Who have we paid big bucks and not underperformed?

[CATCH17]

Zack Martin has been worth every penny he's ever been paid. I can't say that about any other Cowboy player that has received a second contract. The others have just not been reliable enough for the money. He's hands down the best player on the team.

Tyron Smith is worth every penny.

I don’t think Amari Cooper is worth 20 million but for the Cowboys he is worth 40 million and our QB is worth 20.

Dak owes Amari half his salary.

 

[INCowboysFan]

When personnel decision makers pay the wrong guys they eventually get fired for their mistakes. They don't in Dallas. That is exclusive to the Cowboys.

And yet other teams consistently do this, no matter who the GM is. They get fired and replaced by somebody who does the exact same thing and overpays players.

 

[75boyz]

"Possibly" Smith and Martin.
I still remember Jerry's big signing of Tyron and the length of the contract at the time.
Could be considered team friendly as there has been nothing more than extensions and pro rations of bonus money since then really.
The sticking point there is the ongoing health. When healthy, his salary is a bargain based on his performance.

Martin's health has not quite broken down yet like Smith's but Tyron's got a few years seniority on him.
Martin's consistent all pro level "may" have only now taken just a slight dip based on a nagging injury or 2 but he still dominates mostly though.

All the other usual suspects performances do not match how high their annual salaries are at their positions.

But that's just my opinion of return on investment.

Lewis and Brown are not overpaid. They are middle market investments paid contracts commensurate with their performance level. That market does exist. I'm not a bs market value lackey either.
I believe good coaches can often times maximize certain skill sets.
To the point of not having to overpay a perceived top earner at his position by coaching up a solid yet hungry performer who gets the job done.

Coaching really matters. lol

jmo

 

[CapnB]

What great players have we let walk?

Demarco Murray? Never the same after we ran him into the ground in '14
Ware? Injured and thought he was done. Was second fiddle to Miller on those Denver teams

I was hoping someone was gonna ask it. Been hearing about these great players every year and how we let them walk and they go on to do awesome things. Still waiting on that list of players

 

[Vanilla2]

I only care how much the player makes if I don’t care for him.

 

[Hoofbite]

Tyron was actually one of the best signings Dallas has ever made. Flat-rate and for nearly a decade.

At least, that was the case until they decided to restructure him year-after-year until the point where they have 10% of their cap tied up on a guy who's now guaranteed to miss 4-5 games per season. Now, they probably can't cut him for another year or two because they won't find a replacement with the difference saved unless they get the best OT in one of the next 2 drafts.

 

[CouchCoach]

Every GM is faced with renewing his present player for the going rate or trying to replace his production through FA or the draft. Some, like Belichick, make that decision before the deadline and attempt to trade that player for value. Some like to get out in front and renew before the contract year to get a better deal.

The Cowboys did not want to pay Prescott 40M or Elliott 15M or Cooper 21M or Lawrence 20M. What were their other options?

Let's just take Cooper, who started showing up when he arrived, not much of a break in period. What does the history of the Cowboys with Galloway and Williams tell you about that position?

Take Prescott, what does their history at the QB position tell you about them paying great money to a very good QB? They've struggled at that position and had to depend on luck.

Every contract for a 1st contract player is part reward for the past production and the bargain they were.

That said, this GM is a little different and he demonstrated that after the contract with Romo when the reporter asked him about such a big jump in pay. "Romo will play better because he's getting paid better". That is counter to how most of the other GM's feel about it because the understanding is that the incentive is that 2nd contract with the guaranteed money.

I think there is also a little additional part to this of owner ego. I think he gets off on these contracts being talked about going back to Sander's 35M deal. He knows he's going to spend up to the cap level anyway so why not go big time? He loves a media splash. And this goes along with that Forbes ranking and how he keeps score.

 

[plasticman]

What great players have we let walk?

Demarco Murray? Never the same after we ran him into the ground in '14
Ware? Injured and thought he was done. Was second fiddle to Miller on those Denver teams

Murray was misused in Philly, and had a 1200 yard, Pro Bowl season the following year.

Cole Beasely still playing well for the Bills.

Two out of Ware's three seasons in Denver he made the Pro Bowl. Three and a half sacks in the playoffs the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl.

