[GimmeTheBall!]

Originally Posted by CowboysLaw87

It is scary going into the unknown, and it is sad to lose a player via FA who has been a lifetime Cowboy and has grown into a very productive player. That said, there is more good than bad when it comes to letting #93 leave. Many of this has been said before, but some things some people are not fully aware of. Here we go...

1. Spencer turned 29 last week. If we made the Super Bowl next season, he'd play the game at 30 years old. Handing out massive, long-term contracts to players who are around age 30 is just not smart. He's been durable, but has a lot of wear and tear because of it (career snap count). If we re-signed him, our potential starting 4 DL would ALL be 30+, with the exception of Spencer (29). We need to focus on getting younger, not guarantee that we'll be extremely old along the front for years.

[View Full Quote]2. While his sack totals rose, his total pressures did not (or not significantly). He played really well this year, no doubt. But all he really did was convert the near-misses he'd been having in prior years. It's not like he became a pass-rushing terror. Now, his sacks are clutch and his overall pressure very good. I just think that his "improvement" is a bit overrated.

3. The big question... will he remain motivated after getting the huge deal? He very well may shut it down. There's so much precedence for this on our own team, whether it's a motivation issue or otherwise (Free, Austin, Hamlin, Barber, Ratliff, etc.). Of all those guys, I think you can argue that Spencer might love football the LEAST and be motivated by the paycheck the MOST.

4. We're in a terrible salary cap situation. We'd be compounding the issue both now and in the future if we sell out to resign Spencer. Might be smarter to simply bite the bullet, not take on the contract, and have more flexibility for years to come. Which leads to...

5. We'll need to resign Romo, Lee, Dez, Murray, etc. in the near future. Would be nice to go into those offseasons with a little less financial strain already on us.

6. We'd get a very nice compensatory pick in the 2014 Draft for losing him. Like a 3rd rounder. That's extremely significant, as I think we can all agree that a late 3rd round pick has the potential to be a starter.

Add it all up and I think it's just better to bring in a guy via the draft and let him compete with Crawford for the LDE job this year. If it results in subpar play, we can always make DE a higher priority next year. Just my thoughts, and thanks for reading.

GOOD post.

Spencer, after all these years, has a good year in 2012. All of a sudden he is a franchise-type player? Only in JerraWorld.
In general, he is as pedestrian as Ratliff and Hatcher and we just have to get away from these "great" players and focus on younger, more talented players.