'Darwinism' in Dallas: Cowboys Signing More Vet Free Agents? Will McClay Explains Strategy

“The NFL is Darwinism,'' Cowboys exec Will McClay says. "It’s dog-eat-dog - somebody always coming to take your job.'' So which "dog'' is coming to Dallas next?

FRISCO - It is a writerly word game, a tool of semantics designed mostly for the journalist to cover his butt when it comes to using quality information to attempt to project the future.

And it comes down to three words: "Not.'' "Ruled.'' "Out.'' It's another way of saying, "Never say never'' or "Ya never know!'' But it does create a problem, as it can accidentally twist a concept that is likely a non-outcome into one that sounds like it might just happen ...

And that "twist'' is happening right now as a result of our Tuesday conversation with Dallas Cowboys personnel boss Will McClay on the subject of the team planning on more additions of "name'' veteran free agents.

Twice McClay was asked about the idea of adding veteran free agents to the Dallas roster. One of the questions was about the receivers room, the other about more signings in general. McClay's two answers mirrored one another in a way that can leave both open to interpretation.

First, from McClay when asked about the back-of-the-rotation Dallas receivers: "We're always looking to improve. We feel like we have players on the roster that are improving. We talked about the maturation process of players like Simi (Fehoko) and (Jalen) Tolbert. We have guys that have been here for a year and we're looking for those guys to step up."

Read that to yourself again and understand that while the first sentence sounds like a "yes'' reply, there is an implied "but'' at the start of the second sentence. What McClay is really saying here is, "We're always looking to improve. BUT we feel like we have players on the roster that are improving.''

And then he goes on to mention Fehoko and Tolbert as two receivers who are being counted on to "step up'' so Dallas doesn't have to go chase a T.Y. Hilton or a vet like that who is sitting on his couch.

And then came another stab at it from our media group. When asked whether Dallas might circle back to a search for vet free agents later this offseason, McClay did "that thing'' again.

"If there's an opportunity to do something in free agency, we'll look at it," McClay said. "We feel good about the group because they've been here, they've been in the system. They were players that got drafted and didn't play for the first year, so we've gotta speed up that curve there. If we have a problem, we'll go out and get somebody to continue to try and improve it."

And now you again see McClay's wisdom in how he crafts his answer, which is truly meant to suggest, "If there's an opportunity to do something in free agency, we'll look at it. BUT we feel good about the group because they've been here, they've been in the system.''

But what is a common media response to McClay not saying "yes''? It's that he didn't fully say "no.'' And so we create our headline and our take: "He didn't rule it out.'' ... When in fact, he damn sure didn't intend to "rule it in.''

Make no mistake: In addition to kickers (something Dallas is working on, with Robbie Gould and Mason Crosby among the intriguing guys), stashed somewhere on McClay's computer are names like Dalton Risner and Leonard Fournette and Deion Jones and of course, Ezekiel Elliott (who has "other options''). But that's for "if we have a problem.'' And so for now? They do indeed appear to be "ruled out.''

McClay's best quote of the session is an instructive one. It's about "speeding up that curve'' and it's about teams in a salary-cap league - no slap intended to on-the-couch 2022 Cowboys Hilton or Anthony Barr or Jason Peters - wanting to employ 23-year-olds instead of 33-year olds.

“The NFL is Darwinism,'' McClay said. "It’s dog-eat-dog - somebody always coming to take your job.''

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