Predicting Cowboys' Biggest Regrets from 2022 NFL Offseason

The Dallas Cowboys had a busy offseason characterized by a lot of hard decisions.

With a massive free-agent class and some expensive players on the payroll, they had to watch some talented players leave.

The Cowboys still have a strong core of young stars who are going to make them competitive. Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs are undoubtedly the most important players on the roster.

However, there were a few decisions that are going to make it harder for that quartet to help Dallas reach its full potential.

Here's a look at three decisions the Cowboys may come to regret.

Keeping Dak Prescott upright and opening running lanes for Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard is going to be paramount to the offense's success in 2022.

Unfortunately, the Cowboys made that more difficult for themselves by releasing La'el Collins. The 29-year-old has had his share of injury problems. He missed all of 2020 with a hip injury, but he's the fifth-highest rated right tackle since 2019 by PFF's grading system.

So when's on the field, he has played at an elite level.

The same can't be said for Terence Steele, though the heir apparent at right tackle has served admirably at times. He started 13 games last season and finished as the 55th-graded tackle by PFF.

The 25-year-old can obviously improve in his third season, but relying on him to become an above-average starter is asking for a big jump.

Given the money the Cowboys saved by parting ways with Collins, it's understandable why they made the decision. But without securing a more proven option, it could be a regrettable move if Steele does not make a leap this year.

Of all the losses the Cowboys experienced this season, the departure of Randy Gregory should sting the most. After all, they made a genuine effort to keep him in the fold.

According to Patrik Walker of the team's official website, Dallas had negotiations with the 29-year-old in which he agreed to re-sign with the team and was even willing to accept less money than other sides were offering.

However, Gregory balked when the team included language that the contract could be voided in the case of a fine or suspension for a violation of the league's personal conduct policy, per ESPN's Ed Werder.

The defensive end instead signed with the Denver Broncos on a similar deal to what he previously agreed to with the Cowboys.

Gregory has been suspended multiple times for marijuana use in his career. He was suspended for the entire year in both the 2017 and 2019 seasons.

Dallas may have felt it needed to hedge against another incident, but it leaves its defense with a major problem to fix. Last year, the Cowboys were fourth in the league in pressure percentage.

That was with Micah Parsons and Gregory leading the team in pressures. Now, they're going to have to rely on finding production from an array of younger players while hoping DeMarcus Lawrence can stay healthy.

It leaves the Cowboys with questions they shouldn't have to be answering if they could have just ironed out the problems with Gregory.

The Cowboys essentially chose Michael Gallup over Amari Cooper this offseason. Jerry Jones and Co. shipped off the latter to Cleveland in March for a fifth-round pick and a swap of sixth-round picks to save cash.

Then they promptly turned around and handed a five-year, $57.5 million contract to Gallup.

It isn't completely exorbitant given the state of the receiver market, but it's a lot of money for a player who tore his ACL in Week 17 after missing the first seven games of the same season with a calf injury.

The receiver has all but confirmed he won't suit up in Week 1. He told Jori Epstein of USA Today, it's "not a reasonable possibility" that he'll be available for the season opener.

Injuries aside, the production just isn't there for Gallup to command that much of a commitment. The deep threat has just one 1,000-yard season (2019), and he dropped 11 passes that year with a catch rate of 58.4 percent.

Maybe he can become something more with Cooper gone. But he has to get healthy first.

There are two many ifs involved in the receiver living up to that contract. The Cowboys could wind up really wishing they had approached their receiving room differently after watching Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Cooper leave.