Dallas City News

Cowboys sign 2 UFL standouts Conley, Harvey – Nick Eatman, Dallascowboys.com

The Dallas Cowboys fill two roster spots with a former first-round pick and a linebacker.

The last two summers, the Cowboys have hit a pair of home runs in signing players from other pro leagues.

Now, they’re trying for two more as they signed linebacker Willie Harvey and cornerback Gareon Conley on Tuesday. Harvey led the UFL in tackles this past season and was named a first-team All-UFL performer for the St. Louis BattleHawks. Conley, a former first-round pick of the Raiders in 2017, played three years in the NFL but tried to revive his football career with a standout season for the DC Defenders in the XFL.

The past two seasons, the Cowboys signed return specialist KaVontae Turpin and then Brandon Aubrey from the USFL. Both made All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in their first year with the Cowboys.

Harvey has been in and out of the NFL over the last five years. He went undrafted in 2019 but signed with the Browns, where he spent some time on the practice squad and active roster. Over the next three years, he played in just four games in Cleveland.

He eventually signed with the BattleHawks in 2023 as part of the XFL and stayed with the team as it transitioned to the UFL this past season.

2024 NFL offseason: Grading moves, changes for all 32 teams – Seth Walder, ESPN

Walder completed his article before the Cowboys signed Conley and Harvey. No way he would have ranked the Cowboys 30th out of 32 teams if he had known about these franchise-defining signings…

Biggest move: Not signing its stars to new contracts

Move I liked: Spending two of their first three picks on the offensive line

Move I disliked: Not signing QB Dak Prescott to an extension

Their most notable offseason move was not signing wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, linebacker Micah Parsons or Prescott to new deals. The last is the most problematic: Prescott cannot be franchise-tagged after this season, which means if the Cowboys do not sign him to a new deal, he could enter next offseason as a true free agent. If Dallas is having second thoughts about Prescott based on how the 2023 season ended, it shouldn’t — Prescott finished second in QBR and was an MVP candidate up until the end. The Cowboys are fortunate to have a franchise QB and shouldn’t risk losing him.

[…] with such a strong core, Dallas is a Super Bowl contender. Sitting pat in free agency — their biggest moves were for cornerback Jourdan Lewis, linebacker Eric Kendricks and running Ezekiel Elliott, each getting less than $3 million in fully guaranteed money — doesn’t feel ideal, but the team is going to have to eventually pay those stars, and that will take resources.

NFL offseason winners and losers: Did Cowboys improve? – Mike Jones, The Athletic

The Athletic must be kicking itself after not accounting for the offseason-winning Conley and Harvey signings either and then prematurely declaring the Eagles the NFC East favorite on top of that.

Jerry Jones took a frugal approach to the offseason. The Cowboys’ most notable free-agent signings were the return of Ezekiel Elliott and addition of linebacker Eric Kendricks (both on bargain-basement deals). Meanwhile, the Cowboys lost Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Tony Pollard and Dorance Armstrong, and failed to draft a running back. It’s hard to see Dallas defending the NFC East after Philadelphia’s active offseason.

Pete Prisco’s Top 100 NFL Players of 2024 – Pete Prisco, CBSSports

Pete Prisco ranks the 100 best players entering the new season and – you guessed it – omits Gareon Conley and Willie Harvey entirely.

Prisco has six Cowboys players on his list: Micah Parsons (9), Ceedee Lamb (21), Dak Prescott (49), DeMarcus Lawrence (55), Tyler Smith (75), and Zack Martin (94). Adding Conley and Harvey gives the Cowboys eight players, just one short of the league-leading 49ers (9), but ahead of the Chiefs, Lions, and Ravens (all 7), and most certainly ahead of the Eagles and Texas (both 6).

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Dallas Cowboys hoping for ‘even bigger’ Year 3 jump for Jake Ferguson – Nikki Chavanelle, On3.com

The Cowboys are hoping for big things from their third-year tight end.

