Twitter: Cowboys create cap room with Zeke's contract

[kskboys]

Yes. It’s hard to say that there’s an absolute one way or another. But it sure feels as though they get few bargains. And when they do - as with a guy like Prescott- they squander the opportunity anyway.

The weaknesses at S and DT always rear their ugly heads come playoff time.

 

[Stash]

It hasnt….but if we are being realistic….I can’t say anyone who’s hired Jason Garrett, Chan Gailey, Wade Phillips and Dave Campo as head coaches is serious about winning. That’s more criminal than what they’ve done with the cap. Never mind they had Sean Payton in house….

The decisions on coaching is definitely the biggest issue.

 

[John813]

Based on what you posted….2023 they can still get out of it.

Which was the original date too for any possible removal from the team.

He had guaranteed base through 2022, which meant 2023 was the first realistic date he could be off the team if he declined hardcore or pissed off Stephen enough. lol

 

[starfan1]

That’s an insane view to have…..at the end of the day he’s still one of the better backs in the league despite the claims by some of our resident mouth breathers Pollard is better.

anyone who says Pollard is better is nuts.what Pollard is though is better value in terms of production vs cost. You don't pay running backs like they paid Zeke. Period! That don't take anything away from him he's top 5 in the league and I don't blame him. I blame organization. As much as I don't like zeke jerry is the buffoon in this matter.

 

[Stash]

The weaknesses at S and DT always rear their ugly heads come playoff time.

At defensive end too. I still haven’t forgotten Crawford AND Gregory getting destroyed by the Rams run game in our last playoff appearance.

But that goes back to coaching, and Old Man River telegraphing everything to the opponents.

 

[kskboys]

I think there are contracts the Cowboys have done that I disagree with such as Jaylon on the other hand we have put together in my view a pretty damn good roster.

We have, but the huge contracts keep us from taking the next step, along w/ the complete inability to understand how important S's and DT's are to super bowl runs.

 

[kskboys]

At defensive end too. I still haven’t forgotten Crawford AND Gregory getting destroyed by the Rams run game in our last playoff appearance.

Yeah, but don't tell Jerry that, all he needs is the tiniest excuse to fill the roster w/ CB's and pass rushers and leave the other positions hanging out to dry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DasTex]

More kicking bad contract money down the road as usual by this dumb organization.

New Zeke contract with cap hit and dead money:


2021: $6.82M cap hit $36.9M dead money

2022: $18.2M cap hit $30M dead money

2023: $16.7M cap hit $11.8M dead money

2024: $14.3M cap hit $6M dead money

2025: $17.1M cap hit $1.7M dead money

2026: $16.6M cap hit $0 dead money


So Zeke not going anywhere for at least the next 3 seasons when he turns 29 years old.

Seems like a perfectly structured contract. The out year is right before the normal huge fall off year of age 30.

 

[jazzcat22]

We have, but the huge contracts keep us from taking the next step, along w/ the complete inability to understand how important S's and DT's are to super bowl runs.

Agree about the DT's and S's.
However, how has the huge contracts kept them from taking the next step? If they sign big names FA's, would that not also require a huge contract? What player have they let go in FA that went on to help another team be better, as difference maker. A few that won SB's, like 5 ex-players that went to KC were mostly along for the ride.

What held this team back was keeping a certain coach around way too long was a big part of it.

 

[Doomsday101]

Yes. It’s hard to say that there’s an absolute one way or another. But it sure feels as though they get few bargains. And when they do - as with a guy like Prescott- they squander the opportunity anyway.

all I can say is there have been moves they have made that I fully agreed with and some I haven't. One thing I disagreed with that in the end may end up being a saving grace for this team is hanging on to Gregory as they did, personally I would have cut him after the second suspension. There are things Jerry has done that I have fully disagreed with yet there have been many instance that I have supported. Lastly just so no one gets confused, if I were the owner of a team, Jerry would not be my GM. This is the situation and all I hope for is Jerry listens to those around him like McClay and like coaches, I want to see these people working together

 

[jazzcat22]

Seems like a perfectly structured contract. The out year is right before the normal huge fall off year of age 30.

I was going to post something like this. As I was responding to another post, so you beat me to it.

 

[Jarntt]

I would have waited a month or so to see if he looked better this season before doing this. The timing doesn't make sense. Make all the excuses you want for why, but he wasn't much more than average last year. I do fully expect him to bounce back, but why not wait to see it?

With this restructure it looks like Zeke will be here until after the 2024 season with $1.7M dead money in 2025.I doubt we pay him that 2025 or 2026 salary. Personally I liked the option (doesn't mean he had to do it) of cutting him after 2022. Now if we did that it's almost $12M in dead money. I guess we could still cut him after 2023 with reasonable dead money if no longer performing. Hopefully Zeke bounces back to what we all know he can be.

 

[Doomsday101]

We have, but the huge contracts keep us from taking the next step, along w/ the complete inability to understand how important S's and DT's are to super bowl runs.

Huge contracts take place league wide, people here complain about them yet every FA period they want to go after a high priced FA and often times those FA do not live up to the big contracts they end up with. We had people blasting jerry for not paying out big money to Earl Thomas, thank goodness we didn't. I don't think we have ignored defense but we have missed on players.

