I'd love to hear the logic on Crawford

Sydla

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I wont argue this point any further, and I bet that the Cowboys are done as well at this point in a quagmire of a FA season.

That's the point that many are largely making. The Cowboys misuse FA often. They nickle and dime in FA when there are options to improve the roster and then go through a season where clear holes that most fans saw, and they didn't, rear their heads.

A prime example was WR two years ago. They nickle and dimed FA, probably using the same logic you do, and by the 8th game they had to panic and trade a #1 pick for a WR.

They have a clear hole at RDE and good, fairly cheap and short term options available and they are sitting it out, at least for now.
 

John813

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The Cowboys like to keep guys until they have a replacement where they can go to the agent and request a paycut.
Maybe if they get Griffen, theyll go back to Crawford and as for a paycut or be cut.
But they won't throw money at Griffen to sign him for exactly what he wants, they'll offer a team friendly deal and it's up in the air if the player accepts the deal.

They didn't move on from Dez until they signed Hurns lol.

IT could be that they could even wait to see how the draft falls before wanting to move on.

In their eyes, there is no deadline to move on from Crawford, except for week 1 of the regular season when veteran bases become guaranteed*.
So, they have plenty of time, and they don't like to "waste" money on outside free agents.


*Unless new CBA says otherwise.
 

Dre11

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They guy is average at DE and DT. And he isn't a starting RDE, which you need. The draft isn't dripping with starting RDEs either.

their not just paying him for his play at DT and DE, they're also paying him for his intangibles. Could they ask for a pay cut? sure, but they obviously feels he's worth the money.
 

Dre11

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That's the point that many are largely making. The Cowboys misuse FA often. They nickle and dime in FA when there are options to improve the roster and then go through a season where clear holes that most fans saw, and they didn't, rear their heads.

A prime example was WR two years ago. They nickle and dimed FA, probably using the same logic you do, and by the 8th game they had to panic and trade a #1 pick for a WR.

They have a clear hole at RDE and good, fairly cheap and short term options available and they are sitting it out, at least for now.


this I agree with to a certain extent, they do nickel and dime. but 2 years ago they offered Sammy Watkins a good deal in Free agency to come here that he turned down.
 

Cowboys1fan

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Very very sickening when you think clowney market is around 14 million a year and we are paying this bum 9. Cut the bum and sign griffin or clowney. Sometimes I’m not sure they even want to win. It’s mind boggling
 

Sydla

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their not just paying him for his play at DT and DE, they're also paying him for his intangibles. Could they ask for a pay cut? sure, but they obviously feels he's worth the money.

And that's a mistake IMO and kind of flies in the face of their overall FA logic. They struggle to spend $10MM on a guy that would help but have no problem eating up $9MM in cap space on a backup.

It's just another example of how they tend to mismanage the roster at this time of the year.
 

Dre11

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And that's a mistake IMO and kind of flies in the face of their overall FA logic. They struggle to spend $10MM on a guy that would help but have no problem eating up $9MM in cap space on a backup.

It's just another example of how they tend to mismanage the roster at this time of the year.

who's the 10million guy that helps? again Griffen plays 1 spot for 10m, Crawford plays 3 for 9. Griffen is also older from another team and may fall of the cliff, Crawford is a known player here and younger. But as I said they could ask for cut and maybe they will. you say Crawford is a backup, but you don't know if Griffin still has it this year and won't become a rotational guy.
 

KingintheNorth

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Very very sickening when you think clowney market is around 14 million a year and we are paying this bum 9. Cut the bum and sign griffin or clowney. Sometimes I’m not sure they even want to win. It’s mind boggling
Their main priority is being right about Crawford.

Cutting him would be an admission of what the football world already knows, it was a mistake and this FO is a fraud.
 

Dre11

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Reports are Griffen could be in the 8-10MM range. He'd start at RDE for us. He's a better player than Crawford.
again, you're focusing just on the defensive end with Griffin, Crawford isn't a DE solely. I don't know much about the other guy, but again the devil you know vs the devil you don't know.
 

Sydla

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again, you're focusing just on the defensive end with Griffin, Crawford isn't a DE solely. I don't know much about the other guy, but again the devil you know vs the devil you don't know.

You are missing the reality that we don't have a good starting DE opposite Lawrence.

That's more important than a backup swing DL. I'd rather have a starting DE who put up the numbers that Griffen did last year than a guy who isn't a very good DE at this point in his career and not going to start at DT either.

Again, I have zero problems if they they add Griffen and then restructure Crawford and keep him in his role - backup. But if FA ends and we are light at DE and end up taking a project in the draft, it's going to be pretty silly spending $9MM on a backup when that could have been used on a starting DE.
 

Dre11

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You are missing the reality that we don't have a good starting DE opposite Lawrence.

That's more important than a backup swing DL. I'd rather have a starting DE who put up the numbers that Griffen did last year than a guy who isn't a very good DE at this point in his career and not going to start at DT either.

Again, I have zero problems if they they add Griffen and then restructure Crawford and keep him in his role - backup. But if FA ends and we are light at DE and end up taking a project in the draft, it's going to be pretty silly spending $9MM on a backup when that could have been used on a starting DE.

I know wee don't have a DE in our eyes, but you don't know what they're thinking. Maybe they feel Armstrong, Jelks, Jackson, and possibly Gregory are ready to compete for the spot.
and 10 million would be stupid for Griffin to accept when he opted out a deal that would've paid him 12.9m this season.

