Cowboys $12M over project 2022 NFL salary cap of $208.2M, here's how they get under

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

I hope no one manages their personal finances this way.

Yeah, uh...ever heard of credit cards?

 

[CowboyoWales]

Cap won't be an issue. Other than dlaw and some restructures we will be fine.

It wont be an issue, but at some point you need to pay The Reaper. Tyron's health, and the Zeke albatros of a contract are two contracts we can't touch.

If you're ok with us scraping the barrel for JAGs in hoping they work (Urban, Kazee, Neal and Hooper) then fine.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Yeah, uh...ever heard of credit cards?

Interest rates can go up?

 

[atlantacowboy]

Interesting article on how the Cowboys will get under the CAP. But what is more intriguing is who are the potential CAP Casualties or Restructures... IMO, From a CAP perspective..my Humble novice..opinion..is both Collins and DLAW are done in Dallas.

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/lists/dallas-cowboys-2022-free-agents-salary-cap/

....Warning its a long post....

According to cap site Over The Cap, Dallas has $224.9 million of liabilities combined from their roster and dead money. Taking away the $4.3 million carry over and Dallas is currently $12.3 million above the projected cap.

How do they get under the CAP.

DAK Prescott - Restructure could bring his base all the way down to $1 million, with the other $19 million spread from 2022 through 2026 even though he’s only under contract through 2024.
Savings: $15.2 million

Zak Martin - currently has the highest cap hit among guards at just under $20.2 million in 2022. That can come down via a restructure that converts some of his base into bonus. His base salary is $11,841,000,
Savings: Up to $7.2 million

Zeke Elliott has the most years remaining on his deal of any Cowboy, through 2026, so a restructure can be spread out over a full five seasons. His base salary in 2022 is $12.4 million.
Savings: Up to $9.1 million

Cooper - is signed through 2024 with a base salary of $20 million and a current cap hit of $22 million each season. Trade/Release Savings: $16 million
Restructure Savings: Up to $12.67 million

Collins - base salary is $10M and his cap hit is currently $15,250,000.
Restructure Savings: Up to $6 million
Trade/ June-1 Release Savings: $10 million, 2023 dead money $8.7 million
Trade/Release Savings: $1.3 million

DLAW - two years remaining on his contract for $19 million and $21 million resepectively. His bonus prorations add $8 million each year, plus there’s an additional $3 million on a void 2024 year.
Trade/ June-1 Release Savings: $19 million, 2023 dead money $11 million
Trade/Release Savings: $8 million

I think they let DLAW walk. He has not been healthy often enough to pay 20M, and I doubt he would renegotiate a more team friendly deal. He really screwed the organization on his deal with the holding off on surgery until the team gave in on a new contract. Might be time for Jerry to get his revenge. With the emergence of Parsons and Gregory, DLAW is now a luxury the team can't afford.

Cooper is also going to be a cap casualty. He's another guy who can't seem to stay on the field since his big contract was signed.

Collins is gone. I think Knight can replace him. One less knucklehead on the team.

Zak and Dak are prime for a restructure. Though, I wouldn't take Dak all the way down to 1M. On a contract that size, you have to start paying down the guaranteed money.

Zeke is one of my least favorite players so I am biased. I think we could cut him and easily replace his production. But, I understand we are contractually stuck with him.

 

[Carson]

I think they let DLAW walk. He has not been healthy often enough to pay 20M, and I doubt he would renegotiate a more team friendly deal. He really screwed the organization on his deal with the holding off on surgery until the team gave in on a new contract. Might be time for Jerry to get his revenge. With the emergence of Parsons and Gregory, DLAW is now a luxury the team can't afford.

Cooper is also going to be a cap casualty. He's another guy who can't seem to stay on the field since his big contract was signed.

Collins is gone. I think Knight can replace him. One less knucklehead on the team.

Zak and Dak are prime for a restructure. Though, I wouldn't take Dak all the way down to 1M. On a contract that size, you have to start paying down the guaranteed money.

Zeke is one of my least favorite players so I am biased. I think we could cut him and easily replace his production. But, I understand we are contractually stuck with him.

Knight is property of the Ravens

 

[Sydla]

Watching Elliott this year and then concluding we should restructure him to push his hit into future years would be beyond stupid.

 

[charron]

It wont be an issue, but at some point you need to pay The Reaper. Tyron's health, and the Zeke albatros of a contract are two contracts we can't touch.

If you're ok with us scraping the barrel for JAGs in hoping they work (Urban, Kazee, Neal and Hooper) then fine.

The reaper doesn't exist. It's all fluid. We show little cap space on purpose, if we wanted to make room to sign a big free agent we absolutely could. Just look at the iggles. They were what 50 million over and everyone thought there would be a huge fire sale but it didn't really happen that way. Teams know what's coming and we know the cap will go up. The only contract of concern is Dlaw's.. outside of that there really is no concern about any individual contract. Maybe they move on from jarwin too who knows.

 

[nightrain]

Keep restructuring some of those guys ands they will be due a big chink of salary when they depart.

 

[lukin2006]

I’d prefer they release Elliot, Collins and DLaw…

Don’t waste high picks on a running back. Draft a back every 3 or 4 years…never give a back a 2nd contract.

 

[HowardC]

How much do we save if we cut Prescott?

Besides the franchise.

you crazy man, you...

 

[John813]

Doesn't restructure mean they're just kicking their obligations down the road?
They still owe the player whatever guaranteed money the player is entitled. Plus, the player has to agree to have his contract restructured.

Yes, but they free up more cap in the short term and the NFL is a churning league with hundreds of guys getting replaced yearly by cheaper players.
And with the cap set to continue to climb due to fans back at stadiums and not to mention the new TV deals to increase the cap in a few years the high cap hits in a few years won't look so high when it comes to it.
A cap hit of 40mil hurts way more now than the next year/following years.

