Cowboys Sign Travis Frederick To Extension
The Cowboys have signed Travis Frederick to an extension that will make him the highest-paid center in the NFL, the club announced. It’s a six-year, $54.6MM deal that includes $18.2MM fully guaranteed, and Frederick can earn $28MM in the first three seasons.
[RELATED: Cowboys unwilling to meet Browns’ asking price for Josh McCown]
Frederick has started 48 consecutive games to begin his career after entering the league as a first-round pick in 2013. The centerpiece of the NFL’s best offensive line, Frederick has earned a Pro Bowl nod and been named a second-team All Pro in each of the last two seasons. In 2016, Frederick graded as the league’s best center, according to Pro Football Focus, outperforming players such as Joe Berger, Matt Slauson, and Rodney Hudson.
The 25-year-old Frederick had been slated to earn only $1.34MM in base salary during the upcoming season before his pay jumped in 2017 thanks to Dallas exercising his fifth-year option. His new annual average, however, means that Frederick will earn $9.1MM per season, which will place him slightly above Alex Mack, who will earn $9MM annually under the terms of his new Falcons contract. Frederick ranks second in terms of guaranteed money among centers, with his $18.2MM placing him behind Mack ($20MM).
The Cowboys now have several key members of their offensive line locked up for years to come, as Frederick joins Tyron Smith — who is signed through 2023 — as players that Dallas has extended in recent years. Left guard La’el Collins and right guard Zack Martin, meanwhile, are both eligible to negotiate new deals at the end of the 2016 season.
Rand Getlin of NFL.com (Twitter link) first reported the deal and the fact that Frederick would become the league’s highest-paid center. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links) reported the terms. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Browns Want Fourth-Rounder For Josh McCown
The Browns don’t appear willing to simply give away Josh McCown, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports indicates that Cleveland is demanding “no less than fourth-round pick” for the veteran quarterback. The Cowboys, the club that’s been most heavily linked to McCown, aren’t willing to trade “anything of value,” per Robinson, who suggests that Dallas would only part with a pick in the sixth round or later.
[RELATED: Cowboys not interested in Johnny Manziel]
The Cowboys’ depth chart behind Tony Romo was already thin as the team headed into training camp, and became even more so when backup Kellen Moore suffered a leg injury during a practice session that will sideline him for three-to-four months. Dallas was thought to have interest in free agent Nick Foles before he signed with the Chiefs, and were reportedly considering other options such as Mike Glennon (who, like McCown, would’ve have to been traded for), Jimmy Clausen, and Josh Freeman.
The Browns, meanwhile, have seemingly braced McCown for a possible deal, as a report last week indicated that the club had spoken with McCown about the mechanics of a trade. Cleveland has already named Robert Griffin III its starting quarterback, and while there is certainly value in retaining a high-end reserve, the team’s reluctance to deal McCown could simply be posturing in the hopes that they can net a higher return. The Browns used a 2016 third-round pick on USC quarterback Cody Kessler, and signed fellow backup Austin Davis to an extension last season, so unless the club wants to keep four signal-callers on the roster, there doesn’t appear to be room for McCown.
While the Browns boast depth at QB, the Cowboys do not, as they only other available options behind Romo are fourth-round rookie Dak Prescott and 2015 undrafted free agent Jameill Showers, neither of whom has ever attempted an NFL pass. As such, it seems unfathomable that Dallas won’t look to acquire a veteran before the season begins, and if it looks to the free agent market, the club could consider Michael Vick, Matt Flynn, Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, T.J. Yates, or a number of other players who still remain unsigned.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cowboys Not Interested In Johnny Manziel
No surprise here, but the Cowboys are not interested in signing Johnny Manziel at this time, team executive vice president Stephen Jones said in a radio interview on Friday. 
[RELATED: Latest On Greg Hardy]
“No, there’s no chance,” Jones told CBS’ Tiki and Tierney (via Twitter links). “Obviously Johnny needs to get his hands around his life…He needs to do things that make him a good person off field before he can ever have chance of being successful in our league. I’m sure he’ll get another chance. But, at the moment, it certainly won’t be in Dallas.”
This offseason, the Cowboys watched Demarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, and Rolando McClain all get slapped with suspensions. Last year, the team dealt with the walking headache that is Greg Hardy, an experience that owner Jerry Jones did not enjoy. The Cowboys will surely continue to gamble on players when they feel it is a worthwhile risk, but nothing about Manziel screams “worthwhile” at this time.
