Cowboys 1st & 10: Just Trade For Jamal? It's Not That Easy
In this edition of First and 10, I sift through the new craziness around our favorite new trade subject, Jamal Adams - plus the top 10 Dallas Cowboys stories of the week
1) JUST JAMAL
Can the Dallas Cowboys just trade for Jamal Adams, already? Right?
Almost like it’s set to a clock, Jets defensive back Jamal Adams seems to want out of New York once again. The crime? He wants more money, and the Jets (I think) want to give it to him. They just don’t want to give it to Adams on his timetable. You see, Adams is just 24 years old and he has two more years on his current deal (counting the Jets having the fifth-year option), along with a franchise tag after that … you get the idea. The Jets can keep him for quite some time. And the Jets seem to want to do just that.
But Adams and his agent appear to want to leverage their desire for more money to shake the Jets down to either get the cash or get a trade, sort of the way Jalen Ramsey did with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year. One could make the case that Adams, even at 24, has outplayed his rookie deal. In three seasons he’s reached the Pro Bowl twice and been named an All-Pro once. Adams would love it if the Jets would tear up the current deal and sign him to a long-term extension. And if the Jets don’t want to, well, maybe someone else will?
That’s where the Cowboys COULD come in. And to be clear, as of Mike Fisher’s reporting on Friday, the Jets and Cowboys had not talked.
If the Jets don’t want to lose Adams without compensation down the line (think two or three years down the line), they may want to deal Adams. Now, to this point Adams, a DFW native (he played at Hebron High School), has shown more interest in the Cowboys than the Cowboys have shown interest in Adams (but the Cowboys have made offers to the Jets in the past). But if the price is right … might the Cowboys pull the trigger?
That’s the problem, though. The price, as first reported by Michael Irvin to 105.3 The Fan's RJ Choppy, is apparently a first-round pick and a third-round pick. You may recall that two years ago the Cowboys traded a first-round pick to get wide receiver Amari Cooper. That worked out well. But the Cowboys also forked over $100 million to Cooper going into the 2020 season. Taking on Adams will cost quite a bit (in fact, it might require any team taking Adams on to make the fourth-year pro the game’s highest-paid safety). And when you consider the Cowboys want to get a long-term deal done with quarterback Dak Prescott, too, is this a situation where the Cowboys’ salary cap rubber band might finally snap?
Maybe, but what ‘if’ Adams is SO interested in coming back home that he’s willing to cut the Cowboys a break, salary-wise? Our Mike Fisher explored that option earlier this week, too. Is there a ‘hometown discount’ to be had, salary-wise? If so, then perhaps the first- and the third-rounder might be worth the deal.
The Cowboys do have a bit of a gap at safety. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix will be a nice one-year starter for the Cowboys. Xavier Woods will be a nice starter opposite Clinton-Dix, but Adams is a clear upgrade.
Will they or won’t they? My bet is … they won’t.
2) ALDON SMITH GETS THE GREEN LIGHT
Earlier this week the NFL reinstated defensive end Aldon Smith. So the first step of the Cowboys’ risk/reward deal with Smith is complete.
Smith, of course, signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Cowboys earlier this year. But that $4 million isn't quite what it seems and our Mike Fisher breaks down why that $4 million figure is misleading right here.
Now that he’s reinstated and can start accelerating his assimilation into what the Cowboys hope to have planned for him in 2020, it’s important to understand that this is likely Smith’s last chance to have the kind of NFL career he wants. If he screws up again, he probably won’t be back.
While he was exiled from the NFL, Smith forged a partnership with Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer (who also trains athletes and veterans at his gym in Southern California). Glazer has talked about Smith’s work at Unbreakable Performance and the relationships he crafted with the veterans that trained there as well. Our Mike Fisher relayed those notes in this story.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys do have one OTHER suspended player on their roster. Does Smith’s reinstatement mean something for Randy Gregory? Our Mike Fisher did some digging to find out.
3) THE ‘UNBREAKABLE’ RECORD
There are a few unbreakable records in professional sports. Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Cal Ripken Jr’s and A.C. Green’s consecutive-games-played streaks. Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record (though don’t tell Alex Ovechkin that).
There is one in pro football, or at least that’s what LaDainian Tomlinson thinks. And it’s not a record that he holds. It’s the record that former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Emmitt Smith holds — the NFL’s all-time rushing yards record — 18,355. There are two NFL players that have a whisker’s chance right now, and our Richie Whitt breaks down exactly what they have to do in order to catch Smith. And hence the unbreakable comment.
4) POSITION GROUP ROUNDUPS
Now that the NFL Draft has ended and we’re fully into the offseason leading up to training camp, you can catch our position group updates through the next couple of weeks at CowboysSI.com. Our most recent ones are below, and they including Mike Fisher’s roster projections.
5) THE CRAWFORD WILDCARD
One of the biggest wild cards of this upcoming season is Tyrone Crawford, the defensive end who was largely forgotten about last season after he was shelved after double hip surgery. In fact, there was a movement by some to toss Crawford into the ‘easy-to-cut’ pile for cap purposes.
Well, Crawford said this week that he feels great and is ready to roll, making him a piece of the puzzle when it comes to the 2020 Dallas Cowboys offensive line. Our Bri Amaranthus broke it down.
6) DAK WANTS A NEW DEAL, BUT HE’S ALSO WORKING
Fish writes:
We theorized in this space that Dak Prescott, even as he withholds his services from the Dallas Cowboys while unsigned, would not spend the spring reclining on his sofa in his new luxury pad in Prosper, but rather, would be talking with coaches, opening his techno-playbook and getting his work in.
That's been true all spring, including on Friday, when he, Dez Bryant and Ezekiel Elliott got in a session under the watchful eye of local receivers-centric trainer David Robinson.
Catch Fish’s story right here.
Plus, there has been other Prescott news this week.
Did Dak Prescott and his agent really counter the Cowboys with a $45 million per year deal earlier this week? Our Mike Fisher digs in to get you the real story. But if you follow Fish, you know all this.
7) JERRY’S MASK
The NFL started opening up team facilities this week, in an effort to start a graduate climb toward getting players back into their team facilities at some point before training camp. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones even walked in wearing a mask.
The Cowboys boss entered The Star in Frisco early Tuesday, the first time NFL clubs are allowed to return to their facilities, assuming their home-state requirements are met. Texas is one of the first states to publicly re-open, thus allowing the Cowboys to follow NFL guidelines in allowing up to 75 employees in the building.
8) WHITT'S END: DAK’S ‘GREEDY'?
This deal will get done, but only then will Dak’s image reconstruction begin. He’ll get a smattering of boos during the preseason. No way around it: Regardless of context, the appearance that he's asking for $45 million (in any form) in the middle of a pandemic that is prompting record unemployment and countless shuttered businesses is horrible optics.
Richie’s take on Dak’s contract negotiations (with some Mike Fisher context), why Dirk Nowitzki is a better leader than Michael Jordan, and everyone’s REALLY up in arms about radio ratings in this week’s Whitt’s End.
9) CELEBRATING THE COWBOYS’ 60TH
The Dallas Cowboys are celebrating their 60th season in the NFL in 2020 and Richie Whitt is counting down the 60 biggest moments in franchise history. Here’s the link to the full list.
10) TWEET OF THE WEEK
Wanna talk Cowboys? Hit up Postins on Twitter at @PostinsPostcard.
