Evaluating Dallas last four 40+ million contracts

[Wood]

Here is the list of players who signed contracts for $40 million (or more) for Dallas since 2011. Is Dallas doing good job with their top heavy contract? Lets take look:

1. Tony Romo - $120 million 7 year contract. Signed 3/29/13. Productive player without any form of hardware. Reasons are numerous for lack of playoff success. Regardless of how you feel about the player...the contract is immovable.

2. Brandon Carr - $50 million 5 year contract. Signed 3/14/12. Flashes potential for certain stretches but largely has not lived up to his contract. Graded out as 74th out of 110 qualified CB last year (per pro football focus).

3. Sean Lee - $42 million 6 year contract. Signed 8/22/13. Fan favorite. Is everything you want in player: humble, hard-working, dominate at times. Unfortunately, Lee has missed about 30% of defensive snaps thru his career and now will miss entire 2014 season with ACL tear.

4. Jay Ratliff - $40 million 5 year contract. Signed 9/9/2011. Run-ins with owner, injury (maybe?) derailed his career in dallas. A complaint was filed for $10 million against Ratliff in march '14.

From this list:

* None have been named to pro-bowl after new contract.
* Two players on this list will not play a snap in 2014 for Cowboys (ratliff still counts 7 million against cap).

 

[Alexander]

No bueno.

 

[The Natural]

The Ratliff/Romo extensions were beyond foolish. They payed market value for Carr in a summer they were desperate for a corner (Finnegan got a similar deal then right?), no comment on Lee.

 

[Machete]

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

 

[CowboyGil]

3. Sean Lee - $42 million 6 year contract. Signed 8/22/13. Fan favorite. Is everything you want in player: humble, hard-working, dominate at times. Unfortunately, Lee has missed about 30% of defensive snaps thru his career and now will miss entire 2014 season with ACL tear.
Exactly why his contract is laden with incentives and team friendly.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Say no to Dez.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I've been a Romo basher in the past but I'm not mad at the Romo contract. Everything is on his shoulders, once again. We're giving him possibly the worst defense in the history of the NFL and saying, "Good luck, son." No other QB in the league has that kind of weight on his shoulders. Fortunately, if we did decide to cut our losses, our offensive stars are young enough that a new QB could be brought in. This O-line has a long future ahead of it.

Carr was and always will be a mistake. You don't throw that kind of money at CBs. And he was never even an elite CB to begin with. We had to overpay because he was the biggest name on the market.

Sean Lee was a huge mistake. I didn't want us to extend him in the first place. We gave him big money before he ever proved he could play an entire season. Look what that got us.

The Ratliff situation was a mess. Not really sure who to blame for that one. Ratliff did us dirty. Hard to argue because Ratliff was great on the field. I guess you could say he was too old to throw that kind of money at.

 

[Zordon]

this is supposed to be the core of your team.

 

[DFWJC]

Romo's extension was for 6 year 108 mil (could be 4 years 68 mil if they clip the last two years)

And whether he got elected or not, his 15 game contribution of 3800+, 31 TDs and only 10 ints last year were Pro Bowl worthy

Having said that, Jerry has been burned way more than most with big contract vs productivity

 

[Joe Realist]

When Jerry dishes out the big $$, you know that contract will eventually bite you in the ***.

 

[Nightman]

You guys act like Dallas is the only team to get hit with injuries and bad contracts. Players make over 4 Billion a year, there are going to be some bad outcomes. But every one of those deals was prudent at the time.

 

[gimmesix]

Here is the list of players who signed contracts for $40 million (or more) for Dallas since 2011. Is Dallas doing good job with their top heavy contract? Lets take look:

1. Tony Romo - $120 million 7 year contract. Signed 3/29/13. Productive player without any form of hardware. Reasons are numerous for lack of playoff success. Regardless of how you feel about the player...the contract is immovable.

2. Brandon Carr - $50 million 5 year contract. Signed 3/14/12. Flashes potential for certain stretches but largely has not lived up to his contract. Graded out as 74th out of 110 qualified CB last year (per pro football focus).

3. Sean Lee - $42 million 6 year contract. Signed 8/22/13. Fan favorite. Is everything you want in player: humble, hard-working, dominate at times. Unfortunately, Lee has missed about 30% of defensive snaps thru his career and now will miss entire 2014 season with ACL tear.

4. Jay Ratliff - $40 million 5 year contract. Signed 9/9/2011. Run-ins with owner, injury (maybe?) derailed his career in dallas. A complaint was filed for $10 million against Ratliff in march '14.

