Evaluating Dallas last four 40+ million contracts

[LatinMind]

Ratliff should have been cut right after that DWI. Stupidest thing I ever seen after what happened to his teammate and that coming after that confrontation he had with Jerry.

agree thats when i started to hate him. I stopped being a fan of his when he wanted to fight Jerry

 

[gimmesix]

So basically you're saying we should let Tyron Smith and Dez Bryant walk? Is that what i'm getting?

Only if they sign new contracts and then get hurt or don't play up to them. It's easy to be a GM in hindsight.

 

[gimmesix]

agree thats when i started to hate him. I stopped being a fan of his when he wanted to fight Jerry

I seriously thought it was just the competitor in him being upset that he was hurt and unable to play. It appears that that was far from the case. Never saw a good, hardworking player go bad so quickly.

 

[LatinMind]

5-11 and rebuild or be stuck at mediocrity for 3 straight seasons, probably 4 after this year.

The way this team invests in it's players is ridiculous. Jay ratliff, 31 with a year left on his contract signed to a 5 year deal making him a top paid DT? Tony Romo 33 coming off a major back surgery with a year left and you sign him to a 6 year deal?
Sean Lee can't even stay on the field the last 7 years of his career and you just think it's dumb luck he's already injured?

You have to look at the career outlook for a player, especially when signing them to 5-6 year top dollar deals. Something the FO sucks at.

Whats with people and this whole rebuild thing? Do you people even realise how young this team is? 80% of this team is under the age of 26

 

[LatinMind]

How is it that we were Super Bowl contenders, but have yet to make it to a conference championship game? More like wild card contenders.

I think a major point in the thread is Tony signed contract, got hurt. Rat signed contract, got hurt. Lee signed contract, got hurt...another point your forgetting is Lee was paid this money with JJ knowing he would get hurt. So regardless of the amount or how "team friendly" it is, it's a bad contract because it's based on a 5-10 game season...

2007 Dallas was 13-3 lost to the superbowl champs.
2009 Dallas 11-5 beat philly and vs the Vikings OL chemistry was just totally shot.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

this is supposed to be the core of your team.

I agree. You only get to hand out about 4-5 contacts this big, so you'd think they'd be given to the 4-5 most productive and dependable players on the team.

I can't fault paying your QB this much money, even if he isn't an "elite" QB. It's hard to find QBs in this league. If you find you, you pay him.

But no excuse for the other guys. That's why you don't give out big contracts to guys who are 1) at or around 30 years old, 2) constantly getting injured, 3) not an elite caliber player, 4) not a premium position (this is debatable because some guys are so good they are worth the money).

Look at the guys we have:
1) Carr - not an elite caliber player, and wasn't one when we paid him like one.
2) Lee - constantly getting injured.
3) Ratliff - at or around 30 at the time of the contract.

 

[RS12]

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.

No they werent. Jerry extended Romo well before he had too. If he had waited he would have gotten a much more favorable deal. Lee was questionable at best due to his looooong injury history. Ratliff was given an extension before it was due as well. He just decided to retire and not let anybody know.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

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.

You're exactly right. It is how the cookie crumbles.

 

[ufcrules1]

It's shocking to me how clueless the front office is on this team, as well as a VAST majority of our fans. I mean, we haven't had any significant success in 18 years and fans make excuses left and right for the front office. Our team is the way it is because of who is in charge of the team and the culture they have created. Nothing is going to change until these people are no longer in control. Just the same story every year.

 

[Wood]

So wait. You draft a player to replace the Pro Bowler you already have? That's ridiculous. You'll never be able to fill any holes that way.

The only position you can say that for IMO is cornerback when it comes to Brandon Carr. Hell Mike Jenkins and Brandon Carr were in the same draft.

But I don't think it has to do with the personnel. I think it has to do with this organization and their player development. Some of these guys coming through here get far too comfortable in part how this organization is ran.

lets look at this:

Ratliff - Dallas was forced into extending him because they failed on Lissemore pick combined with almost completely ignoring this position in draft for many years.

Carr - another forced contract due to draft misses. AOA - total miss. Jenkins - partial miss but he really never established himself and inconsistent play left cowboys uncomfortable. They reached in FA market for Carr.

Lee - Dallas extends him after he misses over 30% of defensive snaps in his first 3 years. Love the player but there was no reason for extension. What Dallas should have been doing was drafting another MLB in case Lee injury trends continued. What Dallas did was they ignored the position entirely (until this year). That means the guy calling out defensive plays each year would miss about 5 games. Nice way to set up defensive for success.

Romo - Dallas has drafted 1 QB since Romo has been on team. McGee never developed and Dallas ends up by-passing the position all-together. If Romo back does not hold up - Dallas is looking at one of the worst contract in all of sports.

There shouldn't be a poster on this board who is surprised at results on field. There is no conspiracy or bad luck at work here. This is collective group of decision makers who are disconnected in terms of how players project into the future.

 

[Zekeats]

only the best baby!!!

 

[Section446]

All pure failures, great.

 

[birdwells1]

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.

What Is he getting in 2014?

