Cowboys Contracts: 5 Who Can Cash In

A chance to cash in? Here, our top five Cowboys candidates to do just that.

FRISCO - The NFL is a stable business if you own a team. If you're a player? Not so much.

As Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones often points out, rosters from year to year undergo about a 30-percent change. Add to that teams wishing to "churn the roster,'' injuries, the salary cap and yeah, coaches playing favorites (we're looking at your situation, Randy Gregory) ... and things change.

Also impactful in change: The number of short-termers, or one-year-contract guys, on a roster.

As Dallas enters training camp this week in Oxnard, their full list of candidates includes 34 players with expiring deals.

For some, that means 2021 will be the end of the road in Dallas. For others? A chance to cash in. Here, our top five Cowboys candidates to do just that:

1) DE Randy Gregory

The Cowboys’ pass-rusher waited and waited and waited ... and then due to the incompetence of the 2020 coaching staff, waited some more.

Gregory has said a lot of right things about not being in this for the money. But incredibly, he's still performing on his rookie contract. If this coaching staff will let him play?

Somebody in 2022 will get him paid.

2) WR Michael Gallup

Gallup's rookie contract is up after this year, so Dallas gets to benefit just one more time there, with him making just $2 million this year. Maybe Dallas - which has people inside the building believing Michael can be a No. 1 receiver in the NFL - makes a tough decision on saying goodbye to Amari Cooper to keep Gallup. 

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Or maybe this season marks a Gallup goodbye.

3) S Damontae Kazee

The former Falcons safety is floating under the radar, but consider this: He's coming off an Achilles injury and seems fine. He was brought here specifically to fill a ball-hawk role. And he was brought here by new coordinator Dan Quinn.

Quinn can have other "pets'' on defense, including another former Falcons defender, Keanu Neal. But Neal isn't even a first-teamer yet. Kazee, on what is essentially a vet-minimum contract, walked into The Star and became a starter as soon as he signed his deal.

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Dallas wants him to be a revelation in 2021. If so? Dallas becomes his contractual springboard.

4) LB Leighton Vander Esch

The Cowboys declining to pick up his fifth-year option is an ominous sign. It demonstrates, mostly, skepticism about his ability to stay healthy. That is a roll of the dice for Vander Esch. But it doesn't mean he can't be a $9 million APY linebacker.

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This is a Pro Bowler waiting to happen, and if it does (likely while playing him at the WILL), Dallas will make him an in-season contract offer.

But if it does, Vander Esch will have justification for saying "no,'' and in seeking more elsewhere. 

5) G Connor Williams

He remains maligned by some, maybe because he's not a Tyron or a Zack. But Williams is truly an ironman who shows up to work every day. And this year? For all the talk about "competition'' at left guard, he's been the guy all spring.

The Cowboys can't spend at every position. Left guard is a place where they will "give'' - and where they might be searching for a Williams replacement after this year.

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