Exploring Dez's contract options

[Eskimo]

I think he wants his contract to make a statement that he is the best wr in the league by a lot

You prove that on the field and not in contract negotiations.

Dez hasn't come close to topping Calvin's peak years and he did that with a mediocre OL and a far lesser QB.

The only WRs who I think match Calvin at his peak were Jerry Rice and Randy Moss (when his head was on straight). Dez is good but he is not that good.

 

[mugsybows]

If Peyton Manning leaves, I don't see them breaking the bank for Thomas. Which will hurt Dez.

I think even if Peyton leaves and they don't give him a break the bank contract or close to it he will leave and test free agency. At the end of the day this is a job and good players are trying to get paid. Same reason why Demario will probably leave.

 

[Eskimo]

To me the best benchmarks for Dez are the deals Antonio Brown and Jordy Nelson got in the $11-12M range per year. I'd give Dez a bit more but that really should be what he makes on a comparative basis.

 

[mugsybows]

You prove that on the field and not in contract negotiations.

Dez hasn't come close to topping Calvin's peak years and he did that with a mediocre OL and a far lesser QB.

The only WRs who I think match Calvin at his peak were Jerry Rice and Randy Moss (when his head was on straight). Dez is good but he is not that good.

He's already ahead of Calvin td wise at his age and he's gone farther in the playoffs than calvin.

 

[Eskimo]

He's already ahead of Calvin td wise at his age and he's gone farther in the playoffs than calvin.

TDs are not the end be all and end all for WRs.

Michael Irvin never scored a ton of TDs.

I think Dez is top 5 but the totality of his work does not suggest he is a better WR than CJ. He has just been put in a better position to succeed because he plays with a better QB.

Pay the man fairly but don't overpay to appease his ego. That's not how great teams are built in this league.

 

[mugsybows]

TDs are not the end be all and end all for WRs.

Michael Irvin never scored a ton of TDs.

I think Dez is top 5 but the totality of his work does not suggest he is a better WR than CJ. He has just been put in a better position to succeed because he plays with a better QB.

Pay the man fairly but don't overpay to appease his ego. That's not how great teams are built in this league.

I agree I think in the long run dez is worth it. Still very young still hasn't reached his prime. It's a shame that catch was taken away on Sunday. I think he has a lot of game breaking talent in him like that that we haven't seen yet

 

[xwalker]

Calvin Johnson got 48 million guaranteed. I'm sure Dez wants 50 million guaranteed (RESPECT). Honestly not a terribly huge deal.

If signed to a 7 year deal it would be 98 million dollars. Let's round up to 100 million for Dez (RESPECT). 50 million guaranteed. This would guarantee the first 4 years of his contract given the first two years aren't going to be his full average, which I don't think should be an issue. That's squarely in the Romo era.

You give him a 14 million dollar signing bonus. Which I think is fair. That means the first 36 million in base salary is guaranteed. You break the contract into two halves. Guaranteed and non guaranteed.


100 million is the overall value

- Subtract 14 million for signing bonus money

86 million dollars over 7 years

- First 36 million is guaranteed

That means last 50 million is not guaranteed.

To not blow up the 2015 and 2016 caps which are smaller and more restrained for us, you backload the contract, which is simple fiscal and monetary sense.

First 4 years at 36 million
Last 3 years at 50 million

Year 1 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 2 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11. 8 million
Year 3 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 4 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 5 - 16.6 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 19.4 million
Year 6 - 16.6 million = 16.6 million
Year 7 - 16.6 million - 16.6

You then essentially restructure the first year though (though it isn't a restructure on the surface).

I'm forgetting what the minimum salary is for the amount of years Dez has played. Let's call it 1 million. So you take 9 million and subtract 1 million. You then spread the remaining 8 million over the course of 5 years. Which is 1.6 million.

Year 1 - 1 million + 1.6 million + 2.8 million = 5.4 million

That means that Dez's cap hit for the first year is probably only about 5.4 million. Well under the 14 million average.

Year 2 you would actually do a restructure which would push money into the non prorated years. You would restructure his contract at least through the first 3 years to do this.