 

[Cowboy06]

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.

how team friendly is it? I would love to recoup some cap space

 

[JoeyBoy718]

lets look at this:

Ratliff - Dallas was forced into extending him because they failed on Lissemore pick combined with almost completely ignoring this position in draft for many years.

Carr - another forced contract due to draft misses. AOA - total miss. Jenkins - partial miss but he really never established himself and inconsistent play left cowboys uncomfortable. They reached in FA market for Carr.

Lee - Dallas extends him after he misses over 30% of defensive snaps in his first 3 years. Love the player but there was no reason for extension. What Dallas should have been doing was drafting another MLB in case Lee injury trends continued. What Dallas did was they ignored the position entirely (until this year). That means the guy calling out defensive plays each year would miss about 5 games. Nice way to set up defensive for success.

Romo - Dallas has drafted 1 QB since Romo has been on team. McGee never developed and Dallas ends up by-passing the position all-together. If Romo back does not hold up - Dallas is looking at one of the worst contract in all of sports.

There shouldn't be a poster on this board who is surprised at results on field. There is no conspiracy or bad luck at work here. This is collective group of decision makers who are disconnected in terms of how players project into the future.

I notice a trend in what you said. You say they were forced to extend these guys because their 7th-round projects didn't work out. It seems like we go too long without addressing these positions early in the draft (first 3 rounds) and then get forced into extending someone when a late-round (last 4 rounds) project doesn't work out. Well, that's how it usually turns out. Late round picks are called projects for a reason. Where did a lot of our early picks go? Lots of them were traded away (Roy Williams, Claiborne, Demarcus Lawrence) or spent on questionable players (multiple TEs, injury prone players). When we don't trade away early picks or waste them on TEs and injured players, we tend to do very well -- Dez, Tyron, Frederick, Martin, Murray. Basically the only reason we're competitive is because of Romo and the guys I just named. The reason we're not contenders is because of the poor early picks and relying on late-rounds and UDFAs like Heath, Holloman, Wilber, Bass, Church and other guys. Moral of the story -- treasure those premium draft picks and make them count.

 

[rynochop]

It's shocking to me how clueless the front office is on this team, as well as a VAST majority of our fans. I mean, we haven't had any significant success in 18 years and fans make excuses left and right for the front office. Our team is the way it is because of who is in charge of the team and the culture they have created. Nothing is going to change until these people are no longer in control. Just the same story every year.

so when do you think 'these people' will give up control? if its anytime in the foreseeable future, you may as well complain about the sun coming up tmrw.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Romo is the only guy on that list I don't have a problem with. No rookie is coming in here and throwing 31 TDs so Romo has earned his money.

Dude plays with busted ribs, collapsed lung, herniated disks, and a host of other injuries. He has missed 1 game since the broken collarbone in 2010 if I remember correctly.

We also win 3 games max without him so I got no problem paying him

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

lets look at this:

Ratliff - Dallas was forced into extending him because they failed on Lissemore pick combined with almost completely ignoring this position in draft for many years.

Carr - another forced contract due to draft misses. AOA - total miss. Jenkins - partial miss but he really never established himself and inconsistent play left cowboys uncomfortable. They reached in FA market for Carr.

Lee - Dallas extends him after he misses over 30% of defensive snaps in his first 3 years. Love the player but there was no reason for extension. What Dallas should have been doing was drafting another MLB in case Lee injury trends continued. What Dallas did was they ignored the position entirely (until this year). That means the guy calling out defensive plays each year would miss about 5 games. Nice way to set up defensive for success.

Romo - Dallas has drafted 1 QB since Romo has been on team. McGee never developed and Dallas ends up by-passing the position all-together. If Romo back does not hold up - Dallas is looking at one of the worst contract in all of sports.

There shouldn't be a poster on this board who is surprised at results on field. There is no conspiracy or bad luck at work here. This is collective group of decision makers who are disconnected in terms of how players project into the future.

Lissemore was a 7th round pick. He was never intended to replace Ratliff lol. And when he was here in the 3-4 he was a solid rotational guy especially for a 7th rounder.

The Carr acquistion had nothing to do with AOA. We had a terrible secondary and it needed upgraded. They went and got the best corner on the market and the best corner in the draft. Inept organization indeed.

This is the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks you guys consider a model organization gave MAX money to Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin and neither of them had anything to do with them making it to the Super Bowl.

Let's don't sit here and act like the Cowboys are the lone organization who re-signs players or sign free agents to contracts because you can find teams from the Bronco's to the Seahawks who have done it.

In regards to Romo's back not holding up......what happens if Peyton's neck doesn't hold up? Its a risk you take.

 

[ufcrules1]

Moral of the story -- treasure those premium draft picks and make them count.

I agree with most of what you said, especially the last line. This is why you don't give away your 3rd round draft pick like we did this year. Our team isn't unlucky, the people in charge make horrible decisions the vast majority of the time. Then we try to use the "Get more with less" mentality. Our team never fully rebuilds, it's just a vicious circle.

 

[CowboyGil]

how team friendly is it? I would love to recoup some cap space

Well, he stands to lose $1.5M because he didn't play 80% of the defensive snaps last year and he certainly won't this year.