Cowboys cap hits and perspective

[Verdict]

A report lists the top 10 salary cap hits on the Cowboys roster for the upcoming year. Keep in mind these are cap hits, not actual salaries:

1. Tyron Smith. $17.5 million
2. Dez Bryant. $16.5 million
3. Travis Frederick $13.2 million
4. Sean Lee $11 Million
5. Zack Martin $9.3 million
6. Tyrone Crawford $9.1 Million
7. Zeke $6.5 million
8. Witten. $6.5 million
9. Collins $5.8 Million
10. O. Scandrick. $5.2 Million

Here are a few observations:

These guys are worth the money of healthy:

1. Tyron
3. Frederick
4. Sean Lee
5. Zack Martin
7. Zeke
8. Collins

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable
10. OScan. If he starts at corner he is a bargain. But does he still have it?

Not worth it: Witten. Aging player. Lots of guile. Little performance. Worth maybe half his cap hit IF he gets his snaps cut as well.

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

You could literally pay all three of the bottom guys Witten, Collins and Scandrick) for the price Dez is being paid. This contract ranks way up there with some of the all time worst contracts that the Cowboys have ever signed.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

That's what getting hung up on stats (TDs) and sentiment will get you. Jersey sales may have also had something to do with it. But that contract was bad from the outset. No one could have envisioned it being THIS bad, but it was a bad decision. This is why you can't let a player (even a QB) hold your team completely hostage.

 

[Alexander]

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable

No.

Not reasonable now and certainly not next year. Contracts like his are a walking example of how Stephen Jones really is behind the curve in structuring deals that the team can get out of.

For perspective, look at the dead money hit for Terrence Williams if the Cowboys wanted to cut him.

 

[northerncowboynation]

A report lists the top 10 salary cap hits on the Cowboys roster for the upcoming year. Keep in mind these are cap hits, not actual salaries:

1. Tyron Smith. $17.5 million
2. Dez Bryant. $16.5 million
3. Travis Frederick $13.2 million
4. Sean Lee $11 Million
5. Zack Martin $9.3 million
6. Tyrone Crawford $9.1 Million
7. Zeke $6.5 million
8. Witten. $6.5 million
9. Collins $5.8 Million
10. O. Scandrick. $5.2 Million

Here are a few observations:

These guys are worth the money of healthy:

1. Tyron
3. Frederick
4. Sean Lee
5. Zack Martin
7. Zeke
8. Collins

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable
10. OScan. If he starts at corner he is a bargain. But does he still have it?

Not worth it: Witten. Aging player. Lots of guile. Little performance. Worth maybe half his cap hit IF he gets his snaps cut as well.

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

You could literally pay all three of the bottom guys Witten, Collins and Scandrick) for the price Dez is being paid. This contract ranks way up there with some of the all time worst contracts that the Cowboys have ever signed.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

That's what getting hung up on stats (TDs) and sentiment will get you. Jersey sales may have also had something to do with it. But that contract was bad from the outset. No one could have envisioned it being THIS bad, but it was a bad decision. This is why you can't let a player (even a QB) hold your team completely hostage.

Actually Wittens contract is pretty team friendly. His diminishing skills are not. I agree with your comments "when healthy". Add $17.5 mill to that list when we tag Tank. As far as Dez is concerned, I believe he will be here in 2018, I just hope we don't extend his contract farther out to diminish his cap hit. That's the teams modus operandi and it kills us at the end because the returns keep going down. Yes, even a QB contract shouldn't hold a team hostage and we had one of those

 

[Kaiser]

Contracts like Dez and Witten are only horrible deals if we are tight against the salary cap, but we aren't. This isn't the old days where an overpaid guy like Miles Austin had to be cut because the alternative is having to cut three or four starters if you keep him.

The salary cap is way higher and we can keep all of these players, plus add several more big contracts if we want to. Its not like the old days.

 

[BigCatMonaco]

Julio, DT, and green all have almost identical deals.

Cowboys have had one of the top rushing offenses since 2014 when he reupped and he’s had
Considerably less targets than all the rest.


Yet he’s still comparable in yards and the TDS are obscene.

Again, Julio has 1600 more career yards than dez on about 30 more targets. Dez has scored 33 more total TDS than Julio.

Why is one argued as worth it and one is the worst
Contract ever?


Julio and his 3 TDS last year really dominated.
The league leader in receptions(Landry) had almost 60 more catches and barely 150 more yards and one more TD than dez and he’s
Gonna get PAID.

