FRISCO, TX – The Dallas Cowboys have until Wednesday until Free Agency officially opens but there have been a lot of moves already late Monday including LG Connor McGovern heading to the Buffalo Bills. Monday morning NFL teams are officially allowed to “tamper” with unrestricted free agents. Teams have the right to come to terms and agree on deals with players but they will not become official until Wednesday.
Breakdown of what happened on Monday:
The Cowboys are going to be looking for a left guard here pretty soon as Connor McGovern is supposedly signing a three-year $23-million dollar contract with the Buffalo Bills. McGovern was a third-round pick in 2019. He started 15 games for the Cowboys this past season mainly at left guard.
With McGovern most likely off to the Bills the Cowboys have multiple options as to how to fill that hole. They can sign a veteran and/or draft a left guard or they can move Tyler Smith to left guard, the first round pick for Dallas last year. If they move Smith to left guard it’s most likely because they like what they have at left tackle which should be Terrence Steele and Tyron Smith, who missed most of last season due to injury.
Losing McGovern opens cap space but they still needed more room than what they were working with. On Monday Dallas reconstructed Michael Gallup’s contract, the reconstruction saves the team around $7 million dollars in 2023. The Cowboys wide receiver was coming off of an ACL injury from last season and didn’t see as much productivity as he did the year before. The team said they are not worried about it and expect him to produce more this season. With the moves they have already made they have around $37 million to work with thus far after reworking the contracts for Dak Prescott and Zack Martin.
The Cowboys have a LOT of unrestricted free agents this off season, 20 to be exact. With Dallas freeing up some cap space they are looking to keep some of them. According to many sources the Cowboys are trying to keep defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., who tied for third on the team lead last season with six sacks. They are also looking to keep Donovan Wilson, Leighton Vander Esch and Dalton Schultz.
Cowboys also franchise tagged RB Tony Pollard. He will be tagged this upcoming year and make $10.1 million a year if they don’t come to an agreement on a contract by July.
