The Dallas Cowboys front office did the right thing when passing on Cooper Kupp in free agency. The veteran wide receiver would have given them a decent option to play opposite CeeDee Lamb, but the Seahawks overpaid to land him via a three-year, $45 million deal.
Now it's time for the Cowboys to pivot quickly to find a better veteran on the market. The good news is that there are still plenty of quality options available, but the team cannot afford to hesitate. Now is the time to land a quality pass-catcher who can help take pressure off of Lamb.
Dallas cannot afford to break the bank on another pass-catcher due to their other financial commitments, but none of the wideouts still available on the open market are going to command that kind of deal. Here are three options Cowboys fans should keep a close eye on in the coming days.
1) Stefon Diggs
Diggs is no longer the superstar he was back in his prime with the Buffalo Bills. He is, however, still the best wide receiver left on the free agent market. Teams will want to take a close look at his medicals as he comes back from a torn ACL but there's no reason to think he won't make a full recovery.
If he does, he could give the Cowboys one of the better No. 2 wide receivers in the NFL. Diggs still possesses enough speed to threaten opposing secondaries over the top. Deploying him on the opposite side of the formation from Lamb would give opposing defensive coordinators some really tough choices to make about who to send help towards.
The real question here is whether Diggs is ready to accept the sort of contract that the Cowboys can reasonably afford. Kupp getting $15 million per season might embolden Diggs to ask for even more given his production with the Houston Texans before getting hurt. That would put him squarely outside of Dallas' price range.
If he is willing to be more reasonable with his salary demands then the Cowboys should pounce. He'd do wonders to raise the ceiling of their passing attack in 2025.
2) Tyler Lockett
Lockett's performance took a big step backwards in 2024 and the Seahawks elected to cut him as a result. Moving to Dallas could give the veteran wideout a new lease on life that he desperately needs.
Lockett does not have elite athletic traits, but he makes up for those deficiencies by being one of the best route-runners in the game. It's easy to envision a scenario where he excels in Dallas by working the sort of underneath routes that quarterback Dak Prescott likes to throw with precision.
There is a chance that Lockett is just finished due to his advanced age. That's why a one-year deal is all the Cowboys should offer. He's nothing more than a stopgap option, but he could give them a short-term boost if he bounces back in 2025.
3) Keenan Allen
is another free agent who is clearly on the downside of his career, but he can still help a team like the Cowboys for another season or two. He can help Prescott by using his big body to make contested catches to keep the chains moving.
Drops did start to become an issue for him with the Chicago Bears last year but it's reasonable to view that as an outlier since they haven't plagued him throughout his career. He still posted a nice win rate which shows he can still make plays when the ball is thrown his way.
At 32 years of age there's no reason why Dallas, or any other team, should feel compelled to give Allen anything more than a one-year deal. He's still one of the three best options availalbe to the Cowboys in free agency. Signing him to a modest contract and allowing him to mentor a wide reeceiver they land in the draft could be a prudent course of action by Jones and his front office staff.