Minor NFL Transactions: 3/29/19
Today’s minor moves will be posted here:
Chicago Bears:
- Re-signed: S DeAndre Houston-Carson
Dallas Cowboys:
- Released: DB Marqueston Huff
Cowboys Notes: Lawrence, Irving, Jones
Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones had hip surgery this week, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes. The issue started for Jones during the 2018 season and the club initially hoped that it would heal with rest. Unfortunately, things did not improve, forcing Jones to go under the knife. The good news is that the team believes Jones could be ready for training camp.
To date, the 26-year-old (27 in September) has not missed an NFL game. Last year, the Cowboys shifted Jones back to cornerback after spending the previous two seasons at safety and he thrived. Jones led the club with 15 pass breakups and earned the first Pro Bowl nod of his career.
Jones figures to be a part of the club’s plans moving forward and an extension could be on the way. For now, he’s set to play out his fifth-year option in 2019 at a salary of $6.26MM.
Here’s more from Dallas:
- Cowboys exec Stephen Jones says Demarcus Lawrence‘s desire to get paid like Von Miller and Aaron Donald is holding up negotiations. “The top two guys, I’m sure that is why we’re struggling a little bit,” Jones said (via the Dallas Morning News). “There is a delta between the top two guys and where the rest of the edge rushers and pressure players have been paid up to this point. We’re motivated to do it right now. We were motivated to do it before we put the tag on him. At the same time, we have some conviction of the range he should be in in terms of his compensation and I’m sure they have some conviction of what they’re asking for. I’m not being critical, but therein lies the root of the negotiations.” The Cowboys are offering Lawrence $20MM per season, but Lawrence recently upped his asking price to $22.5MM/year.
- Defensive tackle David Irving has retired from the NFL, and as he tells it, it was coach Jason Garrett‘s suggested course of action. “He told me I should just quit, smoke all the weed I want, the team didn’t need me,” Irving told Jori Epstein of USA Today. “I’m a distraction to the team. He views marijuana as a drug, whereas I view it as a medicine. It’s not a good situation.” Meanwhile, Irving says owner Jerry Jones was supportive of him and expressed disagreement with the NFL’s drug policies that landed him an indefinite suspension. Irving, meanwhile, plans to be a pro-marijuana advocate in his post-football life with a focus on how CBD can help NFL players deal with pain.
- On Thursday, the Cowboys acquired pass rusher Robert Quinn from the Dolphins, which should help to reinforce their D-Line after losing Irving to retirement and Randy Gregory to an indefinite ban. Of course, they could be left with a glaring hole on the other side if they are unable to reach a long-term deal with Lawrence.
Cowboys Trade For Dolphins’ Robert Quinn
The Cowboys are set to acquire pass-rusher Robert Quinn from the Dolphins, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). The Dolphins will receive a 2020 sixth-rounder in return, tweets ESPN’s Todd Archer. 
The Saints also showed interest in Quinn, but he’ll take his talents to Dallas instead. He’ll receive a new one-year deal, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). Calvin Watkins of The Athletic tweets that the deal will reduce Quinn’s salary from $11.1MM to $8MM. The Dolphins also picked up the veteran’s $1.12MM roster bonus, according to Albert Breer (via Twitter).
The Cowboys tagged Demarcus Lawrence earlier this month, but the star edge defender has said in the past that he will not sign a one-year tender. Lawrence also recently upped his asking price, which further complicates matters. Meanwhile, Randy Gregory and David Irving have both been hit with indefinite suspensions, so the Cowboys badly needed someone like Quinn on the D-Line.
In 2013, Quinn earned All-Pro acclaim with 19 sacks and seven forced fumbles. He hasn’t matched that level of production in recent years, though Quinn still has a respectable 15 sacks combined over the last two seasons. He did his best work in a 4-3 scheme, so there’s reason to believe that he can thrive in Dallas.
Quinn’s 6.5 sacks in 2018 weren’t a head-turner, but he did tie for 20th among DEs with 24 quarterback hits. Pro Football Focus, meanwhile, assigned Quinn the 19th-highest pass-rush grade among 103 qualifying edge rushers. Quinn is still only entering his age-29 campaign, so he’s a player that could be in the Cowboys’ plans for years to come.
