Dallas' Free Agents

[Verdict]

I am sitting here enjoying the huge win we had last night over the Packers and am looking at the prospects of having the pieces come together to have a team that could compete for a super bowl for the next several years. The one thing that could shorten the ride is the salary cap.

I realize that we are in pretty good shape as it pertains to the cap, but we have a couple of important decisions to make regarding free agency at the end of this year. I am particularly interested in who you think we keep this year and who we let leave via free agency. I see Julius Jones being let go. If he leaves via free agency does the fact that he is a second rounder and statisitcally productive starter help us regarding compensatory a compensatory pic (hypothetically assuming we signed no free agents other than our own).

I cant see us letting Flo or Columbo go, but they aren't gonna be cheap, plus Flo is getting up there in years. I could see us franchising Flo for a year unless he accepts a short term deal. He is just too long in the tooth to sign long term, and too good not to keep. I can't see us letting an unproven player watch Romo's blind side for about 67 million reasons.

I realize we have the cap to keep every player we want to keep, but that isn't always a good idea for cap reasons. The fact that we are winning is going to make it a heck of a lot more expensive to keep our own players.

Crayton is another guy we are going to want to keep, but at what price? He would probably get more on the open market than he is going to be worth, but a guy like him is not going to be that easy to replace either.

Austin makes me think we might let Crayton go instead of paying him 5 million or more a year.

 

[dallasfan]

Bring everyone back but Julius Jones.

-Resign Marion Barber to a 4 year deal.
-Resign Crayton. He's proven he's atleast a #2 WR so far. Pay him accordingly.
-Resign Flo. While he's 33, he's playing as good this year, as any season or maybe even any tackle.
-Resign Chris Canty to a 4 or 5 year deal as well. He's our best DL.
-Resign Jay Ratliff to a 4 or 5 year deal. He's our most versitile DL.
-Resign Jacques Reeves. If we can get him for about 2 mil for 3 years, we should do it.
-Resign Ken Hamlin. He's better than RW and he may want more money than him, but after lacking a FS for so long, I can't stomach letting him leave.

Am I forgetting anyone?

 

[BARRYRAY]

Well I wouldn't disagree with anything but say hey why not keep JJ and spend the draft pick ona wr or a cb, an impact one, face it the nfl game has changed, its totally passing now, I mean Jones got like 5 carries, if we draft a rb for a passing team he's not gonna get the carries under we ditch Barber.The better impact would be to add a young wr, it would allow him some growing time, TO isn't gonna last forever, and Glenn is done...

 

[djtavo]

I am sitting here enjoying the huge win we had last night over the Packers and am looking at the prospects of having the pieces come together to have a team that could compete for a super bowl for the next several years. The one thing that could shorten the ride is the salary cap.

I realize that we are in pretty good shape as it pertains to the cap, but we have a couple of important decisions to make regarding free agency at the end of this year. I am particularly interested in who you think we keep this year and who we let leave via free agency. I see Julius Jones being let go. If he leaves via free agency does the fact that he is a second rounder and statisitcally productive starter help us regarding compensatory a compensatory pic (hypothetically assuming we signed no free agents other than our own).

I cant see us letting Flo or Columbo go, but they aren't gonna be cheap, plus Flo is getting up there in years. I could see us franchising Flo for a year unless he accepts a short term deal. He is just too long in the tooth to sign long term, and too good not to keep. I can't see us letting an unproven player watch Romo's blind side for about 67 million reasons.

I realize we have the cap to keep every player we want to keep, but that isn't always a good idea for cap reasons. The fact that we are winning is going to make it a heck of a lot more expensive to keep our own players.

Crayton is another guy we are going to want to keep, but at what price? He would probably get more on the open market than he is going to be worth, but a guy like him is not going to be that easy to replace either.

Austin makes me think we might let Crayton go instead of paying him 5 million or more a year.

great post, nice points

 

[Dcowboy84]

Bring everyone back but Julius Jones.

-Resign Marion Barber to a 4 year deal.
-Resign Crayton. He's proven he's atleast a #2 WR so far. Pay him accordingly.
-Resign Flo. While he's 33, he's playing as good this year, as any season or maybe even any tackle.
-Resign Chris Canty to a 4 or 5 year deal as well. He's our best DL.
-Resign Jay Ratliff to a 4 or 5 year deal. He's our most versitile DL.
-Resign Jacques Reeves. If we can get him for about 2 mil for 3 years, we should do it.
-Resign Ken Hamlin. He's better than RW and he may want more money than him, but after lacking a FS for so long, I can't stomach letting him leave.

