[UPDATE] Cowboys are the only team in the NFL to not add an outside free agent... until now

[UPDATE] Of course, just after this post went live, the Cowboys signed an outside free agent. WR James Washington is coming to Dallas.

We have just about reached the first weekend of the new league year and teams all across the National Football League have spent the last few days working on their rosters in hopes that they win the game’s ultimate prize 11 months from now.

The Dallas Cowboys love to tell us how roster construction is a 24/7/365 operation, and while that is certainly true, there are some days that are more important than others and the last few certainly qualify given that free agency is when veterans change teams.

The Cowboys often choose not to spend time (or money) in free agency in favor of doing things their way. They love to talk about how much they like their guys and there is recent proof of that considering they have re-signed nine of their own to this point (counting Dalton Schultz on the franchise tag). You can stay caught up with all Dallas Cowboys free agency right here by the way.

Here’s the thing, though. They are the only team that has only focused on their own to this point. Literally the only one.

Every single team in the NFL has added an outside free agent... except for the Dallas Cowboys

There is logic to prioritizing your own. The Dallas Cowboys were a good football team last year so it makes sense that they would want to keep around a lot of the players who helped make that a reality.

But there comes a point where you have to add to your team, as in add something that wasn’t already there. This isn’t to say that any sort of addition dramatically changes your team, but free agency is a tool that is at the disposal of football teams should they choose to use it.

Literally every team is using this tool which is why it is so upsetting to see the Dallas Cowboys not doing so. And when we say every team, we literally mean every team.

31 of 32 teams in the NFL have signed or agreed to terms with an outside free agent. The only team who has yet to do so is the Dallas Cowboys.

Some teams in the NFL barely meet the threshold of signing an outside free agent. As an example, the Green Bay Packers have only signed one player who wasn’t on their team so far and it is a punter. But one inch forward is one inch forward and it is apparent that literally every non-Cowboys team in the NFL has moved at least that far throughout this part of the roster construction period.

There is the hope that the 2022 NFL Draft proves to be a prime opportunity for Dallas to improve their roster, but the team could, at the very least, consider using both opportunities as chances to add to a team that was very close last year.

If you have been following the Cowboys for some time then you know that none of this is surprising, but that doesn’t change that it is frustrating. The Cowboys have released players so far this offseason and done so in the name of creating salary cap space. There is logic to creating room for moves, but not if there are no moves that actually follow.

When will the Cowboys finally get on the board?