Why does Dallas not have a lot of cap space?

[cowboy_ron]

Overpaying for mediocre talent, continuously restructuring contracts after production has declined, sometimes after they're no longer on the team, inability to judge talent.......paying a "Kings Ransome" type contract after one decent season which happens to occur during a contract year........so basically......overall mismanagement year after year

 

[xwalker]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

It feels that Dallas has had salary cap issues for many years and would have finally solved the issue by now. Most other teams seem to be well off.

Next 3 years combined cap space:

Cowboys: 210M

Eagles: 63M

 

[DoomsDayD]

Millions in dead money for Romo and others. Bad contracts, overpaying marginal players and sticking with players
past the age of 30. Now you have older players like Dez, Witten, and Scandrick sucking money off the cap for
less than optimum play. Until the FO manages the team more like NE, the Cowboys will continue to struggle.

HUGE round of applause!!! Perfectly said!!

 

[DBOY3141]

Next 3 years combined cap space:

Cowboys: 210M

Eagles: 63M

outside of martin/DLaw getting new deals, none of that space will be put to good use.

 

[DBOY3141]

I remember the days not long ago when a lot of folks said times would be better when JJ was gone. Two peas in a pod with these two bafoons.

 

[charron]

Why we don't have salary cap space?

Were too afraid of letting great players go, instead we overpay. Our GM doesn't understand how to use trade capital. Atleast were not making the megatron wasted trades anymore but all we do now is trade 6th rounders for guys who might give us a little production 1 year. We need to trade players while their value is high, esp 30 year old players with big contracts.

We have done a much better job of drafting solid players but we must be better at obtaining good talent thru free agency and trades.

 

[AbeBeta]

The OL + Lawrence and Dez make up about ~45% of the cap charges for this year. Throw in the rest of Romo's dead money and that's about what you get.

Sure. But Fred and Tyron's deals allow us a ton of flexibility for turning salary into bonus. If we wanted the space, we could have 12 mill without batting an eye. Scandrick is gone Friday, clearing another 3 mill. Hanna saves about that.

This is all without touching Dez, Crawford, Lee, or Witten. All these guys are at the point of their deals where it is either a wash or a savings if they are cut. Exactly where you want to be on deals for older guys.

There certainly is space. But we don't create it if we don't need it. We've been pretty strategic that way. The team is pretty solid at cap management. Many of the members of this board don't understand the cap and freak out because Over the Cap list us as not having much space. There is a huge difference between not having space and having the ability to make space.

 

[Idgit]

Sure. But Fred and Tyron's deals allow us a ton of flexibility for turning salary into bonus. If we wanted the space, we could have 12 mill without batting an eye. Scandrick is gone Friday, clearing another 3 mill. Hanna saves about that.

This is all without touching Dez, Crawford, Lee, or Witten. All these guys are at the point of their deals where it is either a wash or a savings if they are cut. Exactly where you want to be on deals for older guys.

There certainly is space. But we don't create it if we don't need it. We've been pretty strategic that way. The team is pretty solid at cap management. Many of the members of this board don't understand the cap and freak out because Over the Cap list us as not having much space. There is a huge difference between not having space and having the ability to make space.

Yeah, I'm not knocking the OL allocation, they deserve it. And it's structured to be the way it is.

I'd typed up something similar, but not as good, as your earlier post re: how we like to be setup with team options for restructuring and why but then didn't post it because it wasn't clear enough and I thought it might trigger a mini shitstorm of nitpicking that I didn't really feel like entertaining this morning.

 

[KJJ]

We restructure a lot of contracts which pushes money into the following years.

 

[dagreat1_87]

Next 3 years combined cap space:

Cowboys: 210M

Eagles: 63M

Not sure if its a fair comparison. Eagles have more players already under contract the next three years than dallas does. 65 to 55 for 2018, 50 to 39 for 2019, and 22 to 13 for 2020. those numbers could easily shift depending on the moves we make.....which im not confident in at the moment

 

[DallasEast]

For years it was, "Romo's killing our Super Bowl hopes!"

Then Romo retired.

Now it is, "Romo's killing our salary cap!"

Man. That guy canNOT catch a break.

