By RAINER SABIN Follow RainerSabinDMN rsabin@dallasnews.com
Staff Writer
Updated: 01 April 2015 09:13 PM
Perhaps the most important episode of the Cowboys’ offseason happened two months ago in the wee hours of Super Bowl Sunday.
It was on owner Jerry Jones’ luxury bus where the organization’s principal figures staged an informal meeting. While chatting with Jones, quarterback Tony Romo urged him to make the kind of investment that would give the Cowboys their best shot to win in 2015.
“It’s now for us,” the quarterback said, according to Jones.
It was a valid point. Romo is set to turn 35 later this month after leading the Cowboys to a 12-4 record and their first playoff appearance since 2009. Strike while the iron is hot, right?
But there were two major obstacles standing in the way of that goal: the quarterback’s gargantuan $27.8 million cap number and the club’s new fiscally-responsible mindset. In recent months, the Cowboys expressed reluctance about restructuring Romo’s contract to increase their financial flexibility in 2015 because doing so would only create greater burdens in the future.
“The question just becomes strategy,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said recently. “Do you want to push money out in order to have money now? Sometimes that hasn’t necessarily worked great for us.”
But by the start of this week -- after acquiring troubled defensive end Greg Hardy and making a slew of other moves --- the Cowboys had almost maxed out their budget.
According to NFLPA records, they entered Wednesday with $2.09 million of cap space. As the tip of the Cowboys’ blue star perilously approached the league’s mandated payroll ceiling, word leaked just after sunrise that linebacker Rolando McClain and the club agreed to a one-year contract with a base value of $3 million.
Unable to officially sign him, the Cowboys were forced to bite the bullet and convert 94 percent of Romo’s $17 million base salary into bonus money that would be prorated over the remaining five years of his contract.
The accounting maneuver opens up $12.8 million in cap space in 2015, allowing the Cowboys to sign their draft picks, make other transactions in the future and absorb the incentive-laden contract attached to Hardy. At the same time, it creates more challenges in the coming years and makes it increasingly difficult for the Cowboys to cut Romo before his deal expires with the specter of astronomical amounts of dead money looming in the background.
For that reason, the restructuring of Romo’s contract is the latest piece of evidence showing that Jones and the rest of the team’s executives not only listened to the quarterback’s plea in February but also acted upon it after initially showing signs they would make conservative decisions with long-term interests in mind.
In the first week of free agency, the Cowboys treaded lightly, watching their competitors poach six players on the 2014 roster: DeMarco Murray, Henry Melton, Dwayne Harris, Jermey Parnell, Bruce Carter and Justin Durant.
Eventually, they mustered a wan response with a series of minor acquisitions, including the signings of running back Darren McFadden, fullback Jed Collins and a pair of veteran linebackers with little name recognition.
Not until eight days had passed in the new league year did the Cowboys make a move that indicated their vision aligned with Romo’s short-term outlook. That’s when they signed Hardy, to a one-year, incentive-laden contract worth up to $13.1 million. Because of a domestic violence incident that occurred in 2014, Hardy remains on the commissioner’s exempt list. But the Cowboys are hopeful the former Pro Bowl defensive end can make an immediate impact this season when he’s cleared to play.
“We think he is an outstanding player,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “Certainly we’re trying to build the best football team we can, and talent matters.”
So does the timetable. With Romo in an advanced stage of his career, it’s unclear how much longer he can perform at an elite level. On that bus in February, he gave Jones the impression he had as many as five good years left.
But the Cowboys don’t seem patient enough to find out if he’s right.
Instead, they’re on an accelerated schedule, and the restructuring of Romo’s contract offers the latest bit of proof that the Cowboys are yearning to win their sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy as soon as possible by squeezing every last penny they have under the cap.
Click here to view the graphic on your tablet or mobile devices
On Twitter:
@RainerSabinDMN
Staff Writer
Updated: 01 April 2015 09:13 PM
Perhaps the most important episode of the Cowboys’ offseason happened two months ago in the wee hours of Super Bowl Sunday.
It was on owner Jerry Jones’ luxury bus where the organization’s principal figures staged an informal meeting. While chatting with Jones, quarterback Tony Romo urged him to make the kind of investment that would give the Cowboys their best shot to win in 2015.
“It’s now for us,” the quarterback said, according to Jones.
It was a valid point. Romo is set to turn 35 later this month after leading the Cowboys to a 12-4 record and their first playoff appearance since 2009. Strike while the iron is hot, right?
But there were two major obstacles standing in the way of that goal: the quarterback’s gargantuan $27.8 million cap number and the club’s new fiscally-responsible mindset. In recent months, the Cowboys expressed reluctance about restructuring Romo’s contract to increase their financial flexibility in 2015 because doing so would only create greater burdens in the future.
“The question just becomes strategy,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said recently. “Do you want to push money out in order to have money now? Sometimes that hasn’t necessarily worked great for us.”
But by the start of this week -- after acquiring troubled defensive end Greg Hardy and making a slew of other moves --- the Cowboys had almost maxed out their budget.
According to NFLPA records, they entered Wednesday with $2.09 million of cap space. As the tip of the Cowboys’ blue star perilously approached the league’s mandated payroll ceiling, word leaked just after sunrise that linebacker Rolando McClain and the club agreed to a one-year contract with a base value of $3 million.
Unable to officially sign him, the Cowboys were forced to bite the bullet and convert 94 percent of Romo’s $17 million base salary into bonus money that would be prorated over the remaining five years of his contract.
The accounting maneuver opens up $12.8 million in cap space in 2015, allowing the Cowboys to sign their draft picks, make other transactions in the future and absorb the incentive-laden contract attached to Hardy. At the same time, it creates more challenges in the coming years and makes it increasingly difficult for the Cowboys to cut Romo before his deal expires with the specter of astronomical amounts of dead money looming in the background.
For that reason, the restructuring of Romo’s contract is the latest piece of evidence showing that Jones and the rest of the team’s executives not only listened to the quarterback’s plea in February but also acted upon it after initially showing signs they would make conservative decisions with long-term interests in mind.
In the first week of free agency, the Cowboys treaded lightly, watching their competitors poach six players on the 2014 roster: DeMarco Murray, Henry Melton, Dwayne Harris, Jermey Parnell, Bruce Carter and Justin Durant.
Eventually, they mustered a wan response with a series of minor acquisitions, including the signings of running back Darren McFadden, fullback Jed Collins and a pair of veteran linebackers with little name recognition.
Not until eight days had passed in the new league year did the Cowboys make a move that indicated their vision aligned with Romo’s short-term outlook. That’s when they signed Hardy, to a one-year, incentive-laden contract worth up to $13.1 million. Because of a domestic violence incident that occurred in 2014, Hardy remains on the commissioner’s exempt list. But the Cowboys are hopeful the former Pro Bowl defensive end can make an immediate impact this season when he’s cleared to play.
“We think he is an outstanding player,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “Certainly we’re trying to build the best football team we can, and talent matters.”
So does the timetable. With Romo in an advanced stage of his career, it’s unclear how much longer he can perform at an elite level. On that bus in February, he gave Jones the impression he had as many as five good years left.
But the Cowboys don’t seem patient enough to find out if he’s right.
Instead, they’re on an accelerated schedule, and the restructuring of Romo’s contract offers the latest bit of proof that the Cowboys are yearning to win their sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy as soon as possible by squeezing every last penny they have under the cap.
Click here to view the graphic on your tablet or mobile devices
On Twitter:
@RainerSabinDMN
