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Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
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Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
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Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
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Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
it's the Musers. The podcast Cowboys Edition Football friends is what we call this George Dunham, Bob Sturm talking Cowboys well into the off season. Football is a it's not played year round, but it's talked about year round, especially in these parts and around the country where there are so many Cowboy fans. And thanks for tuning in, all you Cowboy fans who still keep the faith despite just getting hit upside the head for the last 30 years. But Bob, we're going to fix this.
Bob Sturm
Yes.
George Dunham
In 26, John, he's going to get this right. He and Will McClay are going to join hands and they're going to figure this whole thing out. And we'll talk about some numbers, we'll talk about some players on today's episode, but let's start here. And that is the way we think they should operate and the way they are operating. And I think those two things are in line. I think the Cowboys, based on who they have committed to, namely their quarterback for 60 million plus a year, CD Lamb, his favorite wide receiver, who they've committed right at 30 million to. And there's a lot of investment just in those two players alone. We're going to talk about George Pickens here in a second, but the way they're operating is we got two, maybe three years to make this count. And this is not about, hey, let's slowly rebuild the defense, man. It's let's get as many good players as quickly as we can and let's maximize the Dak Prescott era. It could last for another six years, but realistically you're looking at a two or three year window.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. And I think that's a real important conversation for them to have and by extension for us to have is just, okay, look at your pieces that you do have and then ask yourself the question, what is our plan? Is our plan to, you know, grow something that is, you know, sustainable for, for a big window or a small size window? And I think we're both on the same page here that the best way to do that is to look at Dak Prescott's age. We understand There are better quarterbacks in the world than Dak Prescott. But we also understand this is far and away the best plan they have moving forward. Partly because they gave him a no trade clause and partly because he's really good and he. And make no mist have to have that conversation again. I guess I'm willing to. We have like eight months before there's a game, but it's. Hopefully we don't have to convince too many Cowboy fans that they have a good quarterback. Now there's a difference between having that conversation, George, and asking do they have a Super bowl winning quarterback? Because sometimes it's a different answer. Also sometimes we see people like Sam Darnold win and we say that there's way too, way more to it than just a quarterback. But, but let's keep our eyes on the prize here and say in a vacuum, the three best pieces of property the Cowboys have in their portfolio is Dak Prescott, CD Lamb and Quinn and Williams. And then so what we do is we look ahead at saying, okay, if they're all in their prime right now and in order to do that you have to I guess acknowledge that quarterback primes are later or longer, depending on which one you want to use. You would say a quarterback can be elite well into his 30s, usually a running back can't. So we, we have a sliding scale cd. Lamb is, is still a very young man. He will be 29 in 2028. Just to give you an example. CD will be. Or his Dak will be 35 at that point and Quinn and will be 31. So to me, we're getting close to the end of the road with those three by the 2028 season. So let's, let's say that one will include. But anything beyond that is probably kind of crazy, especially now we'll have to be talking another DAC contract if you want to keep going into 29. So, so let's, let's walk it back to 26, 27 and maybe 28 is the window. Therefore I think that informs many, many other decisions you make, don't you?
George Dunham
Yes, absolutely. And I think it, I think it's why you get George Pickens a long term deal as soon as possible. Yeah, you franchise him if you have to before the NFL year start date begins. And if you can't come to an agreement then, then you keep working on it because as we'll talk about, I am not a capologist, but they've got some restructuring to do and it would be much better to have Pickens under a Long term deal than just the franchise tag.
Bob Sturm
Right.
George Dunham
I'll even let the. I'll even let go the. Well, he's not going to be too happy about that. Regardless of what he thinks about it. Man, you've got to get that as friendly as possible for the cap. The cap is going up. But you talk about there's top six players as we'll discuss here in a little bit. Man, it's really expensive and yeah, I want all the weapons, I want all the protection possible for Dak, and somehow we've got to quickly rebuild a defense just to be passable and we got to do it fast.
Bob Sturm
Okay, so even on the draft, and I don't want to get too far into that, but the reason we have to establish what our window is, and in fact, we do have a window, by the way, if, if we were talking about, like the Washington commanders with Jaden Daniels, we would not be talking like this. We would not say we need to win in two or three years. We would say we think Jaden Daniels is our quarterback for the next decade. So let's make some big picture decisions and be a little more patient and not act like every single transaction we make has this much urgency. But in the case of the Cowboys, I think you have to flip that on its ear and you have to say, well, actually, we do think 2026 is vital, 2027 is even more vital, and 2028 is where we're going to feel a window closing on us. And so what decisions do we make because of that? And I have two in particular that I at least want to throw out there. And I'm not even positive I agree with doing these, but I do think these are conversations you have once you establish that window. The first one would be like a move for somebody like Max Crosby. Now, to be honest, every single thing about the Max Crosby move makes me nervous because that's what desperate football teams do, is they go make a play on a guy quickly approaching 30 who's on the books for like 35 million a year.
George Dunham
Yeah, no, thanks.
Bob Sturm
And. And he's on that exact same window, though. And so if you're saying, guys, let's load up for three years and damn the torpedoes, if you will, and not really spend a whole lot of time worrying about a long term sensible build, maybe Max Crosby is actually something you think about. Now, you said, no, thanks. And my first instinct is to agree with you, but the more we go through this exercise, the more I'm actually kind of wondering if. If I'm Digging in the wrong place.
George Dunham
Okay, how about this, though? I don't. I don't want to pay another dude. How's Crosby going to be in the next three years?
Bob Sturm
Let's see the Max Crosby age as of today. George, since you asked so nicely, he is 28, 29 in training camp.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Bob Sturm
So. So 20, 26 is 29, then 30, then 31. So basically the Quinn and Williams age.
