BR: 5 Cuts That Could Create Serious Cap Space for the Dallas Cowboys

[jobberone]

5 Cuts That Could Create Serious Cap Space for the Dallas Cowboys
By Jonathan Bales, Featured Columnist Feb 5, 2014

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Dallas Cowboys have put themselves in some trouble with the salary cap, but they can and will make a few cuts to generate cap space in 2014.

Roster decisions aren't as easy as "this player is a starter so we should keep him" or "that player isn't performing up to par so we need to cut him." Teams need to consider value, which is how a player's anticipated future production compares to his contract.

The Cowboys have signed some pretty poor contracts in the recent past (Jeremiah Ratliff, Marion Barber, Jason Witten, Miles Austin and so on), and that has put them in a position where they don't have much salary-cap flexibility.

They'll easily make it under the cap by cutting a few guys and restructuring contracts, but when you sign bad deals, you usually don't have much room to maneuver when it comes to signing high-quality free agents.

Using the contract data at Over the Cap, I've identified five potential salary-cap casualties for Dallas in 2014.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...d-create-serious-cap-space-for-dallas-cowboys

 

[Silver N Blue]

I like it...its time to clean house and start rebuilding enough of this 8-8 from this group.

 

[speedkilz88]

Miles is likely the only one on the list that gets cut this offseason. The backup guys will likely be taken to camp and can be cut before final cuts assuming they get beat out.

 

[CATCH17]

It's not even worth cutting Miles Austin. You don't save really anything.

Also i'd rather pay Parnell then try to find someone else at that position.

Ware & Costa can go though.

I would like to keep D. Ware but its not worth it in the long run. It's time to part ways with him and let him sign with someone like New England or New Orleans and have a shot at a title.

 

[Direwolf63]

The Ware situation will be the toughest.

I don't believe Ware is finished, but to justify his enormous salary, he'd have to a be 17-20 sack guy. And I don't think he can do that anymore. He's now a 10-12 sack guy if he can stay healthy, IMO. Still good, but not with a cap hit of $16M.

If Ware really doesn't want to take a pay cut, then Jerry will have a very difficult decisions to make.

 

[Direwolf63]

I can see the team keeping Austin for another year. The team is lloking at the hamstring situation. If they can come up with an adjustment to the training regimen that they think will help out with the hamstring issues, they may want to try it with Austin for another year and make him productive again. If it doesn't work out, they can release him next year when the cap penalties aren't nearly as severe.

 

[speedkilz88]

The Ware situation will be the toughest.

I don't believe Ware is finished, but to justify his enormous salary, he'd have to a be 17-20 sack guy. And I don't think he can do that anymore. He's now a 10-12 sack guy if he can stay healthy, IMO. Still good, but not with a cap hit of $16M.

If Ware really doesn't want to take a pay cut, then Jerry will have a very difficult decisions to make.

It's not really accurate to use that cap number, 12 million is base salary that can be lowered with a restructure. Ware's average salary is 11 million. Now that said I think they should try to get him to take a pay cut since his production has dropped off. I just don't see them cutting him.

 

[Direwolf63]

It's not really accurate to use that cap number, 12 million is base salary that can be lowered with a restructure. Ware's average salary is 11 million. Now that said I think they should try to get him to take a pay cut since his production has dropped off. I just don't see them cutting him.

Restructuring that contract is the worst thing they could do. All your doing is pushing even more money into the future.

At some point Jerry has to look beyond tomorrow and see what all this restructuring is doing medium and long term.

With all this being true, Jerry will probably restructure the Ware deal anyway. That's the Jerry Jones way.

 

[speedkilz88]

Restructuring that contract is the worst thing they could do. All your doing is pushing even more money into the future.

At some point Jerry has to look beyond tomorrow and see what all this restructuring is doing medium and long term.

With all this being true, Jerry will probably restructure the Ware deal anyway. That's the Jerry Jones way.

Where are the facepalm smilies when you need them.
All teams do this. There are no long term problems in the future. 2016 the cap is expected to finally have a large jump. It's the way the system was set up ever since Tagliabue let the 49ers do it in the infancy of free agency.

