Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already said wide receiver Dez Bryant wasn’t going anywhere, implying that they’d simply use the franchise tag to keep him from reaching free agency.
The situation with fellow free agent running back DeMarco Murray’s more complicated, and Jones admitted as much the other night when discussing the pair.
“That’s a big challenge,” Jones said, via NBC 5 in Dallas. “You can’t have it all. But on the other hand, you can try to have it all.
“You have to make sure you’re making the right decisions on who gets the assets, which in this particular case, it’s the room under the salary cap.”
That’s a subtle way of suggesting that someone’s going to end up with less than they think they deserve.
It’s probably going to be Murray, who had an MVP-caliber season, but faces the supply-demand realities many at his position have experienced. And with previous suggestions that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has a future in Dallas, Murray’s the one who’s going to get squeezed.
Of course, a long-term deal for Bryant’s going to be bigger, but would allow them the short-term flexibility they need. And that might be enough to keep the band together, as quarterback Tony Romo has been lobbying for.