Dallas is NOT in Salary Cap trouble in 2014

[InmanRoshi]

None of that is true.
a. Pitt isn't leading the league in restructures. They are actually letting guys go. Same as the Pats.

Pittburgh restructured Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Lawrence Timmons to clear out $14 million in cap space.

Pittsburgh also restructured Lamar Woodley to clear up $4 million. He was due $9 million in base salary, which they converted about 5+ into signing bonus. There was absolutely no way they were ever planning on paying him a $9 million base salary. They intentionally structured his contract to be restructered this offseason to clear capspace. They're going to restructure his deal again next year, because he's due $8 million in base salary.

And yes, over the last 3 years, no one has restructed more contracts than the Steelers. They've restructured 13 deals since the new CBA. Roethlisberger three times; Timmons twice; Brown, Heath Miller, Chris Kemoeatu, James Harrison, Brett Keisel, LaMarr Woodley, Ike Taylor, Willie Colon

 

[jterrell]

Pittburgh restructured Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Lawrence Timmons to clear out $14 million in cap space.

Pittsburgh also restructured Lamar Woodley to clear up $4 million. He was due $9 million in base salary, which they converted about 5+ into signing bonus. There was absolutely no way they were ever planning on paying him a $9 million base salary. They intentionally structured his contract to be restructered this offseason to clear capspace. They're going to restructure his deal again next year, because he's due $8 million in base salary.

And yes, over the last 3 years, no one has restructed more contracts than the Steelers. They've restructured 13 deals since the new CBA. Roethlisberger three times; Timmons twice; Brown, Heath Miller, Chris Kemoeatu, James Harrison, Brett Keisel, LaMarr Woodley, Ike Taylor, Willie Colon

The Steelers live in cap hell.
They also lost the top free agent on the market for nothing.
Hard to use them as example of anything positive.

All that said... the Steelers have restructured 3 contracts in this off-season, Dallas restructured 7.
But IF you want to say the Steelers and Cowboys are sharing a model on restructures you might also note they shared an 8-8 record last year.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Ware, Romo, Witten people like that...have been worth every penny.

Ware and Witten, perhaps. Not everybody agrees on the Romo worth every penny argument.

Free? Again. Not a single soul was saying let him walk. Almost everyone was terrified our 20 something tackle was going to walk to Philly.

This is simply inaccurate. There were posters on this board, me included, who did not want to see this happen.


I think in general, the jury is still out on this approach but I do understand what you are trying to get across here.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The Steelers live in cap hell.
They also lost the top free agent on the market for nothing.
Hard to use them as example of anything positive.

All that said... the Steelers have restructured 3 contracts in this off-season, Dallas restructured 7.
But IF you want to say the Steelers and Cowboys are sharing a model on restructures you might also note they shared an 8-8 record last year.

That an interesting and long winded for you to admit that you were flatly wrong about Pittsburgh leading the way in restructuring contracts, but I'll take it I guess.

 

[perrykemp]

The Steelers live in cap hell.
They also lost the top free agent on the market for nothing.
Hard to use them as example of anything positive.

All that said... the Steelers have restructured 3 contracts in this off-season, Dallas restructured 7.
But IF you want to say the Steelers and Cowboys are sharing a model on restructures you might also note they shared an 8-8 record last year.

The Steelers also finished 2012 with the oldest defense in entire NFL -- another byproduct of continually extended/restructuring players -- you end up having to hang onto them beyond their prime because you've pushed much/most of the cap hit down the road.

 

[Rockport]

That an interesting and long winded for you to admit that you were flatly wrong about Pittsburgh leading the way in restructuring contracts, but I'll take it I guess.

Why do you use InmanRoshi as a handle?

 

[superpunk]

Ware and Witten, perhaps. Not everybody agrees on the Romo worth every penny argument.

This is simply inaccurate. There were posters on this board, me included, who did not want to see this happen.

I think in general, the jury is still out on this approach but I do understand what you are trying to get across here.

Unless you can link to a post where you said don't sign Free I'm gonna assume you are lyin'. Maybe you were one of the 1 % who argued against it. I've gone back and checked the re-sign threads. We were terrified Philly would steal our young up and coming tackle from us and everyone was relieved when he signed with us.

Turned out to be a bad contract but at the time it was the right move.

Interestingly, some of our worst moves have come from us locking up our young guys like everyone wants before they hit free agency in the name of getting them cheaper. Scandrick, Austin, Free are tough contracts to handle now. But at the time, the only one anyone argued against was Scandrick.