From this list:

* None have been named to pro-bowl after new contract.
* Two players on this list will not play a snap in 2014 for Cowboys (ratliff still counts 7 million against cap).

Them's the way the cookie crumbles. Your choices are to just move on after a contract ends and hope the next guy turns out to be as good or pay market value based on a player's play at that time and hope he lives up to the contract. There are no good choices the way NFL contracts are structured now because the best choice would be to pay each player on a year-to-year basis based on performance so that you're not locked into big-money, long-term deals that can sour quickly because of injury or decline.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

And every one of those happened while Mr. Culture Change was our head coach.

 

[Nightman]

Them's the way the cookie crumbles. Your choices are to just move on after a contract ends and hope the next guy turns out to be as good or pay market value based on a player's play at that time and hope he lives up to the contract. There are no good choices the way NFL contracts are structured now because the best choice would be to pay each player on a year-to-year basis based on performance so that you're not locked into big-money, long-term deals that can sour quickly because of injury or decline.

They had to let Sean Lee walk or Franchise Tag him. You make the call without hindsight. They signed a Top 5 MLB to a below market deal and he got hurt. He will be back for a combined 5.5m in 2015 and 2016.

 

[Future]

and if any of those contracts weren't given and someone went on to have success elsewhere, jerruh would get bashed for not paying

 

[LatinMind]

Im not a Romo fan but anybody who puts him in a thread that is supposed to be about the problem in any way shape or form in Dallas cant be taken seriously. Romo on a team with better than average coaching and a average defense and his team is a superbowl contender every yr. Dallas were legit Superbowl contenders from 2007-2009.

Carr, in FA you are not going to get a CB for cheap. Especially his size and skills. His first yr in Dallas he was what they wanted him to be. Then they went zone, and thats not his game, and he struggled last yr. What did he do? He recognized that, and lost weight to get quicker. Is it his fault the team went to a def that didnt fit his skills?

Lee, shut up. Dallas could cut Lee in 2017 and would've only paid him 18.8 mil over 3 yrs. Dallas has set up his contract nicely.Dallas had set that contract that 22mil of that would be paid over the final 3 yrs. You people look at numbers and speak without knowing the details of the deal. Its embarrassing.

Ratliff was a cluster **** and i wont even try to defend this. Ill just say he's a thief

 

[boysfanindc]

Witten's was $37M I believe and does not look so bad.

 

[Nightman]

Im not a Romo fan but anybody who puts him in a thread that is supposed to be about the problem in any way shape or form in Dallas cant be taken seriously. Romo on a team with better than average coaching and a average defense and his team is a superbowl contender every yr. Dallas were legit Superbowl contenders from 2007-2009.

Carr, in FA you are not going to get a CB for cheap. Especially his size and skills. His first yr in Dallas he was what they wanted him to be. Then they went zone, and thats not his game, and he struggled last yr. What did he do? He recognized that, and lost weight to get quicker. Is it his fault the team went to a def that didnt fit his skills?

Lee, shut up. Dallas could cut Lee in 2017 and would've only paid him 18.8 mil over 3 yrs. Dallas has set up his contract nicely.Dallas had set that contract that 22mil of that would be paid over the final 3 yrs. You people look at numbers and speak without knowing the details of the deal. Its embarrassing.

Ratliff was a cluster **** and i wont even try to defend this. Ill just say he's a thief

The Ratliff deal was actually a smart move by the Front Office. It added 5 more years with only 10m more in guaranteed money and helped the team work around the salary cap when it was an issue. Nobody can claim they saw Ratliff completely quitting on the team.

 

[dallasfan4lizife]

hindsight is 20/20 but dang, who couldn't see this injury coming?

I remember how stupid I thought the ratliff, lee, romo extensions were immediately. Hindsight hasn't changed anything.

The management behind this franchise is beyond terrible.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

So basically you're saying we should let Tyron Smith and Dez Bryant walk? Is that what i'm getting? You have two options. Let your player walk or re-sign them. Ratliff's contract was a travesty and it was Jerry trying to reward a player who had been severely underpaid. Mistake? I agree.

Brandon Carr was the free agent game I don't like but having the worst secondary in the league and Mike Jenkins being so inconsistent it warranted the signing.

Romo got paid the standard rate. He came back last year with 31 Td's and 10 picks. I'd hardly say we got ripped off there. He ended up getting market value.