With his recent history of off-the-field transgressions and possible substance abuse issues, football is probably the furthest thing from the minds of Manziel and those around him. Manziel gave up on playing football in 2016 and has shifted his attention to getting his life together with the hope of playing in 2017. Some reports had Manziel’s friends questioning whether he ever wanted to play football again, but the QB shot that notion down in a recent statement.
“I’m actually doing well. I have good friends around me supporting what I do and I try to support them in what they want to do,” the statement read. “I’m not saying I’m never drinking again, but for now just mostly being healthy. I’ve got a killer gym in my house and I can spend time working out. I’m interested in doing a lot of different things in my life — including football — but, right now, I’m just exploring options and waiting to see what the future holds.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jerry Jones On Gregory, Hardy, Elliott
Earlier this week, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report sat down with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to discuss a wide range of topics on his organization and the NFL as a whole. The whole interview is worth a read, but we have also compiled some of the highlights below.
On the suspensions of DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, and Rolando McClain plus dealing with Greg Hardy last year:
Gregory would have been a bonus. We were aware of Gregory’s iffiness at the end of last season. I look at him as a bonus that is looking diminished right now. We didn’t alter our approach in any way with him. There are issues you read about in the program that he has to address, and he has done that. So we can [draft] the Gregorys because of the core character base we have on our team. I’ve had teams where we certainly had some behavioral issues and won big. That wouldn’t have worked if you had not had the overwhelming number of players on your team who had no issues relative to availability, as to suspension. We’ve had teams that could have a Charles Haley. You could have a player that gave you some iffiness but his talent would make a real contribution, but you had to have an overwhelming base of players so you know exactly what you had. That allows me and us to take risk, and we’ve had real success in taking risk with players. 
So recognizing the risk involved and the reward that could come with a player of Gregory’s talent, you deal with a player of Hardy’s talent, you deal with others like that. But with Gregory and Hardy, we had too much at one position. That will give you a concern. If you had that two or possibly three and they were on different sides of the ball, at different position groups, that would lessen how this looks. We had an issue with [Joseph] Randle last year. We don’t have him on the roster now, but since we had McFadden and other backs, we didn’t have as big an issue with the position. That really can create some scrutiny and some critiquing and some second-guessing even on our part when it really happens at one position as it did last year with Gregory and Hardy as right ends, rush ends.
But therein lies why we took some risk, because of the value of the position. And really, our contract with Hardy last year was a thing of beauty relative to structuring to getting him at the values and getting him, period. I do recognize the criticism…was more than we expected because of the pictures and things like that, and his approach to things was more than we had anticipated. And don’t misunderstand my statement. We abhor domestic violence and are in no way making a statement there, but what we are doing is trying to put a team together within the rules.
On whether he regrets not cutting Hardy sooner:
Well, if I had had a crystal ball and known we were not going to get [Tony] Romo back and only win four games…in hindsight, there’s a lot to consider here. And I think it had a lot to do with the success Hardy had. Had we been a team that was contending, had we been a team that was in the Super Bowl hunt, you might have had a little more success with Hardy….He certainly he has a lot of ability, but the results for our defense certainly exacerbated the criticism of the decision to bring him on.
On rookie Ezekiel Elliott:
Well, the fact that he’s a rookie—albeit an accomplished one—but getting him acclimated and having high expectations of his production has some iffiness to it. I’ll be the first to admit that. On the other hand, his skills are outstanding. It’s arguably the most impressive thing. The staff at Ohio State will tell you that. He’s an outstanding running back. He’s an instinctive receiver. He’s as instinctive as you could imagine as a blocker.
It’s like [former Cowboys fullback] Daryl Johnston. With Daryl, it wasn’t the guy he was supposed to get, but it’s the one that would appear when he wasn’t supposed to. He had the instincts to pick up that guy first because if he took the guy he was supposed to get, that guy would have made the tackle. So there are instincts in blocking. [Elliott] has that, and he has real good instincts relative to route running. So those things could really add to [the team], but we’re not just counting on him.
