News: DC: Mailbag: What Would A Dez Deal Mean For Cowboys' Other Big Contracts?

[CCBoy]

Mailbag: What Would A Dez Deal Mean For Cowboys' Other Big Contracts?
Friday, June 19, 2015 10:30 AM CDT
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2...uld-dez-deal-mean-cowboys-other-big-contracts



MATTHEW DOULL
SAN MARCOS, CA
Would it be smart to let Dez walk after the franchise tag this year and use that money to retain the offensive line, such as Travis Frederick and Zack Martin?

David: I get your point that it’s going to be difficult to give big contracts to all three, but I don’t necessarily think you have to say it’s either/or. Center and guard are not the most lucrative positions in football, and there’s also the benefit of the ever-increasing salary cap. I’m not interested in letting Dez go any time soon, and if I absolutely have to part ways with him, I’d make sure it’s not until after the 2016 season.

Rob: My assumption is the front office is optimistic about retaining all three when the time comes, particularly if the salary cap rises significantly in coming years. Martin can remain on his rookie deal through 2018 factoring in the fifth-year option. Aside from all that, though, I don’t think you let Bryant go after 2015. He’s the heart and soul of the team, and he’s not bad at this football thing.

JOHN ALFONSO
WEST HAVEN, CT
Is Darrion Weems the third best left tackle on this team behind Smith and Free? All our young guys look like right tackles or guards.


David: If he wasn’t before, he certainly is now that Chaz Green is on the mend from surgery. Kudos to Weems, because he was the forgotten man on this unit, and now he looks like the favorite to be this team’s swing tackle in 2015.

Rob: At this point, yeah, I’d say Weems. He’s gotten the first-team work at right tackle with Free sitting out until training camp, and he’s held his own. Remember, the Cowboys liked him as the potential swing tackle last year before he got hurt and Jermey Parnell took over.

 

[waving monkey]

thats why you dont let go of talent if at all possible

 

[AmericasTeam81]

I wonder if Weems would have been better than Parnell last year if he didn't get hurt. Well, I guess who cares now, Parnell is gone. I hope Weems is an improvement over Parnell.

 

[jrumann59]

I was never a huge parnell fan mostly because he was extremely inexperienced and also switched positions. Parnell had little football experience, two years of college ball with little to no HS ball. He switched postions once he came into the NFL. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, good is he did not have a lot of ingrained habits that lower levels of sports let you get away with when you are an athlete, the bad is no experience. It says a lot about Parnell when he was more or less in the mix for the RT job for two years and held off a guy like weems that probably has 10 years of football experience.

 

[Bullflop]

Every team has to deal with keeping their personnel expenses within reason and we're certainly no exception. It will be helpful if we can arrive at a reasonable solution to a contract for Dez. I feel it's very likely we'll do just that. Our increased talent and depth this year should help us to buffer any difficulty we may see in signing the OL personnel we'll have to deal with in the future.

 

[CCBoy]

Every team has to deal with keeping their personnel expenses within reason and we're certainly no exception. It will be helpful if we can arrive at a reasonable solution to a contract for Dez. I feel it's very likely we'll do just that. Our increased talent and depth this year should help us to buffer any difficulty we may see in signing the OL personnel we'll have to deal with in the future.

True, but I'd much prefer to give long contracts to very good offensive linemen coming off 'rook' contracts, than the previous tool of overpaying senior linemen hunting final contracts. Just five seasons ago, Jason Garrett had to over haul the entire team to overcome that hurdle gone bad.

 

[Clove]

At some point, you have to pay top talent. No way around it. If you don't pay, the vulchers will.

 

[Bullflop]

True, but I'd much prefer to give long contracts to very good offensive linemen coming off 'rook' contracts, than the previous tool of overpaying senior linemen hunting final contracts. Just five seasons ago, Jason Garrett had to over haul the entire team to overcome that hurdle gone bad.

Agreed. Overpaying those highly unlikely to retain their value throughout their contracts is surely something that I'd not be inclined to look upon with acceptance. We'll be obliged to compensate the youngsters on the OL just like we're obliged to be fair with Dez and/or anyone else deserving of fair returns for their efforts. Stephen seems to have a handle on that situation and Jerry also seems to have turned the corner in supporting our newfound financial policies.