Anthony Hitchens had the 2nd most combined tackles for the Chiefs the year they won the Super Bowl. And 1st place? Damien Wilson.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Dear Zoners----its been on my mind for sometime...who have we finally bowed to and paid big buck

salary and they have not underperformed?...as soon as we pay Dlaw no where near 10 sacks again

we pay Jaylon and cut him....we make Zeke highest paid RB in league and gone downhill every year

since....Martin LG good money...Smith LT good money....Coop...is real good but he is consistently worth

20 mil a year good..usually injuried somehow?....apologize if i went negative but maybe i need to be

set straight

what you say zoners?
sincerely
GORICO

Dak

What were their other options for zeke? LOL

Allow him to play out his contract. He would have been gone after last year. Use a 3rd rounder from this year on a back to team with Pollard and sign a guy like Williams from the lions.

 

[Cmac]

Tony Romo?
Although, he had a reputation of throwing interceptions at worst possible times in a game.
For the most part, he was pretty consistent. Only, no championship....
.
I'm assuming we're talking about post Aikman's retirement.

TRomo underperformed in every way, in comparison to his pay........and is still praised for being ringless.

 

[MyFairLady]

When you sign someone to a big time long term deal the very best you can ever hope for is that you break even with the contract. It is a losing bet for the most part and a terrible way to do business. If I were a GM I would only ever give a big deal to a QB simply because you have to have one to have any chance in the NFL today and there are so very few available. Say what you want about deals for QBs like Dak and Romo but they are necessary and therefore worth it.

After that I would sign OL to long term deals because they are for the most part less prone to injury, less prone to a sudden massive drop off in pay and have longer than usual careers. Deals like Martin and Smith have been overall good for us. I am sure the Frederick deal would have been good if not for crazy health issues. The Collins deal is looking like we sunk money into a bum who does not care about football. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

After that I would sign CB, pass rushing DE and WR but only the second contract. The third contract puts the players into their 30s and almost always is nothing more than a retirement package. These are high impact skill based positions that are less likely to see massive drops. We have done so so over the years with these contracts. You just gotta be careful but it is pretty much a crap shoot.

After that you stay away from paying out RB, DT and LB. These are high effort, high impact positions that are very prone to injury and massive drop off in quality of play. We have done quite poorly overall with these contracts over the years.

Sign the key players, sign young players, sign 1 year deals, draft well, build depth, these are the ways to be competitive long term.

 

[INCowboysFan]

Murray was misused in Philly, and had a 1200 yard, Pro Bowl season the following year.

Cole Beasely still playing well for the Bills.

Two out of Ware's three seasons in Denver he made the Pro Bowl. Three and a half sacks in the playoffs the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl.

Anthony Hitchens had the 2nd most combined tackles for the Chiefs the year they won the Super Bowl. And 1st place? Damien Wilson.

Ware is the only "great" player out of the bunch. At the time, he was very expensive and his injuries were piling up. Dallas made a tough decision to let him go. The others, meh. Hitchens and Wilson are at best average LB's. Beasley is a good slot receiver, but we are better off with the receiving group we have now. Murray was, for all intents and purposes, done after 2014. Yes, he had a solid season in 2016, but he only played one more year. We had a choice to make between Murray and Dez. Right or wrong, we chose Dez.

So we could have overpaid all of these guys and kept them. Then we'd be screaming about how we overpaid them and we have no idea when to let a player leave. I'm very certain that Gallup will be out the door after this season as some other team will pay him as a #1 WR and will realize in pretty short order that he's really a #2.

 

[Shane612]

TRomo underperformed in every way, in comparison to his pay........and is still praised for being ringless.

I disagree.
He was a solid NFL QB... especially for a non-drafted player.

 

[Section446]

Cowboys are the kings of paying average talent like they're top-5 talent.

 

[Cmac]

I disagree.
He was a solid NFL QB... especially for a non-drafted player.

What that's got to do with the money he received and the result in finished with......big game failures and ringless. Just wondering, and I never had a problem with his money.

 

[Shane612]

What that's got to do with the money he received and the result in finished with......big game failures and ringless. Just wondering, and I never had a problem with his money.

He was a solid NFL QB.
By NFL standards, he deserves to be paid.
Am I missing something here?

 

[Cmac]

He was a solid NFL QB.
By NFL standards, he deserves to be paid.
Am I missing something here?

Nope......but on this board, the Salaryologists want people paid, as if they were writing the checks. As for TRomo......performed with laudy stats, but underachieved in Big games.....and kept his money, with the only ring on the finger being a wedding band.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

This happens to every team in the league. It's not something exclusive to just the Cowboys.

Every team except for the Pats. Notice that they are always careful about the large contracts they give out. Anyone know the last RB the pats gave a big contract to? It seems like every year they have a guys who were draft picks.

 

[charron]

Martin, tyron, fredbeard, Cooper and that wraps it up.

 

[DanA]

Interesting. Help me remember the players that left

I’m not D-Ware of any