Last weekend turned into one of the most bizarre news cycles for the Dallas Cowboys in recent memory.

The team is apparently ready to move on from two of its best two players just months removed from a 12-5 regular season that included a division title and home playoff game. Leaving us to wonder, what's the endgame behind these potential moves?

On Friday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Cowboys' front office was "likely" to release Amari Cooper. Two days later, reports emerged on DeMarcus Lawrence refusing a pay cut offered by the team.

On the surface, it's easy to understand why the Cowboys would be interested in making such moves. After all, they currently sit at $21M over the salary cap, per Spotrac. Releasing Cooper and Lawrence would open up $16M and $8M in cap space, respectively.

Yet, it seems like moving on from your No. 1 wide receiver and an elite edge rusher is unnecessary. Especially when there are alternate routes to take like a restructure or a trade.

The Dallas Cowboys would be deliberately getting worse in order to make their cap management easier in the long run.

That last part is understandable. Most NFL teams are risk-averse enough to avoid an "all-in" approach even when their championship window is closing. That's why everyone doubted the L.A. Rams way of doing things.

But there's a big difference between prudence and getting rid of two important players when you have one of the best rosters you've had in recent memory. That's what the Cowboys would be doing by moving on from Cooper and Lawrence.

Even more so when you take into consideration how much cap space they could open up by simply restructuring their contracts. Per Over The Cap, restructuring Amari's deal would open up $12M and D-Law another $11M.

This takes us to the true salary cap concerns for the Dallas Cowboys.

It's not about 2022. It's not about being able to bring back this year's free agents like Michael Gallup, Dalton Schultz, Randy Gregory, Jayron Kearse, among others. Sure, that's the short-term benefit. But the Cowboys could very well open up enough cap space in other ways to do so. Ways that wouldn't be considered counterproductive. Or counterintuitive, to an extent.

Instead, it seems that the Cowboys' true salary cap concern is about being healthy enough from a financial standpoint to avoid true "cap hell" years from now. I'm not talking about being $20M over the cap like they are now, but more of a New Orleans Saints-type of situation.

In 2024, the Cowboys' free agency class is projected to include the likes of DeMarcus Lawrence, CeeDee Lamb, Tyron Smith, Blake Jarwin, Jourdan Lewis, among others. Of course, Lamb's fifth-year option will likely be exercised.

The point is, however, it seems like Stephen Jones & Co. are trying to position themselves to take care of business in the future. They're likely trying to get ready to extend some key players when the time comes, following the Cowboys' Way of paying their own talent.

Which is fine if you're balancing things with the present. I'm not a huge believer in "Super Bowl windows" when you have a young quarterback and a defensive player you can build around like Micah Parsons.

But it's true that the Dallas Cowboys have one of the best rosters they've had in a while. They've got Dak Prescott secured through 2024, Parsons on a rookie deal, and one of the best duos at wide receiver in the NFL (for now).

Why shouldn't the Cowboys believe this is an ideal time to make a true push for a ring? Is it that they don't believe that to be true? Or is it that they're more concerned about being good enough to be entertaining over the long term and not lose fan interest?

Take the Rams as an example. Financially, they're in a similar spot as the Cowboys. But even after winning a Super Bowl, the reports coming out of L.A. are about the Rams aiming to re-sign OBJ, Von Miller, and extending Aaron Donald.

Jerry Jones teared up in last year's training camp when he said "I'd do anything known to man to get to a Super Bowl." A year later, the Dallas Cowboys are apparently ready to move on from two key players that can help them get there. The front office's decision-making doesn't back up Jerry's statement.

For the first time in many years, I start to doubt the Cowboys truly want to win a championship. Sure they want to, but is it a priority over sustained moderate success?

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