Am I forgetting anyone?

i tend to agree with who you want to keep, but the deals will probably not work quite that way:

remember that Barber, Canty, and Ratliff are all RFA, so we will probably just put tenders on them and then work on deals during TC or during the season next year

Reeves is worth signing to me based on this year and the experience he is getting, and i think he has proven to be a good 3rd CB, and then we will hopefully draft another guy to be the 4th or compete for 3rd, although i've heard Spagnola mention a couple of times that they are impressed with what Alan Ball is doing on practice squad, so you never know what happens with that position.

I think Flo has proven that we need to keep him, but it will depend on what kind of money he wants...if he wants to break the bank i'm not sure what Jerry will do

Julius i agree is most likely gone...i hate to say it b/c i've been a fan of him since he was a rookie, but we all know he doesn't run the same, and the dump-offs and screens where he is really good we only run about 2 plays a game for some reason

To me Crayton will be the toughest call:
Will we want to keep him? Absolutely
Will he want more money than he's worth? This is where the issue lies. He has become a very confident player and we've seen him talking a lot this year. Now he has been backing it up with his play for sure, but i'm just not sure Jerry will pull out the major bucks to keep him.

Honestly, i think it will partially depend on what Terry decides to do. Will he retire? will we keep him even if he doesn't retire? will he really be healthy when cleared to play? will the knee affect him for the rest of his career and make him a shell of his former self?


And then of course we have the Jerry Jones factor. Will his plan for the draft (we're pretty sure who he wants, though doubtful it will happen) affect what he does with our free agents?

In the end it really becomes too tough to call until the end of the season.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the running game myself, Julius Jones won't break the bank... I say resign him too!

 

[Verdict]

These are all excellent posts, but they seem to ignore the point of my original post, which is keeping URFA are going to cost us cap room. The RFA are a cheap one year rental, but longer term deals are cheaper on the team in the long run.

 

[AmishCowboy]

Very few people leave Dallas if Jerry wants them to stay, I'm thinking Flo gets Franchised, Hamlin is resigned, Freguson and Glenn are released, JJ and Reeves walk and the rest get higher tenders, Crayton the one I don't know about. A lotta work to be done.

 

[dannyboy]

I see Ferguson and Glenn here one more year as their cap hit would be big if they are released now

 

[Sandyf]

We don't need to worry about Colombo as he is signed through the 2008 season. Julius will be gone. He wants to the main back, so just don't see him agreeing to stay.

Jerry will more than likely resign Crayton, Hamlin and Reeves to deals. If you believe the rumor boards, then Stephen Jones already has deals outlined for all three that will be signed shortly after the season is over. If they don't then we could see a franchise tag on one of them although I doubt. Why, lets see.

Crayton is worth keeping but Glenn is still under contract and we have Stanback, Hurd and Austin who all seem to be coming into there own plus the fact we will probably use a 1st day pick on a receiver and there are alot of quality WR coming out this year.

Reeves is not a starting CB in the shutdown mode for any team. A good spot starter and a very good 3rd down CB. Saying that, we must remember FA and Samuels just may be on Jerry's radar. And this might be hard to hear but rumor does have it that the Titans will either release Pacman Jones or trade him cheap. Anybody, Carpenter for Jones would you do it. Jerry would especially if Calvin Hill approves. It wouldn't surprise me much. Still we have Courtney Brown and Alan Ball, both of whom the coaching staff seems to be high on. So Reeves is going to break any bank.

I think Hamlin options are limited just as they were when we signed him last year. Jerry gave him a chance and now he is on a team that will be playoff bound for many years. He will sign a reasonable contract probably a 3 or 5 year deal. If he is stupid and demands to much, you can bet that Watkins will be the starting FS next year and might anyway with Hamlin and Roy sharing time at SS.

We will see Canty get a new contract and also Barber. Right now based on the numbers we are supposedly some 30 million under the projected cap for next year so getting contracts done shouldn't be a problem.

There are other factors to think about also. There is a move underfoot to expand the rosters to 60 players and another to have all active roster guys active on game day. If the NFL goes to 60 players, it will be because the injuries to the skill positions that seem to be increasing yearly. You could see all teams carry 4 QBs if that happens. But if it does the cap will need to increase substancially to account for those extra guys. I don't see the NFL ever going to all active players on game day because teams could hide the fact of injuried players to easy which makes planning for a team more difficult but the biggest reason would be the Vegas odds would almost never be close because of it and that is money. Money will make the deciding factors in both cases.

 

[QT]

Crayton is a hometown boy. It will be hard, but not difficult, for him to leave his beloved Cowboys. But money does talk.