Cowboys' Iloka Signs Vet Min. Deal
- The Cowboys‘ one-year deal with safety George Iloka is a minimum salary benefit contract that will count for just $735K against the cap, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. He’ll earn a $930K base salary with just $210K of that amount being guaranteed. The longtime Bengals starter is just the latest one-year addition in Dallas, joining fellow vets Randall Cobb, Kerry Hyder, Christian Covington, Cameron Fleming, Tavon Austin, and Jason Witten on deals that expire after the 2019 season.
DeMarcus Lawrence Increases Asking Price
The Cowboys recently stepped up their offer to defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence to meet his $20MM asking price. But, as Marlo Stanfield once famously said in “The Wire,” the price of the brick is going up. 
In the last few weeks, Lawrence has gone from asking for $20MM/year to $22.5MM per annum, according to Calvin Watkins of The Athletic. The Cowboys’ current offer would make Lawrence the league’s highest-paid 4-3 defensive end, but the pass rusher is looking to match the $22.5MM AAV on Aaron Donald‘s deal and inch towards the $23.5MM per year earned by Khalil Mack.
Lawrence, 27 in April, is already the highest-paid 4-3 defensive end in the NFL thanks to his $20.5MM franchise tag. However, he has indicated that he won’t report to the club until he gets a new deal.
This is shaping up to be a challenging negotiation for the Cowboys, but that’s nothing new for owner Jerry Jones.
“This has gone on as far back for me, notably, with Emmitt Smith,” Jones said. “Any of you know my relationship with Emmitt Smith today know that’s a memory we smile about the way we are, 20-something years later and we’re in business together. That’s just part of the business. The main thing, and I don’t want to be cavalier, this is a significant thing for not only our franchise but DeMarcus’ life. It would make anyone be very, very judicious as they are working through the terms of this agreement.”
Cowboys Increase DeMarcus Lawrence Offer
Tethered to a franchise tag he has yet to sign, DeMarcus Lawrence remains in a holding pattern with the Cowboys. The team may be starting to bridge the gap, but a lot of ground still needs to be covered, it appears.
The Cowboys have made a stronger offer to Lawrence, coming up from their initial proposal, Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes. Still, the sides are “far apart,” Hill adds.
As of the March deadline to place franchise tags on players, the Cowboys did not view Lawrence as a $20MM-per-year player. With the figure for a second tag spiking north of that number, it would stand to complicate matters. The Cowboys’ initial offers were for less than $20MM AAV. Lawrence stands to make $20.5MM on this second franchise tag. He signed his $17MM-plus tender quickly in 2018 and attended offseason workouts; that is not the plan this year.
The Pro Bowl defensive end has threatened to postpone a shoulder surgery until a long-term deal is finalized. That would stand to affect Lawrence’s availability for training camp, should this impasse drag until the mid-July tag deadline.
Even if Lawrence had undergone the surgery in January, David Moore of the Dallas Morning News notes the plan was for the team to limit his work throughout the offseason and give him days off during camp. This procedure requires a three- to four-month rehab timeline, per Moore. This operation being delayed until the summer would place Lawrence’s status for the early part of the season in question.
Jerry Jones did not sound fazed by Lawrence’s leverage play and noted his availability for the 2019 season would factor into what kind of contract the Cowboys offer.
“We’re all aware, as it turns out, this is a contract to play football and the first year is a big one,” Jones said, via Hill. “At the kinds of dollars we’re talking about, it’s just a given that you’d get the full year at top, physical condition, that’s what you’re getting. If you don’t get that it depreciates what you’re doing. It works both ways.”
It likely would have taken more than Trey Flowers‘ five-year, $90MM contract to bring Lawrence to the table to sign before that deal was announced, but with Lawrence’s numbers over the past two seasons bettering the new Lion’s marks, it may increase the 26-year-old Cowboy’s resolve to seek a deal worth considerably more.
Cowboys Ready To Discuss Big Cooper Deal?
- Although Amari Cooper showed immense promise with the Cowboys, he has produced uneven work samples the past two seasons. Nevertheless, the Cowboys are committed and ready to discuss a high-end extension. The new deal for Antonio Brown and one that may be coming for Julio Jones have not fazed Dallas, per Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link). The Cowboys were planning a re-up for the former top-five pick immediately after acquiring him, but after Cooper posted two 180-yard games (prior to three sub-35-yard showings), the negotiations figure to be more interesting.
