Doug Free asked to take pay cut

[deadrody]

I don't know the cap ramifications, or what his take would be if he were cut outright - but he won't accept it, and he shouldn't. Nobody among us here would accept a pay cut if the boss came up to you and said "hey, looking at your production, we overpaid you - we're going to cut your salary in half."

I'm not saying they shouldn't cut him, but he's not going to gladly accept a pay cut.

Which is better - a lower salary or NO salary ? He is perilously close to being cut so long as his salary is $7M. He might be able to guarantee his roster spot at $3M or something like that.

I think there is almost no chance he remains on the roster making $7 million after June 1.

 

[ValleyBoyz]

mike fisher ‏@fishsports 2m
Somebody's playing odd semantic games on #Cowboys & Winston/Free. At this moment, these remain in 'idea' stage, not 'action' stage

 

[conner01]

someone probably got a call from rosenhaus and thats where the rumor came from. if you want winston i don't see the reason to keep free. if you can get free to take a huge pay cut then he would be the swing guy and parnell the starter. does'nt seem logical to keep free, parnell and sign winston

 

[bounce]

Which is better - a lower salary or NO salary ? He is perilously close to being cut so long as his salary is $7M. He might be able to guarantee his roster spot at $3M or something like that.

I think there is almost no chance he remains on the roster making $7 million after June 1.

I was saying that I don't know enough about the cap or contract structure to know if there's any sort of payout for him, or penalty. I'm not saying he deserves to stay.

 

[DFWJC]

Is Free due any guaranteed money this year?

 

[johnnyd]

ESPN's Ed Werder believes the Cowboys' interest in free agent RT Eric Winston may just be a leverage ploy to force RT Doug Free into a pay-cut.


https://twitter.com/Edwerderespn

 

[1LoyalCowboyFan]

This is a formal way to say, "we're cutting you on June 1."

That's what I'm getting. Pay cut would have to be at least half. Although I like most want him to get minimum. No way he accepts it. His best bet is a fresh start somewhere else. Probably get paid more than the cowboys are willing to offer as well.

 

[1LoyalCowboyFan]

If he takes a straight pay cut, it would free up salary cap space immediately while still allowing them to cut him after June 1st.

If I were Free's Agent, I would tell the Cowboys that he will take a pay cut but that immediately after the contract is official, he wants to be released as a "designated" June 1st cut. This would allow the Cowboys immediate cap relief and allow Free to become a Free Agent now instead of waiting until June 1st.

Wow that is interesting. Would be great to see happen. Mara might be a tad upset though :laugh2:

 

[dcboy]

I'm not sure if you are joking or not, that comment was so out of whack.

If not a joke, what alternate universe do you live in?

Free got 17 million in guaranteed money. That is whether he performed or not.
That is not remotely like the "real world"...it is FAR, FAR better.

I'm not sure I understand you or that you understood me either. I wasn't joking though. I was saying that Free can't use real world employment logic as his reason for not accepting a pay cut. My post was in response to another who said that he shouldn't agree to a pay cut because none of us would at our jobs. I think he should take a pay cut because that is how things operate under the cba.

 

[supercowboy8]

People are saying just cut free, not worth the 7 million base salary and I agree. Then sign Winston. We need free to take a pay cut to allow an extra 4.5-5 million to our cap.
If Free would renegotiate his contract and drop his base pay from 7 million to 2.5 million it will allow 4.5 million in cap savings. Also next year would be reduced making it cheaper for us to cut him next year.

If we cut free now as a June 1st cut he will count 3 million against the cap but will be a 7 million dead money cap hit next year.

Also no way we can keep free at his current salary and cap hit and cut him next year, next year he will still be a 7 million cap hit if released next offseason.

Best thing to do for salary cap reasons is to renegotiate his contract to a lower base salary and make him a back up OT and compete for OG and RT. This will save us the most amount of cap space and allow us to get better.

 

[Hoofbite]

I can't imagine he'd just take a cut without any assurance of making the team.

Why not just hand everything back?

The team needs the space, he probably couldn't make much more than vet minimum. Seems like a perfect match.

Knock his base salary down to 1M or less and then guarantee it. If he does get cut he still gets paid and can make even more.

 

[slomoxn]

he's a loser and a cancer (by his play). tell him to play for 100k or get lost.

Looking at that picture, if I were Dez I wouldn't let Pearson touch me with the way he was flapping his gums about him. No offense, all time great and all but he didn't give Dez a chance before propping other receivers over him.