 

[Nightman]

TFred doesn't have to be dealt with until 2019 if they use the 5th year option and Franchise tag
ZMart doesn't come up until 2020.

Dez could be signed long-term and be gone by then.

Carr, Free, Witten, Lee, Church and Romo will be gone by then.
And the cap might be 180m.

 

[Bluefin]

David: I get your point that it’s going to be difficult to give big contracts to all three, but I don’t necessarily think you have to say it’s either/or. Center and guard are not the most lucrative positions in football, and there’s also the benefit of the ever-increasing salary cap.

It shouldn't be difficult at all to give all three players second contracts.

Dez Bryant's will likely be almost twice as large as the OLs when they come due, but paying top five C and RG money simply isn't delving into "cap crushing" territory.

And when dealing with big dollar extensions, the team will typically write the contract to be restructured in the second and sometimes third season in order to keep the cap hits low at the onset.

They've done it for years with Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware and Jason Witten. They did it once with Brandon Carr before his poor play stopped them from doing it again. And it's been done with Sean Lee and Tyron Smith.

Since 2000, the only first round selections who didn't ink new deals with the Cowboys are '06 Bobby Carpenter (traded), '08 Felix Jones (injury) and '08 Mike Jenkins (injury).

'12 Morris Claiborne may join the list following this season.

It's all but guaranteed Dallas will re-sign its first round selections when the time comes so long as they are deserving.

 

[conner01]

TFred doesn't have to be dealt with until 2019 if they use the 5th year option and Franchise tag
ZMart doesn't come up until 2020.

Dez could be signed long-term and be gone by then.

Carr, Free, Witten, Lee, Church and Romo will be gone by then.
And the cap might be 180m.

Some big contracts will be gone or those players will be on their way out by the time the young online guys come due but I think your years are wrong
I think they are off a couple years
You have 5 years options so Fred would be 2017 and Martin 2018
But the concept is right and in a perfect world you have your QB on a rookie deal which is a huge savings

 

[Nightman]

Some big contracts will be gone or those players will be on their way out by the time the young online guys come due but I think your years are wrong
I think they are off a couple years
You have 5 years options so Fred would be 2017 and Martin 2018
But the concept is right and in a perfect world you have your QB on a rookie deal which is a huge savings

They could use the Franchise Tag on Fred in 2018 and on Martin in 2019.

That would give them control until the 2019 and 2020 seasons without an extension.

You can't make decisions about guys like Murray and Dez based on those guys.

 

[Bluefin]

They could use the Franchise Tag on Fred in 2018 and on Martin in 2019.

That would give them control until the 2019 and 2020 seasons without an extension.

But the Franchise tag is undesirable.

The team doesn't want the large cap hit that comes with it and the player wants long term security, such as it is, in the NFL.

It's an absolute last resort.

If it was used on Badger Fred in 2018, the Cowboys would then be in a bad spot with he and Martin coming on the market in 2019 with only one tag to use.

I don't expect either player to be asking for the moon to the point it makes contract discussions difficult.

And the Jones family has a history of taking care or core players.

Extensions shouldn't be a hassle.

 

[Nightman]

But the Franchise tag is undesirable.

The team doesn't want the large cap hit that comes with it and the player wants long term security, such as it is, in the NFL.

It's an absolute last resort.

If it was used on Badger Fred in 2018, the Cowboys would then be in a bad spot with he and Martin coming on the market in 2019 with only one tag to use.

I don't expect either player to be asking for the moon to the point it makes contract discussions difficult.

And the Jones family has a history of taking care or core players.

Extensions shouldn't be a hassle.

I'm talking about control. Dallas has it with these guys thru 2019 at least. That is leverage.

This is what everyone wants. Low risk deals that don't push any money into the future but creates animosity with the players.

Players are just going to jump at the chance to play here on year to year deals.

 

[conner01]

They could use the Franchise Tag on Fred in 2018 and on Martin in 2019.

That would give them control until the 2019 and 2020 seasons without an extension.

You can't make decisions about guys like Murray and Dez based on those guys.

True
But you do t want to tag guys
That hurts you on the cap
Control yes, cap control no
I think you have to make every decision looking forward to other players
To me that's the only way you can work the cap
You have to look long term though the most important think that allows you to manage the cap is drafting good and not having to offer second contracts to anyone other than the elite or cheap guys