4 Cowboys who conceivably legitimately could be cut or traded before season starts

[_sturt_]

Reviewing OverTheCap.com, and specifically as it pertains to post-June 1...

• Cutting or trading Demarcus Lawrence would save $10m... but the only way that happens is if he sustains a serious injury (... knocks on wood).

• Cutting Terence Steele would do almost nothing, but trading him would save $8m... not the craziest notion if we were to see someone relatively unexpected emerge in preseason as a legitimate RT option. Serious injury doesn't necessarily make him expendable since he's signed for a few more seasons beyond; however his cap number will swell by $6m next season to hit $17m, so that still could be a factor (... knocks on wood).

• Cutting or trading Brandin Cooks would save $8m... he's vulnerable in both ways--if someone unexpected emerges as a legitimate #2 WR option, or if he has a serious injury (... knocks on wood). Still, from where I sit, it's harder to imagine any of our JV squad WRs rising up to that level so quickly, whereas there are a few different O-line scenarios I could imagine could evolve to make Steele's services dispensable.

• Cutting Donovan Wilson wouldn't do much, but trading him would save nearly $6m. It's not hard at all to imagine that being a consideration, given the proven depth we have at the safety position. He's got one more season at essentially the same cap savings this year or next, so serious injury (... knocks on wood...) doesn't necessarily rule him out, but if he's playing well, there's no added financial incentive to make a trade this year.

(Not advocating anything here, just passing along some intel that might merit knowing.)

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Considering Guyton, I could see us trading Steele.

 

[thunderpimp91]

I could be wrong here but I don’t think you can cut players due to injury.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Considering Guyton, I could see us trading Steele.

Interesting would you kick Guyton to RT and play smith at LT?

 

[jazzcat22]

So get rid of 4 key players Just to save some cap space. Who replaces them? Unless they really are into some sort of rebuild.

But the best way to do that is to cut the highest paid player as a June 1st cut. Use the 2 void years.
No better place to rebuild with a new young fresh player there.

 

[jazzcat22]

I could be wrong here but I don’t think you can cut players due to injury.

They can’t. They have to make some type of injury settlement. Unless there is already one written into the contract. But I do not believe they can do that anymore.

 

[FLWarpigrpig]

I could be wrong here but I don’t think you can cut players due to injury.

You have to do a injury settlement. However, why should Steele accept a settlement?

 

[_sturt_]

Re: Injury settlements

https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/what-is-injury-settlement-nfl

 

[MizzouCowboy4]

Considering Guyton, I could see us trading Steele.

Guyton better be ready then

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I wouldn’t get rid of any of them.

 

[fivetwos]

I don’t get this at all.

For what purpose? To create cap space to sign no one? You may be on the right track, but about a season too soon.

I’d agree on one possible angle….Richards beats out Guyton for LT in 2024 camp and excels. Then they relieve themselves of the Steele mistake after this season with Guyton at RT.

Thats ideal IMO.

 

[Carson]

So get rid of 4 key players Just to save some cap space. Who replaces them? Unless they really are into some sort of rebuild.

But the best way to do that is to cut the highest paid player as a June 1st cut. Use the 2 void years.
No better place to rebuild with a new young fresh player there.

People get mad when they replace older, overpaid guys with younger guys.

Then suggest we replace players with younger guys. (Not an attack on OP saying this)

 

[gimmesix]

Reviewing OverTheCap.com, and specifically as it pertains to post-June 1...

• Cutting or trading Demarcus Lawrence would save $10m... but the only way that happens is if he sustains a serious injury (... knocks on wood).

• Cutting Terence Steele would do almost nothing, but trading him would save $8m... not the craziest notion if we were to see someone relatively unexpected emerge in preseason as a legitimate RT option. Serious injury doesn't necessarily make him expendable since he's signed for a few more seasons beyond; however his cap number will swell by $6m next season to hit $17m, so that still could be a factor (... knocks on wood).

• Cutting or trading Brandin Cooks would save $8m... he's vulnerable in both ways--if someone unexpected emerges as a legitimate #2 WR option, or if he has a serious injury (... knocks on wood). Still, from where I sit, it's harder to imagine any of our JV squad WRs rising up to that level so quickly, whereas there are a few different O-line scenarios I could imagine could evolve to make Steele's services dispensable.

• Cutting Donovan Wilson wouldn't do much, but trading him would save nearly $6m. It's not hard at all to imagine that being a consideration, given the proven depth we have at the safety position. He's got one more season at essentially the same cap savings this year or next, so serious injury (... knocks on wood...) doesn't necessarily rule him out, but if he's playing well, there's no added financial incentive to make a trade this year.

(Not advocating anything here, just passing along some intel that might merit knowing.)

I would not think there would be interest in doing this, but, of course, if someone stepped up at a position, we might be interested in trading from a position of strength. I would be surprised if it happened, though, because we have so many unproven players. For instance, I do think Kneeland is the eventual replacement for Lawrence, but it would be hard to know until well into the season if he's ready to do that ... and not only would he have to be ready but Williams also would need to step up to give us the depth to make a move. Even then, I think we would ride it out with Lawrence because of the rotation. It would take Fehoko playing left end at a starter level, too, for it to be even a consideration this year.

 

[gimmesix]

I don’t get this at all.

For what purpose? To create cap space to sign no one? You may be on the right track, but about a season too soon.

I’d agree on one possible angle….Richards beats out Guyton for LT in 2024 camp and excels. Then they relieve themselves of the Steele mistake after this season with Guyton at RT.

Thats ideal IMO.

The only reason I could see doing anything like this is if at the end of camp, we trade from a position of strength to try to fix a weaker position. If Richards did stand out at LT to the point where he deserved to win that job and we moved Guyton to RT, then trading Steele could be an option to fortify the defensive line, wide receiver, running back, etc. However, I can't see McCarthy wanting a first-year starter and a rookie at the two tackle spots, especially with how much they seem to like Steele and his work ethic.

 

[Beaker42]

Interesting would you kick Guyton to RT and play smith at LT?

Guyton at RT and Asim Richards at LT. Keep Tyler at LG.

 

[The Fonz]

I know of one player if you cut him you will save a lot

 

[ICP]

With the WR core being in the state that it's in, I don't see Cooks going anywhere unless other moves are made

 

[Creeper]

Remember, post-June 1 cuts mean that you are pushing CAP money into the following year. A post June 1 cut of Lawrence saves $10 million this year but you still have to account for the $17 million in pro-rated bonus he has left. They can take that as a hit this year or next. If they take it this year they only get about a $3 million CAP save. Next year it would become dead money.

My first question would be why cut or trade any of these players? Why do they need the CAP space? They are clearly not going to spend it.

Something tells me the Cowboys are not worried about this years CAP space. They can clear $16 million by extending CeeDee. They can clear more extending Dak. I think Dallas is worried about next year and the years that follow.

 

[shabazz]

It's appreciated info but as some have posted there's no reason to cut them.....the plan is status quo

 

[acr731]

So what if all this happens and you save 32 mil? Cap boy is still there and we all know how cheap he is. He would just sit on that money and do nothing with it.