We’ve got [Darren] McFadden, who did exceed expectations for us [last season]. So with that, the kid we got from Washington [Alfred Morris], [Lance] Dunbar, that’s a position of strength for us, and I say position as it relates to Ezekiel and the expectations for him. Now, does he have some skills that we see that are just exceptional in terms of running the ball? We think so. The running back thing, when I look at that, I see a group of players with Ezekiel, his talent being the juiciest unknown and a way to really add a level that his talent would allow you to have.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
RBs Jackson, Smith Could Make Roster
- The Cowboys were criticized for carrying too many running backs on the roster, but injuries have proven that to be a smart move by Dallas, David Moore of The Dallas Morning News writes. Veteran Alfred Morris, sixth round pick Darius Jackson, and converted fullback Rod Smith find themselves getting tons of snaps in practice as Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar are on the PUP list and rookie Ezekiel Elliott deals with a sore hamstring. With McFadden and Dunbar being viewed as regular season PUP list candidates, Elliott and Morris are the only locks to be on the opening day roster. Jackson and Smith, meanwhile, could earn spots and fill in until they are ready. For a full view of the Cowboys’ depth chart, check out their page on Roster Resource.
Cowboys Claim Mike McQueen
- The Cowboys claimed offensive lineman Mike McQueen off waivers from the Chargers and cut wide receiver Ed Eagan, Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News reports. San Diego initially signed McQueen, a rookie UDFA out of Ohio University who played mostly tackle for the Bobcats, after the draft.
Jones: Cowboys Comfortable At QB
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continues to downplay the team’s desire to sign or trade for a backup quarterback. On Sunday, Jones spoke highly of fourth-round pick Dak Prescott and second-year QB Jameill Showers.
Jones isn’t the only one who thinks that Prescott could handle the pace of the NFL this year. Recently, scouting guru Dave-Te Thomas profiled Prescott and other members of the Cowboys’ rookie class for PFR.
- Undrafted rookie Andy Jones is making a strong bid to make the Cowboys‘ 53-man roster, Drew Davison of the Star Telegram writes. Both owner Jerry Jones and VP Stephen Jones have sung the praises of the FCS wide receiver. “He’s had a great camp,” Stephen Jones said. “He’s one of those that you look at in a uniform and go, ‘Wow,’ that’s pretty good. Then he goes and plays and it’s still really good. He’s certainly making a big effort here and I think he has a real chance to compete for a spot on this team. Recently, Devin Street suffered a back injury and Jones seems to be making the most of the opportunity. The Cowboys obviously think highly of Jones as they gave him the highest signing bonus ($15K) of any of their UDFAs this year.
Cowboys Notes: Moore, Palmer, Walker
Defensive end Damontre Moore didn’t even last three months on the Raiders’ roster, and is now back on the free agent market after being waived last week. After being cut three times in the span of eight months, Moore could be nearing the end of the line, but one club the could express interest at some point is the Cowboys, opines James Kratch of NJ.com. Kratch is simply speculating, not reporting, but the fit makes sense, as Dallas’ defensive end crop has been depleted by a pair of suspensions handed out to Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory. The Cowboys today signed former Broncos defensive end Shaneil Jenkins earlier today, giving the club another body along the front four, but Moore could serve as another (cheap) option.
- The Cowboys worked out offensive lineman Kelvin Palmer and Audrey Walker yesterday, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Both players have bounced around the league and been a part of offseason rosters, but neither has ever taken an NFL snap. Dallas could simply be updating their emergency list, or it could be taking a look at offensive lineman in preparation for a Ronald Leary trade, though that’s entirely my speculation.
Cowboys Sign Shaneil Jenkins
- The Cowboys have agreed to terms with defensive end Shaneil Jenkins, agent Sean Stellato tells Todd Archer of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jenkins, a UDFA out of Shepherd, was originally signed by the Broncos this spring but was waived last week.
Wade Wilson Taking Personal Leave
- Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr took a significant pay cut for 2016, with his salary dropping from $9.1MM to $4.25MM. However, the veteran understands that on-field production will lead to a future payday. “Get the ball, get this money,” Carr told Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram. “Keep it simple. Get the ball, make some plays and you’ll see what happens when it’s all said and done.”
- Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson has taken a personal leave to deal with “personal matters,” reports Hill. There’s no timeline for when the coach will return to the team. “I don’t know. I don’t want to speculate on that,” said vice president Stephen Jones. “Wade has got to take care of himself. I know no one wants to be out here more than him.”
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