A report lists the top 10 salary cap hits on the Cowboys roster for the upcoming year. Keep in mind these are cap hits, not actual salaries:

1. Tyron Smith. $17.5 million
2. Dez Bryant. $16.5 million
3. Travis Frederick $13.2 million
4. Sean Lee $11 Million
5. Zack Martin $9.3 million
6. Tyrone Crawford $9.1 Million
7. Zeke $6.5 million
8. Witten. $6.5 million
9. Collins $5.8 Million
10. O. Scandrick. $5.2 Million

Here are a few observations:

These guys are worth the money of healthy:

1. Tyron
3. Frederick
4. Sean Lee
5. Zack Martin
7. Zeke
8. Collins

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable
10. OScan. If he starts at corner he is a bargain. But does he still have it?

Not worth it: Witten. Aging player. Lots of guile. Little performance. Worth maybe half his cap hit IF he gets his snaps cut as well.

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

You could literally pay all three of the bottom guys Witten, Collins and Scandrick) for the price Dez is being paid. This contract ranks way up there with some of the all time worst contracts that the Cowboys have ever signed.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

That's what getting hung up on stats (TDs) and sentiment will get you. Jersey sales may have also had something to do with it. But that contract was bad from the outset. No one could have envisioned it being THIS bad, but it was a bad decision. This is why you can't let a player (even a QB) hold your team completely hostage.

 

[Nightman]

Julio, DT, and green all have almost identical deals.

Cowboys have had one of the top rushing offenses since 2014 when he reupped and he’s had
Considerably less targets than all the rest.


Yet he’s still comparable in yards and the TDS are obscene.

Again, Julio has 1600 more career yards than dez on about 30 more targets. Dez has scored 33 more total TDS than Julio.

Why is one argued as worth it and one is the worst
Contract ever?


Julio and his 3 TDS last year really dominated.
The league leader in receptions(Landry) had almost 60 more catches and barely 150 more yards and one more TD than dez and he’s
Gonna get PAID.

Great post but you used way too many facts and way too much common sense

These Dezerters around here won't stand for it

 

[Sydla]

Actually Wittens contract is pretty team friendly. His diminishing skills are not. I agree with your comments "when healthy". Add $17.5 mill to that list when we tag Tank. As far as Dez is concerned, I believe he will be here in 2018, I just hope we don't extend his contract farther out to diminish his cap hit. That's the teams modus operandi and it kills us at the end because the returns keep going down. Yes, even a QB contract shouldn't hold a team hostage and we had one of those

His contract is only team friendly if you cut him. There's no dead money.

 

[Sydla]

Julio, DT, and green all have almost identical deals.

Cowboys have had one of the top rushing offenses since 2014 when he reupped and he’s had
Considerably less targets than all the rest.


Yet he’s still comparable in yards and the TDS are obscene.

Again, Julio has 1600 more career yards than dez on about 30 more targets. Dez has scored 33 more total TDS than Julio.

Why is one argued as worth it and one is the worst
Contract ever?


Julio and his 3 TDS last year really dominated.
The league leader in receptions(Landry) had almost 60 more catches and barely 150 more yards and one more TD than dez and he’s
Gonna get PAID.

I think a lot of it has been the decline. And it's not all lack of targets. I believe 2017 was his worst season for drops, and he made some pretty bad ones.

Note, I am not saying he should be cut. I am just saying it's not like he's a high flier like before and just suffering from the Cowboys running the ball and spreading the ball around more. He's had his own issues, for whatever reason.

 

[robjay04]

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

.

I somehow knew this thread would be about Dez.

The Dez contract isn’t even in the top 10 of bad contracts Jerry has handed out.

Jerry paid market value for a guy who performed at an elite level for the 3 seasons before. You seem to have a bad understanding of what a bad contract is. You can say we shouldn’t pay receivers that much but there is a very short list of players that were as productive as Dez was the 3 seasons before he signed his deal.

A bad contract is over paying a player based on a limited amount of production or overpaying a player that is aging or showing signs of being past their prime.

If we make Lawrence the highest paid DE in the league, that is a bad contract no matter how it turns out.

Contracts we handed out to players such as Miles Austin, Marion Barber, Ken Hamlin, Tyrone Crawford, Roy Williams II, Joey Galloway, Doug Free’s original deal. These are contracts that were handed out to players either paying for future production without considering past production(Crawford), paying a player for one good season(Hamlin, Free, Austin) or paying a player elite money to take a role they haven’t proven they could hold(Barber as a top back, Galloway/Williams as a WR1)

As much as I love Tony Romo, his contract was much worse than Dez..why? Because we are paying him still now and injuries started to pile up as soon as he signed that deal which was predictable considering his age and his type of play.

