Contracts next year ?

[riverside4]

Seems slow today so ill give it a try and start a post. Seems like every year we have 2 contracts that hurt this team for like the last 5 years. This year i think it was the Franchise tag to My knees Spencer and Jay my groin hurts Ratliff what do you think? Just seems like we waste 20 mil a year every year for the past few years and most say it happens in the NFL i get that but how do we cut it down two 1 player maybe a year i think it would help this team. What 2 contracts are gonna hurt us next year the most? 20 mil a year would buy ALOT of trench workers and that always seems to hurt us on the off line or def line. Blast away i am ready LOL

 

[Idgit]

It's a function of good drafting and having sufficient depth. We've been pretty good under Garrett jettisoning older players where we can. The problem comes in when you don't have a guy developing behind the player in question. In those cases, you pretty much have to reach (franchise, or not cut) for a veteran.
We've flipped the secondary and OL, and added sufficient WR depth in recent seasons. Next offseason will be for backfilling DL. Obviously, it'd have been great if we could have done that sooner, but it was a position where we had good veterans and other needs were just more important. We've shown a willingness to throw a lot of resources at a position when we're looking to fix it, so I believe we'll do that yet again. Going forward, we'll have some decisions to make on players like Miles and, eventually, Ware. Tony Romo's the big, obvious contract that we'll be working around for the next several seasons. Beyond that, we extended Lee and will extend Dez this offseason. We'll be relatively young and able to make extension decisions based off of a lot of actual experience in games. Having to make big decisions on second and third contracts for players who started too late under their rookie deals (Free, Barber, Austin) are the things that have bit us in the past. Hopefully, we'll be able to avoid that going forward.

 

[Risen Star]

We have an abundance of these bad contracts over the years because the GM can't evaluate talent. He pays for past production. Which is the worst way to go about it.

And his chief advisor, the personnel guru under him, responds with "sounds good, Dad".

 

[Frosty]

We have an abundance of these bad contracts over the years because the GM can't evaluate talent. He pays for past production. Which is the worst way to go about it.

And his chief advisor, the personnel guru under him, responds with "sounds good, Dad".

So were do you think they will save cap space next year, I see Miles, Ratliff, Spencer, Bennie and Livings as possible cap casualties. Will it be enough savings to go get a veteran DL in FA plus sign DEZ ?

 

[RS12]

Let me simplify this, no more bad contracts to guys over 30. One year incentive laced deals only.

 

[Risen Star]

So were do you think they will save cap space next year, I see Miles, Ratliff, Spencer, Bennie and Livings as possible cap casualties. Will it be enough savings to go get a veteran DL in FA plus sign DEZ ?

I'm not really up to speed on that and what can be done to save money.

In a perfect world I'd like to see Austin and Ratliff gone. I would have said Spencer too, but with this injury situation the Cowboys might be able to sign him to a cheap short term deal to act as a bridge until a draft pick is ready.

 

[riverside4]

I'm not really up to speed on that and what can be done to save money.

In a perfect world I'd like to see Austin and Ratliff gone. I would have said Spencer too, but with this injury situation the Cowboys might be able to sign him to a cheap short term deal to act as a bridge until a draft pick is ready.

I think its gonna go like that Miles gone Rat gone and our only FA signing will be one of our own Spencer and draft picks. I think this draft is gonna have to be a great one considering the age of our Vet core players Tony,Jason and Ware.

 

[KingintheNorth]

Defensive linemen in this scheme need to be able to create pressure individually (win one-on-one's) and we have to get younger and more talented. Jerry might reward Hatcher with a big contract but he'll be 32 next year and IMO, it's time to move on. Unless Hatcher signs a team friendly 2-year deal. Time to move on from Hatcher, Spencer (will be 30 in 2014), and Ratliff (will be 33) and his contract. Cutting Ratliff brings his cap number down about $1.3M next year. I'd like to see us add one starting D Lineman via free agency and spend 2 out of our top 3 draft picks on the D Line as well. The rest of the D is pretty much set:
Carr, Claiborne, Scandrick, and Webb at CB
Church, Wilcox, and hopefully a healthy Matt Johnson at S (I'd love a true FS but the team seems set on these players)
Lee, Carter, Durant, Sims, and Holloman at LB.

