The Dallas Cowboys are "very receptive'' to the idea of re-signing Tony Pollard, a source tells CowboysSI.com in what we might term a "devil-you-know'' circumstance.
No, that doesn't mean Pollard is "the devil.'' It does mean that the flood of talented running backs about to hit the market when the free agency negotiation period starts Monday will include guys who all have their own baggage, warts or downsides.
Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Austin Ekeler, D’Andre Swift and Alexander Mattison are among the top names on the free market. More may come with assorted cap moves
Some of those names offer things that Pollard does not. But Dallas still likes what Pollard offers, too. They know and like the person. They know and like the fit.
And if he is truly willing to accept a bit less than market value (whatever that is) to remain in the fold and to build on a relatively disappointing 2023 season in which he rushed for 1,005 yards but struggled to find his way to the end zone?
The Cowboys might happily settle.
“I think Pollard played well,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said recently. “He’s someone that I would have thought, looking back, that would have had more impact for us in the games we didn’t play well in. But ... When I look at him, I have done that with our coaches and I have done that with our scouts and he played well.”
Pollard made $10 million last year under the franchise tag; Dallas isn't going there again. What if Dallas can retain its 26-year-old known quantity for half that price ... which figures to be substantially less than what Barkley - for our money the best back in the group - is offered? (Pollard plus the use of a mid-round draft pick on another runner? That's the concept being whispered to us.)
There are those who are pushing for Dallas to pay Barkley, or Henry. And we get the attraction there ... which is in part about Cowboys Nation wanting a "shiny new toy.'' But the right guy, at the right price, might be Pollard ... who Dallas still believes can be a highly effective "shiny established toy.''
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