Dallas Cowboys

The market for Cooper Kupp is heating up after the veteran wide receiver was released by the Los Angeles Rams on Wednesday.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Dallas Cowboys are "making a push" to sign Kupp to play alongside CeeDee Lamb. Schefter later reported that the Cowboys "still are not considered the likely landing spot" despite their "push."

Dianna Russini of The Athletic added the Seattle Seahawks are also "very interested" in bringing in the Super Bowl 56 MVP. Russini also reported that "Kupp’s asking price has been a hold-up for a number of interested teams, per sources. Some suitors have not been willing to offer Kupp a $13-14 million contract."

The New England Patriots have frequently been cited as a potential landing spot for Kupp, but Karen Guregian of Mass Live noted on Thursday they consider his asking price "a bit too steep."

Another potential issue for a team like the Patriots is location. Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal reported Kupp would prefer to stay on the West Coast, though he "hasn't closed any doors."

Other teams reported to have at least some degree of interest in Kupp include the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Per Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports, Kupp intends to make a decision fairly quickly and will ultimately receive the contract he's seeking.

Appearing on Thursday's episode of Gojo and Golic (starts at 1:09:00 mark), Russini said the Kupp is looking to get paid $14-15 million annually on his next contract.

The Patriots are the most obvious Kupp suitor because their two biggest needs coming into the offseason were wide receiver and offensive line. Their only signing at either position so far is veteran tackle Morgan Moses.

Dallas also needs help at wide receiver, though the fit with Kupp and Lamb could be a bit awkward because they both play significant snaps in the slot. Lamb did line up out wide more often last season (413 wide snaps, 396 slot snaps), while Kupp was in the slot for nearly 63 percent of his snaps (459 out of 731).

The Cowboys' receiver depth chart behind Lamb should not preclude them from pursuing Kupp and believing new head coach Brian Schottenheimer can make their fit work.

Jalen Tolbert was the only other wide receiver on the Cowboys after Lamb who had at least 500 yards last season (610).

Kupp hasn't had fewer than 600 receiving yards in a season since 2018. He finished last season with 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games for the Rams.

Seattle Seahawks defensive end (and ex-Dallas Cowboys star) DeMarcus Lawrence gave an interesting comment about his former team's Super Bowl prospects in an exclusive interview with Hawk Blogger's Brian Nemhauser (6:55 mark) when providing an answer about the differences between the two cities.

"The main difference as you can see is it's cold," Lawrence said with a smile. "Gotta keep my jacket up here. Definitely love the atmosphere. Change of scenery is always good.

"Dallas is my home. I made my home there. My family lives there. I'm forever gonna be there. I know for sure I'm not gonna win a Super Bowl there, so...yea, we here."

Lawrence was a four-time Pro Bowler in Dallas over 11 seasons before signing a three-year contract with the Seahawks worth up to $42 million in free agency.

Over 11 seasons, Lawrence amassed 450 tackles, 126 quarterback hits and 61.5 sacks. He played in 141 games, starting 123.

Lawrence was a massive hit for the Cowboys after they landed the ex-Boise State star with a second-round pick in 2014.

Dallas was a winning team for the most part during his time in town, making the playoffs in six of his 11 seasons. However, the Cowboys never advanced past the Divisional Round.

At this point, Dallas is also going in the wrong direction, going 7-10 last year after three straight 12-5 campaigns. The Cowboys are also clearly the third-best team in an NFC East featuring last year's NFC Championship Game participants in the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.

The 32-year-old Lawrence perhaps doesn't have too many years left in the league, so time is of the essence if he wants to shoot for a Super Bowl.

The Seahawks certainly offer a step up in class. Seattle went 10-7 last year, losing on a tiebreaker for the NFC West to the Los Angeles Rams.

The path to the playoffs could be easier in the West than the East, and given Dallas' potentially bleaker future, it's understandable why Lawrence could feel he has a better shot winning in Seattle.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who is set to enter free agency for the first time in his career, is open to returning but also noted that he didn't feel the team utilized him to his strengths.

"I have a good relationship with Dak (Prescott) the Jones family and CeeDee (Lamb), it's just one of those things where they have to focus on what they have to get done first too," Cooks told NFL insider Josina Anderson. "I would love to play with the Cowboys, at the same time they would have to use me right. I don’t think they fully used me to my strengths.”

Since making his debut for the New Orleans Saints in 2014, Cooks has been traded four times, making his way to the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans and Cowboys.

The 31-year-old Cooks has surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in six of his 11 seasons. He's been productive wherever he's gone and fared well for the 2023 Cowboys as their No. 2 wideout, catching 54 passes for 657 yards and eight touchdowns.

