Cowboys and free agency

Scot · Mar 31, 2018

I’m watching the Cowboys/Chiefs replay and Now I’m ready to move on from Beasley

After he scored his TD he did Jazz Hands for his celebration

I didn’t notice that when I watched the game live

It’s interesting rewatching a game without all the excitement and emotion. I see so many more things that I miss the first time around because I’m yelling and screaming at the screen or jumping up and down because we scored

Ragnar · Mar 31, 2018

Dez is an 8 million dead money hit this year. Next year he's 4M. He's 16.5M against the cap and 8M if we cut him. The Cowboys won't even be saving 8.5M because the next man up in the (51) would count against that 8.5M. The best course of action would be one of two things. Restructure his contract now, or cut him after this season. But cutting him now is not necessary nor does it make any sense in regards to the cap.

When it's all said and done, and even after the draft we'll be just under the cap. Mainly because we carried over 7 MIL from last season. In other news, the Browns and 49ers carried over almost 60 million in cap space. They have plenty of room to stack their teams this season.

Doomsday · Mar 31, 2018

Ragnar said:
Dez is an 8 million dead money hit this year. Next year he's 4M. He's 16.5M against the cap and 8M if we cut him. The Cowboys won't even be saving 8.5M because the next man up in the (51) would count against that 8.5M.

This is only partially correct.

Dez is an 8 mil dead money hit ONLY if we cut him BEFORE June 1st.

AFTER June 1st he is 4 mil dead money.

We save $12.5 mil in cap space if we cut him AFTER June 1st.

The best course of action would be one of two things. Restructure his contract now, or cut him after this season. But cutting him now is not necessary nor does it make any sense in regards to the cap.

We NEED to cut him June 2nd, we do NOT need to extend this marriage by restructuring. We need to cut out the cancer.

If we restructure it's only a 5.7 mil cap savings.

This is a no-brainer. 5.7 mil or 12.5 mil? Which is moar?

Facts here: Dallas Cowboys Salary Cap | Over the Cap

Ragnar · Apr 1, 2018

Doomsday said:
This is only partially correct.

Dez is an 8 mil dead money hit ONLY if we cut him BEFORE June 1st.

AFTER June 1st he is 4 mil dead money.

We save $12.5 mil in cap space if we cut him AFTER June 1st.
We NEED to cut him June 2nd, we do NOT need to extend this marriage by restructuring. We need to cut out the cancer.

If we restructure it's only a 5.7 mil cap savings.

This is a no-brainer. 5.7 mil or 12.5 mil? Which is moar?

Facts here: Dallas Cowboys Salary Cap | Over the Cap

You're right, but all you're doing is pushing 4M to next season. So instead of next season being a 4M dead money hit, it's 8M. Money already paid to the player that is prorated throughout the contract can be delayed, but never goes away.

Also consider this. What are the Cowboys going to do with that 12.5M this season to justify passing along 4M in dead money to the next? Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against it, I'd just rather we release him after this season, have a 4M cap hit and be done with it. We're still paying dead cap to Romo! Now if Dallas has a good reason to do it, I'm all for it.

Keep in mind we will not open up the full 12.5M even after cutting him after June 1st. The next man up in the top 51 roster's salary will be counted against that 12.5M.

Rynie · Apr 1, 2018

dbair1967 said:
Yeah, he'd have made bazillions off Johnny Manziel garbage the yr he came out too, how'd that end up?

True Story: jerry already had Manziel jerseys printed and made up to sell right then and there at the draft party the year we almost drafted him. How sad &#55357;&#56852; is that?

theoneandonly · Apr 1, 2018

Rynie said:
True Story: jerry already had Manziel jerseys printed and made up to sell right then and there at the draft party the year we almost drafted him. How sad �� is that?

The sadder part is he probably never would have cut him.

theoneandonly · Apr 1, 2018

Rynie said:
True Story: jerry already had Manziel jerseys printed and made up to sell right then and there at the draft party the year we almost drafted him. How sad �� is that?

So wait a minute, there are destitute little kids and adults running around in countries you never heard of wearing Manziel Cowboy jerseys? Cause you know a batch must have been printed. Saving them as a monument to the astuteness of the GM would have been better.

yimyammer · Apr 1, 2018

Rynie said:
True Story: jerry already had Manziel jerseys printed and made up to sell right then and there at the draft party the year we almost drafted him. How sad �� is that?