George Dunham
Okay, well, I've got Quinn and Williams in that type of scenario. I don't want another player on this team who's either pushing 30 or over 30. Who's making 30? I'm sorry. I want to go.
Bob Sturm
No, I agree. I agree with you. I just. I just wonder. I just wonder, like, let's take. Is there an edge you're super familiar with, like Cassius, how from A and M, some of these guys in the first round? I think there are David Bailey from Texas Tech. I mean, there are some dudes in this draft, right.
George Dunham
How about Falk, the.
Bob Sturm
Okay from the Auburn. Keldrick Falk.
George Dunham
Okay.
Bob Sturm
He. I think he's 20. And so part of his dossier is. Might take a couple of years to figure it out. So does that meet our window? And so that brings me to number two. Max Crosby may be a no, partly because all of your logic on trading Micah Parsons is going to fall apart if you then pay Quinn and max Crosby, like, 70 million combined to play per season for you. I agree.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Bob Sturm
And so, honestly, if we were having this window conversation, I would think a big part of it is we are definitely keeping Micah Parsons. But. But again, I don't want to. I don't want to relitigate that every single time we do this. So now I turn my attention to the draft and I say, as I'm grading players, certain players have age considerations that I consider negative. And what is one of them? Well, the one of them that comes quickly to mind is. Would be Hakeem Mazador from Miami, who I want to say will be 25 years old on opening day. Now, that is absurdly old for a rookie. But.
George Dunham
But that may fit the window, though.
Bob Sturm
But that may fit the window because he is a dude right now. You put him in your lineup, and right now, Akeem Mazador is not going to be appealing to the top 10 teams in the draft because they want a guy who's 25 when it's time to sign his second, like Micah Parsons. But if you're the Cowboys and you're saying, actually we need guys who are ready today, that should Change your draft board and that should change your off season. As to do I want to get a bunch of rookies in here for Christian Parker or do I want to say to Christian Parker, hey, let's keep clowny. Let's go get another veteran maybe to play linebacker for us. Maybe it's Nicole Dean. Let's go, you know, let's do a couple things that say, and then on our draft board, let's look at guys that we think can impact us by week three of 20, 26. That's what that window conversation would do,
George Dunham
whether it's right or wrong. I think that's a great point that I have not even considered of drafting. I was thinking free agency to the window and players that you don't re sign who are either on your roster or their unrestricted free agents don't go. Sam Williams fits into that. Terrence Steele. Yes, fits into that.
Bob Sturm
That's right. I'm sorry, Steel for sure.
George Dunham
But hey, some of these other guys, if we're talking draft, that's really interesting, Bob. Let's draft to the window. Let's take a guy who may not, who's maybe hit pretty much what he's going to be, but it's really good. Yes, but he's ready to go. That's really interesting. And here's another idea about the draft and we'll see the particulars of it. But at 12 and 20, to me, when I found out, okay, the second first round pick will be number 20, I thought, man, that's kind of down there. I could see the value of trading that and getting some more guys in here because you're going to need guys to fill spots.
Bob Sturm
That's right.
George Dunham
But at the same time, I'm going to even sharpen that definition, saying you're going to need really good guys to fill that. And as we talk about drafting to the window, I'm not going to use the excuse, well, gosh, it's hit or miss. No, I am not going to miss. And I'm going to land a terrific player at 12 and a terrific player at 20. So I'm not, hey, I got one player and then I got two.
Bob Sturm
Who.
George Dunham
Yeah, they here in a couple years, they may be. No, I want someone who's ready to line up at corner linebacker edge and face the Philadelphia Eagles next year.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, and now. So that's, that's tricky because we need a lot of guys, but we also need the high quality guys. And so that's, that's what we're dealing with. The other idea and there's a couple thoughts here that are draft specific is people say, well, would you trade down from 20 to try to pick up a couple day twos? What if we flipped it on its ear and say, well, wait a minute, what if we trade down from 12 to, like, 19 or so? Let's say Carolina's at 19 and Carolina's also, I think, at 51, or Pittsburgh's at 21, and they're also at 53. I wonder if the idea is actually hold where you are at 20 and then grab 19 as well and 51 or 21 and 53 and get, you know, pick up an extra second to lose a little quality for those people that do want, you know, some of the red, red meat at the very top of the draft. There's a number of ways to look at this, is what I'm saying. And the other thing, like when you talk about linebacker, I think I want a veteran linebacker for sure. But when I started going through the top linebackers in this draft, you. You have, like, two versions of it. You have the really, really young guys, like the Ohio State kid, Sonny Styles, but even younger is Arvel Reese, although there's no way he gets to 12, I can't imagine. But. But then you have guys who have some age to them, like Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez. Would I feel like Jacob Rodriguez will slide into, you know, that 50 range? And if I trade back and pick up that second, am I actually preferring a guy who has played a lot more football and maybe is a little more ready? You know, again, we're thinking out loud in concepts here, but I think that's what you have to do when you're team building this time of year is you have to have, like, one overriding philosophy. And for me, the overriding philosophy has to. I mean, the only conclusion I can come up with, Georgie, is, you know, the idea that we're in win now mode and now we have to have a whole separate salary cap discussion. But I want to say before we even get into that, there's a lot of optimism. When you talk about the money, it's not nearly as bad as you've been led to believe. And we have some numbers on that that I'll walk you through. But the point is, they're actually in a position that if they said, let's get super aggressive and try to rattle cages in the next 24 months while Dak Prescott can still be elite, well, then I think they're in a position to do so right now, especially with George Pickens and CD Lamb, as, you know, maybe your best assets that you have.