D Line has to be the priority.

 

[CowboysLegend365]

1. Lock Dez up for FOREVER. (LOL but kinda serious)
2. Resign Hatcher to a solid deal. Dude has been our best DL, our leader, and I'd say our best defender. Idc about his age he has low tread and has showed he ain't scared to play injured.
3. DL- stout DE. To compete with Selvie or one to get the torch from Ware. The flame is diminishing.
4. DL- DT to learn from Hatch and possibly take over for Hayden. Although Hayden is our best run stopper (I don't see why he gets so much hate)
5. RG- Waters MIGHT be here next year but we need a solid back up to learn from him. (Please not Arkin)

 

[xwalker]

Seems slow today so ill give it a try and start a post. Seems like every year we have 2 contracts that hurt this team for like the last 5 years. This year i think it was the Franchise tag to My knees Spencer and Jay my groin hurts Ratliff what do you think? Just seems like we waste 20 mil a year every year for the past few years and most say it happens in the NFL i get that but how do we cut it down two 1 player maybe a year i think it would help this team. What 2 contracts are gonna hurt us next year the most? 20 mil a year would buy ALOT of trench workers and that always seems to hurt us on the off line or def line. Blast away i am ready LOL

Ware's salary is over 12M next year and increases in 2015. With his inability to stay healthy, it might be time to cut or trade him; although, it's doubtful anyone would trade for him based on his contract and injury issues.

Austin's salary is 5.5M next season. I don't see a reason to keep him. T.Williams will probably beat him out for the starting job next year anyway.

The approximate numbers for cutting players are:

Ratliff: Total savings over all future years if cut=5.5M, 2014 cap hit without restructure=8.2M
Austin: Total savings over all future years if cut=5.5M, 2014 cap hit without restructure=8.2M
Ware: Total savings over all future years if cut=12.2M, 2014 cap hit without restructure=16M

They could restructure a player like Austin such that that 2014 cap hit to keep him is similar to the cap hit to cut him; however, the entire 5.5M will be added to the combination of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 caps.

If June 1st 2014 cut, then:
2014 hit: 3.9M
2015 hit: 3.9M

If June 1st 2015 cut, then:
2014 hit: 4.5M (with restructure)
2015 hit: 4.4M
2016 hit: 4.4M

Comparison of 2015 cut vs 2014 cut:
2014: 0.6M
2015: 0.5M
2016: 4.4M
Total = 5.5M

 

[riverside4]

Wow that is a lot of cash so if Austin and Ratliff were cut it would cost 16.4 mil next year and 2015 we wouldn't owe anything to them or restructure and split it up over remaining years?

 

[Nightman]

There will be plenty of room next year. Romo, Ware, Carr, Witten and Lee contracts can be re-done very easily. Ratliff and Austin should be post June 1st cuts. Bern, Orton and Costa can be cut if needed. Draft DE, DT, OG and even sign a couple big FAs.

 

[riverside4]

There will be plenty of room next year. Romo, Ware, Carr, Witten and Lee contracts can be re-done very easily. Ratliff and Austin should be post June 1st cuts. Bern, Orton and Costa can be cut if needed. Draft DE, DT, OG and even sign a couple big FAs.

What are we gonna do redo everybody's contract every year seems like we have to pay sometime be nice to have some money to get a player or two without having to redo 4-5 contracts. Just seems like we are making min payments to a credit card never gonna get anywhere doing that.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

We have an abundance of these bad contracts over the years because the GM can't evaluate talent. He pays for past production. Which is the worst way to go about it.

And his chief advisor, the personnel guru under him, responds with "sounds good, Dad".

Bad deal given to Ratlif but he was a pro bowl player for us...still young...and was succeeding even while playing out of position. Spencer was among the best players at his position last year and we actually did the prudent thing with only franchising him. Remember the plan was to rotate in Crawford and let Spencer walk next year (that sounds very smart to me).

Where else in the last few years have we given out contracts to guys who have been terrible?