Did you ever find out whether that jackass forces all the employees sign strict NDA (non disclosure agreements)?

Doomsday · Apr 1, 2018

Ragnar said:
You're right, but all you're doing is pushing 4M to next season. So instead of next season being a 4M dead money hit, it's 8M. Money already paid to the player that is prorated throughout the contract can be delayed, but never goes away.

It's 4 mil dead money for only the one year.

Also consider this. What are the Cowboys going to do with that 12.5M this season to justify passing along 4M in dead money to the next? Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against it, I'd just rather we release him after this season, have a 4M cap hit and be done with it. Now if Dallas has a good reason to do it, I'm all for it.

It's the same whether it's this year June 2 or next.

Keep in mind we will not open up the full 12.5M even after cutting him after June 1st. The next man up in the top 51 roster's salary will be counted against that 12.5M.

It's overall cap savings of 12.5 mil. The cap INCLUDES all players already. They don't magically add one when you cut somebody. They ALL count against the cap.

Now if Dallas has a good reason to do it, I'm all for it.

He's due to make 16.5 million this year. The "good reason" is his horrid performance and all of his negatives which never balanced out even in his best years. Chemistry, and cutting out a cancer are the "good reasons."

We're still paying dead cap to Romo!

He's off the books completely after this season.

Macksfield · Apr 1, 2018

I would love to have Johnny "football" Manziel as 3rd string. He would keep the season interesting. Can you imagine Dez, Jerry Jones and Manziel all in the same stadium, if we had a QB injury. That would be some much needed entertainment.

Doomsday · Apr 1, 2018

Macksfield said:
I would love to have Johnny "football" Manziel as 3rd string. He would keep the season interesting. Can you imagine Dez, Jerry Jones and Manziel all in the same stadium, if we had a QB injury. That would be some much needed entertainment.

We're already a parody of ourselves, not a lot different really from the WWE, so why not? Right?

No need for winning football!

theoneandonly · Apr 2, 2018

They cant get somebody in the draft to get em one sack this season at a fraction of the price?

NoMoRedJ · Apr 2, 2018

theoneandonly said:
They cant get somebody in the draft to get em one sack this season at a fraction of the price?

Keep reading...

This must be a RKG

Ragnar · Apr 3, 2018

Doomsday said:
It's 4 mil dead money for only the one year.

Negative. Look at the links below. If you cut him before June 1st it's an 8M cap hit. If you cut him after that you only pay his bonus of 4M but the other 4M get added to next season.

Explaining the June 1st Designation | Over the Cap

Dez Bryant Contract Details, Salary Cap Breakdowns, Salaries, Bonuses | Spotrac

Doomsday said:
It's overall cap savings of 12.5 mil. The cap INCLUDES all players already. They don't magically add one when you cut somebody. They ALL count against the cap.

This is the best way to explain it. There is a lot more to it, but this is my main point.

Top 51 Rule & Salary Cap Space Explained – TexansCap

One thing to remember when the Top 51 rule is in effect is the difference between player cap charges when a transaction is made. On May 21st the team released Tyson Clabo, who carried a $1,300,000 salary cap charge. Upon the player release there was $100,000 in dead money remaining in the contract; thus creating a $1,200,000 savings towards the cap. Clabo was in the Top 51. When you remove his contract, the #52 ranked contract then moves up into the Top 51. For the Texans this was a player with a $510,000 salary, which now is accounted for in the Top 51 spending. In reality, the release of Clabo created a net savings of $710,000…not $1,200,000

Same for Dez. It won't be 12.5M savings. It will be 12.5M minus #52. I could be wrong because I'm not aware of any updated rule changes, but this is how they've been doing it as far as I know.

Doomsday · Apr 3, 2018

Ragnar said:
Same for Dez. It won't be 12.5M savings. It will be 12.5M minus #52.

A difference which makes no difference, is no difference. Cutting him June 2 STILL saves a LOT more than the 16 million he would make if he stays.

Ragnar said:
If you cut him after that you only pay his bonus of 4M but the other 4M get added to next season.

