Cowboys defense for 2015

[cowboys1981]

Sign
DE Greg Hardy
DE Cliff Avril
DT Pat Williams
CB Charles Tillman



SDE-Hardy-Mincey
1DT-Brent-Pat Williams 1yr -Coleman
3DT-Crawford-Okoye
WDE-Avril-Lawrence

LB's- Lee-McClain(resign)-Hitchens-Durant

CB's-Scandrick-Tillman-Mo-Moore

Safeties- Church-Hamilton-Wilcox

 

[Mr Cowboy]

We are 2 edge pass rushers, a defensive tackle, and 2 quality defensive backs away from having a good defense. That is way too much of a hole to fill in one offseason.

Only in Dallas does it take 4-5 off seasons to fix a particular group..... by the time they fix the defense the OL will be broken and ready to replace. While other teams turn their fortunes around with a new head coach and one off season.

 

[dogberry]

What is the salary cap next year?

Fuzzy had $160 million?

 

[JakeCamp12]

We need 2 corners that are fast and that can tackle. We also need a fast safety that can tackle and cover.

 

[Bluefin]

Melton's option is 9M and he's only been playing about 45% of the snaps.

I don't see the team picking up Henry Melton's three year option this coming off-season.

Tyrone Crawford moved to UT on the fly this season and is coming an Achilles that cost him the 2013 season. He should do nothing but improve at the position and there is quite a bit of potential depth in the wings.

Davon Coleman, Amobi Okoye, Chris Whaley and Jack Crawford are all possible reserve UT options next year plus any drat picks or undrafted free agents that get added to the mix.

Maybe Melton will agree to taking a pay cut in order to stay, but I think it will be best for everyone to part ways.

Carr is scheduled to make 8M. They can do better with that money regardless of the dead-money implications.

I wonder if the team will even give Brandon Carr the option of taking a pay cut or just cut bait using the June tag?

If released with the June designation, Carr would count $4.717M in dead money next season while opening $7.49M in cap room on June 2nd (this number takes into account adding a new salary to replace Carr on the off-season top 51).

Carr would then count $7.434M in dead money in 2015, a cap savings of $5.858M, and be completely off the books in 2016 (saving $12.177M). These savings reflect the net amount, meaning I added a minimum salary to take Carr's roster spot in each season.

The actual cash savings for releasing Carr would be $27.1M ($8M in '15, $9.1M in '16, $10M in '17).

 

[dantheman41]

Honestly, I don't think we will have much in the way of spending money after we resign Dez/Harris/Leary/Free/Durant/McClain/Beasley/Dunbar. I would settle for mid range corner who can run ala Mike Jenkins. Draft the rest.

 

[Tenkamenin]

We need 2 corners that are fast and that can tackle. We also need a fast safety that can tackle and cover.

Agreed, Sterling Moore is a good backup, his play against KKKooper in the redzone was spectacular. Furthermore, Scandrick is player, a good tackler and always around the ball. Wilcox is terrible, I doubt he would still be in the league if he was on another team. Church as a strong safety works for me. Carr unfortunately has lost his confidence and needs to take a pay cut or get cut.

 

[ak47kaehu]

Need to sign/draft players that fit our scheme.

 

[Bluefin]

There is a player left off your list that's intrigueing . The DE from buffalo is highly productive and could be a bargain . I believe his name is Jerry Hughes .

Yes, that is Jerry Hughes.

He seems to have really blossomed in Buffalo these last two seasons and will turn 27 next August.

A back to back double digit sack RDE (has 9.5 right now) might not be a bargain in free agency.

But definitely worth a look, IMO, DeMarcus Lawrence and Jeremy Mincey can play either side.

We need more edge rush and can't depend solely on the draft to address the issue.

 

[LatinMind]

Give me Walter Thurmond and jarius wynn or Cory redding to go with Gardner. I like what Dallas has at dt. Melton will be back. His low signing bonus allows Dallas to restructure his deal. Dallas needs a true fs. Church should playing ss. Wilcox is a backup.

 

[NumOneQB]

We are 2 edge pass rushers, a defensive tackle, and 2 quality defensive backs away from having a good defense. That is way too much of a hole to fill in one offseason.

This guy gets it.
This defense stinks from top to bottom. Half the positions need upgrades, period. Now I'm seeing Sean Lee's name being thrown around??? The fellow's a walking crystal chandelier, he's the 1st LBer that should be replaced....

 

[Bluefin]

What is the salary cap next year?

Fuzzy had $160 million?

To be determined.

The unadjusted salary cap is $133M this year and speculation at this time last year had the cap increasing by about $10 in 2015.

And that was a conservative estimate, I expect it to go up by more than that.

But even using the $10M increase as an estimate, it would put the unadjusted '15 cap at $143M. Add in Dallas' carryover from this season ($9.792M) and the Cowboys adjusted '15 cap would be $152.792M and change.

Dallas' team carryover won't remain as high as it is now, but I expect the overall cap increase to be larger than I used in this estimate.

So I expect our team cap number to exceed $150M.

My last 2015 top 51 projection came to $148.5798M, this number is before making any releases or restructures but includes tendering restricted free agents and adding enough futures contracts to reach a full top 51.

Tony Romo ($12M) and Tyron Smith's ($8.2352M) are designed to be restructured and bring the top 51 number to $128.3446M. These two planned moves should create around $25M in cap room before anything else is done.

If Doug Free's contract voids, the team can try to negotiate a new deal before it does, it will clear another $6.53M after adding a salary to replace him in the top 51. If Henry Melton's three year option is declined, which I expect, we add $7.9895M to the pot after adding a salary to replace him.

That would bring the 2015 cap commitment to $113.8251M.