- The Cowboys’ glut of extension-eligible young talents likely steered them away from Earl Thomas. Their top bid was not going to contend with the Ravens’, Jerry Jones said (via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News, on Twitter). Thomas signed a four-year, $55MM deal. The Cowboys are still looking at safeties.
Latest On Cowboys, McDowell
Malik McDowell is still looking to play football again. The talented defensive lineman was taken by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2017 draft, but has never played a down in the NFL. An ATV accident before his rookie year resulted in serious injuries that up until this point have prevented him from playing. The Seahawks finally decided to move on and waived him earlier this month after he couldn’t gain clearance. He still wants to play however, and recently met with the Cowboys.
McDowell’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, revealed today that McDowell had been cleared to play again by independent doctors (Twitter link via Calvin Watkins of The Athletic). However, the Cowboys’ team doctors have been unable to clear him yet. Clarence Hill Jr. of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram tweeted that Rosenhaus also said the Cowboys remain interested his client, but it sounds like there’s still a big medical hurdle to clear. It seems Dallas’ interest is legitimate, and if their doctors are able to clear him there’s a very good chance he’d sign. He was the 35th overall pick out of Michigan State for a reason, so if he’s ever able to get back on the field it could prove to be a great pickup.
Cowboys To Ask Allen Hurns To Take Pay Cut
Allen Hurns’ agent Drew Rosenhaus said today that the team hasn’t asked his client to take a pay-cut or restructure his contract yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t coming. “It is only a matter of time” and the team does plan to ask him to take a pay cut, a source told Clarence Hill Jr. of The Forth Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link.)
The Cowboys exercised Hurns’ 2019 option a couple of weeks ago, but apparently don’t actually want to pay him that salary. Hurns signed a two-year, $12MM deal with Dallas last offseason, and is slated to have a cap hit of $6.25MM this year. Given his level of production last season, it’s not surprising that the Cowboys want to reduce that.
With Dez Bryant gone, Hurns was supposed to compete for one of the Cowboys’ top receiving jobs after Dallas signed him away from Jacksonville. But he never showed much chemistry with Dak Prescott, and he quickly got buried on the depth chart after the emergence of rookie Michael Gallup and the trade for Amari Cooper. Hurns caught 20 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns during the regular season.
His season ended with a devastating ankle injury suffered in the first round of the playoffs against the Seahawks. The injury was gruesome, but Hurns is recovering well, and Calvin Watkins of The Athletic tweets that Rosenhaus said he’s hoping to be ready by training camp. With Cole Beasley now gone to the Bills, perhaps Hurns can take on a bigger role next season, assuming the two sides can get his contract sorted out.
Cowboys’ Stephen Jones Talks Free Agency
Cowboys fans entered the 2019 offseason hoping to bring in a difference maker like Earl Thomas in free agency. Those hopes didn’t come to fruition, as the team has opted to bring in smaller deals, including George Iloka, rather than splurging for a big splash. 
The team’s COO and executive vice president Stephen Jones went in-depth on the team’s mindset this offseason in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Jones addressed why the team is rarely active in free agency and gave insight on the team’s thought process for re-signing big names both this year and in the upcoming offseasons.
“The biggest thing is just that free agency, I just don’t think you can make a living there,” Jones said. “That’s what we’ve always said. I think you’re overpaying in free agency most of the time. [Free agents] are overvalued, because you’re competing in a market where you’ve got teams that don’t have as many players they have to spend on, have to use cap space on.”
It’s no secret that the Cowboys are prioritizing re-signing Dak Prescott, along with inking long-term deals with Demarcus Lawrence, Ezekiel Elliott and Amari Cooper. Jones, however, mentioned laying low this offseason could help them down the road re-sign the likes of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, two players the team views as rare talents.
“That’s when you start to have to get super creative. And if you go out and do a deal right now that’s not efficient, you’re starting to take some creative money away that hopefully is going to help you keep Jaylon, hopefully help you keep both corners. We’ll just have to see.”
Though Dallas didn’t bring in Thomas, the team inked Randall Cobb to a one-year deal to replace the departed Cole Beasley in the slot, to go along with a few other under-the-radar additions.