I stand corrected. You get the one year of dead money after the cut year. It's still well worth it just to cut out the cancer.

Ragnar · Apr 3, 2018

Doomsday said:
A difference which makes no difference, is no difference. Cutting him June 2 STILL saves a LOT more than the 16 million he would make if he stays.
I stand corrected. You get the one year of dead money after the cut year. It's still well worth it just to cut out the cancer.

The Cowboys might have to cut him. I think they'll be over 5M over the cap with the projected draft picks by the start of the season. There are not a lot of places to find that 5M. Looking through their roster, Dez is the only player that can create that cap space by himself. Otherwise they're looking at multiple cuts. I'm just not sure it makes much of a difference when the Cowboys cut him.

Dez is an 8M dead cap this year and a 4M dead cap next year. If not cut he makes 16.5M. What I was trying to say before is that the Cowboys have to pay that dead cap money one way or the other. Whether it's 4 this year and 8 next year (June 1st rule), or 8 this year and 4 the next, they still have to pay 12M to the cap. Teams that use the June 1st rule do it to free up cap space. The Cowboys don't need the entire 12M freed up, 8 should do it. Unless the Cowboys plan on doing something with the extra 4-7M, why add more to the dead cap next season?

Either way I am almost certain Jerry will probably choose the worse case scenario and do a basic restructure to his contract.

Doomsday · Apr 3, 2018

Ragnar said:
What I was trying to say before is that the Cowboys have to pay that dead cap money one way or the other. Whether it's 4 this year and 8 next year (June 1st rule), or 8 this year and 4 the next, they still have to pay 12M to the cap. Teams that use the June 1st rule do it to free up cap space. The Cowboys don't need the entire 12M freed up, 8 should do it. Unless the Cowboys plan on doing something with the extra 4-7M, why add more to the dead cap next season?

Because they don't have any money to sign their draft picks this year.

I'm okay with cutting Dez after June 1. He's not the guy we need for the chemistry aspect. He's not the "third triplet" - that guy isn't found yet. Hopefully we get him via this draft.

Ragnar said:
The Cowboys might have to cut him... Either way I am almost certain Jerry will probably choose the worse case scenario and do a basic restructure to his contract.

I'm not 100 percent sure Jerruh has the final word on this one. Stevie is making his voice heard more and more, and definitely from what I've been reading, on this very issue.

I see no choice for them either, they need money to sign their picks. Like you pointed out, Dez really is the only source for that money. Even Jerruh has got to see that. His entire problem on this is his sentimentality, Dez is his boyee. Dez is the less-fortunate kid Jerruh saved from the crapper. But it's a against the wall business decision now. With his back to the wall, we've seen Jerruh make these tough (on him) calls.

theoneandonly · Apr 3, 2018

Doomsday said:
I'm not 100 percent sure Jerruh has the final word on this one. Stevie is making his voice heard more and more, and definitely from what I've been reading, on this very issue.

I see no choice for them either, they need money to sign their picks. Like you pointed out, Dez really is the only source for that money

I posted this in another thread but I am really starting to believe that no matter what Stevie wants to find out if Dak is really the guy going forward. I am also starting to think that it is more than just about the money. Stevie probably thinks (rightfully so IMO) that Dak is a better QB when he doesnt have somebody in his ear, throwing tantrums, etc, to have the ball forced to him. They were like 6 and 0 when Dez was out in 16 I believe. If nothing else gets accomplished this year, they have to figure out the QB situation going forward before Dak gets paid. It would be easier to do with as many distractions removed as possible to make the correct call on Dak being the guy or not.

Scot · Apr 3, 2018

I remember seeing somewhere that we could free up $4.5 mils if we restructure #82 again

Ragnar · Apr 3, 2018

Scot said:
I remember seeing somewhere that we could free up $4.5 mils if we restructure #82 again

Not possible. His cap hit is only 3.3M this year. You can't get 4.5M out of that. Maybe they were talking about next year or the year after that when it more than doubles.

Everyone always talks about Witten as if he's washed up. He runs some pretty nice seam routes down inside the 20, yet we don't see him doing it in between the 20s. I am starting to think it's more of a gameplan than anything else.

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