That would mean something in the neighborhood of $40M in cap space before adding any free agent contracts or possibly using the Franchise tag on Dez Bryant.

 

[CrownCowboy]

Last year we "fixed" the OL in one offseason by drafting Fred, developing Leary and coaching up Free and Bern to play better.

I wouldn't say it was fixed last year.

We drafted Tyron a few years ago, Fred last year and got Martin this year and this is the first year it seems to be really coming together.

 

[CrownCowboy]

Not really. If you "fix" the pass rush, you can get by with mid-tier DBs OR if you upgrade the DBs the pass rush will have an extra second and will get more sacks.

Adding 2 CBs like Revis to this defense and the sacks would increase significantly. Not only would the front 4 get the extra second to get the QB, but they could blitz way more often without worrying about getting burned. Obviously you can't add Revis x2, but the point is that adding 1 or 2 really good players would improve all of the surrounding players and allow the coaches to do more with the scheme.

Valid points.

The fact remains that we need to upgrade those positions I noted with much better talent. We could pick off a position or two hopefully and it would make the rest of the defense better, but we still need to address all of them in the years to come to have the kind of defense we can win with.

 

[Alexander]

Honestly, I don't think we will have much in the way of spending money after we resign Dez/Harris/Leary/Free/Durant/McClain/Beasley/Dunbar. I would settle for mid range corner who can run ala Mike Jenkins. Draft the rest.

I would hope we are not going to re-sign all of those players unless we win something with them, i.e. a playoff game.

 

[Kaiser]

I wouldn't say it was fixed last year.

We drafted Tyron a few years ago, Fred last year and got Martin this year and this is the first year it seems to be really coming together.

Agree, I meant "fixed" in the sense that it went from being a huge liability to being OK. This year it has taken the next step up to being an elite unit (except for yesterday).

I don't really see the DL taking that second jump to the elite level unless we get a JPP that returns to an elite level and a Fred-type of great draft choice on top of that. But the team has already made the "fix" in terms of the DL being a complete disaster last year and being OK to mediocre this year.

 

[Bluefin]

Honestly, I don't think we will have much in the way of spending money after we resign Dez/Harris/Leary/Free/Durant/McClain/Beasley/Dunbar. I would settle for mid range corner who can run ala Mike Jenkins. Draft the rest.

Dez Bryant should only be expensive from a cap standpoint if a long term deal isn't agreed upon and the team uses the Franchise tag in order to retain him.

Dwayne Harris can test the market and leave if he gets a really nice offer. We can't overspend on role players.

Ronald Leary will be an exclusive rights free agent, that tender is only $585K, he can only re-sign with Dallas. He's scheduled to be a restricted free agent in 2016 and will become unrestricted in 2017.

I expect the team will try to rework Doug Free's contract before it voids, but it will come down to what he wants and what is offered. Free lost $7M in his pay cut and the best way to recoup that money is to become a free agent again.

Justin Durant has played eight years for three teams and only avoided missing games due to injury once. We don't need injury prone players.

Rolando McClain is someone I want to keep, but determining his price could get tricky. He may project as a two down player next year with Sean Lee and Anthony Hitchens being better fits in the Nickel.

Cole Beasley, Lance Dunbar, Sterling Moore and Chris Jones are all restricted free agents and should be easy to keep. Dallas will sometimes try to get such players to agree to multi-year deals instead of the one year RFA tender, which would lower the cap hit.

 

[CCBoy]

Not really. If you "fix" the pass rush, you can get by with mid-tier DBs OR if you upgrade the DBs the pass rush will have an extra second and will get more sacks.

Adding 2 CBs like Revis to this defense and the sacks would increase significantly. Not only would the front 4 get the extra second to get the QB, but they could blitz way more often without worrying about getting burned. Obviously you can't add Revis x2, but the point is that adding 1 or 2 really good players would improve all of the surrounding players and allow the coaches to do more with the scheme.

If Jason Garrett is still here, the game plan has been to take mid to low level free agents and push towards the draft. How much defensive line can be patchworked in a single draft?

 

[Bluefin]

If Jason Garrett is still here, the game plan has been to take mid to low level free agents and push towards the draft. How much defensive line can be patchworked in a single draft?

Getting one legit edge rusher can change the entire defense.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

To be determined.

The unadjusted salary cap is $133M this year and speculation at this time last year had the cap increasing by about $10 in 2015.

And that was a conservative estimate, I expect it to go up by more than that.

But even using the $10M increase as an estimate, it would put the unadjusted '15 cap at $143M. Add in Dallas' carryover from this season ($9.792M) and the Cowboys adjusted '15 cap would be $152.792M and change.

Dallas' team carryover won't remain as high as it is now, but I expect the overall cap increase to be larger than I used in this estimate.

So I expect our team cap number to exceed $150M.

My last 2015 top 51 projection came to $148.5798M, this number is before making any releases or restructures but includes tendering restricted free agents and adding enough futures contracts to reach a full top 51.

Tony Romo ($12M) and Tyron Smith's ($8.2352M) are designed to be restructured and bring the top 51 number to $128.3446M. These two planned moves should create around $25M in cap room before anything else is done.

If Doug Free's contract voids, the team can try to negotiate a new deal before it does, it will clear another $6.53M after adding a salary to replace him in the top 51. If Henry Melton's three year option is declined, which I expect, we add $7.9895M to the pot after adding a salary to replace him.

That would bring the 2015 cap commitment to $113.8251M.

That would mean something in the neighborhood of $40M in cap space before adding any free agent contracts or possibly using the Franchise tag on Dez Bryant.

Nice write Bluefin.

I just hope they do not change Romo's base to a signing bonus (yet again).

They have to start planning for a non-Romo future.