George Dunham
Yes. And maybe this fits in better with what we're going to talk about next. But Jerry did say at the super bowl he's ready to bust the budget. You believe that?
Bob Sturm
Well, I. I did not believe it until I looked at the financials. And over the last week, I will echo my feeling that at least it does seem set up to do that. And that's what I'm excited to discover. Again, we knew some of this. The way they wrote up Dak Prescott's contract is they have on the books these $80 million, $90 million cap hits, and everybody's like, come on, that's crazy. What are you doing? And the reality is, if you talk to Steven over a nice tea, he would probably say, of course we're going to put voidable years on there. We just didn't do it yet. And we're waiting for the right time to pounce. So maybe they saw the Patriots spend more than any team in the NFL and go to the Super Bowl. Maybe they saw Seattle spend more than, like, 30 teams in free agency and go to the Super Bowl. I guess. No, actually, it was, like, 28. But those two teams were in the top four in free agency spending, and they both went to the Super Bowl. And we definitely know that Jerry and Steven are. Are, you know, subject to the latest trends in the NFL. And I actually. I actually don't think it's insane. The problem, and it's a big one, is that this free agency season kind of stinks.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Bob Sturm
There. Nobody in the NFL would say, man, this is going to be a historic free agency. The flip side is actually true. The flip side is Malik Willis might be one of the best free agents in the entire NFL this off season. And if we're spending a lot of time having a really deep Malik Willis conversation, then I think we probably know that most teams in today's NFL are locking up their potential free agents before they ever get to free agency.
George Dunham
Yeah. It's a trick, and I think because I get confused about it, and I hope maybe you can straighten some of this out next as we talk. I am not a capologist, but I do have a couple of ideas, and I do have a couple of questions about the cap.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, that.
George Dunham
Let's do that next. And. And that will show you who the Cowboys can keep, who they could go after, and things like that. Let's do that. On football Friends, the George W. Bush Presidential center in Dallas invites you to explore how sports unite challenge and inspire change beyond the game experience. Game Changer United by Sports presented by Gary Weber. A special exhibit at the Bush center where history and our nation take the field. See more than 50 legendary sports memorabilia items, including two of Jesse Owens gold medals from the 1936 Olympics and gear worn by Jackie Robinson and other iconic items from athletes who changed history. Now through the end of February. See items from Dallas Mavericks legends like Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and other members of the 2011 NBA championship team. Come visit the Game Changer exhibit today. You definitely don't want to miss this. Plan Your visit at buschcenter.org musers that's bushcenter.org/musers fast breaks, buzzer beaters and block parties are back and Underdog is the best place to get in on the action. Playing on Underdog is easy. Just pick whether your favorite player will go higher or lower on stats like points, rebounds, steals and more. Get your picks right, you could win up to 5,000 times your cash. Last week I went higher on Cooper Flag's total points in one big let's see what happens this week. Download the app Use the promo code MUSERS to score $75 in bonus entries when you play your first $5. That's promo code MUSERS. Underdog make picks win money must be 18 or older, 19 or older in Alabama and Nebraska, 19 or older in Colorado for some games 21 or older
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Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
text Hopeny to 467-369. One thing that frustrates me in following the Cowboys, Bob, is that Jerry and Stephen, when cap numbers are brought up, salaries are brought up, how your negotiations are brought up and they've they've been really frustrated in talking with the media about these hold ins and holdouts over the last few years. But part of me thinks they're the Cowboys are pretty good at it. I think Steven's pretty good at massaging things and and at least making the availability to do some some free agent signings and be creative financially. But the one thing we talk about year after year as far as raw spending in real numbers that dollars that you have to throw out the window on a Yearly basis, like the Patriots did last year, the Cowboys are routinely at the bottom of that. And that is really, really frustrating and makes no sense to me.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, and, you know, it's extra frustrating when you consider the fact that, like, 10 years ago, they had the reputation of these guys. Boy, you just watch. They are the types of guys that are going to, you know, really spend, and maybe Dodgers, their way to the top of the NFL. And then we started waiting for the show, you know, the fireworks show of the Jones boys throwing their very impressive wealth at just sort of buying a championship or coming as close as you can in the NFL. And, you know, they could. There's a lot of ways you can fudge the cap, and I think the Philadelphia Eagles are the best example of that. They have shown us that there are many ways to borrow money against future caps. And this. I think this confuses a lot of listeners. And this is, you know, maybe we could do a public service here a little bit in cap 101. And that is, you know, I know the cap changes every year. It goes up every year. But let's say, for the sake of argument, there are $300 million under the cap each year. And the NFL basically allows teams with voidable years and restructures. And by the way, this also confuses people. The players have zero say in it. The only thing the players have to say is agreeing on the terms of their contract, on their personal payouts. They do not in any way, shape or form get a say on whether a team restructures or adds, like, fake years at the end of their deal. Because they are fake years. They are voidable years. They are on your contract as an understanding that these do not represent years. He will play for us. These are financial loopholes, okay? And they're built into the cap for a reason, because the NFL has a very hard cap. But they wanted to make. You know, they want to allow the owners to spend the money however they want, which means you get 300 million a year, but you don't have to spend 300 million each year. You just have to account for a minimum amount. And so what the Eagles have done is they have built a Super bowl team and a Super bowl champion. I mean, the Eagles have done it brilliantly in the sense that they have gone to two Super Bowls in the last four. Is it now? But. But that's a. That's a brilliant job by the Philadelphia Eagles and Howie Roseman and, you know, their ownership, Jeffrey Lurie, that they have said, we think our window is now, so we will spend against our 2030, 2031, 2029 caps now, and we will spend that money in 2025 to attempt to win Super Bowls. But the cap numbers for each of our players will be very, very small in this year. Which is why it's disingenuous for people to say Jalen Hurts is only costing 12 million against the cap and Dak is costing 80 million against the cap. That's not true. Which is why every time I talk contracts with anybody, I say you have to do the average annual value, and the average annual value is, is just division. So if a guy signs a four year, $200 million deal, you just have to say as a fan or a media member, it's 50 a year. Even if Stephen and Jerry put 100 on this year's cap and you'll see a tweet that says Dak is on the books for 100 this year, that's not true. It's 50 per year and the owners can massage it any way they want to sort of game the cap. Okay? So I apologize for that. I think it's important that people know that because now I'm going to give you information as to the Cowboys right now. If you look at any of the cap ologist figures on the Internet, if you Google cowboy cap space right now, you will see that the Cowboys are roughly $33 million over the cap. And then they're talking about tagging George Pickens. And we know that tag number is 28. So 33 plus 28 is now the Cowboys are $61 million over the cap for 2026, George.