 

[Direwolf63]

Where are the facepalm smilies when you need them.
All teams do this. There are no long term problems in the future. 2016 the cap is expected to finally have a large jump. It's the way the system was set up ever since Tagliabue let the 49ers do it in the infancy of free agency.

Facepalm all you want.

You still have the Dez and Tyron contracts that need to be dealt with. Romo's contract will keep ballooning because he will need to be restructured every year. If Fredricks keeps improving, he'll want top dollars when his time comes. If Murray has another 1,200 yard season next year, how much will he want? Who knows?

One of the biggest problems this team has is that there is too much cap space going to too few players resulting in zero depth in other areas. That is due to a serious lack of foresight and planning by the Jones boys. Teams that contend every year know how to handle the salary. Teams that are way over the cap, but the best they can do is 8-8 clearly don't know what they are doing. Do the names Jay Ratliff, Anthony Spencer or Miles Austin mean anything to you?

Anyway, Jerry clearly agrees with you and it's steady as she goes. I'm sure Jerry will plow over those icebergs just up ahead.

 

[BoysFan4ever]

The Cowboys do a piss poor job with the salary cap.

 

[gmoney112]

Restructuring Ware would be asinine and would handicap us for the next two years so I fully expect it to happen.

Austin is gone. That's a done deal already.

Why would you cut Parnell? Probably the worst part of the entire article. Oh, it's bleacher report,.

 

[OhSnap]

I like it...its time to clean house and start rebuilding enough of this 8-8 from this group.

The rebuilding started at the end of 010 and ANYONE over 30 and not putting up good numbers at the end of 014 will be the final cuts in that program. That includes the coach, the only person IMO thats safe after next year would be Romo.

 

[xwalker]

It's not even worth cutting Miles Austin. You don't save really anything.

Yes it is worth it. They save 5.5M by making him a June 1st cut.

 

[xwalker]

There is no need to cut medium to low paid players before training camp. They can wait and see how things turn out during training camp and make cuts accordingly.

Austin should be a June 1st cut. It save 5.5M on the cap.

Ware should either be cut in March which frees up 7.4M or he could take a drastic pay cut, but I doubt that he would.

 

[CATCH17]

Yes it is worth it. They save 5.5M by making him a June 1st cut.

If that is true then yes cut him.

 

[Tex]

I can see the team keeping Austin for another year. The team is lloking at the hamstring situation. If they can come up with an adjustment to the training regimen that they think will help out with the hamstring issues, they may want to try it with Austin for another year and make him productive again. If it doesn't work out, they can release him next year when the cap penalties aren't nearly as severe.

Oh come on. He is a June 1st cut and they save 5 million this year on the cap. Use the 5 mil for a de or dt we need that much more then a 3rd or 4th receiver that will miss half the games again. Terrance Williams should be outside and Beasley in the slot. No room for Austin when we can cut him in June and save 5 mil this year. LOTS better ways to spend that money

 

[WV Cowboy]

I would hate to lose Parnell, but the others, ... I could get over it.

 

[Common Sense]

Oh come on. He is a June 1st cut and they save 5 million this year on the cap. Use the 5 mil for a de or dt we need that much more then a 3rd or 4th receiver that will miss half the games again. Terrance Williams should be outside and Beasley in the slot. No room for Austin when we can cut him in June and save 5 mil this year. LOTS better ways to spend that money

They won't be able to use the savings until after June 1st, so the money saved by cutting Austin will be used to sign the rookie draft class. Sort of like a draft day/rainy day fund.

 

[Common Sense]

There is no need to cut medium to low paid players before training camp. They can wait and see how things turn out during training camp and make cuts accordingly.

Austin should be a June 1st cut. It save 5.5M on the cap.

Ware should either be cut in March which frees up 7.4M or he could take a drastic pay cut, but I doubt that he would.

I could easily see a scenario where Costa, Parnell, and Durant are let go if Ware's agent decides to play hardball and the team doesn't want to make the decision to cut him. They can only get to about $2 million or so under the cap for the start of free agency just by restructuring. Those three cuts would almost double the available cap space. Granted, that isn't saying much.