Cowboys expected to have about $10.8 million in cap space for 2016 after arbitration win by NFLPA

[TheMarathonContinues]

At least they tried.

You have to pick the right players whether you draft, use free agency or re-sign your own guys.

DAL is close to the 89% spending floor. That is embarrassing for a team with 620m in revenues. Way to use that cash advantage.

So you should just spend money just to spend it?

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Don't get me wrong. I understand where you are always coming from with spending big in fa but it is also very dangerous. We need to go for scheme fits who wont break the bank instead of big names. Instead of Danny trevathan let's go after Derrick Johnson who the Chiefs most likely will have to let walk. Instead of Muhammad Wilkerson let's get a much cheaper Brandon Mebane. Instead of Oliver Vernon let's go after Robert Ayers and/or William Hayes who would be cheaper combined and won't get long contracts. This is what Pats do. This is what the Packers do. This is what the Steelers do. Now I know these teams draft better but that could be due to better coaches who can actually develop a 2nd,3rd, 4th, etc round pick. We need better coaches more then talent because we have plenty of talent.

To be honest....I think the Cowboys may draft better than those teams do. Or as good as they do anyway.

 

[RandyOh]

To be honest....I think the Cowboys may draft better than those teams do. Or as good as they do anyway.

I'll agree with that in terms of I think we have been the best team drafting in the 1st round since 2010(which is the pick you want to hit on). Of course we missed on just one pick (Mo) but we gotten all pro's in the early, mid, and late 1st round but Pats, Steelers, Packs hit a lot more on 2nd and early 3rd day picks.

 

[Hoofbite]

Gonna need to spend more than that. I believe they are a tad under the 4-year cash floor, which makes what little space they do have all the more impressive. Somehow haven't quite spent all that much but don't have any players or space to show for it.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

If they re-sign Mo and McClain that only needs us missing two starters RDE and 1TECH. That would be big going into Free agency and the draft.

LDE:Lawrence/Russell
RDE: ? / Gregory/ ?
3DT:Crawford/Irving
1DT: ?/ McClain

SLB: Hitchens/Nzechoa
MLB: McClain/Gachler/Smith
WSLB:Lee/Wilson

CB:Scandrick/Claiborne
CB:Carr/Mitchell/ ?
FS:Jones/Wilcox
SS:Church/Heath

with a healthy offense this defense isn't nearly as bad. They were actually solid last season(even with our horrible offense). Add in two quality starters in the draft or free agency and i think we'll be fine. Too many are exaggerating the "holes ". No team is perfect at every position.

 

[Alexander]

If they re-sign Mo and McClain that only needs us missing two starters RDE and 1TECH. That would be big going into Free agency and the draft.

LDE:Lawrence/Russell
RDE: ? / Gregory/ ?
3DT:Crawford/Irving
1DT: ?/ McClain

SLB: Hitchens/Nzechoa
MLB: McClain/Gachler/Smith
WSLB:Lee/Wilson

CB:Scandrick/Claiborne
CB:Carr/Mitchell/ ?
FS:Jones/Wilcox
SS:Church/Heath

with a healthy offense this defense isn't nearly as bad. They were actually solid last season(even with our horrible offense). Add in two quality starters in the draft or free agency and i think we'll be fine. Too many are exaggerating the "holes ". No team is perfect at every position.

Just because there is a starter does not mean there are not holes. There is such a thing as a substandard starter.

 

[LittleD]

Yes, but great drafts start with more than solid 1st round picks. And from the 2nd round on we have sucked for years!

I can agree with your statements and if you have been doing bad deals and bad drafts for years, it will take you years
to overcome all the mistakes. Just look at Oakland, Cleveland & Jacksonville for examples. For 20 years we have
languished behind Jerry's bad decisions and we've paid the price. I think we might still have to pay the price for
several more years.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Just because there is a starter does not mean there are not holes. There is such a thing as a substandard starter.

Look at all of them we have just in our secondary alone.

 

[plasticman]

They should use the money to extend Frederick's contract now.

 

[Alexander]

They should use the money to extend Frederick's contract now.

I would guess they are already thinking about that.

 

[Alexander]

It is amazing how awesome and deep our team is. No one can get cut. Especially not the overpaid and underachieving.

It is not just fans overrating the talent on this team.

The team actually behaves this way. They are always anticipating good things happening to talent that already has maxed out in whatever brief flash they may have shown.

Look at how long we hung onto players like Costa, Ogletree and Procter. And it is not like they were paid dirt salaries.

Look at Hayden now. We all know he should be gone, but he is a "glue" player for the staff. If he were not a free agent, he would have a roster spot already earmarked for him.

