To this point the Dallas Cowboys have added three new names to their roster in free agency: Gerald McCoy, Maurice Canady, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. There seemed to be a potential for an offensive name to finally appear on this list when NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported earlier in the week that the team had interest in wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.

Sanders has been linked to the Cowboys before. He’s still performing at a high level, especially coming off of a season in which he appeared in the Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers, and the Cowboys lost Randall Cobb to the Houston Texans already. With the need of a slot receiver, all of the pieces seemed to be falling into place.

Emmanuel Sanders chose the New Orleans Saints over the Cowboys

Late Friday night, Sanders made a choice. He’s trading in those gold pants for a gold helmet and will now be playing for Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints.

Emmanuel Sanders had appealing NFC options. Sanders spoke with the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, but preferred to wind up with the New Orleans Saints, where he land d a two-year, $16 million deal worth up to $19 million. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 21, 2020

ESPN reported that Sanders had “appealing” options from both the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. The worldwide leader also noted that Sanders ended up taking a two-year, $16M deal with New Orleans that can potentially be worth up to $19M.

At most that would come out to $9.5M per season ($8M at the lowest) which seems to be too rich for the Cowboys. To be fair, Dallas did just commit $20M per season to another receiver in Amari Cooper.

The Cowboys are reportedly interested in wide receiver Phillip Dorsett

Emmanuel Sanders and Randall Cobb may be off the market, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Cowboys still have a need at their slot receiver position. There is thought that they could devote a draft pick towards it, but could the Cowboys find the answer elsewhere? There are obviously still options in free agency, and in the aftermath of the Sanders news, The Dallas Morning News reported that the Cowboys have interest in Phillip Dorsett.

Cowboys have some interest in Phillip Dorsett. All about the price. — Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) March 21, 2020

Dorsett has spent the last three seasons with the New England Patriots, you might remember that he was originally traded there from the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for Jacoby Brissett. He reached a career high with New England last season in both yards (397) and touchdowns (5).

When Phillip Dorsett was first entering the NFL out of Miami he was regarded as one of the faster prospects entering the league. There is obviously potential there, but the longer you get into free agency the more difficult it is going to be to find legitimate production.

It is possible that Dorsett could join Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup on the Cowboys and flourish. Tavon Austin also still exists as an option for them, but maybe there is something about what Dorsett offers that they like specifically.

We will have to wait and see what ultimately comes of Dorsett and the interest that the Cowboys have in him.