George Dunham
And just to be clear, that is that projected cap or last year's cap of 279, it's the new projected cap of over 300 million.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so they're, they're already $61 million over the cap. And so anybody who tries to understand this from just reading the newspaper will say, how are they supposed to spend? They have to cut $61 million just to get under the cap. That makes no sense. How do you do it? I think the Cowboys are screwed. Well, actually, no, they haven't done is. They haven't fudged their books yet. And this is how this works. And so again, to go back to segment one, where we're talking about where's your window? And where's your window? Not well, if you think you're rebuilding in 2030, then you should put all of your cap charges in that year and then allow you to collect as many players in 2027 or 2026. So I will do this as quick as I can. But to get from 60 million under to 30 million over, we have to find $90 million, George.
George Dunham
Okay?
Bob Sturm
And here's how. Here's how we do it. It's very easy. We're going to take Dak, CD and Tyler Smith, we're going to take their contracts that have already been written for void years, and we're going to move their base to the minimum, and we're going to put two void years at the end of each deal. And so doing that without even asking Dak, you don't have to ask his agent. You don't have to ask him. You simply email the league office. That's. I swear to you, it's not any more than accounting paperwork. You save 31 on deck, 19 on CD, which makes 50, and 18 on Tyler Smith, which makes 68 million. So already we're under the cap now by like 7 or 8 million dollars. Then what we're going to do is we're going to tell Kenny Clark, we love you, we want to keep you, but not at 21.5 million. So this is the first time you actually have to have a conversation with a player. I think Kenny Clark is a reasonable human. I think we can have this conversation that, hey, we don't like you at 21 million. We do like you at, let's say, 10. And. But we need to redo that deal. So the first thing you do is you release him, and that gets 21 5. No dead money at all. 215 comes off your book. So now you're $30 million under the cap already, and we're going to do the same with Logan Wilson. I'm not sure I want to keep him at all, but he's on for 6.5. None of it's guaranteed. You honestly don't even need to talk to him. You just inform him he's being released, and now we're $35 million under the cap. So we went from 61 over to 35 under with those five moves. If you want to keep going, you can consider Terrence Steele as a cut. You would cut him?
George Dunham
Yeah.
Bob Sturm
Okay.
George Dunham
I think I'm.
Bob Sturm
That's an interesting1. At 17.5, I. That's a tough one for me because that's kind of right tackle money now, and he never misses time, and I just. That's an interesting one. We could come back to that. We could extend Quinn and Williams and get the price way, way down. We could Restructure OSA and do the exact same thing that we did with Tyler Smith. Of course, the only issue with voidable years is you push out the guaranteed money. So I am doing that with Tyler Smith without thinking twice, because I would never. I never expect Tyler Smith in the next three or four years to diminish in value. Oso, Diggie, Zua, it's a little closer, but. But I think we. I think I could go either way on that one. And then Malik Hooker, we may release him. So we can get another 40 million and be 70 million under the cap just by doing these things I've mentioned, and a lot of them are just sending emails to the league office.
George Dunham
Yes. And I think all those names you mentioned, Cowboy fans are going to hear that. Those type of. That type of jargon around those names. Yeah. Terrence Steele. Because I've seen you write about this and I've heard you talk about him.
Bob Sturm
Yeah.
George Dunham
And you are right. He's not the worst guy on the offensive line. I'm just thinking that I. I can. I can do one of two things. I could move Tyler Smith to left tackle, and I could put Tyler Guyton on the right side, or I could. I could find a guy on the. He's currently on the roster to do what Terrence Steele has, which is a bit of. A. Bit of a gamble. But I just. I don't know that. I just don't know if he's worth that. No, I think. I think it's a right tackle is getting. Because I. I don't know.
Bob Sturm
It's a great conversation. The reason I get real nervous having it is if my win now window means my right tackle is Tyler Guyton and my left tackle is Nate Thomas. I'm just having little chest. Chest pains just a little bit. George. So Terence Steel does give you a lower ceiling, but also a higher floor. And I think there's an argument that if you're trying to win a dependable right tackle who isn't perfect but also is pretty dependable, I think there's a conversation there.
George Dunham
I.
