Do the Cowboys NEED an upcapped year?

[whcarm]

When a team has so many good players that make it to the pro-bowl it is great. However, it also presents problems under the salary cap system.

The Cowboys have done a pretty good job for a while now managing the cap. But they have not run into this sort of situation before, where they have so many good players that will be worth a lot of money.

We signed Adams, Romo, Davis, Witten and even Williams and Crayton to long term deals recently to keep them with the club. By doing that, we limited ourselves this year to not having a lot of room under the cap.

But now we have to move on and deal with Barber, Canty, Newman, Ware, Colombo, Hamlin and Owens in the near future and there are a few others that are going to need to be dealt with as well. How are we going to afford to pay Barber as one of the best RBs, Newman as one of the best CBs, Ware as one of the best LBs, Hamlin as one of the best FSs and Owens as one of the best WRs?

We are either going to have to make some really tough decisions, like letting guys like Colombo, Hamlin, Owens and Newman walk in the near future if they are asking too much, or we are really going to get into some difficult cap areas once again.

So, with all the guys we already have signed and the guys that are going to be looking for money soon, do the Cowboys need to have the salary cap system end in order to keep this team competing for a playoff spot and eventually trying to win a Super Bowl? I know Stephen Jones has gotten great at managing the cap, but the level of players worth a lot of money whose contracts are coming up shortly has to worry even him.

 

[iceberg]

"need"? no. could benefit from, sure.

i think there's a math formula to when you pay your players, own FAs, their cost against the cap is less. am i wrong here?

like we sign ware for $7 mil a year, 6 years. (low but hey, i'm just putting out #'s). would he count $6mil a year because we signed our own? if i'm wrong cool, let me know but if i am this would be a bonus to keeping our own players.

 

[Vintage]

There are things that could be done. Like converting Romo's salary into guaranteed money, which lowers the cap hit.

Extending Owens would probably lower the cap hit for next year as well.

Ditto on Hamlin and probably Canty.

I think Colombo is gone next year though. We just re-signed Adams. Gurode and Davis have been recently paid pretty well. I have a hard time believing we are going to go into the following season with 4 highly paid OL. I think Free, McQuistan and Marten will battle it out for RT the following year.

 

[iceberg]

There are things that could be done. Like converting Romo's salary into guaranteed money, which lowers the cap hit.

Extending Owens would probably lower the cap hit for next year as well.

Ditto on Hamlin and probably Canty.

I think Colombo is gone next year though. We just re-signed Adams. Gurode and Davis have been recently paid pretty well. I have a hard time believing we are going to go into the following season with 4 highly paid OL. I think Free, McQuistan and Marten will battle it out for RT the following year.

will depend on what colombo wants, $ wise. i think gambling on the line is the worst place to do it.

 

[speedkilz88]

I think they've really done well with the cap the last several years. They can open up cap room any time they need it because of this, they just have to do it on the right guys and most of those guys mentioned appear to be the right guys(Newman and Ware especially). I really don't think we will lose any of the guys we really need to keep. I agree that a guy like Columbo is a possibility.

 

[Vintage]

will depend on what colombo wants, $ wise. i think gambling on the line is the worst place to do it.

I know.

But I think we turn to one of them anyway. At some point, one of these young OL need to step in.

And I think it will happen the following offseason.

The money to keep Newman and Ware has to come somewhere.

 

[iceberg]

I know.

But I think we turn to one of them anyway. At some point, one of these young OL need to step in.

And I think it will happen the following offseason.

The money to keep Newman and Ware has to come somewhere.

yep. choices will have to be made soon

 

[big dog cowboy]

The Cowboys have done a pretty good job for a while now managing the cap. But they have not run into this sort of situation before, where they have so many good players that will be worth a lot of money.

You mean like the mid '90s?

 

[whcarm]

You mean like the mid '90s?

Yeah, and look how well that turned out for us cap-wise. We were pretty much screwed with the cap until Parcells took over. What I meant, is that since the Cowboys have been effectively managing the cap (for the last several years, we overspent in the early to mid 90's) we have not run into a situatio like this where we have so many players worth big time money.

 

[whcarm]

"need"? no. could benefit from, sure.

i think there's a math formula to when you pay your players, own FAs, their cost against the cap is less. am i wrong here?

like we sign ware for $7 mil a year, 6 years. (low but hey, i'm just putting out #'s). would he count $6mil a year because we signed our own? if i'm wrong cool, let me know but if i am this would be a bonus to keeping our own players.

