I'd love to hear the logic on Crawford

[lk8701]

Crawford is a $9.1MM cap hit this year and would save $8MM if cut.

He's not a starting player for us. Lawrence is the LDE, McCoy is better and likely the starter at the 3T, Woods is bigger and more able to hold up at the 1T spot and Crawford is not a RDE.

I don't think Crawford is a bad player by any stretch. He serves a purpose and is a capable backup. But that's all he is........... a backup. And when you watch this organization penny pinch the hell out of FA, it's strange that they seem content on letting a backup DL eat up nearly $10MM in cap space.

There are two starting caliber RDEs out there in Golden and Griffen. Clowney would be a third if you want to think big. We lack a starting RDE. Cut Crawford (Or even restructure and save 4-5MM in cap space) and bring one of them in. Crawford would not be hard to replace in FA as there are some backup caliber DTs out there.

I'd love to get a few JW Blues in Jerry and listen to him explain why they value Crawford that much.

How dare you besmirch King Crawford! King Crawford's mere presence is worth at least 1 billion dollars. What a discount the Cowboys are receiving! How great is our King!

 

[chicago JK]

I can see the attraction with his versatility and being a good professional. Those things have value. He is really overpaid though. Right now we probably are in the lower third of all teams with defensive line talent and depth. Tough spot to be in.

 

[jazzcat22]

did you see how much he was missed last season? He was a big reason Lawerence was successful, especially when he was inside.

DLaw made a comment last season how Crawford does the dirty work for the rest of the DL and LB's to do their jobs better.

But he is still not worth his pay. And with a new staff and scheme, I guess it can go either way. He can help and will be better, or be the same. He won't be worse.

I prefer he be gone, but won't whine about it if he stays.

 

[Froski]

We are currently around $24MM in cap space. Why cut/restructure Crawford until you have too? If you cut Crawford then miss out on the FA you had targeted you just have empty cap space and no one to show for it.

Right-o

You don't release someone before you even have a plan. Or even know if that plan is going to work.

 

[Tussinman]

Crawford is a $9.1MM cap hit this year and would save $8MM if cut.
There are two starting caliber RDEs out there in Golden and Griffen. Clowney would be a third if you want to think big. We lack a starting RDE. Cut Crawford (Or even restructure and save 4-5MM in cap space) and bring one of them in. Crawford would not be hard to replace in FA as there are some backup caliber DTs out there.

Agreed.

This is the issue I have. I know we have the money to pay crawford but the front office can't say

"ohh Griffen, Golden, Hargrove, and Michael Pierce our too expensive" and then go and pay Crawford 9 million dollars.........

You can't say these free agent starters our too expensive or "out of your range" then pay Crawford almost 10 million dollars to be rotational depth

 

[Cowboys22]

Have patience. Something will happen. Right now it may just be that they see him teaming with Gregory at RDE. He will be asked to take a pay cut or they will release him when they need his cap space for someone else but there is no need to do it until you need to.

 

[Dreski]

If Randy is coming back, Crawford and him will likely rotate at RDE like they did in 2018. Randy has been out for a year. There’s no knowing where he is in terms of football shape, and they’ll likely ease him in. Also agree Crawford is over paid though

 

[Sydla]

Agreed.

This is the issue I have. I know we have the money to pay crawford but the front office can't say

"ohh Griffen, Golden, Hargrove, and Michael Pierce our too expensive" and then go and pay Crawford 9 million dollars.........

You can't say these free agent starters our too expensive or "out of your range" then pay Crawford almost 10 million dollars to be rotational depth

Exactly............. you can't lament the cost of FAs and why it's OK we don't pay them and then turn around and be fine with eating up $9.1MM in cap space for a backup player in Crawford.

 

[Stash]

Agreed.

This is the issue I have. I know we have the money to pay crawford but the front office can't say

"ohh Griffen, Golden, Hargrove, and Michael Pierce our too expensive" and then go and pay Crawford 9 million dollars.........

You can't say these free agent starters our too expensive or "out of your range" then pay Crawford almost 10 million dollars to be rotational depth

They wasted $10 million on him last year, when all the signs told them to cut him then. He was having issues with his hops back then. And even after that huge waste of money, we have dummies trying to defend keeping the contract now.

 

[Sydla]

If Randy is coming back, Crawford and him will likely rotate at RDE like they did in 2018. Randy has been out for a year. There’s no knowing where he is in terms of football shape, and they’ll likely ease him in. Also agree Crawford is over paid though

Or just bring in Griffen, he's your starting RDE and is better than Crawford and then Gregory can work his way in as a situational pass rush where they can kick Lawrence or Griffen inside next to McCoy.