Bob Sturm
Let me circle back to the biggest of pictures, though. I think this is really, really interesting. There's a. There's a capologist out there on Twitter who goes under the name SF Data Niners. SF Data, the number 9ers. Okay. And. And he keeps this stuff. And from my experience, he's really good at it. Okay. And so what he. What he's done is he's gone through the entire league's contracts. He knows how to party. And as of February 11, he basically came up with a number for each team that they could create in cap savings just by restructuring, not by cutting people, by restructuring their current deals. The Dallas Cowboys can create $131 million just by sending emails. So if anyone's trying to tell you the Cowboys don't have cap space, they have more cap space available than anybody in the league. They're number one at 131. If you're curious, there are five teams with $100 million in cap space on contracts that all they have to do is restructure. It is the Cowboys 1, the Lions at 2, the Chiefs at 3, the Buccaneers at 4, and the and the Vikings at 5. So those are the five teams that we should be looking at this year as being movers and shakers. We know the Chiefs are going to do something really bold, so. So just keep those teams in mind. The Vikings could actually pull off a big quarterback move because they have $100 million sitting there looking at them just by sending emails. So if we have five teams that can do a lot, what is the one team that can't do a thing? They're up against it. They've already done all of their tricks and there's no room anymore. They've played all of their cards.
George Dunham
Who?
Bob Sturm
The Philadelphia Eagles.
George Dunham
Really?
Bob Sturm
So the Eagles. The Eagles have already done their tricks, their moves. They have moved everything. There are no more restructures they can do. So you could argue they are in the worst position in the league to add players. Now, the other thing is they have a lot of draft picks because the Eagles are smart, but draft picks.
George Dunham
And I kind of like their roster,
Bob Sturm
too, but yes, they already have a really good roster, so they're probably going to be fine. But do you know how much the Eagles could create in cap space with restructuring structures right now? George?
George Dunham
How much?
Bob Sturm
$200,000. So the Cowboys have 131 million available and the Eagles have $200,000. And now again, the Eagles have a really cool Lombardi Trophy. In fact, they have two since 2017. They lost another Super Bowl. They could have three. And they're going to be one of the favorites to go this year. So they've played their cards very, very well, even though we. We were not sure they have a quarterback that is going to give them a whole lot of more windows, but we'll see. But the point is, the Cowboys actually can create $131 million, and that should tell you that this is going to be a very, very interesting off season if the Jones boys are determined to go make some moves.
George Dunham
Yeah, it should be a really interesting one. All right, let's. Let's go there next because I have a priority list that you can probably quickly shoot the pieces, but let me at least try it on you next. What do you say to that?
Bob Sturm
Can't wait.
George Dunham
All right, let's do that.
Bob Sturm
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George Dunham
Okay, great stuff brought to the table once again this week by one Bob Sturm about how you do this, how you shuffle around money. And by the way, from the best you can tell as we look at a number, not that it's a huge difference, but somewhere between 301 and $305 million is where the cap will be this year, correct?
Bob Sturm
Yeah, that's right.
George Dunham
A little over 20 million from where it was last year.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. I mean, it's crazy with the TV deals. And this is another thing that these owners know, but fans don't always want to dive into the financials. And maybe it was a better world, George, when we didn't know all this stuff and we didn't have to have a calculator and a spreadsheet to do all this. But in fact, I remember when the NFL was hiding money from the players and not letting them share their money with each tech. SRAM was a big fan of that sort of thing. But. But I would just say that it's. It's pretty wild that as big as this league is, the cap keeps jumping 10% every year. And so, and so, you know, when you, when you have a budget in your household and you could jump at 10% every single year, that would allow you a little wiggle room for increased expenditures. Now, of course, milk is getting more expensive and so is gas, but. And so players. But, but that. That 10% wiggle room on 300 million turns into 330. And then, you know, it goes again to 360. And it just keeps going up and up to where the cap will be at 500 million, probably within a decade, maybe less.
George Dunham
And that's why the players, as they look at, man, I don't want to travel to Rio de Janeiro or Brazil or, you know, wherever we're going, Germany to. To play a game that even things like that factor into it, these international games. And we're up to, was it 9 or 10 next year with the addition of Australia? It's. It's a crazy number. And this is where they want to get to where everybody every year plays a game somewhere else and things like that even make the cap go up.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. And the 18th week make the cap go up and Thursday night games make the cap go up. And, you know, where will they put the next window? You know, the one I always think about that is still untapped from a league that has tapped nearly everything, George, is the 8:30am game, which is what these international games are really all about. People are like, why are they playing a game in Paris? Nobody's going to watch them. That's not what this is. What you need to look at it is the team. The. The NFL is creating a 8:30am kickoff on Sundays for TV so that Netflix or Amazon or Apple or whoever will bid another half billion dollars to get 15 or 16 or they don't want these on the NFL Network. That is a placeholder until they get their plan in place. And that's also why they're way more interested in Europe and Asia potentially than they are in like South America and Central America because those games are on the same time slot. They want a full window of Sunday morning games. And so if you think Sundays are already long enough in the NFL, just wait till they have a breakfast game. And it's coming. The 15 weeks of automatic 8am games where you better have your fantasy starters ready. That's headed this way in a hurry, George.
George Dunham
You know, and I missed a number of those games, but. Because sometimes I'd forget, oh, yeah, that's the London game this week. But if it was. If I knew it was on, I was, I was kind of there for it.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. Yeah. And what if it be. What if it became a normal thing up until almost Christmas, you know, and, and they just, hey, this is, this is what we're doing, guys. This is how we keep the cap growing. And this is how we keep. Not three networks like the old days. Now we got like seven different outlets all bidding because we all know live sports Is the content and the currency of the day that, you know, what was it two years ago? Where of the top 100 television shows, 93 were NFL games? I mean, it's. It's. It's where we're at, and it's where we're going.
George Dunham
You know, I watched the entire podcast because I know how to party Bob of George Pickens on with Micah Parsons. I don't know if you watch that
Bob Sturm
entire production, but I didn't watch a second of it. Tell me about was.
George Dunham
It was good. You know, Micah, if you worked with him a little bit, I think he'd be a really good host. He kind of repeats himself a lot and. But he's. He's really conversational. I thought he brought some things out of Pickens that were really good. Going all the way back to. Does it surprise you that George Pickens and I think Micah have played contact football since they were four?
