If something bad happens to the Cowboys, it is generally good news for the Eagles... and this is good news. Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports says that the cap space rich Tampa Bay Bucs are after Cowboys free agent LT Doug Free.
Tampa, Dallas in a dogfight for doug free. Could get REALLY expensive.
This is scary for Dallas for a few reasons. They started the day almost $14 million over the cap and have been furiously shedding veterans (Leonard Davis, Marion Barber, Roy Williams) in an attempt to get under that cap and give them some flexibility to keep Free. And now, the team with the most cap space in the NFL is competing with the team with the least for Free.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a whopping $59 million in cap space to spend. Not do they have that space available, they have to spend $47 million of it just to get to the league mandated salary floor. So if they are in a fight with Dallas for Doug Free, the Cowboys are massively outgunned.
And if the Cowboys lose Free, their already shaky offensive line is in trouble. Free was easily their best offensive lineman last year and he was one of the few that wasn't over 30. So if they lose him, they would not only have to go out and spend in the free agent market for lesser replacements, but also potentially depend on starting rookie Tyron Smith at LT.
Combine this with the fact that the Giants gutted their offensive line today and Jim Washburn is licking his lips...