 

[Stash]

Exactly............. you can't lament the cost of FAs and why it's OK we don't pay them and then turn around and be fine with eating up $9.1MM in cap space for a backup player in Crawford.

They're already a year late on this thing.

$10 million down the drain already.

But some fans will still give the "we don't need the money right now" nonsense. As if that justifies wasting it.

 

[408Cowboy]

There's never been any logic with Crawford

 

[Sydla]

did you see how much he was missed last season? He was a big reason Lawerence was successful, especially when he was inside.

He was not the reason the DL scuffled at times. It was largely a lack of talent beyond one or two players.

Griffen is a better DE than Crawford. It's not even comparable. He'll likely cost what we are taking in a cap hit on Crawford.

It's a no brainer to swap them. But again, Jerry and Stephen often struggle with not overvaluing guys they drafted.

 

[Sydla]

Well that's my thinking. We have cap space. What's the point of cutting him?

For the capologists on here.......wouldn't it be smarter to just let his contract go off the books when its up? I can see if you were dying for cap space but as of right now they aren't. Hell they aren't even spending the space they have.

If you let him play out the season, 9.1MM comes off the books after next season. If you cut him now, you can save $8MM and take a $1.1MM dead money hit this year.

It's really a no brainer to cut him or, at least, restructure him.

 

[WeDemBoyz]

The only thing that can explain this is that maybe they forgot about Crawford and his cap savings. He's a walking corpse. There's no reason for him to be on the roster.

 

[Rockport]

Crawford is a $9.1MM cap hit this year and would save $8MM if cut.

He's not a starting player for us. Lawrence is the LDE, McCoy is better and likely the starter at the 3T, Woods is bigger and more able to hold up at the 1T spot and Crawford is not a RDE.

I don't think Crawford is a bad player by any stretch. He serves a purpose and is a capable backup. But that's all he is........... a backup. And when you watch this organization penny pinch the hell out of FA, it's strange that they seem content on letting a backup DL eat up nearly $10MM in cap space.

There are two starting caliber RDEs out there in Golden and Griffen. Clowney would be a third if you want to think big. We lack a starting RDE. Cut Crawford (Or even restructure and save 4-5MM in cap space) and bring one of them in. Crawford would not be hard to replace in FA as there are some backup caliber DTs out there.

I'd love to get a few JW Blues in Jerry and listen to him explain why they value Crawford that much.

He’s a good player who can play multiple positions. Great leader in the locker room. Excellent depth on the line. Keeping him is a no brainer.

 

[Sydla]

You can sign those guys without cutting Crawford.

But the team is protective of cap space like a mama bear protects her cub.

They can easily swap out Crawford's contract for Griffen's and make the team better and still have $24MM or so in cap space.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

They don't. They are not going to restructure Crawford until they decide if they will even keep him in the first place. They are probably not going to decide that until after free agency & the draft. If they bring in more lineman than they will have even more leverage. One way or the other Crawford will take a pay cut or be released.

This response ends the thread. Couldn't have said it better. The only question is how much of a pay cut. Since the Cowboys paid his full salary last year and got nothing in return, I would expect it to be near vet min with incentives this year. I doubt any other team offering much more. The cowboys hold all the cards. Crawford will not even get near a practice without a restructure. No way the team will take a chance at him getting hurt and ending up paying his full salary.

Since Crawford hasn't publicly asked for his release (to my knowledge), that tells me there is no market for his services right now. Otherwise , his agent would be screaming for his release so he could get him signed with another team. It might be the case that Crawford will just retire.

 

[DFWJC]

They're already a year late on this thing.

$10 million down the drain already.

But some fans will still give the "we don't need the money right now" nonsense. As if that justifies wasting it.

Were we short on cap space last year? I was thinking we had space.
In other words, who cares if they wasted the money if it didn't keep them from buying more.

As for this year, there is no present urgency to cut or restructure Crawford....period.
They can cross that bridge when they get there.

 

[Sydla]

He’s a good player who can play multiple positions. Great leader in the locker room. Excellent depth on the line. Keeping him is a no brainer.

Not at that price tag he's not. He's an average player at multiple spots (which is probably one of the reasons he never really developed - they kept flopping him between DT and DE). He's certainly not a starting RDE and right now, we don't have one of those.