Although he's currently under contract, wide receiver Michael Gallup might've played his last down as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

Nothing has quite been the same for Gallup since he had 1,107 receiving yards with six touchdowns back in 2019. In 2020, Gallup held his own without Dak Prescott as he racked up 843 yards and five touchdowns. However, he failed to reach the 500-yard mark in the last three years. 

His play has been filled with ups and downs and injuries have done little to help. Ahead of the 2024 free agency, the Cowboys have a tough decision to make on the veteran wideout. 

Does it make financial sense to cut Michael Gallup?

Gallup isn't an attractive trade candidate in an offseason that will have many quality free agents as well as a promising wide receiver class which is expected to provide solid options in the first three rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft.

So if the Cowboys want to get rid of No. 13, it'll likely take a straight cut. The problem is if the Cowboys were to cut him, they'd eat $13.05M in dead money while saving no more than $800,000, per Over The Cap.

There's a solution, though: The Cowboys could designate him as a post-June 1st cut, which splits pushes a significant amount of dead money until the following season. Instead of eating $13.05M in cap space now, the Cowboys would just deal with $4.35M. Most importantly, they'd open up $9.5M in cap space for the 2024 season.

It's not perfect, though. You see, the Cowboys would be able to enjoy such a benefit until June 2nd. In other words, the savings would be useless for early free agency in March. However, with many players being candidates for early extensions like Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, and Dak Prescott, the space would still be of use. 

2024 was always seen as the first year where the Cowboys had a viable out from Gallup's contract. If he's released, it would be closer to an expectation being fulfilled rather than a surprise. 

Can the Cowboys afford losing Gallup?

Since he was benched against the Philadelphia Eagles at midseason, it was almost made official that Gallup's career was heading downward. He still had some moments since that game but never had more than three catches in a single day since that showdown in Week 9. In fact, he only had two such games all season long. 

The Cowboys should show interest in improving at WR3 behind CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks. That means moving on from Gallup beyond financial reasons.

Sure, you can't have too many wideouts in a passing league like the NFL. But Gallup is expandable as he's struggled to show off speed or gain separation. His biggest strength, making contested catches as the isolated WR, took a big hit in 2024, ending 68th in contested catch rate, per PFF.

Jalen Tolbert's third year could be Plan A but I wouldn't be surprised at the front office targeting a low-cost WR in free agency and potentially in the early to middle rounds of the draft.

New Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer makes it sound like he wants to bring back All-Pro

Won’t be easy, though.