Bob Sturm
That's insane.
George Dunham
They were not playing flag football or they were playing contact football, Helmets on and everything. And Picking says he was a running back. That's where he got sick moves. Like his hurdle this year when he was in the open field. No, but it was just a. It was an interesting conversation of those two. Oh, yeah. That was the other thing that came out of it, that. To get hyped for a game instead of listening to music or watching
Bob Sturm
Gladiator.
George Dunham
Gladiator or. Yeah, something like that. George Pickens watches cooking shows. What. He loves food. And somehow, I guess it relaxes him. He says he, you know, just gets in another frame of mind. But he was funny and he was engaging. George Pickens was, you know, we kind of vilified him before he got here. He couldn't have been better for this team.
Bob Sturm
Yeah.
George Dunham
He also addressed, hey, sometimes if you just take one play, and I think you've brought this up before. If you just take one play out of a game or three plays out of a game, you may say, well, that was a crappy effort.
Bob Sturm
Right.
George Dunham
But when you play receiver and you're running 40 yards down, jogging 40 yards back, running 50 yards down, jogging 50 yards back, after doing that 13 or 14 times. Yeah. You may have a route that does not look like. And he even admitted, he said, hey, man, every route is not full speed. It's just not. That's just the way it goes.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, I hear you and I hear him, and I'd be very interested in hearing the conversation. I will say that one of my favorite conversations I had with Michael Irvin over the years was a Full talk about running a slant. And the play I'm thinking about in Detroit was not necessarily a slant, but it's a dig. But it's the same concept where it's an inside breaker. And Michael talked about. And it's great to hear Michael talk about it. Of course, as you know, his intensity makes every answer better. But what he would say is, I knew that if I don't cross the face of the defender, if I do not get past, get across him, I am leaving my quarterback out to dry. And I cannot do that. I cannot go back to the huddle and have Troy looking at me like I exposed him and I exposed the situation. And so I hear you. And I can't imagine how an NFL quarter wide receiver runs full speed for 40 offensive plays, let alone 60. It looks like the most exhausting job in the world. And, and we're watching the film and we're like, bro, even when you're not getting the ball, it's important you run at your top speed because it helps sell a lot of things and it helps the running back get space and, and all these things.
George Dunham
So you may get the wind knocked out of you on a play before and then you got to get back up and sprint down.
Bob Sturm
But, yeah, but that play against the Lions, man, a couple things. Well, it was a first quarter, so you're not tired. And also it's an in breaker where the defender had inside leverage and you are one of the biggest wide receivers in the league, and you've got to get across his face, if only to make the pass incomplete. You cannot sort of slow down and let him jump you for the football. Now, I've, I've played 00 plays in the NFL as a wide receiver. I don't know how to do it. I know what it looks like. And from that standpoint, I would, I would beg to differ with any sort of rationalization, but I hear what he's saying, but I would defer to Michael Irvin on if it's the last thing I do. I am not letting you get that ball. That is, that is depending on me to get inside of you, the defender.
George Dunham
Right, Right. But I would. And that one really ticked me off too. And especially at the time where they needed it badly to stay in that
Bob Sturm
game, it was like third and long, third and eight, as I recall.
George Dunham
They needed it. And I guess the, the return volley on that would be okay. The guy runs 800 routes. That was one of them, you know? Yep.
Bob Sturm
Yeah.
George Dunham
And I point was, you know, maybe he thought it was going to the other side, and then it dictated that it went to him and he wasn't quite in the best position.
Bob Sturm
But yeah, yeah, as, as fans and as media, I do think we're. We're probably more informed, I hesitate to say smarter, but more informed than we've ever been about a lot of this stuff. Because can look at the film and we can. Heck, Twitter is amazing because not only do you look at the film, but J.J. watt may respond or, you know, guys who are in the NFL hall of Fame can look at these plays and say, no, no, no, this is what you're looking at. And we all get collectively smarter. The, the amount of information is absolutely remarkable. But I do want to say 20 years ago, 40 years ago, when you're watching Drew Pearson, we did not hold these guys to this standard that we hold George Pickens to. To a point where it was only like two years ago, George, where I would have to try to convince people that CD Lamb was good because there were a couple really weird moments between him and dak, like in 2022 or 2023, where like, like, man, I'm not paying this guy when he comes up for a contract. And I'm like, you're not going to pay CD Lamb? He's one of the five best wide receivers on the planet, man. You know, I realize that there's going to be 5, 10 bad snaps for Patrick Mahomes every year, and everybody below him, it's going to increase. And so, you know, that's, that's the give and take of watching the NFL in modern times. That you and I can sit there and break down a game and we can say, man, I think, I think Kenneth Murray is doo doo. But at the same time, you know, with that comes some sort of nuance that you can look bad a couple plays a game and still be a really good player. You know, I mean, this is, think about like life is a defensive end is that you play 16, 17 games and if you ever had 17 sacks, they would build a statue for you in 17 games. But you're playing 60 snaps. And so you could have 50 losing snaps and go get one sack a game and people would lose their mind about you. But are you actually doing a great job relative to somebody who plays really, really solid but only has eight sacks? And, you know, that's what, that's what like PFF has tried to, to quantify. And I know it's imperfect, but I do think imperfect is better than nothing. And so, so it's, you know, It's a fascinating game, George. There's 22 guys all doing their jobs to varied levels of, of success and, and it's so much fun to learn about and to study, but at the same time, I do think it produces wild opinions like, man, maybe George Pickens isn't worth the trouble. No, George Pickens had 1500 yards. He had more touchdowns than anybody, I think, for most of the season and was a real game changer for this offense. You're keeping George Pickens at age 24, that would be crazy. Are there some things about him that make you a little leery? Of course, but that's called being a human being in professional sports, I think.