 

[sago1]

Re-signing Adams & Crayton may be most important decisions Jerry/Stephen make. We also don't know how successful Terry Glenn's rehab will be & I believe 08 is the last year of his contract. And don't forget that Colombo will become a FA after 08 season. Also, Jerry has already said he wants to add an offensive "wow" playmaker. Whatever Jerry's decisions are you can bet protecting franchise QB Romo with a good OL and keeping/adding quality offensive weapons around him will be highest priority. We also can't forget that TO already stated he wants spend rest of his career in Dallas & wants new contract so re-signing him will also cost.

 

[IndianaCowboyFan]

Resign Jacques Reeves. If we can get him for about 2 mil for 3 years, we should do it.

I think he is making $850,000 a year and will want more not less.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I am sitting here enjoying the huge win we had last night over the Packers and am looking at the prospects of having the pieces come together to have a team that could compete for a super bowl for the next several years. The one thing that could shorten the ride is the salary cap.

I realize that we are in pretty good shape as it pertains to the cap, but we have a couple of important decisions to make regarding free agency at the end of this year. I am particularly interested in who you think we keep this year and who we let leave via free agency. I see Julius Jones being let go. If he leaves via free agency does the fact that he is a second rounder and statisitcally productive starter help us regarding compensatory a compensatory pic (hypothetically assuming we signed no free agents other than our own).

I cant see us letting Flo or Columbo go, but they aren't gonna be cheap, plus Flo is getting up there in years. I could see us franchising Flo for a year unless he accepts a short term deal. He is just too long in the tooth to sign long term, and too good not to keep. I can't see us letting an unproven player watch Romo's blind side for about 67 million reasons.

I realize we have the cap to keep every player we want to keep, but that isn't always a good idea for cap reasons. The fact that we are winning is going to make it a heck of a lot more expensive to keep our own players.

Crayton is another guy we are going to want to keep, but at what price? He would probably get more on the open market than he is going to be worth, but a guy like him is not going to be that easy to replace either.

Austin makes me think we might let Crayton go instead of paying him 5 million or more a year.

you only receive comp picks if you lose more free agents than you sign, so if we lose Julius and don't sign anyone, then yeah, we'll receive a comp pick

 

[lockster]

Since Roy was off the field so much Thursday and the fact that our pass defense was better, trade Roy, resign Hamlin and Reeves. then alternate Henry, Watkins, and maybe Brown at the other saftey position when handy. Trade Spears, and resign Canty to long term. We'll have plenty of depth with Ratliff, Hatcher, and Bowen. That way, Ferg and Tank get the tackle position. Trade Carpenter, resign Burnette. Draft another linebacker at some point. Draft a running back, cb, and lb too.

 

[eduncan22]

Reeves is not a starting CB in the shutdown mode for any team. A good spot starter and a very good 3rd down CB. Saying that, we must remember FA and Samuels just may be on Jerry's radar. And this might be hard to hear but rumor does have it that the Titans will either release Pacman Jones or trade him cheap.

Dallas will be very luck to sign Reeves.

The kid is a player and he should have been signed to a long term deal before the season started.

 

[dallasfan]

I think he is making $850,000 a year and will want more not less.

I meant 2 million for the 3 seasons (total 6 mil), not 2 mill over 3 years

 

[dallasfan]

Since Roy was off the field so much Thursday and the fact that our pass defense was better, trade Roy, resign Hamlin and Reeves. then alternate Henry, Watkins, and maybe Brown at the other saftey position when handy. Trade Spears, and resign Canty to long term. We'll have plenty of depth with Ratliff, Hatcher, and Bowen. That way, Ferg and Tank get the tackle position. Trade Carpenter, resign Burnette. Draft another linebacker at some point. Draft a running back, cb, and lb too.

This is madden. Spears is a good DE. He's not as good as Canty, but he plays the run, very well. We just gave Roy a contract, so we're stuck with him (not that I would trade him). Henry is still too good a corner to play at safety anyway. And you don't trade a 1rst rounder after 2 years.

 

[dallasfan]

Dallas will be very luck to sign Reeves.

The kid is a player and he should have been signed to a long term deal before the season started.

the kid is the 3rd best CB on the team. And weather you want to admit it, there's a huuuuge drop off after #2

 

[scottsp]

Keeping Julius would definitely depend on his asking price, or what he commands in free agency. Personally, I would let him test the market. If he finds something he likes, have at it.

I don't believe Dallas would need to use a first rounder on a runner, perhaps not even their second to fill that void. I am not necessarily looking to run Jones out of town, but I would be in favor of trusting my scouting/personnel department with this.

Good teams lose talent, on both sides of the line: personnel and coaching staff. Those teams sustain success by effectively adapting to those losses. And this goes a lot deeper than Julius Jones.

If this club hopes to enjoy any kind of staying power, Jeff Ireland must be an integral player.