I know that was talked about, but I don't believe it ever happened. To the best of my knowledge, you don't get any salary cap benefit to signing your own players.

 

[DallasFanSince86]

Well it wouldn't hurt us to be in an uncapped league.

 

[iceberg]

I know that was talked about, but I don't believe it ever happened. To the best of my knowledge, you don't get any salary cap benefit to signing your own players.

hmmmm - but at least it was talked about. : ) i'd think that could be fair. if you sign your own in-house FA you get a 20% credit to the cap. say you sign him for $5 mil a year, you're only charged $4mil against the cap.

interesting thought.

 

[UKCowboysFan]

hmmmm - but at least it was talked about. : ) i'd think that could be fair. if you sign your own in-house FA you get a 20% credit to the cap. say you sign him for $5 mil a year, you're only charged $4mil against the cap.

interesting thought.

I often thought it would be a good idea if you got some kind of credit against the cap for players who you drafted.

No idea how it would work, but like the idea that you get some kind of benefit for developing the talent that you draft.

 

[TNCowboy]

I don't think we'll see an uncapped year. There'll be a lockout first.

 

[TEUFELI]

Not real sure where this is supposed to go? Do we need an uncapped yr? Yeah, I guess. I also need gas to cost 35 cents a gallon, but it isnt gonna happen.

 

[sonnyboy]

You mean like the mid '90s?

I was thinking the same thing. Unfortunate for us that FA and the salary cap came into play at the apex of our last dynasty.

Its only fair that the same salary cap that help shorten our last dynasty, go away in 2009. Especially if we do win the SB this year. The timing could not be better.

I'm hoping for two things:
1) Labor peace in 2010 without a strike or lockout.
2) Enough labor instability to give us one uncapped year in 2009. That's all Jerry will need to keep this team together. He can dump 150-200 mil, maybe more of payments due to key players in years 2010-2115.

You take the key guys who just signed or are about to sign new deals. You could have 20 plus guys on this list.

Ware's a perfect example.
Lets say we sign him to an 8 year 80 mil deal that starts in 2009.
In a capped world his deal might look like this: 20 mil sb and cap hits of 7-13 mil from 2009-2016. 2009-7mil, 2010-8mil, 2011-9mil, 2012-10mil, 2013-10mil, 2014-11mil 2015-12mil, 2016-13mil.
With an uncapped 2009, we can pay Ware 40 mil in the first year and 40 mil over the next 7.

You might want to be a little more careful with Newman at age 29. He'll be 30 in the 2008 season. I say a 6 yr $50 mil deal starting in 2008. I think he'd take this deal. Its a year early and at his age that's a big bargining chip. Once its established that 2009 will be uncapped, we can go back and dump 30 mil from this deal due 2010-2013 in 2009.

Romo's a better example. Forget the specifics, but lets say under his current deal he's due 50 mil from 2009-2013. We could excellerate 40 mil for him in 2009 and leave 10 mil for years 2010-2013 to cover any min salary requirements.

So with just three players we were able to dump 110 mil in 2009 that would have been due 3-6 years after that. I'm sure we could get that number to 200 mil. The key is to do it with players you can trust.

 

[speedkilz88]

You mean like the mid '90s?

The problem in the 90s was that Novacek got hurt(accellerated bonus), Haley got hurt(accellerated bonus), Kevin Smith got hurt(accellerated bonus), Irvin got hurt(accellerated bonus), Aikman got hurt(accellerated bonus), Johnston got hurt(accellerated bonus), Deion got hurt and Jerry released him early though he still played in the league(accellerated bonus), Emmitt got old(accellerated bonus).

Get the picture?

 

[MapleLeaf]

...in an uncapped year is going to be Snyder and the Commanders.

He gets to erase his past in one fell swoop and he has more than enough cash generated from Fedex Field to make him one of the most significant players in an uncapped league.

The two owners I would be fearful of would be Paul Allen of the Seahawks and Daniel Snyder. They could give a significant push to amassing all star teams and vying for the SuperBowl on a consistent basis.

Paul Allen has a very strong elephant behind his purse named Microsoft. I believe his net worth is significantly greater than any other single NFL owner. If he wants to run with reckless abandon for a year he could do it.

 

[zeromaster]

The thing I've not heard mentioned much is: in the event of an uncapped year, is there any likelihood that it'll last any longer than one season? My guess is no, for some of the same reasons that the league went to a salary cap in the first place.

 

[Hostile]

I don't think we'll see an uncapped year. There'll be a lockout first.

I agree and it makes me sick to even ponder it.