George Dunham
Well, in reading between the lines and listening to him talking to Micah George Pickens and saying things like, hey, it was different in Dallas this year because the quarterback and the guy on the other side and it's nothing like I've, I've been a part of something like this before. And so he wants to be here there. There's no question about that. How much is it going to cost the Cowboys? Is it going to be 30 something million a year for four years? Yeah, probably, but I hope that that's. And that's if they get the long term deal. Yeah, but I guess what I'm getting to is I think he's a willing participant and I'm sure his agent, who did not his agency, which did not mesh very well with the Joneses last year, will here in this case have a client that is, hey, I want to be here. And, and he realizes he can put up better numbers here than he could most other places.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, again, going back to the window question of how long do you have? I think that makes George Pickens a no brainer. And, and with that I would probably, I don't know about you, but I'd probably offer him the T. Higgins deal today. Although I don't think he would accept it because T. Higgins guarantee is considerably smaller than you would expect. And so four for almost 29 a year is probably the framework. And then they'll haggle over how much of the guarantee we're going to, you know, promise you. And then I think you have the deal. It's actually one spot where the franchise tag is very helpful because you lock them in at that number and then I think in most cases that franchise number is the average annual value. And now you just have to figure out how many years and how much are we going to guarantee. But I would think the tag establishes. Okay, the Fair number, especially for a number two receiver. I don't know if he concedes that, but a number two receiver. Here is what T. Higgins agreed to behind Jamar Chase in Cincinnati. And so do you find that doable? And if you don't, well, then, you know, then I, I'm not sure what the next move is and that, that one gets interesting in a hurry. But, but I, I think, I think four times 28.7 or so is, is probably what, what you're, you're looking at.
George Dunham
Well, well, it's easy for us to spend Jerry's money, but yes, I definitely think that's worth it. And priority number one to, yeah, keeping with the franchise, but also to get this long term deal done for flexibility for this year and also getting him, you know, guaranteed for this window that we keep talking about.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, yeah. And so, so that hopefully now that's, that's going to be your biggest price tag of the off season. We certainly imagine. You know, again, I guess Max Crosby is somewhere on somebody's radar because he's a Metroplex guy. He has certainly expressed interest in being a Cowboy at some, at different points of his career. And he is the shiny object that, that the Jones boys may not be able to resist. And by the way, he plays for a team in the Raiders that probably realize the best way moving forward is to find him a home and to sort of rebuild with Clint Kubiak and Fernando Mendoza out there in Las Vegas and maybe move out a veteran with this type of value that Max Crosby has. What is that value? I'm sure the Raiders are thinking of first and something and if I'm the Cowboys, that would make me extremely nervous to cough up one of these two first for Max Crosby. But again, windows and decisions and in the end, George, we, we have a lot of people listening to us. But I don't think either of the Jones boys do pop on the Football Friends podcast.
George Dunham
No, I don't think so either. Answer me this. So if Pickens is number one, I think Javante Williams is up there as well to get that done. With the increased value of a running back in the NFL the last couple years, I have no idea what that's going to cost you if you get him to a two or three year deal.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, that's a, that's a great contra. Great question about his contract. He signed for three last year and that was obviously a bargain and I want to say his valuation is up in that. But you know, if you believe like a spot track valuation, I want to say it's somewhere in. I can just check right here. 8 or 9. 7.4 is what they're saying is a fair valuation. So. Yeah, if you could do two for 16, would you do that quickly? I would love to.
George Dunham
I think so.
Bob Sturm
The other one is Jadavian Clowney, and his valuation here is 5.7, but I. But I know Jadavian Clowney well enough to say he's. He's not even unloading his car for less than 10, so. So, you know, I think they'd love to have Clowney back. So maybe Clowney is. Maybe Clowney is what happens when you talk yourself out of Max Crosby is. Okay, well, if we're not doing Crosby, then. Then get Clowny on the phone and let's get something done with him. Which, by the way, is probably the smarter move, is you keep your two firsts and you get Clowny. And Because Clowney was great last year, once he got acclimated. I mean, think about that. What day did he join the team? Was it like. It was like the day before the Green Bay game? Right?
George Dunham
Yeah. Yeah.
Bob Sturm
So late September.
George Dunham
Yeah.
Bob Sturm
He didn't go to camp. He wasn't necessarily in your version of shape. He didn't know what sort of defense you're running. He's just Jadavian Clowney. Now he's 33, so I don't want to attach too many years to this, but frankly, I think you could do way worse than what that guy showed us on tape down the stretch in December. I mean, he. Those last two games, gosh, he might have had, like, he did steal the splash play title. Thankfully, somebody had to take it from Kenneth Murray there with two weeks to go, and Clowny came rolling down the tracks and took it fair and square.
George Dunham
He is the only defensive free agent that I would pursue. Okay, so no roster. I'm saying goodbye to Sam Williams. And I know that's a little risky because what if he blossoms now after this? But I just, I'm not. I can't give him a long term deal. I just can't.
Bob Sturm
Fowler, Donovan, Wilson, Dante Fowler. Nothing.
George Dunham
No on Wilson. Maybe on Fowler in that. Especially if my new defensive coordinator thinks, hey, y' all didn't use him right last year, you can. He could do the same thing he did in Washington 2 years ago if you use him in a better way and give him more opportunities and. And better opportunities.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, yeah, I see that for sure. What have we missed anything on your priority list here? Because I definitely want to make sure we. We hear you out on that front.