It's not comparable to credit cards/personal finance cause the owners are the one who brought in the cap and the rules(agreed by PA who has gotten the shaft more times than not).

In a vacuum:
Say they max restructure Prescott to free up the 15.2mil in 2022. Yes, they add 3.8mil to his cap hits over the next 4 years but they can roll over the entire 15.2mil to 2023 if they don't use it.
His cap hit in 2023 goes to 49.25mil but they could add 15.2mil to the cap ceiling in 2023 if unspent.
I would honestly be surprised if they don't keep on restructuring his deal for some time. Even in 2023 I doubt he plays at 49.45mil.

I would be amazed if any player turns down a restructure, unless they want to leave the team.
1. Restructuring gives the player more money up front and in case of a suspension they lose less money. Collins for example would of lost way more this year had they not restructured him and his 5 game suspension ate into his former base salary.
1.b Which means they get the money faster that year and instead of huge amounts being taxed in other cities/states it's all taxed in their home state. Texas is tied for the lowest tax rate in the country.
2. Restructuring usually gives the player more guarantees on job security. The team increases the amount of potential dead cap in future years with restructuring which makes it harder to simply cut a player and move on the following year. Can teams still move on sure, but it completely counters the teams goal of restructuring for cap space the prior year to quickly move on.

 

[Stash]

Doesn't restructure mean they're just kicking their obligations down the road?
They still owe the player whatever guaranteed money the player is entitled. Plus, the player has to agree to have his contract restructured.

Yep. So all of this talk of ‘restructure Dak’ is simply kicking the can down the road. That’s fine if your plan is NOT to re-sign him in 2025 and hope that you can draft a suitable replacement. But I’m sure that’s not what those calling for the restructure have in mind.

For those than can bear to look at reality, here’s the terms of Prescott’s current deal already, ahead of any restructure talk:


https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/dak-prescott-19089/

So you’re ALREADY looking at over $14.5 million in dead money in 2025, BEFORE you even think about what any new deal might cost.

And some just want to make that even worse.

 

[Stash]

I think they let DLAW walk. He has not been healthy often enough to pay 20M, and I doubt he would renegotiate a more team friendly deal. He really screwed the organization on his deal with the holding off on surgery until the team gave in on a new contract. Might be time for Jerry to get his revenge. With the emergence of Parsons and Gregory, DLAW is now a luxury the team can't afford.

Cooper is also going to be a cap casualty. He's another guy who can't seem to stay on the field since his big contract was signed.

Collins is gone. I think Knight can replace him. One less knucklehead on the team.

Zak and Dak are prime for a restructure. Though, I wouldn't take Dak all the way down to 1M. On a contract that size, you have to start paying down the guaranteed money.

Zeke is one of my least favorite players so I am biased. I think we could cut him and easily replace his production. But, I understand we are contractually stuck with him.

Knight?

 

[Stash]

Keep restructuring some of those guys ands they will be due a big chink of salary when they depart.

Dak is ALREADY costing them $14.5 million when he’s not under contract in 2025. And people want to make that much worse.

 

[Stash]

I’d prefer they release Elliot, Collins and DLaw…

Don’t waste high picks on a running back. Draft a back every 3 or 4 years…never give a back a 2nd contract.

I agree with the sentiment of not paying for a running back but they can’t touch Zeke’s deal until 2023. Thank Stephen for that.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Dak is ALREADY costing them $14.5 million when he’s not under contract in 2025. And people want to make that much worse.

Correct me if I'm wrong......Stephen had always structured our QBs contracts to allow restructuring. Weren't Romo and Aikman's deals restructured several times?

 

[Stash]

Correct me if I'm wrong......Stephen had always structured our QBs contracts to allow restructuring. Weren't Romo and Aikman's deals restructured several times?

Yes, you’re exactly right.

And also remember that there were huge dead money costs left behind on both. The team was talent and cap deficient for years after each left.

 

[John813]

Yep. So all of this talk of ‘restructure Dak’ is simply kicking the can down the road. That’s fine if your plan is NOT to re-sign him in 2025 and hope that you can draft a suitable replacement. But I’m sure that’s not what those calling for the restructure have in mind.

For those than can bear to look at reality, here’s the terms of Prescott’s current deal already, ahead of any restructure talk:


https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/dak-prescott-19089/

So you’re ALREADY looking at over $14.5 million in dead money in 2025, BEFORE you even think about what any new deal might cost.

And some just want to make that even worse.

There's a reason why they added two void years to hit deal, even though at the time of signing and the restructure the prorated bonus only went to the first void year and not void year 2/ overall year 6.
They are going to restructure it and extend/restructure his deal again in the future. Higher cap hits in the future to be solved later.
It's the Cowboys standard operation on deals.
They've restructured Romo, Smith, Martin, Frederick, Lawrence, Collins, and already Dak once. Cap space now > future. It's the same guys running the show when we were tight on cap in 13/14 etc restructuring deals of Crawford and Lee.
Nothing will change on how they operate.

 

[CyberB0b]

Doesn't restructure mean they're just kicking their obligations down the road?
They still owe the player whatever guaranteed money the player is entitled. Plus, the player has to agree to have his contract restructured.

The player will always agree because they get the money right now as a signing bonus. The idea is that the salary cap will be higher in the future. They’ve been doing this for well over a decade.

 

[nightrain]

Dak is ALREADY costing them $14.5 million when he’s not under contract in 2025. And people want to make that much worse.

Churning the roster is the best way to keep salaries in check. Can't pay really good players top tier money. Fantasy football, it ain't