 

[kskboys]

Agree about the DT's and S's.
However, how has the huge contracts kept them from taking the next step? If they sign big names FA's, would that not also require a huge contract? What player have they let go in FA that went on to help another team be better, as difference maker. A few that won SB's, like 5 ex-players that went to KC were mostly along for the ride.

What held this team back was keeping a certain coach around way too long was a big part of it.

Odd drafting due to poor GMing, and too much emphasis on the glory positions and not enough blue collar positions.

It's not so much the huge contracts themselves, it's who he pays. Take the 20 mil for Cooper and DLaw and the 12 mil for Jaylon, and just consider who you could've botten for 52 mil. Yes, Coop and DLaw are good players, I'm not saying that, but a top flight S and DT would've had much more impact. That's just one example.

 

[kskboys]

Huge contracts take place league wide, people here complain about them yet every FA period they want to go after a high priced FA and often times those FA do not live up to the big contracts they end up with. We had people blasting jerry for not paying out big money to Earl Thomas, thank goodness we didn't. I don't think we have ignored defense but we have missed on players.

Man, I think I've said this 3 times in this thread now: It's not how much, it's who you pay. We make poor choices.

We have ignored the DT and S positions. Late round picks and cheap FA's is ignoring.

Earl Thomas would've been a very dumb signing.

 

[kskboys]

all I can say is there have been moves they have made that I fully agreed with and some I haven't. One thing I disagreed with that in the end may end up being a saving grace for this team is hanging on to Gregory as they did, personally I would have cut him after the second suspension. There are things Jerry has done that I have fully disagreed with yet there have been many instance that I have supported. Lastly just so no one gets confused, if I were the owner of a team, Jerry would not be my GM. This is the situation and all I hope for is Jerry listens to those around him like McClay and like coaches, I want to see these people working together

This is a very good post.

 

[fivetwos]

More kicking bad contract money down the road as usual by this dumb organization.

New Zeke contract with cap hit and dead money:


2021: $6.82M cap hit $36.9M dead money

2022: $18.2M cap hit $30M dead money

2023: $16.7M cap hit $11.8M dead money

2024: $14.3M cap hit $6M dead money

2025: $17.1M cap hit $1.7M dead money

2026: $16.6M cap hit $0 dead money


So Zeke not going anywhere for at least the next 3 seasons when he turns 29 years old.

Not at all.

You're leaving out dead money spread over two years with a June 1 designation and the effect of dropping the base salary when released.

If they can manage to trade him, it's doable after this offseason, but that's has next to zero shot of happening for several reasons.

After 2022, if he is released with a June 1 designation, there will be 5m in dead money in 2023 and 6m in 2024....but a 10m savings overall on the 2023 cap.

The effect of this restructure probably increased the 2024 dead money by 2-3 million.

Not ideal, but they probably figure on a significant cap increase between now and then.

 

[MyFairLady]

Kicking the can down the road has two main benefits. First you basically have more money to spend now. It is a "win now" approach. Second the value of a future dollar is less than the value of a current dollar because the salary cap goes up each year.

Kicking the can down the road has one main disadvantage. You limit you ability to do things in the future. As previously stated it is a "win now" approach. You end up with players like Travis Frederick counting 6 million against the cap after he is gone and players like D Law counting 25 million against your cap. The attempt to "win now" a few years ago is having a negative affect on our ability to actually win now.

Our front office will always take the "win now" approach because they can. They are under no pressure to actually win. The only pressure they feel is the pressure to remain relevant.

We currently have over 17 million in restructured bonus money counting against the cap. That seems like a lot to me. Add that to Fredericks 6 million and you are talking 23 million. That is 23 million that we spent in previous years in an attempt to win now that is hurting our chances to actually win now. It would be fine if we had a bunch of play off wins to show for it but we do not.

 

[blueblood70]

Fully expected this and I think we will see other big contracts handled the same way. Anytime teams do these big contracts they do so with the intent of restructuring the contract to free up cap space. Cowboys are far from the only NFL team who does this.

 

[kskboys]

Kicking the can down the road has two main benefits. First you basically have more money to spend now. It is a "win now" approach. Second the value of a future dollar is less than the value of a current dollar because the salary cap goes up each year.

Kicking the can down the road has one main disadvantage. You limit you ability to do things in the future. As previously stated it is a "win now" approach. You end up with players like Travis Frederick counting 6 million against the cap after he is gone and players like D Law counting 25 million against your cap. The attempt to "win now" a few years ago is having a negative affect on our ability to actually win now.

Our front office will always take the "win now" approach because they can. They are under no pressure to actually win. The only pressure they feel is the pressure to remain relevant.

We currently have over 17 million in restructured bonus money counting against the cap. That seems like a lot to me. Add that to Fredericks 6 million and you are talking 23 million. That is 23 million that we spent in previous years in an attempt to win now that is hurting our chances to actually win now. It would be fine if we had a bunch of play off wins to show for it but we do not.

Well said.

Jerry has never been willing to bite the bullet for a year or two to start over. That has also kept us from the promised land. Turning down trades such as a 2nd for Mike Jenkins(Who was a FA after the season anyway), Antonio Cromartie for Tashard Choice, and a 2nd for Marty Bennett(after he'd already proven to be a major knucklehead) are part of the "WIN NOW" problems.