You can use hindsight for Dez’s deal if you would like but, in my opinion, hindsight isn’t the way to judge a contract. When a player and a team is negotiating a contract, the right thing to do is pay a player market value based on production which the Cowboys did with Dez.

In 2014...

Was Dez young enough to warrant a big contract? Yes

Did his production warrant him to be paid as a top 5 player at his position? Yes

Did Dez have multiple good seasons? Yes

Did Dez get a deal comparable to his peers? Yes.

Did he have injury concerns? He played every game the 3 seasons before so no.

No front office should be criticized for paying a player like that.

 

[Wood]

A report lists the top 10 salary cap hits on the Cowboys roster for the upcoming year. Keep in mind these are cap hits, not actual salaries:

1. Tyron Smith. $17.5 million
2. Dez Bryant. $16.5 million
3. Travis Frederick $13.2 million
4. Sean Lee $11 Million
5. Zack Martin $9.3 million
6. Tyrone Crawford $9.1 Million
7. Zeke $6.5 million
8. Witten. $6.5 million
9. Collins $5.8 Million
10. O. Scandrick. $5.2 Million

Here are a few observations:

These guys are worth the money of healthy:

1. Tyron
3. Frederick
4. Sean Lee
5. Zack Martin
7. Zeke
8. Collins

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable
10. OScan. If he starts at corner he is a bargain. But does he still have it?

Not worth it: Witten. Aging player. Lots of guile. Little performance. Worth maybe half his cap hit IF he gets his snaps cut as well.

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

You could literally pay all three of the bottom guys Witten, Collins and Scandrick) for the price Dez is being paid. This contract ranks way up there with some of the all time worst contracts that the Cowboys have ever signed.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

That's what getting hung up on stats (TDs) and sentiment will get you. Jersey sales may have also had something to do with it. But that contract was bad from the outset. No one could have envisioned it being THIS bad, but it was a bad decision. This is why you can't let a player (even a QB) hold your team completely hostage.

Todd Archer (ESPN) had excellent article on salary cap moves Dallas should make this year.

1. Restructure Frederick contract (would open up about $7 mill this year).
2. Extend Martin (would lower his current cap hit of $9.3 mill this year).
3. Dez pay cut.

That would free up enough room to make some moves in FA that don't break the bank.

 

[Nightman]

I somehow knew this thread would be about Dez.

The Dez contract isn’t even in the top 10 of bad contracts Jerry has handed out.

Jerry paid market value for a guy who performed at an elite level for the 3 seasons before. You seem to have a bad understanding of what a bad contract is. You can say we shouldn’t pay receivers that much but there is a very short list of players that were as productive as Dez was the 3 seasons before he signed his deal.

A bad contract is over paying a player based on a limited amount of production or overpaying a player that is aging or showing signs of being past their prime.

If we make Lawrence the highest paid DE in the league, that is a bad contract no matter how it turns out.

Contracts we handed out to players such as Miles Austin, Marion Barber, Ken Hamlin, Tyrone Crawford, Roy Williams II, Joey Galloway, Doug Free’s original deal. These are contracts that were handed out to players either paying for future production without considering past production(Crawford), paying a player for one good season(Hamlin, Free, Austin) or paying a player elite money to take a role they haven’t proven they could hold(Barber as a top back, Galloway/Williams as a WR1)

As much as I love Tony Romo, his contract was much worse than Dez..why? Because we are paying him still now and injuries started to pile up as soon as he signed that deal which was predictable considering his age and his type of play.

You can use hindsight for Dez’s deal if you would like but, in my opinion, hindsight isn’t the way to judge a contract. When a player and a team is negotiating a contract, the right thing to do is pay a player market value based on production which the Cowboys did with Dez.

In 2014...

Was Dez young enough to warrant a big contract? Yes

Did his production warrant him to be paid as a top 5 player at his position? Yes

Did Dez have multiple good seasons? Yes

Did Dez get a deal comparable to his peers? Yes.

Did he have injury concerns? He played every game the 3 seasons before so no.

No front office should be criticized for paying a player like that.

