Stephen Jones: Dallas Cowboys want to be ‘efficient’ in free agency

By Cory Buck | Mar 4, 2015

Oct 27, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones and owner Jerry Jones (right) on the sidelines against the Washington Redskins at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

Dallas Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said the team plans to remain ‘efficient’ in free agency while focusing on deals for their own.

The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of work to do this offseason if they want to keep up their winning ways from the 2014 season. The team has made it no secret that keeping their offensive dynamos in place is a strong priority. Beyond that though, COO Stephen Jones said the team will be scouring the free agent market for that secondary push, during which prices will have significantly gone down.

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“I don’t know if active is a good word,” Jones said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, per the Dallas Morning News. “I think active can get you in trouble in free agency. I think you have to be efficient and look for your values, and you can do good things.”

“We did it last year with a player like [Jeremy] Mincey where we got a lot of great value out of him. But at the same time, we’ve been in situations where you have to pay too much for players. You got to be very careful there. We’re certainly going to be that way. We’re going to look to be efficient. If that proves to be productive then that would be good.”

The Cowboys can hardly afford to go wild in free agency when they have contract talks to address with the recently franchise tagged Dez Bryant and the potentially departing DeMarco Murray. The former isn’t going anywhere, regardless of what happens this year, but the latter remains a work in progress, per Jones.

“We’ve got to, at the end of the day, decide how we want to divide up the pie. Of course, we certainly want to give a nice piece of it to DeMarco. But we’ll just see how that works out,” Jones said.

That sort of talk hardly bodes well for the leading rusher in the NFL in 2014, but that’s how the Cowboys must approach this free agency season. Retain as much cap space as you, sign Dez Bryant, and fortify the roster through cheaper avenues. If the Dallas Cowboys can do that much, this team should have no problem once again competing as the heavy favorite for the NFC East crown.

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