 

[northerncowboynation]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

It feels that Dallas has had salary cap issues for many years and would have finally solved the issue by now. Most other teams seem to be well off.

Can you say 9 million dead cap to Romo and another 3-4 mill to a few guys cut like Billy Bob Thornton, Nolan Carroll Burnett et al. Oh yes and $17.2 mill just ponied up to Tank. And a few unwieldy contracts like Dez's.

 

[Kaiser]

Next 3 years combined cap space:

Cowboys: 210M

Eagles: 63M

And the rookie contract for Wentz ends in two years. Wentz already gets 7MM this year and 8MM the next, compared to the 1.5MM the Cowboys will pay Prescott for those two years combined.

 

[Kaiser]

For years it was, "Romo's killing our Super Bowl hopes!"

Then Romo retired.

Now it is, "Romo's killing our salary cap!"

Man. That guy canNOT catch a break.

Romo said the only salary cap problem the Cowboys face is the uninformed posters that just joined this website.

Its true, I read that somewhere.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Of course whether a free agent signing helps get a team over the top is a hindsight designation, so I really this has to be limited to a discussion about the free agent efforts in general the last several years, and the reality is simply that we haven't had a great deal of success. Carr was a reasonable player, but seriously overpaid. McClain was a nice addition when available, but he was a bad seed that wasn't available nearly enough. Hardy wasn't much more than a shot in the dark on a troubled player. I don't care to see the team go crazy signing free agents and put the team back into the salary cap hell it was in for many years (another reason there weren't a lot of free agent signings for a long time), but I have to believe a nice strategic fit can be found from time to time, and that isn't happening.

We basically agree. McClain was a reclamation project ala Greg Hardy.........pacman jones ect. Jerry is always looking for that diamond in the rough.

Every team has to confront the cap and make a judgement on who to pay and when to pay them..........and when to get rid of them. Dallas lags behind in the area of evaluating free agents, determining where value resides, and when to say goodbye. Alexander posted an interesting article about all these young GM's wheeling and dealing by sending out group texts with who might be available for trade. Nobody gets on the phone anymore and I just wonder if free agency alludes Dallas b/c its out of the information loop.

 

[Nightman]

In the next couple of days DAL will restructure TSmith and TFred freeing up 15m

They will offer D Irving a tender......1st for 4.3m or 2nd for 3m

They will make a final offer to Hitchens after he gets a big offer from IND and lose him

They may sign ERFA QB Zac Dysert to a 630k deal like BPrice-DT if Coach KMoore likes him

I do not see them making an offer to any UFAs right away

This place will go bananas as other teams spend big bucks

Trading for EThomas is the one splash move they might make

 

[AbeBeta]

We restructure a lot of contracts which pushes money into the following years.

Which is a good idea since the cap keeps rising. The current cap is 177 million. It rises around 10 mill a year. If we shove 50 mill into later years, we are gaining using a smaller proportion of the cap allocation. In 2018 50 mill is 28% of your cap. But in 2021, with a cap projected at 210, it is only 24% of the cap. It is like taking out a loan and having to pay negative interest.

People need to stop hearing "restructure" and thinking that is bad.

 

[AbeBeta]

Can you say 9 million dead cap to Romo and another 3-4 mill to a few guys cut like Billy Bob Thornton, Nolan Carroll Burnett et al. Oh yes and $17.2 mill just ponied up to Tank. And a few unwieldy contracts like Dez's.

Show me a team without any dead money.

Dead money isn't the issue. Your understanding of dead money is the issue.

Cutting those players is a net savings in cap space.

 

[KJJ]

Which is a good idea since the cap keeps rising. The current cap is 177 million. It rises around 10 mill a year. If we shove 50 mill into later years, we are gaining using a smaller proportion of the cap allocation. In 2018 50 mill is 28% of your cap. But in 2021, with a cap projected at 210, it is only 24% of the cap. It is like taking out a loan and having to pay negative interest.

People need to stop hearing "restructure" and thinking that is bad.

Stephen Jones said pushing money into later years catches up with you.

 

[northerncowboynation]

Show me a team without any dead money.

Dead money isn't the issue. Your understanding of dead money is the issue.

Cutting those players is a net savings in cap space.

Dang, I been corrected by AbeBeta, king of the cap!