You had me until the Romo stuff...... QBs of Romo skill got 23m a year

Every deal Romo signed was team friendly........his 6/108m was always a 4/68m which was a steal

Even when he retired we saved 14m last year and 16m this year

 

[diefree666]

You had me until the Romo stuff...... QBs of Romo skill got 23m a year

Every deal Romo signed was team friendly........his 6/108m was always a 4/68m which was a steal

Even when he retired we saved 14m last year and 16m this year

hindsight is the only way that deal looks bad; but some here never figure that out

 

[diefree666]

I think a lot of it has been the decline. And it's not all lack of targets. I believe 2017 was his worst season for drops, and he made some pretty bad ones.

Note, I am not saying he should be cut. I am just saying it's not like he's a high flier like before and just suffering from the Cowboys running the ball and spreading the ball around more. He's had his own issues, for whatever reason.

Romo worked incredibly hard to get Dez productive and just as importantly content. Dak really cannot be expected as young as he is to just take right over there; that is one of the things Romo did that his haters and the Dak slobberers just do not get. He did a lot of things like that in a lot of areas.

 

[Ky31]

A report lists the top 10 salary cap hits on the Cowboys roster for the upcoming year. Keep in mind these are cap hits, not actual salaries:

1. Tyron Smith. $17.5 million
2. Dez Bryant. $16.5 million
3. Travis Frederick $13.2 million
4. Sean Lee $11 Million
5. Zack Martin $9.3 million
6. Tyrone Crawford $9.1 Million
7. Zeke $6.5 million
8. Witten. $6.5 million
9. Collins $5.8 Million
10. O. Scandrick. $5.2 Million

Here are a few observations:

These guys are worth the money of healthy:

1. Tyron
3. Frederick
4. Sean Lee
5. Zack Martin
7. Zeke
8. Collins

These guys might be worth the money:

6. Crawford (his number used to be abhorrent, now it is looking more reasonable
10. OScan. If he starts at corner he is a bargain. But does he still have it?

Not worth it: Witten. Aging player. Lots of guile. Little performance. Worth maybe half his cap hit IF he gets his snaps cut as well.

All time bad contract:

Dez. As much as I bash Witten (and that's a lot) he isn't even in the stratosphere of how bad Dez' contract is. Keep in mind Dez hasn't been restructured like Tyron's was. If you take out the restructures Dez is so far out in front it's not even funny.

You could literally pay all three of the bottom guys Witten, Collins and Scandrick) for the price Dez is being paid. This contract ranks way up there with some of the all time worst contracts that the Cowboys have ever signed.

Let me be clear here. I do not fault the Cowboys for resigning Dez, but Dez was never worth the contract he signed for. He had to be a perennial All Pro to validate that deal and it was never going to happen.

That's what getting hung up on stats (TDs) and sentiment will get you. Jersey sales may have also had something to do with it. But that contract was bad from the outset. No one could have envisioned it being THIS bad, but it was a bad decision. This is why you can't let a player (even a QB) hold your team completely hostage.

I’m so sick of this anti Dez **** all wrapped up in more ********!!!

 

[Nightman]

I’m so sick of this anti Dez **** all wrapped up in more bull****!!!

A simple restructure and they save at least 6m on the cap

 

[Ky31]

A simple restructure and they save at least 6m on the cap

I can see a restructure, the dude bleeds Dallas...other than Zeke who in the last few yrs has been all worldly...I’m just so sick of the anti Dez movement!

 

[DHCBF66]

Cut Crawford and Scandrick, sign Poe, draft a DB or 2....

 

[robjay04]

hindsight is the only way that deal looks bad; but some here never figure that out

You had me until the Romo stuff...... QBs of Romo skill got 23m a year

Every deal Romo signed was team friendly........his 6/108m was always a 4/68m which was a steal

Even when he retired we saved 14m last year and 16m this year

I won’t disagree but I did think Romo was a little old when he signed that deal. I don’t ever really agree with a team giving a 6 year deal to a 33 year old player...especially a QB that takes a lot of hits.

I remember that same offseason he got a routine back procedure that was probably a little less more serious than the team portrayed at the time.

Giving a 6 year deal to a 32 year old QB is a worse contract decision than giving a 5 year deal to a 26 year old receiver is the point I was trying to make.

 

[Alexander]

Cut Crawford and Scandrick, sign Poe, draft a DB or 2....

The obsession with Dontari Poe continues.

 

[Aven8]

And people want to add a 1st or 2nd round guard to this Oline and their salaries??

Next thing you know George Frikin Selvie is our starting DE again because we can't afford to pay anyone!

Just not smart money wise. I would love to have Hernandez at left guard. But would rather have Vea, or Ro Smith, etc. and a decent guard in the 3rd-5th.