Realistic dream free agent signing for the Cowboys? Looking at one name that’s being proposed

When it comes to free agent signings and the Dallas Cowboys in 2020, you have to set a few parameters. On the positive side, the Cowboys are flush with cap space. Depending on your source, the Cowboys have roughly $75 million in cap space available. That’s among the tops in the league. Good news, right?

Well, the Cowboys have a couple of huge contracts to get done (Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper), and that is going to eat up a huge chunk of that cap space. The Cowboys also have a raft of other free agents and some of them, like Robert Quinn, are probably going to receive significant offers. That cap space is going to dissolve quickly.

Additionally, the Cowboys have become notably frugal in free agency. They are just not willing to shell out big bucks for outside free agents. So, with those parameters in place, a realistic dream signing for the Cowboys, something Bleacher Report has proposed for every NFL team, would have to be a bargain signing with potential.

That’s what they have chosen for the Cowboys in tight end Tyler Eifert.

As for tight end, Dallas might be smart to look at another longtime NFL starter. In this case, they should target the Bengals’ Tyler Eifert.

While injuries have been an issue for Eifert, a lack of use in Zac Taylor’s offense was a bigger problem in 2019. Eifert made just four starts but finished with 436 yards and three touchdowns.

The 29-year-old should have plenty of strong years ahead of him. He has tremendous upside and with the injury risk should fit into Dallas’ long-term financial plans.

Connecting Eifert with the Cowboys is nothing new. All the way back in 2018, our own Connor Livesay was pondering whether the Cowboys should go after Eifert. David Howman also suggested signing Eifert in his blueprint for success earlier this offseason.

TE Tyler Eifert - Whether the Cowboys return Jarwin and/or Witten next year, they should still look to add other options at the position as well. Eifert was once an ascendant star at tight end, but injuries and the overall terribleness of the Bengals hampered him. Still, he had 436 yards and three touchdowns in 2019 as the backup tight end. He could be an under the radar bargain bin addition in Dallas, where he’d join his brother in law; Jaylon Smith tried to recruit him last offseason as well.

Eifert has all kinds of skills. What he generally doesn’t have is his health. His career has been one injury after another and that’s why he could be available at a bargain price. He did manage to get through all of last season and played 16 games.

2019 Recap: He played in all 16 games for the first time in his career and finished with 43 receptions for 436 yards and three touchdowns.

Contract Status: He is a free agent after he signed a one-year, $4 million contract last season that included a $1 million signing bonus and other bonuses for each game played and some incentive bonuses as well.

2020 Roster Projection: The Bengals will likely let him test the free agent market and if he doesn’t get a deal he likes, perhaps they sign him to another one-year deal with incentives.

There will always be interest in Eifert because of his sterling 2015 season when he had 52 catches, 615 yards, 11.8 yards per reception and 13 TDs. He may not be that player anymore, but there is little doubt that he could help a team if he can stay healthy.

BTW, the realistic dream signings for other teams in the article aren’t a good thing for the Cowboys.

Buffalo Bills: WR Amari Cooper
Denver Broncos: WR Randall Cobb
Philadelphia Eagles: CB Byron Jones

Yikes!