Dallas Cowboys

The sound of silence has dominated the Dallas Cowboys' offseason

Published Jun. 16, 2021 9:01 p.m. ET

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By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

There was the summer of Zeke and there were the summers of Dak (plus a couple of springs and winters, too), times when the Dallas Cowboys would be smack in the center of the sports conversation, even with no games in imminent sight.

Yet as this peculiar year progresses and the little things that remind us how the National Football League restart actually isn’t so far away – with the schedule all set and minicamps underway – what’s that noise?

It’s the sound of silence.

Compared to what we’ve become accustomed to considering normal, there isn’t a lot of buzz coming out of Cowboy Nation, and it is all a little odd. There is no Dak Prescott contract situation to talk about, for the first time in what seems like a long time.

When Prescott signed a blockbuster of a deal in March, $160 million over four years, it seemed like a significant enough number and the culmination of such a drawn-out negotiation that it would remain a subject of lingering chatter.

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But it hasn’t.

"Over the past couple of months, it just doesn’t feel like we’ve heard much about a team that’s typically a fixture in our lives," wrote Robert Mays of The Athletic.

The pro football audience, even the part of it that lives and breathes by whatever Dallas is doing, is discovering that soap operas between a player and a franchise are much more interesting when there is a discrepancy between what one party thinks he is worth and what the other is prepared to pay.

Once it’s done, when it just involves an elite QB getting paid a whole bunch of cash and waiting for the chance to prove he’s worth it, there’s isn’t much more to be said, for now at least.

The Cowboys’ quiet summer is all relative. It just feels different because while there are discussion factors and items requiring resolution within the team framework, the Cowboys are not playing host to the biggest player-centered plot-line of the offseason.

Whereas Ezekiel Elliott’s wish to get handsomely paid and willingness to hold out in pursuit of it dominated things in 2019, and Prescott’s brinkmanship with Jerry Jones dragged on for two entire years, this summer the Cowboys don’t have any such sagas to navigate. They’ve already paid their big money, and, as a result, won’t have much wiggle room for a while when it comes to cap space.

Of course, there is no particular reason why a team that lost almost twice as many games as it won should be the most talked-about team in the NFL. But remember, this is the Cowboys, and it’s just what we are used to. Aaron Rodgers and his spat with the Green Bay Packers has ensured that if there is only room for one summer gossip-fest, it’s going to be centered in Wisconsin.

Let’s not make the mistake of believing this means all is calm and quiet down in Dallas. There is real and present pressure on second-year head coach Mike McCarthy, who was spared being the first team leader fired by Jerry Jones without completing a full opening campaign following a 2-7 start.

McCarthy might not get so much rope this time, as the revival to a 6-10 finish (still nearly good enough to win the NFC East) convinced no one and certainly didn’t satisfy Jones. Unless Dallas posts a strong start, McCarthy’s future is going to be a talking point you’ll be hearing a lot of.

Having Prescott’s deal inked will be a relief to many, but it only ramps up the heat on McCarthy, who faces games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers and Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first three weeks of the 2021 campaign.

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"One of the NFL’s staunchest realities for head coaches (is) the fact that quarterbacks are now eating up such a significant piece of salary cap space, having even one disastrous season with them instantly pitches the head coach into a perilous trajectory," wrote Charles Robinson on Yahoo Sports.

Prescott will continue to be at the forefront of everything as he returns to action following the gruesome compound fracture of his right ankle he suffered last October, an injury that required multiple surgeries to repair.

"I'm close," Prescott told reporters in early May. "I can go play in a game right now." Still, the franchise QB’s recovery is hardly dominating the news cycle.

FOX Bet has the Cowboys as favorites to win the NFC East, but tied for 11th favorite (+2500) to claim a Super Bowl title.

It would be wrong to suggest that there is overt optimism among Cowboys fans, or even emanating from the franchise itself. If anything, the lack of chatter seems to have created some nervousness in itself. Does being off the radar make the Cowboys somehow less relevant? Or is it the sign of a smoother summer than in past years?

In truth, the Cowboys are never truly off the radar, summed up by the reality that when there is frenetic activity, it feels normal, and even when we’re not talking about them, we talk about that, too.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

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