FRISCO – There are now multiple fanboy websites that are predicting that Dallas Cowboys pending free agent guard, Zack Martin is planning an offseason jump away from “America’s Team.”
And we think they’ve got it half-right.
A nine-time Pro Bowler and seven-time first-team All-Pro, Martin is one of the best interior offensive linemen of his generation.
Cowboys Nation views him as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and along with the comes the emotion that would have fans – and the Jones family, too – hate to see him in another uniform.
And yet the internet is projecting Joe Burrow‘s Bengals – who surrendered 48 sacks last season and 50 the season prior – will be going all out to poach him from Dallas.
One website predicts Cincinnati will come away with Martin in free agency this offseason, with part it its logic being, “He isn’t going to be an extremely expensive signing, with him getting up in age.”
We’re not sure where the websites are getting this info. But we know it’s not from Martin himself.
“This is not the time to have those discussions,” Martin said late in the year as he readies for season-ending surgery. “This is all I’ll say about that: It’s a tough situation, and the most important thing on my mind is getting healthy and then having those conversations down the road.
“But first and foremost, I want to get healthy and then maybe those conversations are a little bit easier.”
Having said all of that, Martin, who will turn 35 next November, worked together with Dallas to create his latest contract.
It does have him signed up through 2025; however, when the deal was restructured last offseason, it was designed in anticipation of a retirement, with one more year of money to be spread out over two seasons.
And agsin, Martin – who did decline a bit in 2024 – has been open about the possibility of saying goodbye. And not just to the Cowboys, but to football altogether.
So before Cincy or anybody else signed him, Dallas has to cut him. And Dallas would surely prefer that if he retire instead.
There is a Spotrac projection that says Martin is expected to land a one-year, $9.1 million deal in free agency this offseason. Again, we’ve got issues here, because that seems way too low and because he’s not a free agent.
Martin has earned the right, like other Cowboys before him, to attempt to work something out with the Joneses. And before bidding teams and their fanboy sites get too excited, one of the things that might get worked out is a retirement – and then a short five-year wait before he does indeed go to Ohio.