Jake Ferguson proved the Dallas Cowboys’ strategy right last season after the team parted ways with starting tight end Dalton Schultz. The team opted not to sign Dalton Schultz back on in free agency, and instead, counted on Ferguson to have a breakout season, which he did. Now, heading into his third season in the league, the Cowboys are once again hopeful that Ferguson can perform as one of the best tight ends in the NFL.

“He had a good year last year, but can you do it again?” Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells said during minicamp. “The legends and the great players do it consistently over the years — Jason Witten, Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez — you can go down the list — the great ones do it consistently every year. You can’t be one and done or a one-hit wonder, because those get lost.

“If you wanna be great, you’ve gotta do it every year, consistently, and I think that’s the challenge he understands. And that’s the best thing: he understands that. … [He] set the standard last year, now let’s make sure we do it even better, like the great ones do.”

Following a rookie season with just 19 catches and 174 yards, Ferguson exponentially increased his production in 2023. He posted 71 catches for 761 yards with five touchdowns. He was also responsible for 40 first downs. The performance earned him his first Pro Bowl nod, but hopefully, not his last.

“It’s his consistency and his passion — his energy,” Mike McCarthy said of the tight end. “And, really, it’s his growth as a football player. We talked a little bit about his weight, and I think he’s done an outstanding job in his transition phase of it. He’s having a great offseason.”

Cowboys legend Michael Irvin says wife Sandy, 58, suffers from early onset Alzheimer’s – Clarence E. Hill Jr., Fort Worth Star-Telegram

We’re sending well wishes to the Irvin family..

But something put it on Irvin’s heart to share a family health crisis with his patrons at halftime.

Irvin revealed that his wife Sandy, 58, has early onset Alzheimer’s. She has been dealing with the disease for five or six years. She has trouble walking and speaking and requires 24-hour care with a live-in caretaker. Irvin said he has no intention of putting her in a home, no matter the cost.

“If anyone has earned the right to stay in her house, MY WIFE HAS!!!,” Irvin said in an exclusive text to the Star-Telegram.

“That I shall honor. No matter what it takes.” Irvin and Sandy, who met in college at Miami, have been together for 39 years, married for 34. Irvin asked for prayers for his family.

Jerry Jones called out the Bengals for not being as popular as the Cowboys – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

Owner Jerry Jones knows the Cowboys are the team everyone wants to watch.

Back to the matter at hand though, the trial taking place is based on the way that the league sells the Sunday Ticket. PFT’s Mike Florio provided a great TL;DR during Monday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show that you can see right here.

In the interest of brevity, if the NFL loses here then they may have to restructure the way that they sell the Sunday Ticket. It is possible (using that word grandly here) that we could wind up in a world where they sell things by team or by week or by game or by month or by whatever, the point is that they would no longer only be able to sell it as one product that you have to purchase for the entire season which is the current format.

Jerry Jones testified during the trial on Monday which is a big enough deal in its own right (Roger Goodell also testified if you are still unaware of how significant this whole thing really is). The league’s position seems to be that the Sunday Ticket product is perfect as is and does not need any reconstruction. NFL owners tend to stick together on matters and prohibiting change here ensures that the teams who have less popularity don’t lose any revenue share which they would stand to do if the league had to adjust the way it sold the Ticket as noted.

Florio also happened to find what Jerry had to say, and during his testimony he noted that he stood to gain as the owner of the Cowboys and referenced a team who likely would not, and he outright named them.

Quick background note. From time to time, I’ll explain the consequences of the NFL losing its broadcast antitrust exemption. If that ever happens, the teams would sell the rights to their home games individually, like Notre Dame does. In discussing that scenario, I’ll explain that the Cowboys would get multiple billions per year for its games. In lieu of naming the teams at the other end of the spectrum, I’ll typically say, “They know who they are.”

Jerry has an opinion regarding who one of them is. In defending the broadcast model despite the fact that he would profit handsomely from it, Jones sent a stray in the direction of Cincinnati.

“I am convinced I would make a lot more money than the Bengals,” Jones said, via the Associated Press. “I’m completely against each team doing TV deals. It is flawed.”

While Jones is accurate, given the immense value of a Cowboys-only package, it was unnecessary to single out the Bengals. He could have just said, “Any other team.”