In the NFL, rumors and speculation in December and January often become fact March. “Free Agent Frenzy” is an event that occurs in the National Football League every season. Beginning on March 10, teams begin to essentially bid for players that either chose not to re-sign with their team or were released by their team.

A team will let a player go to free agency for many reasons, the most common of which arise when money becomes a problem. The Cowboys, after having an explosive season in 2014, run the risk of losing one of their essential playmakers, running back DeMarco Murray. The owner of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones, made comments Thursday that made many Cowboys fans cringe. Jones was quoted saying he would like to see both wide receiver Dez Bryant and running back DeMarco Murray signed to long term contracts this off season, but that doing so would involve “creativity and compromise.”

Keeping Dez Bryant on the team is no issue to the Cowboys- if a deal cannot be met by both parties the organization can choose to simply place a franchise tag on Bryant. This would mean that Bryant would be forced to stay around and be paid approximately $12.5 million in 2015. “Why not just place the franchise tag on Murray?” many Cowboy fans have speculated. Jerry Jones has made it plainly obvious he values Bryant over Murray. It is not a knock on Murray, Jones simply values the wide receiver position more.

With Murray comes some risk, as well. The Cowboys’ running back carried the ball a league-leading 392 times, statistics show when a running back carries the ball at that velocity, they tend to physically decline much faster. Thus the risk: should the Cowboys give a blockbuster deal to a player that physically may be declining?
“In general, loading up on one player in an area that just requires good, rock solid consistency might not be the way to go,” Jones said last Thursday. “It’s going to be a challenge,” Jones said. “Is it financially reasonable? No. Is it possible? Yes. But if you just looked at it from dollars and cents, it probably doesn’t look reasonable.”

Theoretically, it is possible for the Cowboys to make enough cap space to give DeMarco Murray the money he’s asking for. Doing so would involve a lot of restructuring of contracts, predominantly quarterback Tony Romo and cornerback Brandon Carr. The Cowboys have already stressed that reconstructing Romo’s contract will not happen, though if they did it would free up an estimated $27 million.

Most likely what will happen is a redone deal for Carr who has a current contract worth $50 million. “Carr played well the last month. I’m not as critical of him as some others, but that’s a lot of money,” Jones stated. “One thing we’ve got to do in every way we can is get the value for the money.” It may come down to Carr either taking a pay cut or getting cut.

Rumors are rumors, but in the NFL, rumors often become fact. DeMarco Murray is an excellent player, but overall he is replaceable and quite possibly a liability – a quality not conducive to playing in the NFL.