FRISCO, Texas — There will be no waiting period for Markquese Bell to learn of his future with the TV, the restricted free agent eluding the open market entirely by agreeing to terms to remain with the club on a three-year deal worth upwards of $12 million.
As a restricted free agent, the Cowboys could have placed a tender on him before allowing him to take offers from other teams, giving them the right to match any offer and receive compensation for their loss, if the tender was of the second- or first-round variety.
As an undrafted player, the original round tender was not in play for Bell, technically, making use of a simple Right of First Refusal — the equivalent — a likely outcome in lieu of a deal landing, seeing as the Cowboys never had any plans of letting Bell leave.
In signing him to a multi-year deal, the Cowboys lessened the cap hit for 2025 from what it might've been with a second-round tender, for example, which would have come in at $3.26 million by way of the Right of First Refusal. Although the average annual salary on the new deal is $4 million, the key word there is "average", because the contract will include a prorated signing bonus spread across the entirety of the deal.
Bell began his career with the Cowboys out of Florida A&M University, ever-proud to be a product of an HBCU, as a practice squad safety who clawed his way to the active roster before being moved to linebacker by former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn in 2023, a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency move at the time, before being moved back to safety by Mike Zimmer in 2024.
A special teams ace and promising talent at safety with versatility to aid at linebacker in a pinch, his presence helps to stabilize the depth chart a bit for both Eberflus and incoming special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen.
The 26-year-old will first need to be medically cleared after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last season, but the deal marks another key retention in a growing list of them executed by the Cowboys in the days ahead of free agency.