 

[superpunk]

The Steelers also finished 2012 with the oldest defense in entire NFL -- another byproduct of continually extended/restructuring players -- you end up having to hang onto them beyond their prime because you've pushed much/most of the cap hit down the road.

Yes. How awful. The "byproduct" finished #1 in yardage and #6 in points with a bunch of over the hill subprime players.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Unless you can link to a post where you said don't sign Free I'm gonna assume you are lyin'. Maybe you were one of the 1 % who argued against it. I've gone back and checked the re-sign threads. We were terrified Philly would steal our young up and coming tackle from us and everyone was relieved when he signed with us.

Turned out to be a bad contract but at the time it was the right move.

Interestingly, some of our worst moves have come from us locking up our young guys like everyone wants before they hit free agency in the name of getting them cheaper. Scandrick, Austin, Free are tough contracts to handle now. But at the time, the only one anyone argued against was Scandrick.

Assume what you want but I'm telling you, there were people. Also, you call somebody a liar on this board and it is you who better be able to back it up.

The reason that some were not in favor of signing Free was because of the eventual change to RT. When we signed Free, we had just drafted Smith. Everybody was all over moving Smith to LT eventually and having Free play RT. I never thought he was a RT but more then that, I didn't want to pay that much money for a guy who might or might not be a decent RT. So no, I was not for signing him and I was not alone.

 

[Verdict]

When the team enters into a contract with a player there are pros and cons both ends of this spectrum. When a player and the team agree on a number .... the team can structure it in various different ways and there are pros and cons to each.

It is blatantly untrue that the cap doesn't matter or affect player acquisition or retention. The structure of the contract can shift moneys from one year to another, but the total amount that can be paid to players in cap dollars cannot be exceeded.

 

[superpunk]

Assume what you want but I'm telling you, there were people. Also, you call somebody a liar on this board and it is you who better be able to back it up.

Don't know how to search on this clunky site. Here's the thread where we re-signed him.
http://cowboyszone.com/threads/cowboys-re-sign-free-merged.213882/
You didn't post, but like I said, noone was crapping on this deal at the time. If you did, be my guest and prove it. I doubt it. People didn't want him to be "overpaid", but once the deal was signed, given his performance the preceding year, everyone thought it was reasonable.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Don't know how to search on this clunky site. Here's the thread where we re-signed him.
http://cowboyszone.com/threads/cowboys-re-sign-free-merged.213882/
You didn't post, but like I said, noone was crapping on this deal at the time. If you did, be my guest and prove it. I doubt it. People didn't want him to be "overpaid", but once the deal was signed, given his performance the preceding year, everyone thought it was reasonable.

Fair enough. I did not say that the overwhelming majority of posters hated the move. I said that it was incorrect to assume that everybody was for that signing. Everybody was not.

Just because I don't start up 5 different threads that say I hate this move or that move does not mean I was in favor of a certain position. At some point, you have to decide to act like an adult and not be childish. The move was done.

 

[junk]

The team was absolutely cap constrained this last year.

They had just about exhausted every possible restructuring option available to them. They could have squeezed out a few more bucks with a long term Spencer extension, but that is going to cause issues down the road and they had the Free restructure/pay cut left. That was about it.

So, they are a little under now. They can extend someone or roll it over to next year as a credit. Unfortunately, they have about $140 million committed for next year on a flat cap.

http://overthecap.com/teamcap.php?Te...boys&Year=2014

That is a new site I haven't used much, but we can use it for argument's sake. Not a lot of dead money in 2014. However, they need to cut $20 million off before next year. Lee, Hatcher and Spencer are free agents, I think. Dez in 2015

There are a few guys you can restructure for significant savings (Romo, Ware), but you again increase the cap hit down the road. A few guys you can cut (Rat, Livings, Bernie), but there isn't any real depth behind them.

Teams do get in this position, but they are usually Super Bowl caliber teams trying to keep a core together for a final run. Dallas is an 8-8/non-playoff team trying to do that.

Take Pittsburgh and NE, two teams that were mentioned in this thread as teams in a similar boat due to their restructures. Let's compare the three teams since 2001:

Pittsburgh - 12 playoff wins, 2 Super Bowls, 2 conference championship appearances. Playoffs in 8 of 12 seasons
New England - 17 playoff wins, 3 Super Bowls wins, 2 Super Bowl losses, 2 conference championship appearances, Playoffs in 10 of 12 seasons
Dallas - 1 playoff win, playoffs in 4 of 12 seasons

The team seems to be operating under this belief that they are close and can make a run if they keep a core together and get hot at the right time. That is what NE has been doing for the last 12 years.