Matts4313
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Current 2014 Cowboys Salaries: $137M
Dead Money: $11M
Total Cap: $148M
Projected Cowboys cap with carryover: $126M
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Currently $22M over the cap
2014 top salaries and what I anticipate will happen:
Romo - $13.5M - Restructure Bonus => Adds roughly $10M to cap
Ware - $12.25M - Paycut => Adds roughly $7M to cap(OR CUT)
Brandon Carr - $7.5M - Nothing/Maybe Restructure
Austin - $5.5M - Pay cut or Released => Adds roughly $4M to cap
Witten - $5M - Nothing/Possible Restructure
Scandrick - $4.5M - Nothing
Free - $3.5M - Nothing
Orton - $3.25M - Released => Adds roughly $1M to cap
Macky B - $2.75M - Nothing
Other notable cuts that I anticipate, along with savings:
Costa - $1.5M
Durant - $1.25M
Parnell - $1.5M
Doing the above moves would free up roughly ~$26M in cap space, putting us under the cap by $4M.
We would still have so maneuvering room with both Witten and Carr, although I don't anticipate us being very active in FA, we could make a few choice signings.
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Since some have made such a big deal on the restructures and "mortgaging our future" - I have taken a look at 2015 and 2016 as well:
Assuming modest cap increases over the next couple years, lets project that 2015 will be in the $128M range and 2016 will be in the ~$130M range.
In 2015 we currently have 25 players under contract at $106M (or ~20M under the cap) and obviously no dead money. Of those 25 players, Tyron Smith an Dez Bryant are the notable no shows.
But there are also a few issues with the numbers at first glance, for example:
Miles Austin and his 7M salary will not be here at that cost
Macky B will not be here at 3.25M
And I highly, Highly doubt that Ware will be here at a cost of $13.25M
So - lets assume that those contracts are not here, we are really closer to ~$40M under the cap with 23 players signed. We should factor in 2 rookie classes at roughly $6M/year. That is an additional $12M in cap used. Under Garrett, we have average 11 new players a year via draft and URFA. So, that ~$12M would be paying for 22 bodies. We are now up to 45 players under contract and roughly $28M in cap space.
The highest paid OT and WRs in the league average about $10m/year. Assuming they both get those contracts, we are now at 47 players under contract with $8M in free space. As a reminder, only to top 51 contracts count... So in other words, we are fine for 2015.
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So lets look at 2016:
We are currently projected at $85M spread over 16 players. Again, assuming Miles, ($11.4M), Ware ($13M) are not on the books, it is more like $61M on 14 players. Now stay with me here:
$61M Of cap charges, with an anticipated cap space of $130m. We have roughly $70M of cap space.
Now add in 3 years of drafting, at the Garrett average of 11 players a year = 33 people, and $18M of cap Space
Now add Bryant and Smith at $10m/yr each, and we are adding 35 players and $38M of cap space.
So in 2016: We have 49 players under contract for a total cost of $99M. We will have Roughly $30M of unused cap space available.... So we are fine in 2016 as well.
Dead Money: $11M
Total Cap: $148M
Projected Cowboys cap with carryover: $126M
--------------------------------
Currently $22M over the cap
2014 top salaries and what I anticipate will happen:
Romo - $13.5M - Restructure Bonus => Adds roughly $10M to cap
Ware - $12.25M - Paycut => Adds roughly $7M to cap(OR CUT)
Brandon Carr - $7.5M - Nothing/Maybe Restructure
Austin - $5.5M - Pay cut or Released => Adds roughly $4M to cap
Witten - $5M - Nothing/Possible Restructure
Scandrick - $4.5M - Nothing
Free - $3.5M - Nothing
Orton - $3.25M - Released => Adds roughly $1M to cap
Macky B - $2.75M - Nothing
Other notable cuts that I anticipate, along with savings:
Costa - $1.5M
Durant - $1.25M
Parnell - $1.5M
Doing the above moves would free up roughly ~$26M in cap space, putting us under the cap by $4M.
We would still have so maneuvering room with both Witten and Carr, although I don't anticipate us being very active in FA, we could make a few choice signings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since some have made such a big deal on the restructures and "mortgaging our future" - I have taken a look at 2015 and 2016 as well:
Assuming modest cap increases over the next couple years, lets project that 2015 will be in the $128M range and 2016 will be in the ~$130M range.
In 2015 we currently have 25 players under contract at $106M (or ~20M under the cap) and obviously no dead money. Of those 25 players, Tyron Smith an Dez Bryant are the notable no shows.
But there are also a few issues with the numbers at first glance, for example:
Miles Austin and his 7M salary will not be here at that cost
Macky B will not be here at 3.25M
And I highly, Highly doubt that Ware will be here at a cost of $13.25M
So - lets assume that those contracts are not here, we are really closer to ~$40M under the cap with 23 players signed. We should factor in 2 rookie classes at roughly $6M/year. That is an additional $12M in cap used. Under Garrett, we have average 11 new players a year via draft and URFA. So, that ~$12M would be paying for 22 bodies. We are now up to 45 players under contract and roughly $28M in cap space.
The highest paid OT and WRs in the league average about $10m/year. Assuming they both get those contracts, we are now at 47 players under contract with $8M in free space. As a reminder, only to top 51 contracts count... So in other words, we are fine for 2015.
---------------------------------------------
So lets look at 2016:
We are currently projected at $85M spread over 16 players. Again, assuming Miles, ($11.4M), Ware ($13M) are not on the books, it is more like $61M on 14 players. Now stay with me here:
$61M Of cap charges, with an anticipated cap space of $130m. We have roughly $70M of cap space.
Now add in 3 years of drafting, at the Garrett average of 11 players a year = 33 people, and $18M of cap Space
Now add Bryant and Smith at $10m/yr each, and we are adding 35 players and $38M of cap space.
So in 2016: We have 49 players under contract for a total cost of $99M. We will have Roughly $30M of unused cap space available.... So we are fine in 2016 as well.
