of the 2019 season, he would have to go under the knife by early May at the latest, and if he postpones the procedure, he may only be hurting himself in the long run.
We would like to know from our readers how you think this saga will play out. The safe money in these types of scenarios is always on the two sides reaching an accord, but that does not always happen. Theoretically, the Cowboys could give Lawrence permission to seek a contract with another club and then trade him to that club if he reaches an agreement, but it is difficult to imagine another team being willing to meet Lawrence’s contract demands and cough up draft compensation to acquire the soon-to-be 27-year-old.
If Lawrence refuses to come to the table, the Cowboys could rescind the franchise tag, which would make Lawrence an unrestricted free agent. But at that point, the market may not be as robust as he would like it to be, especially if he has not had the surgery yet. He could end up having to settle for a one-year pact for less than he would have earned under the franchise tag.
The guess here is that Lawrence and the Cowboys agree to terms on a multiyear pact that will pay Lawrence about $19MM per season, and that the agreement will come in the next few weeks so that Lawrence will be ready to go come September. It appears that Dallas has the leverage, but the club obviously does not want to risk losing a key player while also creating animosity in the locker room and alienating future free agents.
But what do you think the team should do, and what do you think will ultimately happen? Let us know in the comments section.
Cowboys Interested In Dawson Knox
- Draft talk is starting to heat up, and the latest rumblings we’re hearing are from a report out of Ole Miss’ pro day from Tony Pauline of Draftanalyst.com. Pauline reports that the Jaguars and Broncos are both “very interested” in tight end Dawson Knox. Pauline also writes that the Cowboys have been “throwing a lot of love” Knox’s way. All three teams have unsettled futures at tight end, so the interest makes a lot of sense. Knox is in the second tier of tight ends behind the top group, and could be a nice pickup sometime in the middle rounds.
Cowboys Eyeing TCU WR KaVontae Turpin
- TCU wideout KaVontae Turpin‘s Pro Day was attended by the Cowboys, Redskins, Seahawks, and Raiders, reports Wilson (via Twitter). The talented offensive weapon had at least 29 receptions in each of his four collegiate seasons, and he also showed some talent in the return game. Turpin is expected to be a late-round pick or an undrafted free agent.
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Cowboys Haven’t Talked Deals With Prescott, Cooper
While the Cowboys are reportedly at an “impasse” in negotiations with pass-rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, the team apparently hasn’t even gotten that far with Dak Prescott nor Amari Cooper. Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram writes that the organization hasn’t started contract negotiations with the quarterback or wideout.
Both Prescott and Cooper are entering the final year of their contracts. As Hill notes, the two players are signed for 2019, and with their agents focused on their current free agent clients, there hasn’t been a particular rush to start negotiating. In fact, a source tells Hill that we may not seen either player signed to an extension until after the draft or during OTAs.
Either way, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, it won’t be particularly easy to sign either player, especially when you consider the Cowboys’ current standoff with Lawrence. Prescott or Cooper could leverage the franchise tag, similar to what Lawrence is currently going through. If one of the two offensive players signs an extension, that would seemingly boost the leverage of their unsigned teammate. Florio notes that running back Ezekiel Elliott could also push for a new deal.
It’s clearly a slippery slope for the Cowboys, but vice president Stephen Jones made it clear that none of the hypothetical extensions are dependent on each other.
“Each negotiation is in its own place,” Jones said. “If we could get Dak done today, we would. If we could get Amari Cooper done today, we would. I wouldn’t necessarily say one has to come before the other. We’ll just see how each of those negotiations proceed.”
Following a midseason trade to Dallas, Cooper recaptured the potential he had shown during his first two years in the league. In nine starts, the wideout hauled in 53 receptions for 725 yards and six touchdowns. We heard earlier this week that the Cowboys were ready to discuss an extension with the receiver. Meanwhile, Prescott had another solid season in 2018, finishing with a career-high 3,885 passing yards to go along with 22 touchdowns vs. eight interceptions. We heard earlier this month that the team had met with the quarterback’s agent, but we can probably assume that no formal negotiations took place.
DeMarcus Lawrence, Cowboys At ‘Impasse’ In Negotiations?
It doesn’t sound like DeMarcus Lawrence and the Cowboys are going to reach an agreement on a longterm deal any time soon. The pass-rusher was franchise-tagged by Dallas earlier this month, and the two sides have been negotiating ever since. 
But the Cowboys’ front office and Lawrence’s agent , David Canter, have “reached an impasse in negotiations,” according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). We heard a couple of days ago that Lawrence was upping his asking price from $20MM annually to around $22.5MM annually, so this news isn’t shocking. The Cowboys are reportedly offering Lawrence a deal that would make him the league’s highest-paid 4-3 defensive end, but Lawrence wants something more in the area of what Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack are making.
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said earlier this week that the team was “motivated” to get a longterm deal done, but that they weren’t inclined to pay him Donald money. In addition to salary demands, Rapoport reports there’s another issue holding up a deal. We heard back in January that Lawrence would undergo surgery this offseason, as he had been dealing with a torn labrum in his shoulder.
Rapoport says the Cowboys want Lawrence to get surgery right away to ensure he’s fully healthy for the start of next season, but Lawrence is going to wait until he gets a new contract to get the shoulder surgery. It appears he’s using the needed surgery as leverage in negotiations. According to Rapoport, the surgery Lawrence needs has around a four month recovery period, so there’s somewhat of a deadline here.
Rapsheet says Lawrence will need to go under the knife by April or May at the latest if he wants to be ready for the start of the 2019 season. That’s well before the July 15th deadline to agree on an extension, and it’ll be interesting to see which side blinks first. Lawrence has been one of the better pass-rushers in the league the past two years, and had 10.5 sacks last year.