George Dunham
Only. Only the philosophical idea that that second number one is pretty sacred and I don't want to give it up for Max Crosby or really any other veteran unless you bring in Micah back or something like that. And I want to hang on to that. And I also, I think I want to hang on to it when it comes to getting more value on down the draft. Now, someone like you, the scenario you brought up, or someone just tries to move up from a couple places before and we got a long time until April. But yeah, yeah, I think, I think those are my top priorities are get the pickings thing done, keep Javante Williams on this roster and try to work a deal for Jadavian Clowney and the rest of. As far as my own roster, I, Yeah, I'm good, I think.
Bob Sturm
Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it probably comes down to a really solid draft. I do. I think it was interesting and maybe I can find it here. Kelvin Watkins threw out some names on Sunday in his Cowboys piece and he had five prospective free agents to keep an eye on. And maybe I can call that up here before we, we run out of time, but it's, it's certainly worth noting that he put two different linebackers on that list, as I recall, and one was Nicole Be. Dean and then the other was Denver's Al Singleton, I believe. Let's see. Alex Singleton. I'm sor. Al. Boy, that's a Parcell's guy, right? Am I. Who am I thinking about from 20 years ago? One of those linebackers anyway. Alex Singleton, Denver. Rico Dowdle. Alex Singleton, of course, was there with Christian Parker. Rico Dowdle is on his list. I don't know if he's hearing something there, but bringing him back with or without Williams would be intriguing. Malcolm Kuntz, the edge from Las Vegas coming off an ACL Nakobe Dean. And somewhere on here he actually throws out the name Trey Hendrickson, who is a ufa, I do believe. Right.
George Dunham
Yes.
Bob Sturm
And so, okay, Trey Hendrickson is not as good as Max Crosby, but he doesn't cost you any draft capital to take a flyer on.
George Dunham
That's where Jerry needs to bust the budget on something like that.
Bob Sturm
Yeah, that's. That's a little more reasonable. So the options are out there, but as we know, and this will come into focus this week when Christian Parker starts talking publicly. I believe that will be Wednesday at 3 is his press conference and, and it'll be interesting to hear him articulate things, but of course we should expect he's going to Spill all his beans. But, yeah, it's just. There's just so much uncertainty on what the plan is. And then even when there's a plan, you're going to need way more than 11 guys on your defense. Because any defense worth its salt has 16 or 17 real key contributors, including when you talk about, like, Dante Fowler or something like that, you need DPRs, you need designated pass rushers who are not part of your base. And then you need to figure out what you're doing in the secondary and are you playing big nickel, which I think is a very good possibility where you're actually playing three safeties and two corners. But one of the safeties is more of a hybrid who can cover. And, you know, there's just. There's a number of ways to talk this out, but obviously it would help if we knew anything about not only Christian Parker, but his entire staff. I mean, they're all guys, like in their mid-30s, and they are. I mean, it's. It's really exciting. I love what Schottheimer is doing with the coaching staff. I just don't know what to make of it yet.
George Dunham
Yeah, I don't either, but we'll have some time to sort that out. Let's take a maybe a deeper look at the draft next time we get together, shall we, Bob?
Bob Sturm
Yeah, and.
George Dunham
And maybe we'll go there next time with Football Friends. And, and, hey, we're almost to March. April's not far behind, so it's going to be here before we know it.
Bob Sturm
It's looming, it's rolling after me, and I'm Indiana Jones. I'm trying to stay in front of it because you don't want a boulder to run you over from behind. That sounds. That looks really painful.
George Dunham
Well, I don't know if the Olympics have fulfilled my football void, but college basketball has been pretty good the last couple of weeks.
Bob Sturm
I'll take your word for it.
George Dunham
But we'll keep it going here on Football Friends to keep cowboy fans going here in the off season. Thanks to Peter Welton for producing us. And yeah, make sure you join us next time right here on the Musers, the podcast Cowboys edition.
Bob Sturm
Football Friends. This isn't your average podcast. Do you like party?
George Dunham
I do like a huge chug of tequila.
Bob Sturm
The howler head whiskey bottle chug in
George Dunham
front of Dana White.
Bob Sturm
That was the first time we ever went to la.
George Dunham
We somehow got into a Diddy party. What's an Elon Musk house party look like?
Bob Sturm
My party's generally a very high production value. This is Full Send.
George Dunham
I do want to do a lot more prank.
Bob Sturm
Bunch of different pranks. Join the party. Jack Doherty in the house.
George Dunham
Feeling good, man. What are we going to talk about with Will Smith? I know what you're going to say.
Bob Sturm
Shout out to Teal Vaughn. It's been entertaining, dude. The Full Send podcast. Grab the boys, grab the ps. Let's do it. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
Hosts: George Dunham & Bob Sturm
Date: February 19, 2026
Episode Focus: Dallas Cowboys' Urgency & Team-Building in Their Championship "Window"
This episode is a deep dive into the Dallas Cowboys' current roster construction, salary cap strategy, and the importance of maximizing what the hosts call the urgent "Dak/CD/Quinnen window." George and Bob discuss what the Cowboys must do in the next two to three years to capitalize on their best shot at a Super Bowl, touching on player contracts, draft and free agency strategies, coaching shifts, and the critical evaluation of players like George Pickens. Throughout, they mix banter with data-driven breakdowns, aiming their insights at die-hard Cowboys fans bracing for big offseason moves.
Bob and George wrap with agreement on the need for bold, targeted moves—the off-season’s about “drafting to the window,” securing Pickens, Williams, and Clowney, and leveraging Dallas' cap flexibility. They tease future deep dives into draft prospects and express optimism about a wild Cowboys off-season, urging fans to “keep the faith.”