Last year was a tough one for Cooks, who suffered a right knee infection and missed seven games. He caught 26 passes for 259 yards and three scores.

Thankfully, Cooks said that he's fully healthy, which could foreshadow a nice bounce-back year as he seeks a new deal in free agency.

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup is looking to make an NFL comeback after retiring last July, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Gallup played with Dallas from 2018-2023 before signing a one-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2024 season.

Per ESPN's Paul Gutierrez, Gallup was expected to compete for Las Vegas' No. 3 wideout job, but he retired the day before the Raiders' training camp began.

In six seasons with Dallas, Gallup caught 266 passes for 3,744 yards and 21 touchdowns. He enjoyed his best season in 2019, which resulted in 66 receptions for 1,107 yards and six scores.

Unfortunately, injuries hindered much of the rest of his Cowboy tenure. A calf injury in 2021 forced him to miss seven games, and he suffered a torn ACL on Jan. 2, 2022 while catching a touchdown pass against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cowboys signed Gallup to a five-year, $62.5 million contract extension before the 2022 season. He missed training camp and the first three games of the regular season as he continued rehab from a torn ACL.

Gallup never returned to his pre-injury form, finishing the 2022 season with 39 catches for 424 yards and four scores before putting up a 34/418/2 stat line in 2023.

The Cowboys released Gallup in March 2024, and he signed with the Raiders a month-and-a-half later.

He didn't end up competing for a spot on the Raiders' roster, but Gallup is looking to make a return after one year off. Hopefully he can remain healthy and show flashes of his early Cowboys days that made him a formidable pass-catching threat.

Had Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gotten his way during the 2014 NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys may have ended up with Johnny Manziel instead of future Hall of Famer Zack Martin.

He's comfortable joking about the situation 11 years later.

"Best 'right,' decision I've ever made," Jones said, per ESPN's Todd Archer, while also joking he still has "knots" on his legs because executive vice president Stephen Jones kicked him under the table for attempting to generate more interest in Manziel for the No. 16 pick.

"Everybody was looking at their feet when Jerry was asking questions about who would be for the other guy [Manziel]," Stephen Jones said.

Archer noted Jerry Jones "made one more pass to speak to the player personnel department and scouts, looking to stoke interest in taking Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel," but the team went with Martin at No. 16 overall.

And it couldn't have worked out better.

Martin officially retired Wednesday but only after a dominant 11-year career with the Cowboys. The offensive lineman was a nine-time Pro Bowler, seven-time First-Team All-Pro selection and member of the Hall of Fame 2010s Team as the anchor of Dallas' offensive front throughout his tenure.

He was seen as one of the best offensive linemen in the league during his playing days and will surely end up in the Hall of Fame one day as a representative of the only NFL team he ever knew.

As for Manziel, he fell to the No. 22 pick and the Cleveland Browns.

While things might have been different for the Texas A&M quarterback if he remained in the state and played for Dallas instead of Cleveland, he did not live up to expectations. He went 2-6 as a starter, made plenty of off-field headlines, was suspended during the 2016 season and failed to live up to the standard he set as a Heisman Trophy winner in college.

It is quite a stark comparison to Martin, who surpassed all realistic expectations and now retires as a Cowboys legend.

The Dallas Cowboys have restructured quarterback Dak Prescott's contract, opening up $36.6 million in cap space, per ESPN's Todd Archer on Wednesday.

One day earlier, Dallas restructured wide receiver CeeDee Lamb's contract, creating $20 million in cap space, per Archer.

Last offseason, the Cowboys signed Prescott to a four-year, $240 million contract extension, including an $80 million signing bonus.

Per Over the Cap, Dallas now has the eighth-most cap space in the league at $54.3 million. Over the Cap also offered the specifics on the Prescott move.

"The Cowboys converted $45.75 million of Prescott's salary in 2025 to a signing bonus," Over the Cap noted. "The move lowered his cap number by $36.6 million in 2025 and increased his cap number by $9.15 million in each of the next four seasons."

The Prescott and Lamb moves are good for the Cowboys' 2025 cap health, but it doesn't look as if owner Jerry Jones is looking to make big free agency moves.

NFL reporter Ed Werder relayed these comments from Jones on Wednesday.

Dallas has been doing work on the defensive side of the ball, though, re-signing defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa on a four-year contract extension worth as much as $80 million ($52 million guaranteed).

Per Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are also in the early stages of contract talks with linebacker Micah Parsons, who is on the final year of his rookie deal.

We'll see how Dallas enters free agency soon enough after restructures, as teams can begin negotiating with agents on Monday.

Dallas Cowboys fans hoping the Osa Odighizuwa contract will be a sign of things to come for the organization with free agency set to begin next week might be disappointed.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters on Wednesday he wouldn't use the term "aggressive" to describe their free-agent approach.

