Cowboys Meet on Michael Gallup; Jerry Jones Comments on Cutting WR; Not A 'Bold Move'
The future of Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Gallup has been up in the air since the beginning of last season, and after his exploits in the 2023 season, it is even more so now.
With Gallup having career-lows in yards (418), touchdowns (two), and yards per game (26.4), as well as having the second-lowest reception total of his career (34), he has seen his status in coach Mike McCarthy's offense diminish.
Given his cap hit for next season ($13.8 million per spotrac.com), it makes sense that Gallup's future looks murky, especially considering that his snap count went down this season while Jalen Tolbert's went up as one could easily make the case for Tolbert to see more offensive snaps going forward.
Team owner Jerry Jones on Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine respectfully sidestepped the issue with Gallup, who was reportedly the subject of a meeting with his agent on Thursday.
“We don’t have a decision that we would like to talk about right now,” Jones said. “It’s one that we will be going over with him. Nothing we would say without him being involved. We need to sit down and go over stuff with him before we talk about what we’re going to do with him.”
Meanwhile, to ESPN, cutting Gallup would represent a "bold" move by the Cowboys this offseason.
And to us? When owner Jerry Jones talks of being "all in''? If this is his idea of "bold,'' this ain't "all in''?
"Gallup has never quite come back from the ACL injury he suffered near the end of the 2021 season," ESPN writes. "Last season, he was the clear third among the Cowboys' main receivers. He ranked 59th in receiving DYAR out of 81 qualifying receivers. By comparison, CeeDee Lamb was third and Brandin Cooks was 28th after coming on strong in the second half of the season.
"A regular cut of Gallup would leave a ton of dead money on the Cowboys' cap. But a post-June 1 cut would give the Cowboys $9.5 million in extra cap space with $4.4 million in dead money. That extra cap space would help the Cowboys, who are currently $20 million over the cap for 2024."
Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Now, cutting Gallup would hardly qualify as a "bold" move by the Cowboys given his recent output; it could be seen as a move that has to be made given his cap implications.
Add to that, Gallup, 11 times, had two or fewer receptions in a game (twice he had zero catches), and while some point to the face that his ACL injury is a major reason for his steady decline in production, the NFL is a results business, and Gallup isn't producing.
With the Cowboys facing a defining offseason as the franchise has several key decisions to make regarding players' contracts, Gallup appears to be a casualty of poor form and his cap hit.
ESPN outlined the benefits of cutting Gallup (as CowboysSI.com has done for the last few months), and while he has been a good solider in the locker room and hasn't complained about his game time, it feels like it has come to part ways with the receiver.
And if the Cowboys do just that, it will be anything but a "bold" move.
