He doesn't plan on letting that stop him from upgrading the Dallas Cowboys' roster.
"We will continue to be very aggressive in trying to find talented players that fit us even better than maybe one that we have now," Jones said. "We’ll be very aggressive about that."
As a team that lost in the divisional round, the Cowboys can sign only one unrestricted free agent for an estimated $5.5 million or more in the first year of the contract. They can sign an unlimited amount of unrestricted free agents to contracts with a first-year salary of $3.7 million or less.
(Because backup guard Montrae Holland is the Cowboys' only unrestricted free agent, the rule allowing a Final Eight team to sign a free agent to an equal salary for each one they lose doesn't really apply to the Cowboys.)
Now that we've got all that legalese out of the way, realize this: The Cowboys made significant upgrades that would have followed these rules last offseason. DE Igor Olshansky was their semi-big-ticket free agent. LB Keith Brooking and SS Gerald Sensabaugh signed for well under $3.7 million salaries.
It's not the finances that could keep the Cowboys from upgrading in free agency. It's the fact that so many more free agents are restricted due to the new rules. The market isn't nearly as deep as normal.
Of course, there's always the draft and trade market.
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Calvin Watkins
Calvin Watkins joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He's covered the Cowboys since 2006 and also has covered colleges, boxing and high school sports. A native New Yorker, Watkins lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.
Todd Archer
Todd Archer joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2010. He's covered the NFL since 1997 and the Cowboys since 2003. He covered the Bengals and Dolphins before arriving in Dallas. A Massachusetts native, Archer lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.
Tim MacMahon
Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
Bryan Broaddus
Bryan Broaddus joined ESPNDallas.com in May 2010. He has worked with ESPN 103.3 FM for the last five years, covering the Dallas Cowboys and Motorsports for the station. Before joining ESPN, he was a scout in the National Football League for 13 seasons working with the Packers, Eagles, Jaguars and Cowboys. Broaddus earned a Super Bowl Ring from the Packers in 1996.
Jean-Jacques Taylor
Jean-Jacques Taylor joined ESPNDallas.com in August 2011. A native of Dallas, Taylor spent the past 20 years writing for The Dallas Morning News, where he covered high schools sports, the Texas Rangers and spent 11 seasons covering the Dallas Cowboys before becoming a general columnist in 2006.
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Ben Rogers joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2009. He is one half of "The Ben & Skin Show," heard weekdays from 9a-12p on 103.3 FM ESPN.
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