Cowboys underwhelming offseason actually has a great explanation but could still cause issues

The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East last season, going 12-5 and clinching the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Despite hosting the rebuilding Packers on Wild Card Weekend, the Cowboys were laughed off the field by Jordan Love and Co., taking yet another early exit.

They followed up that embarrassing loss by doing... nothing? I mean, the signing of Eric Kendricks was solid, but for the most part, Dallas has been silent in free agency while the rest of their division has improved.

It turns out that there might be a reason for their inactivity. Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, and CeeDee Lamb, the team's three best players, are all set to hit free agency within the next two seasons. Prescott and Lamb are free agents after the 2024 campaign. Getting them inked long-term before adding on additional money makes sense, but it could come with additional issues.

There's a reason that the Cowboys have had an underwhelming offseason but it still could cause additional issues

The Athletic's ($) Jon Machata had this to say when it comes to additional issues coming about thanks to Dallas' underwhelming offseason.

"I wonder how Prescott, Lamb and Parsons feel about how little the Cowboys have done through the first three weeks of free agency. The combination of no new contract extensions for their top players, former teammates leaving in free agency and not much being added sounds like the recipe for a frustrated team. But Jerry Jones might be just fine with some frustration among the players after the season ended the way it did."

The Cowboys doing very little in free agency while letting several key players sign elsewhere is bad enough. Doing that without getting any of the franchise's cornerstones locked in on long-term deals would be a disaster, and it'd be something that Machata believes could cause some controversy.

Perhaps no activity in free agency and no extensions means one or all of these players sit out for training camp. Machata certainly thinks that it's possible.

"It’s certainly possible. Prescott not showing up to offseason workouts or training camp would be the biggest surprise. He’s been in a similar situation before and still showed up. Lamb or Parsons could stay away, considering this might be the biggest contract of their careers. Doing so might provide some pretty good leverage in contract talks. It worked for Zack Martin last year during training camp."

It's pretty fascinating to see a team built to win right now show little to no urgency to do so this offseason. Jerry Jones definitely has reason to be frustrated as his team continues to underwhelm in the postseason, but that doesn't mean you just stop trying to compete. If you don't believe that this team has what it takes, trade away the stars before you alienate them to the point where you risk losing them for nothing.

If Jones is able to get any combination of these three stars to ink long-term extensions, it's acceptable to excuse them for their offseason of inactivity. If not, things could get really ugly in Big D.