Cowboys And Alvin Kamara!? Goofy Report Urges Trade for Saints RB
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys are by far the most-watched and most-scrutinized team in the NFL. So how and why, we wonder, would someone watch and scrutinize "America's Team'' - including at least cursory examinations of their roster and their salary cap - and surmise that ...
Alvin Kamara should be acquired via trade for the 2024 season?
We're going to go through this exercise not to eviscerate the good people at Bleacher Report who cooked up this goofy idea - OK, maybe to eviscerate B/R just a little bit - but rather as a sort of "test-tube examination'' of what's really going on here at The Star.
Running back Tony Pollard is on his one-year, $10 million deal. We said a year ago that cap-wise, Dallas overpaid. Now here we are in December, and while Pollard is an important member of the 10-3 Cowboys, the 2022 Pro Bowler is increasingly sharing carries with unheralded Rico Dowdle, who is making just $1.04 million this year.
What does that tell us?
Dowdle is also set to hit free agency. And so as much as the Cowboys might like the other kids here (Malik Davis, Deuce Vaughn and Hunter Luepke), yes, the Cowboys could be in the market for a running back.
Enter Alvin Kamara of the Saints? Writes B/R: "The potential acquisition of Alvin Kamara could upgrade the Dallas offense from the high level it is already playing at this season. ... Dallas would likely have to send a few draft picks back to New Orleans ...''
Enter ... problems, based on what we know about Dallas' thoughts about - again, the roster and the cap, and the philosophy as well. Three problems, to be specific:
1 - Kamara will be 29 in July. We broke the original story on the Cowboys in-house study that convinced them to not re-sign NFL rushing champ DeMarco Murray because he was a gifted heavy-lifting 28-year-old. Dallas came to the conclusion that the old notion that backs fall off at 30 was wrong. ... and that the age is actually 28.
Dallas, which followed up similarly last spring by saying goodbye to another rushing champ in Ezekiel Elliott, has, based on league-wide results, been proven right.
Trading for Kamara would be in blatant conflict of an important philosophy here inside The Star.
2 - We've already suggested that $10 million was hefty for Pollard. How much would Kamara cost? He's in the midst of a five-year, $75 million contract. His cap hit in 2024 is an inescapable $19 million. His cap hit in 2025 is a slightly-more-inescapable $29 million.
B/R wants Dallas to pay Kamara three times what they pay Pollard? And 29 times what they pay Dowdle?
The Cowboys, as CowboysSI.com has explained often, have mapped out their "salary-cap pie.'' It starts with this spring's coming extension for QB Dak Prescott, quite possibly making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. CeeDee Lamb will soon command top dollar at receiver, as will Micah Parsons, the defensive star.
There are places where the Cowboys' cap can bend. But bend for a 29-year-old who plays the wrong position and gets paid three times the going rate to do it?
The Dallas Cowboys - in terms of roster, cap and philosophy - do not have that much "bend.''