Getting the four-year, $80 million contract done with Odighizuwa before the start of free agency answered one of the big questions for the Cowboys this offseason.

The next major question in Dallas will be when does Micah Parsons sign an extension. Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News reported on Sunday the three-time All-Pro and the Cowboys opened contract negotations.

There's an expectation that whenever Parsons signs his deal, it will make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. ESPN's Dan Graziano predicted a contract worth $180 million over four years ($45 million annually).

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is currently the highest-paid non-quarterback at $35 million per season.

Even with the Cowboys having several holes to fill on their roster, the most important thing they can do this offseason is get Parsons' contract done. They have a recent history of dragging out negotiations, including with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb last offseason.

Dallas eventually worked things out with both players, but waiting so long to do both may have cost the team more when it could have gotten out ahead of both players long ago to save a little money and cap space.

Another problem is the Cowboys don't have a lot of cap room to do anything aggressively. They currently have $17.7 million in cap space, which ranks 23rd in the NFL.

The Cowboys are entering a new era with Brian Schottenheimer taking over as head coach. They will be hoping for a quick turnaround after last season's disappointing 7-10 record that caused them to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Former Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin, who recently announced his retirement after 11 NFL seasons, will be inducted into the Team's Ring of Honor.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made the announcement during Martin's retirement press conference on Wednesday.

Martin also released his own statement on Wednesday.

The decision comes as no surprise, as Martin is a likely future Pro Football Hall of Famer given a resume that includes nine Pro Bowls and seven first-team All-Pro honors.

Simply put, Martin was tremendous, to the point where Brandon Thorn of the B/R NFL Scouting Department called him the "best guard of his generation."

A total of 22 people are part of the team's current Ring of Honor, including members of the 1990s dynasty (e.g. Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin), past defensive superstars (e.g. Randy White, Bob Lilly) and legendary head coach Tom Landry.

Now Martin will add his name to that list. He was a star at Notre Dame and a star at Dallas too, and now he'll get a well-deserved honor.

Martin will be the third Cowboys' offensive lineman to join the Ring of Honor, after Rayfield Wright and Nate Newton.

After re-signing with the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday before free agency, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa spoke out about an issue that seemed to hurt the team last season.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Odighizuwa was asked about the Cowboys allowing fans to tour the team facilities while players were present, and he downplayed the situation.

"I feel like the tours get blown out of proportion a little bit, like they're just walking through common areas," Odighizuwa explained. "They'll look at some of the pictures on the wall upstairs, they're never like in our meeting rooms while we're there, they're never in the locker room while we're there, and they're never in the weight room while we're there, they're just like walking through. I don't mind people just walking through and looking; it's a beautiful building, we make money off of it, and it's not getting in the way of us getting the work done."

ESPN's Kalyn Kahler reported in October the Cowboys' leadership council had discussions about the "disturbance" that the tours cause among players and coaches, noting that Dallas is the only team in the NFL that allows fans to visit the facilities while players are present.

Following the report, star receiver CeeDee Lamb was asked if he feels the facility tours are a distraction, and he responded, "Sometimes. That's all I'm going to say."

Still, it's clear that it wasn't too big of a deal to stop Odighizuwa from re-signing with the Cowboys on a four-year, $80 million contract that includes $58 million guaranteed before hitting the open market.

After their disappointing 7-10 finish to the 2024 season, the Cowboys should be motivated to remove all distractions and keep their players happy as they try to bounce back in 2025.

The Dallas Cowboys retained one of their top defensive players before the start of free agency.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday that the Cowboys reached an agreement with defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa on a four-year, $80 million contract that includes $58 million guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus.

Odighizuwa's new deal will be added to a Dallas salary cap that currently stands at $303.7 million, per Spotrac.

Retaining a homegrown talent like Odighizuwa is sure to be received positively in Dallas, as Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz noted that the 26-year-old "is loved in the Cowboys’ locker room." However, some pointed out that it's another big-money commitment for Dallas in an offseason where it's already expected that star edge rusher Micah Parsons will receive a bank-breaking deal.

A third-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, Odighizuwa has started all 17 games for the Cowboys in each of the last three seasons. He recorded career highs of 47 total tackles and 4.5 sacks while adding a forced fumble and a pass deflection in 2024.

After a quiet offseason last year, Dallas is expected to be more active this time around as it tries to bounce back from a disappointing 7-10 finish. Executive vice president Stephen Jones said last month that the team is "gonna be selectively aggressive" in its approach to free agency. The team will also have the chance to add a top prospect with the No. 12 pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

It's clear that the Cowboys will have some work to do to improve their salary cap health heading into the 2025 season, but retaining Odighizuwa is a step in the right direction.