Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper and Byron Jones aren’t the only contracts the Dallas Cowboys are working on. Certainly, our original reports indicate for weeks Cowboys would allow Jones to hit free market and probably lose him because of that, thanks to the ensuing bidding war for his services, but Prescott is guaranteed to get the exclusive franchise tag if no agreement is reached by March 12, and this is one of the reasons the team is working to have Cooper extended before the legal sabotage period on March 16. While all this continues, there are also 27 other internal free agents they screen to determine who stays and who leaves, but tight end Blake Jarwin falls into the former category.
Sources told CBS Sports that the lack of an attractive Cowboy offer to Jason Witten is directly linked to their desire to keep Jarwin and possibly make him the top spot in Dallas – while adding an additional piece in free agency or the NFL 2020 draft – and the club has met Jarwin’s representatives to the NFL with the hope of doing something to keep him in Dallas for the future.
To this end, given that Jarwin is a restricted free agent, the Cowboys should use a second-round tender on the 25-year-old player – by Todd Archer of ESPN – valued at 3.3 million dollars. Considering that Jarwin was initially an undrafted free agent, asking a team to compensate the Cowboys with a second-round pick to woo him shows exactly how much confidence they have in him. In addition, a separate source confirms that the Cowboys are not likely to simply allow Jarwin to play under his offer.
Their objective remains to sign it for a long-term extension.
“Absolutely,” Jarwin told CBS Sports after the season was over when I asked him if he was ready to get the nod as the No. 1 close unit for the Cowboys in 2020. ” I am fully confident that I am a full-time playmaker in this league. I feel like I am in pretty good shape right now and I can make a lot of big plays, but I think I can be even better. It’s my job to go back to work, hit hard and watch a lot of movies.
“I think that’s where it starts. You have to see what you’re not doing very well. I think it’s important. … It pays off in the long run.”
Additionally, and as expected, the Cowboys will seek to offer rescue quarterback Cooper Rush – also previously an undrafted free agent – at a lower level of $ 2.1 million. Unlike Jarwin, however, the seat under Rush is more fragile, and the team will add competition this offseason which could see him become a victim of the player list before September. Rush was impressive in his first preseason with the team, but has struggled since then, including uneven battles with rookie Mike White in the past two seasons.
While the deal for Prescott is resolved, improving the seat behind him remains a mission of new head coach Mike McCarthy.
With Witten reflecting on his future in the NFL – whoever does not understand that he is a starter for the Cowboys – the team itself is finally executing its late plan of looking through the windshield rather than looking in the rear view mirror, as Jarwin prepares to stay in Dallas place in 2020 and probably well beyond.