The 32-year-old Griffen was initially viewed as a player that could potentially get cut if he opted into the final years of his contract, with him set to make $12.9 million in 2020.
 

Stash

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Don't you think if Dallas had a player they wanted and his cap hit was more than the 23 mil they have, they would've make a move to free up space?

I don't think it's solely about that. I think it's about getting out of a poor contract. Crawford has never been worth the big contract he was given. It doesn't make sense to wait on righting this ongoing wrong, whether they need the money today, tomorrow, or in the future. Not doing anything last year when they had the chance and warning signs was a missed opportunity that can never be recovered. No reason to make the same mistake twice.

Anyway, besides all that, I think they see his value higher than we do. for better or worse.

Yes, that seems apparent, and it is one decision that I very much disagree with. I file this one away with other players that this team has wasted its time and money with. Defensive tackle has been a particularly questionable group and series of decisions - from Nick Hayden, to Henry Melton, to Stephen Paea, to Trysten Hill. This team has had a poor track record in that area and I feel that they deserve to have their decisions questioned.
 

TheMarathonContinues

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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.
Yeah but don’t they have to spend that 24 million?
 

Sydla

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I know wee don't have a DE in our eyes, but you don't know what they're thinking. Maybe they feel Armstrong, Jelks, Jackson, and possibly Gregory are ready to compete for the spot.
and 10 million would be stupid for Griffin to accept when he opted out a deal that would've paid him 12.9m this season.

The 32-year-old Griffen was initially viewed as a player that could potentially get cut if he opted into the final years of his contract, with him set to make $12.9 million in 2020.

I suspect that's exactly what they are thinking and it's 2018 all over again when they convinced themselves and tried to convince their fans that WR would be just fine and their big signing was Allen Hurns.

Griffen would not have made $12.9MM this year. That was just his cap hit. His base salary, which was the only cash left, I believe, other than some bonus money, was only like $4.5MM. The Vikings were going to cut him if he didn't opt out as they couldn't work out a deal that would lower his cap hit but pay him the $8-10MM that he wanted in 2020.

From SI:

The Vikings, who were in a difficult salary cap situation even before signing nose tackle Michael Pierce to a three-year, $27 million deal, simply couldn't afford the $8-10 million per year that Griffen was seeking.
 

FuzzyLumpkins

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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.

Cut his salary in half, move Tank to weakside. Problem solved.
 

Dre11

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I suspect that's exactly what they are thinking and it's 2018 all over again when they convinced themselves and tried to convince their fans that WR would be just fine and their big signing was Allen Hurns.

Griffen would not have made $12.9MM this year. That was just his cap hit. His base salary, which was the only cash left, I believe, other than some bonus money, was only like $4.5MM. The Vikings were going to cut him if he didn't opt out as they couldn't work out a deal that would lower his cap hit but pay him the $8-10MM that he wanted in 2020.

From SI:

he was set to make base salary of 12.9 and 13.4 according to the 2 articles below he made 8 million on a restructured deal last season.

https://nflspinzone.com/2020/02/20/minnesota-vikings-everson-griffen-free-agent-hole/

https://nfltraderumors.co/vikings-de-everson-griffen-opts-out-of-deal/
 
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Sydla

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he was set to make base salary of 12.9 and 13.4 according to the 2 articles below he made 8 million on a restructured deal last season.

https://nflspinzone.com/2020/02/20/minnesota-vikings-everson-griffen-free-agent-hole/

https://nfltraderumors.co/vikings-de-everson-griffen-opts-out-of-deal/

Interesting.............. I totally missed the restructure.

But the Vikes were going to cut him anyway so he wasn't going to make $12.9MM in 2020 anyway. He must be thinking he's going to get a contract with a signing bonus and salary in 2020 that would pay him more to opt out. But why is SI reporting he wants between 8-10MM?

The answer is probably that he was never going to see $12.9MM in 2020 regardless of what he did.
 

SSoup

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Why wait? Its idiotic because that $8MM in saved cap space can land you immediate help right now..
The team can negotiate freely with the private knowledge that they'll have to cut Crawford when they need to. This isn't a video game where contract offers and trade offers will automatically be accepted and processed the second you hit the button to offer the deal, so you have to have your cap space cleared before even making the offer.

We can go to any free agent we want right now and offer them a contract that pays them a 30 million dollar cap figure in 2020. Their agent wants their guy to get paid so he'll happily hammer out the deal and then wait a day to process the contract to allow us the time to cut who we have to cut to clear that space.

Cutting Crawford before negotiating with anyone only increases their leverage (if they play a d-line position) and their knowledge of how much extra money we have to burn (which increases their demand, in all likelihood).

Added to which, with Nolan supposedly liking multiple fronts, it's possible he's made it known to the team, "Hey, I might wanna throw some 34 looks out there and Crawford is for sure one of the few d-lineman we have who is a fit for that. So don't dump him unless and until you have to." Everyone who threw a parade the day Marinelli left forgets that the new coaches might also like players you personally don't like. That'll happen sometimes.
 

Dre11

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Interesting.............. I totally missed the restructure.

But the Vikes were going to cut him anyway so he wasn't going to make $12.9MM in 2020 anyway. He must be thinking he's going to get a contract with a signing bonus and salary in 2020 that would pay him more to opt out. But why is SI reporting he wants between 8-10MM?

The answer is probably that he was never going to see $12.9MM in 2020 regardless of what he did.


my guess is he's thinking he can get more or the same he was expected to make.
 
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