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The Dallas Cowboys had a number of roster decisions to make when this offseason began and made a sequence of choices that led us to where they are at now. One of the choices that the Cowboys front office made was to franchise tag Dalton Schultz at a value just south of $11M for the 2022 season. Given the way that this team operates it has never felt particularly likely that Dallas is interested in paying long-term money to Schultz, but surprises happen all of the time. The Cowboys did hedge the future of the tight end position by drafting Jake Ferguson in the fourth round of this year’s draft.
Schultz signed his tag, but the variables at hand have changed a bit since then. The Cleveland Browns negotiated a new deal with the tight end whom they tagged in David Njoku a week and a half ago (four years, $56.75M, $28M guaranteed) and it would seem that Schultz’s representation has taken notice.
Dalton Schultz will reportedly skip the rest of voluntary OTAs citing ‘frustration by state of contract talks’
Offseason workouts will continue for the Cowboys on Monday but it seems that their starting tight end will not be there. NFL Network reported as the week began that Schultz will be skipping the rest of OTAs out of frustration with his contract situation.
Frustrated by the state of contract talks, #Cowboys franchise-tagged TE Dalton Schultz informed the team he won’t attend the rest of voluntary OTAs, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 6, 2022
Schultz already signed his franchise tender, locking in a $10.931 million salary for 2022 if no deal by July 15.
Dallas has a mandatory minicamp that begins next Tuesday (June 14th) so it stands to reason that Schultz will be in attendance for that, but this week will obviously be a bit tense given his decision to opt out.
Skipping voluntary action is not foreign for NFL players but this situation with Schultz is a little bit interesting in that he already signed the franchise tag which is why he cannot skip anything that is mandatory. If Schultz really wanted to dig in for a new deal it would have made more sense not to sign it and to take things to the eleventh hour mid-July like many players have done so before him.
Truth be told this is one of the last ‘moves’ that Schultz has to play and it seems that his representation feels like it is the best choice for him at this time.
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