People point to Miles but his contract wasn't bad for what we were getting and he's been troubled by hamstrings...how do you project that into a contract for a guy who hadn't been hurt up to that point?

Can you please be more specific?

 

[Hoofbite]

Defensive linemen in this scheme need to be able to create pressure individually (win one-on-one's) and we have to get younger and more talented. Jerry might reward Hatcher with a big contract but he'll be 32 next year and IMO, it's time to move on. Unless Hatcher signs a team friendly 2-year deal. Time to move on from Hatcher, Spencer (will be 30 in 2014), and Ratliff (will be 33) and his contract. Cutting Ratliff brings his cap number down about $1.3M next year. I'd like to see us add one starting D Lineman via free agency and spend 2 out of our top 3 draft picks on the D Line as well. The rest of the D is pretty much set:
Carr, Claiborne, Scandrick, and Webb at CB
Church, Wilcox, and hopefully a healthy Matt Johnson at S (I'd love a true FS but the team seems set on these players)
Lee, Carter, Durant, Sims, and Holloman at LB.

D Line has to be the priority.

Don't worry about the scheme. It will change soon enough so investing money into it likely won't happen.

 

[Risen Star]

From Carr, Austin, Ratliff, Spencer, Free, to Barber, Owens, Davis, even Sensabaugh. This team hands out bad contracts like candy. I'd bet the Cowboys are top 2 or 3 in the entire league in total dead money in the cap era.

It's just horrible mismanagement.

 

[Nightman]

What are we gonna do redo everybody's contract every year seems like we have to pay sometime be nice to have some money to get a player or two without having to redo 4-5 contracts. Just seems like we are making min payments to a credit card never gonna get anywhere doing that.

That is exactly the plan. They write the contracts that way. They will resign Dez and TSmith to big deals that have low cap numbers at first, then go up dramatically so they can be re-done when Witten, Carr and Ware are gone. It's a very simple process and the cap will go up big in the next few years. It's actually cost effective to do it this way.

5m of a 123m cap is 4%
5m of a 128m cap is 3.9%

 

[riverside4]

Bad deal given to Ratlif but he was a pro bowl player for us...still young...and was succeeding even while playing out of position. Spencer was among the best players at his position last year and we actually did the prudent thing with only franchising him. Remember the plan was to rotate in Crawford and let Spencer walk next year (that sounds very smart to me).

Where else in the last few years have we given out contracts to guys who have been terrible?

People point to Miles but his contract wasn't bad for what we were getting and he's been troubled by hamstrings...how do you project that into a contract for a guy who hadn't been hurt up to that point?

Can you please be more specific?

Don't agree on Spencer was a waste of 11m you just said the plan was for a year untill Crawford was ready so if they felt this way they should have let Spencer walk and signed a Proven DE to play DE until your young guy was ready and it would have saved a lot of cash heck prob could have got two DE for the 11m. We wouldn't be bringing guys up from the practice squad now would we.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

From Carr, Austin, Ratliff, Spencer, Free, to Barber, Owens, Davis, even Sensabaugh. This team hands out bad contracts like candy. I'd bet the Cowboys are top 2 or 3 in the entire league in total dead money in the cap era.

It's just horrible mismanagement.

Carr, Austin, Ratlif and Spencer were bad contracts? Owens was a bad contract (nevermind he did nothing but produce while here). Free was a bad contract? He didn't work out but he played a premium position and played it very well. Top tackle on the market that offseason.

You confuses bad results from bad contracts. Not surprising. It's a particularly obtuse way of thinking about things. Little surpriseyou fall into that camp.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Don't agree on Spencer was a waste of 11m you just said the plan was for a year untill Crawford was ready so if they felt this way they should have let Spencer walk and signed a Proven DE to play DE until your young guy was ready and it would have saved a lot of cash heck prob could have got two DE for the 11m. We wouldn't be bringing guys up from the practice squad now would we.

Signed a proven DE? And given him a multi-year deal? Or do you think proven DE are just out there willing to pay for peanuts to put on the star? Heaven forbid that same guy goes down and Spencer doesn't. Could you imagine the outrage then?