Will Cowboys really be ‘all in’ or expect more of the same during 2024 offseason?

INDIANAPOLIS — The most notable Dallas Cowboys-related topic to come out of the Senior Bowl late last month consisted of two words: all in.

“We’ll be going all in,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “I would say that you will see us this coming year not building for the future. That’s the best way I know how to say it. That ought to answer a lot of questions.”

It was a refreshing statement considering it came a couple of weeks after one of the most disappointing losses in franchise history, 48-32 at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

But what type of actions will actually follow those words?

Judging by what Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Tuesday from the league’s annual scouting combine, it didn’t sound like business will be much different from previous offseasons.

“I’ve never known Jerry not to be all in, in any given year,” Stephen Jones responded after being asked whether there is a shift in the team’s approach. “But certainly we’ve got a great, I think, team put together. I think the last three years we won a lot of football games. I think 36. And certainly where we have to improve is the postseason. Got to get the right kind of guys who step up and make big plays in the postseason. That’s been a challenge in terms of our success there and that’s where we have to improve.”

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on Jerry Jones’ comments about being “all in” this year pic.twitter.com/soGwiLrFBh

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 27, 2024

He is correct, Dallas has won 36 regular-season games over the last three years. Only the Kansas City Chiefs have more with 37. It’s an extremely impressive number considering the NFL’s parity and adjusted schedule from season to season, pairing the top teams against the top teams from the previous year.

But once the playoffs start, the Cowboys aren’t even in the conversation with the Chiefs. Dallas has one playoff win in the last three years. Kansas City has nine, which includes two Super Bowl wins. The San Francisco 49ers (35), Buffalo Bills (35) and Philadelphia Eagles (34) round out the top five in regular-season wins over the last three years. All three have at least two playoff wins during that time and two have appeared in the Super Bowl.

Despite their regular-season success, the Cowboys haven’t come close to playing in the Super Bowl. So, hearing that they are going to be “all in” makes most believe they will be much more of a factor in acquiring veteran talent. It’s not difficult to picture what that looks like, considering the NFC’s best teams each of the last four seasons have provided the example.

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• The 2023 49ers signed DT Javon Hargrave, traded for DE Randy Gregory and traded for DE Chase Young.

• The 2022 Eagles traded for WR A.J. Brown, traded for S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, signed DE Haason Reddick, signed CB James Bradberry, signed DT Ndamukong Suh and traded for DE Robert Quinn.

• The 2021 Los Angeles Rams traded for QB Matthew Stafford, traded for CB Jalen Ramsey, traded for DE Von Miller and signed WR Odell Beckham Jr.

• The 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed QB Tom Brady, traded for TE Rob Gronkowski, signed RB Leonard Fournette and signed WR Antonio Brown.

Despite all of the talent already on those rosters, they each left no doubt that they were “all in” during those seasons. And all four reached the Super Bowl. The 2020 Buccaneers and the 2021 Rams won it all.

Will the Cowboys follow in their footsteps and become the fifth consecutive NFC team to unequivocally be the most “all in” and then reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years?

They could, but until it happens, there’s no reason to believe their plan will be all that different from in the past — address some needs with value signings in free agency, maybe mix in a trade and then make their biggest roster impact in the draft. And working to give contract extensions to their top three players, Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, could be the excuse they use for not overspending to improve a weakness or adding a player to a team strength to make it even stronger.

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“Obviously, between Dak and Micah and CeeDee, the salary cap’s real for us with those three guys in a situation where we want to do deals with all three of them,” Stephen Jones said. “Do you get to do everything you want to do with the salary cap? I don’t think any team does, but we’re certainly going to be able to go out and go to work and get the things done that we feel like we need to be done to be successful.

“It’s always a challenge when you start to have a lot of players that you’re trying to pay top of the market. … We had a situation last year where we ended up losing a guy but you ended up getting four players, rather than what you might have paid one player. That’s the way you have to look at it, would you rather have three or four players at ($3 million to $5 million) apiece or one player for $20 million? So, those are the things you get into weighing in terms of where you are better off.”

(Photo of Dak Prescott and Brandin Cooks: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)