The surprising Dallas Cowboys have a lot going for them this season - an unexpectedly good defense, a solid special teams unit and an offensive line built for power as well as for speed.
The trick for the team-owning Joneses, Stephen and Jerry, will be to find a way to keep the roster intact next season.
Running back DeMarco Murray, linebacker Bruce Carter, wide receivers Dez Bryant and offensive lineman Ronald Leary headline a group of players, 25 in all, 20 of which are on the current 53-man roster, according to Tom Ryle of Blogging The Boys, all scheduled to become free agents of some kind after this season.
Can the team find a way to bring most, or all, of them back?
Bryant and Murray are, barring some type of calamitous falling out with the team, almost guaranteed to return with big, fat new contracts - though whichever one goes through the most contentious negotiations may end up getting the franchise tag instead.
Part of the balancing act for a team with $137.5 million already committed for the 2015 season (per overthecap.com), will be paying their two stars enough to make them happy, but not enough to prohibit them from keeping other important, but less integral, pieces.
For his part, Carter said recently that he and the other players don't talk about their impending free agency - they simply go out and work, operating with the assurance that, so long as they do their job, the rest will eventually take care of itself.
"I don't think we really talk about it, but it's one of those things we understood,'' Carter said, per David Moore of SportsDayDFW. "Me, Dwayne, DeMarco, throw Dez in there, there are a bunch of us in our last year, our contract year.
"But for all of us, we just have to go out there and play football. You really don't want to think about any individual things like that right now. We just want to focus on the Giants.''
Carter, who has missed three games this season due to a groin injury, ranks sixth on the team in tackles (39), is tied for the team lead in interceptions (2) and has a sack to boot.
"I just go out there,'' Carter said. "When my time is called for me to go out and perform, I've got to do to the best of my ability.
"Once the season ends or however it ends, it will play itself out.''
For the Boys to bring back any number of these players the Jones' will have to play a serious game of contract shuffle - there will be restructurings, releases and more than a few tough decisions made.
But, such is life as an NFL owner of a team performing well above expectations. The better your players play, the more money they're going to want.
It's a good - albeit, still pretty big - problem to have.