This team self-evaluates in a strange manner. And that drives the train in terms of everything, even the draft.

If the roster is "set" and some of that roster includes players like Hayden, Wilcox etc. in starting roles, no wonder we can't win playoff games or break .500 consistently.

 

[WoodysGirl]

 

[BigStar]

Cut Carr and Church
Restructure TSmith and TCrawford

4 easy moves and DAL is 37m under the cap

I feel you, but will they do it for the right FAs or not?

 

[LittleD]

Most on the zone are right that the Cowboys could easily create 30mil+ in cap space if they needed it but,
they won't. They will shop for mid-tier players on 3 year deals for average 1-2mil per year. That is what
Stephen feels is cost effective shopping to fill holes. Hardy was the exception last year and it didn't
pan out well for the team. They can sign most anyone they want to but, I just get the feeling they
will play the waiting game again this year and buy when the market is right.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

We now have over 14 million in cap space

 

[Nightman]

I feel you, but will they do it for the right FAs or not?

Hardy 8m
Weddle 5m
LMiller 4m
SAM 3m
CB 4m
QB2 4m

Add that to 9 draft picks and we got something

 

[BigStar]

Hardy 8m
Weddle 5m
LMiller 4m
SAM 3m
CB 4m
QB2 4m

Add that to 9 draft picks and we got something

I agree with most of your choices but would try to lowball Hardy to see if he falls for the 5-6 range. Weddle's age concerns me so if it's 2-3 yr deal with a little dead money it wouldn't be a bad move. I hope McCoy takes less than 4M and we go QB @ 4. I like the CB prospects @texbumlife mentions earlier in thread (Heyward and Hosley) and would go that route since this team can't seem to draft past the 1st round lately and invest the money from Weddle to pick up two mid tier corners who excel in zone coverage. I like Miller a lot but not sure he won't get a better offer so may be better to look to draft in top 3 rds. 1 tech needs to be there too to FORCE Marinelli off Hayden already (the joke has run its course)

 

[Hoofbite]

At least they tried.

You have to pick the right players whether you draft, use free agency or re-sign your own guys.

DAL is close to the 89% spending floor. That is embarrassing for a team with 620m in revenues. Way to use that cash advantage.

The vast majority of a team's payroll is paid out over the course of the season. All teams are generating money over the season so cash now isn't a requirement to spend in free agency. It's also not like any of the owners are struggling to such an extent that they couldn't partake in free agency if they wanted to. For any owner who may be low on cash, the good news is he can structure the contract to cost little up front with a little base salary in year 1.

I don't think Dallas has any real advantage. Nearly every team is run by a person who's net worth is over $1B. On top of that, the annual revenue split is almost 1.5X the current cap. As long the payrolls for every team can be covered by the annual revenue split, there's no advantage to having more cash in terms of free agency. As long as each team has the prerequisite amount, they're fine.

 

[Nightman]

The vast majority of a team's payroll is paid out over the course of the season. All teams are generating money over the season so cash now isn't a requirement to spend in free agency. It's also not like any of the owners are struggling to such an extent that they couldn't partake in free agency if they wanted to. For any owner who may be low on cash, the good news is he can structure the contract to cost little up front with a little base salary in year 1.

I don't think Dallas has any real advantage. Nearly every team is run by a person who's net worth is over $1B. On top of that, the annual revenue split is almost 1.5X the current cap. As long the payrolls for every team can be covered by the annual revenue split, there's no advantage to having more cash in terms of free agency. As long as each team has the prerequisite amount, they're fine.

DAL has a CASH advantage. A lot of teams are land rich and dirt poor. Their franchise are worth 100s of millions but they don't have a ton of cash reserves. Some owners are just cheap(ARI, CIN, CLE).

Teams have to escrow the money when they guarantee it to a player. NE even had to make a deal with Brady to free up 25m in guarantees. DAL has no problem in that department.

DAL can also give huge signing bonuses and restructure every contract they have. Those are huge advantages that we used to take. But the cap was artificially stagnant before and during the last CBA. The owners wanted to appear broke. It worked for a couple years and the salary cap actually went down.

But the numbers were too big to hide and the revenues exploded. DAL was loose with the cap when it was flat and now they want to play it tight when it is exploding. It doesn't make any sense since Romo only has a couple years left.

XWalker used to show how DAL could spend 150% of the cap indefinitely as long as the cap went up a few % points. It has gone up nearly 35m in 3 years. DAL hasn't got better or smarter. They just hide their cap space better. They think it helps with negotiations and with the media. They get applauded for being frugal when they should mocked for pocketing profits.

 

[KingintheNorth]