Cowboys 'Promise' to Michael Gallup from Coach Mike McCarthy?

"If Michael Gallup can approach his production of 2019 (a career-high 1,107 receiving yards) or even 2020 (843 yards), the Cowboys will take it."

FRISCO - It's one of the great challenges of playing in the NFL: Guaranteed contracts aside, nothing is "promised'' to a player.

Unless, that is, it is true that Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, as he shifts into the role of being his own play-caller in place of the departed offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, has made some sort of "promise'' to Michael Gallup.

That's how this informational nugget from our friend Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News is being mischaracterized. ... and we think some clarity is required.

First, the note from Watkins ...

"Mike McCarthy,'' Watkins reports, "has told Gallup he will be featured more.''

That's notable but not earth-shattering. ... and we will say that part of the "notability'' of the concept is that as the expectation that CeeDee Lamb will be the No. 1 guy and newcomer Brandin Cooks will be the No. 2 guy, we're not fully certain where all those additional "featured'' opportunities will come from.

Nevertheless, Watkins is also correct when he writes, "If Gallup can approach his production of 2019 (a career-high 1,107 receiving yards) or even 2020 (843 yards), the Cowboys will take it."

And certainly, that is also so. ... with more "notability'': Gallup, 27, who is expected to be fully healthy in his second year after tearing his ACL, gaining 1,100 yards would surely give Dallas a trio of 1,000-yard receivers. ...

Which would suggest the Dak Prescott-led offense will have been among the NFL's very best.

But what it does not suggest - through no fault of Gallup's, McCarthy's or Watkins' - is a "promise.''

Gallup can surely be expected to exceed his production from last year, as he finished with 39 receptions for 424 receiving yards and four touchdowns. But a "promise''? As lovely as that sounds, as Gallup enters the second year of a five-year, $62.5 million contract extension he signed with the Cowboys last offseason, the NFL simply doesn't work that way.

Mike McCarthy knows this. And so does Michael Gallup.

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