Getty Cowboys WR Michael Gallup
The buck, quite literally, stopped with Dak Prescott.
Five months after handing $160 million to their franchise quarterback, the Cowboys have put a moratorium on extensions for contract-year players, such as wide receiver Michael Gallup and Randy Gregory. Rather than enter early negotiations, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reported, the team is taking intentional inaction until next offseason.
“Wide receiver Michael Gallup and defensive end Randy Gregory are among the Dallas players entering the final season of their contract. Speaking on background, two Cowboys officials said that the team won’t extend either before this season — or for that matter, any other impending unrestricted free agent. Such talks aren’t expected to occur until early 2022,” Gehlken wrote Saturday.
“The Cowboys see dust in the air with several players’ futures. They want to wait for it to settle.”
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Signs Point To Gallup’s Departure
The 2018 third-round pick is among a slew of Cowboys scheduled to hit the open market next year. But no player has faced more uncertainty and speculation regarding his future than Gallup, the forgotten man among Dallas’ NFL-best receiving corps.
The club certainly prefers to keep Gallup, Amari Cooper, and CeeDee Lamb together. It just isn’t financially feasible with Cooper knee-deep in his $100 million deal and Lamb eligible for an extension in 2023 — an extension that should make Cooper’s blush.
Well ahead of his first-career foray into free agency and primed for another productive campaign, Gallup is projected to meet or surpass the three-year, $37.5 million pact ($12.5 million annually) that WR Corey Davis inked with the New York Jets earlier this offseason, the official Cowboys website predicted last month.
As such, those closest to the team believe he eventually will be “playing elsewhere.”
“We’ve covered this as thoroughly as possible, and now we’re just going to have to wait and see,” in-house reporter David Helman wrote in July. “But if I had to guess, I don’t think the Cowboys can afford to franchise Gallup, and I also don’t think they can compete with the offers he’ll see on the open market. I know we’ve talked about the possibility of cutting or trading Amari Cooper and keeping Gallup – but I’m not sure enough people respect the fact that Amari Cooper just turned 27 and is one of the 10 best receivers in football. I’m not ready to part ways with that, unless something crazy happens this season. I respect Gallup’s gam tremendously, but this is a business and I’m guessing that’s why he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2022.”
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Gallup Owns Rams CB During Joint Practice [WATCH]
The 6-foot-1, 198-pound pass-catcher put on a show amid Saturday’s joint scrimmage against the Los Angeles Rams. Watch below as Gallup “Mossed” Rams cornerback Darious Williams for a back-corner touchdown grab.
Michael Gallup just Mossed Darious Williams.
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL