Eatman: Jason Witten reworks contract...Livings and Bernadeau too

[WoodysGirl]

Nick Eatman ‏@nickeatman
As expected, TE Jason Witten has reworked his contract to help Cowboys' 2013 salary cap. Witten is among 7-8 players who will restructure.

 

[Avery]

I'm glad we are creating some wiggle room with these contracts. If only my boss would do the same thing.

 

[AbeBeta]

I'm gonna say about 3.5 to 3.7 mill saved.

Good move too. Witten has only 5 mill in bonus left to pay off after this year. Now it becomes around 8-9. Still a very good situation with his deal.

 

[AbeBeta]

I'm glad we are creating some wiggle room with these contracts.

It is almost as if we planned things this way!

 

[Wood]

they might just be pushing money to back end of these contracts that will result in substantial dead money cap hits in few years.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Nick Eatman ‏@nickeatman
It's like an autograph signing here at the ranch .. Witten has restructured, now Livings and Bernandeu too

Todd Archer ‏@toddarcher
Filed to @ESPNDallas - Jason Witten, Nate Livings also restructure deals. Witten moves saves about $3.65m

mike fisher ‏@fishsports
Ware done. Witten now. Carr coming. #CreditCardCowboys NEXT on THE #Cowboys Station @1053thefan

 

[Apollo Creed]

Curious to know how much each one is really giving back, that shows who really cares about the team winning right now.

Guys like Romo, Witten, Ware all understand at this point in their careers they'll be judged based soley on Super Bowls, so a few extra mil here and there really won't hurt.

 

[speedkilz88]

Curious to know how much each one is really giving back, that shows who really cares about the team winning right now.

Guys like Romo, Witten, Ware all understand at this point in their careers they'll be judged based soley on Super Bowls, so a few extra mil here and there really won't hurt.

Restructures are just getting bonus for the player. I doubt any of these guys are giving back.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Curious to know how much each one is really giving back, that shows who really cares about the team winning right now.

Guys like Romo, Witten, Ware all understand at this point in their careers they'll be judged based soley on Super Bowls, so a few extra mil here and there really won't hurt.

I don't think anyone is giving anything back. I think they're simply converting base salaries to bonuses...and spreading the money out over future years.

 

[Idgit]

they might just be pushing money to back end of these contracts that will result in substantial dead money cap hits in few years.

Why do people worry about this?

These savings are all tiered into the contracts at the team's option so that the team can review the players' progress at season end, and decide if they want to progress along the curve that was set at the time the contract was signed. It's not changing the deal, it's a progress check in stages that allows the team to course correct.

For players that aren't playing up to their expected curve relative to their paychecks, they're asked to take a pay cut (Connor) or they'll end up cut (Free).

It's not a sign that the team planned poorly and is having to juggle in order to fit under the cap. This is all completely expected. The only variables are in the year-to-year performance evaluations and in the negotiations for extensions for existing players as they come up.

 

[Echo9]

Curious to know how much each one is really giving back, that shows who really cares about the team winning right now.

Guys like Romo, Witten, Ware all understand at this point in their careers they'll be judged based soley on Super Bowls, so a few extra mil here and there really won't hurt.

They are giving back nothing. It's just re-structuring. Takes salary and converts it to signing bonus so they get the money up-front. That then spreads the $$ out over the contract and lowers the single year hit.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Curious to know how much each one is really giving back, that shows who really cares about the team winning right now.

Guys like Romo, Witten, Ware all understand at this point in their careers they'll be judged based soley on Super Bowls, so a few extra mil here and there really won't hurt.

That's not how contract restructures work. They convert salary into bonus, which gets prorated over the length of the contract. More guaranteed money for the player, lower cap hit in the next couple years. Nobody's giving anything back.

 

[LittleD]

Nate Livings & Bernadau have also restructured their deals today...

 

[Wood]

Why do people worry about this?

These savings are all tiered into the contracts at the team's option so that the team can review the players' progress at season end, and decide if they want to progress along the curve that was set at the time the contract was signed. It's not changing the deal, it's a progress check in stages that allows the team to course correct.

For players that aren't playing up to their expected curve relative to their paychecks, they're asked to take a pay cut (Connor) or they'll end up cut (Free).

It's not a sign that the team planned poorly and is having to juggle in order to fit under the cap. This is all completely expected. The only variables are in the year-to-year performance evaluations and in the negotiations for extensions for existing players as they come up.

I know exactly what they are doing. Call it what you want...progress, expected cap reshuffling, etc. They are pushing money down the road on aging players (Whitten, Ware, Romo) and players with huge contracts (Carr). The problem is that football is extremely violent and these old players break down quicker than we like. That's why Dallas is always absorbing dead money cap hits and signing Livingstons, Bernadeau of the world. My biggest issue is that Dallas front office thinks they are on top of it but clearly their results don't support that.

 

[Idgit]

I know exactly what they are doing. Call it what you want...progress, expected cap reshuffling, etc. They are pushing money down the road on aging players (Whitten, Ware, Romo) and players with huge contracts (Carr). The problem is that football is extremely violent and these old players break down quicker than we like. That's why Dallas is always absorbing dead money cap hits and signing Livingstons, Bernadeau of the world. My biggest issue is that Dallas front office thinks they are on top of it but clearly their results don't support that.

That's not what they're doing, at all. And the age of the players is factored into the annual salaries and accounted for at each conversion.

We absorb cap hits when we miss badly on a player or cut them earlier than we expect to. And we pay a premium when we whiff in the draft and have an owner willing to make up for that by paying a market premium in FA. We're tight against the cap because we're not getting enough value out of the relatively more valuable draft selections we've made (and we've made fewer selections than many teams), not because of the way the contracts are structured with these team options.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

I know exactly what they are doing. Call it what you want...progress, expected cap reshuffling, etc. They are pushing money down the road on aging players (Whitten, Ware, Romo) and players with huge contracts (Carr). The problem is that football is extremely violent and these old players break down quicker than we like. That's why Dallas is always absorbing dead money cap hits and signing Livingstons, Bernadeau of the world. My biggest issue is that Dallas front office thinks they are on top of it but clearly their results don't support that.

Do you also know that every teasm does the same thing?

Every year teams abosrb dead money and free up cap space by moving live money inot hte future.

Let's not pretend that Dallas is the only team subject to the CBA rules.

 

[Wood]

That's not what they're doing, at all. And the age of the players is factored into the annual salaries and accounted for at each conversion.

We absorb cap hits when we miss badly on a player or cut them earlier than we expect to. And we pay a premium when we whiff in the draft and have an owner willing to make up for that by paying a market premium in FA. We're tight against the cap because we're not getting enough value out of the relatively more valuable draft selections we've made (and we've made fewer selections than many teams), not because of the way the contracts are structured with these team options.

I agree the teams lack of success has a poor draft component to it. But Dallas extends players over 30 more than the better teams do. That has salary cap implications to it. Its poor strategy that results in excising options at these check points on players who you should start to replace.

 

[T-RO]

I'm gonna say about 3.5 to 3.7 mill saved.

NO MONEY IS SAVED.
NO MONEY IS SAVED.
NO MONEY IS SAVED.

Quit saying nonsense like that. It is DEFERRED. The financial obligation is merely postponed.

More cap space today. Less for seasons to come. It's called mortgaging the future.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

Clarence Hill ‏@clarencehilljr

The Cowboys have officially taken the next step getting under the salary cap by restructuring the contract of cb Brandon Carr, saving $10.5m

Calvin Watkins ‏@calvinwatkins

Cowboys saved roughly $8.3 mil on restructuring Witten, Livings and Ware contracts. More savings with Connor, Carr and Ratliff to come.

 

[Idgit]

I agree the teams lack of success has a poor draft component to it. But Dallas extends players over 30 more than the better teams do. That has salary cap implications to it. Its poor strategy that results in excising options at these check points on players who you should start to replace.

I don't know that they do or don't extend players over 30 more than better teams do, but it doesn't necessarily have cap implications if the planned extensions are tiered with the player's age in mind at the time the contract was agreed to--which, of course, they all are.

If we had an older roster--in the aggregate, or in terms of key starters--than the rest of the league, then you could make a case that we're introducing too much age-volatility into the roster relative to our competition by extending these deals this way, but I'm not sure that the age of our key starters is that much of a factor comparatively, or how to measure the increased likelihood of injury for an older player relative to a younger one, anyway.