The Dallas Cowboys made some questionable moves in the NFL Draft, and those questionable moves are continuing with players currently on their roster. If giving Tony Romo a fat contract extension didn’t make fans mad enough, the team is driving away one of the guys that will be tasked with protecting him in 2013. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Dallas Cowboys are “playing hardball” with offensive lineman Doug Free and are reportedly asking for a “substantial pay-cut”.
#Cowboys playing hardball with Doug Free. Pay cut they're asking for is "substantial." Not $1-2M. Trying to draw it out, time on their side
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 7, 2013
What we have here is a classic game of contractual chicken. On the one side we have the Dallas Cowboys who believe time is on their side and are willing to hold out on Free while they try to trap him into a situation where he has to take the pay-cut. But on the other side we have Free who, if Dallas is asking for a $5-6 million pay-cut, might end up testing the open market even though teams in need of tackles are going fast.
The game changer in this whole situation might be the Miami Dolphins signing Tyson Clabo. The Cowboys could let Free go, but they’d need a replacement and Clabo was on their radar. With him off the market, Free once again become valuable to them but the question again becomes at what price?
Free is due $7 million and if he was going to cave to Jerry Jones’ demands he would have done so months ago. This is a situation worth watching as anytime the Cowboys can come out on the wrong side of things is a situation a lot of people end up rooting for.