To the second list first. The “futures contract” deals done on Monday in the wake of the playoff loss to Green Bay are with: T Earl Bostick, CB Josh Butler, TE Princeton Fant, LB Buddy Johnson, DE Durrell Johnson, WR Racey McMath, WR Jalen Cropper and DB Sheldrick Redwine. And to the veteran free agents: Dorance Armstrong, Tyler Biadasz, Rico Dowdle (RFA), Chuma Edoga, Dante Fowler, Neville Gallimore, Stephon Gilmore, Johnathan Hankins, Noah Igbinoghene, Jayron Kearse, Jourdan Lewis, Tony Pollard, Trent Sieg and Tyron Smith.
Factor in the contractual wrestling that must be done to extend Dak Prescott’s deal in order to carve down that $59 million cap hit and to forge new contracts with Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb? Yes, figuring out to do with Mike McCarthy and the coaching staff at at the top of the pecking order here. But big decisions loom, as it always the case when the game moves from “on the field” to “on paper.”
FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys were back at The Star in Frisco on Monday morning to perform their exit meetings with head coach Mike McCarthy as well as to clean out their lockers after Sunday’s shocking Wild Card Round loss to the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium.
The feeling in the locker room was somber on Monday as the shock and surprise of the early exit still sat with the players and coaches.
“It hasn’t been 24 hours yet,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. “Still shocked more than anything.”
Along with the exit meetings, the entire team met with Mike McCarthy at noon where he expressed his feelings about the end of the season.
“He felt for us,” Lewis said. “He wanted it really bad for us. The type of caliber guys we are, he knew how together we were. He wanted it.”
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones also popped in to meet with the team and express his urgency about the team’s desire to win.
“His message was we gotta win,” Lewis said. “It’s the Dallas Cowboys. We had everything to win. We can’t let this feeling keep going on, so it makes sense. I just feel like he wants to win right now. The urgency is now. It was always that on our shoulders. He made it clear that that was the point.”
With speculation circling around what impending decisions that Jerry Jones could make about players, Mike McCarthy and more, Lewis took an opportunity to defend his head coach and quarterback on the season they had.
“This is one of the hardest jobs in America,” he said. “The quarterback and the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I feel like [McCarthy’s] done a tremendous job with all things in consideration. It’s kind of hard. A lot of people against you, all of the outside noise, we just made sure we stuck our arms around each other and stayed together. I think he did a really good job.”
“Look what happened when he wasn’t here. We were struggling to be over .500. We had three straight seasons of 12 winned games. I would hope [he would be back].”
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