You do this because you can only stretch signing bonus money for 5 years. I built a restructure in the first year not because it is an actual restructure, but to protect the 2015 cap.

Year 5 is where you really have to make a decision about Dez, but likely we would see him as a wily veteran by then, and it would be his job to help bring along a young QB, whose impact on the cap would be negligible.

There is no reason we should have a difficult time with Dez's contract. Pay the man, and leave yourself an out at the same time.

You can just double the 50M contract that they gave Carr. It has a first year cap hit of 3.2M. Doubling that would be 6.4M.

 

[mahoneybill]

Calvin Johnson got 48 million guaranteed. I'm sure Dez wants 50 million guaranteed (RESPECT). Honestly not a terribly huge deal.

If signed to a 7 year deal it would be 98 million dollars. Let's round up to 100 million for Dez (RESPECT). 50 million guaranteed. This would guarantee the first 4 years of his contract given the first two years aren't going to be his full average, which I don't think should be an issue. That's squarely in the Romo era.

You give him a 14 million dollar signing bonus. Which I think is fair. That means the first 36 million in base salary is guaranteed. You break the contract into two halves. Guaranteed and non guaranteed.


100 million is the overall value

- Subtract 14 million for signing bonus money

86 million dollars over 7 years

- First 36 million is guaranteed

That means last 50 million is not guaranteed.

To not blow up the 2015 and 2016 caps which are smaller and more restrained for us, you backload the contract, which is simple fiscal and monetary sense.

First 4 years at 36 million
Last 3 years at 50 million

Year 1 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 2 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11. 8 million
Year 3 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 4 - 9 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 11.8 million
Year 5 - 16.6 million + 2.8 million in prorated signing bonus = 19.4 million
Year 6 - 16.6 million = 16.6 million
Year 7 - 16.6 million - 16.6

You then essentially restructure the first year though (though it isn't a restructure on the surface).

I'm forgetting what the minimum salary is for the amount of years Dez has played. Let's call it 1 million. So you take 9 million and subtract 1 million. You then spread the remaining 8 million over the course of 5 years. Which is 1.6 million.

Year 1 - 1 million + 1.6 million + 2.8 million = 5.4 million

That means that Dez's cap hit for the first year is probably only about 5.4 million. Well under the 14 million average.

Year 2 you would actually do a restructure which would push money into the non prorated years. You would restructure his contract at least through the first 3 years to do this.

You do this because you can only stretch signing bonus money for 5 years. I built a restructure in the first year not because it is an actual restructure, but to protect the 2015 cap.

Year 5 is where you really have to make a decision about Dez, but likely we would see him as a wily veteran by then, and it would be his job to help bring along a young QB, whose impact on the cap would be negligible.

There is no reason we should have a difficult time with Dez's contract. Pay the man, and leave yourself an out at the same time.

JJ & SJ... need your phone number ...

 

[Nightman]

Didn't Romo only get $40M guaranteed?

I would start by franchising Dez while trying to determine what is the going average annual contract for a top 5 WR. I think that is a fair deal for all sides in the end. I don't think there should be any real interest for the Cowboys to make Dez the top paid WR when he has not clearly been the top WR in the league. He has major shortcomings as a WR including lack of ability to generate separation and I think a simplified option tree for route running due to errors in complex route adjustments. He gives you back the circus catches, a great red zone target, YAC and seems to be a great teammate. Being a great teammate also means you want your fellow player to be paid fairly which means you too must accept being paid fairly.

I know some may disagree but I think an offense will usually be better off with 2 very good WRs than with 1 elite WR and 1 below average WR. The reason is that you can slant coverage to the better one and single up the below average one to compensate. If you have two good WRs with the present limitations on DBs it is very hard to maintain coverage if the OL gives them time to run their routes and we have the OL to do it.

I still hope for a top 5 deal for Dez that locks him up for about 6 years or so. I would really not like to go through the whole offseason with Dez stuck with the franchise tag as it will really limit what we can do to improve the team. I really don't want to go into the season with Dez still on the franchise tag as it does not make good business sense for either party. But you just shouldn't be setting the precedent of blowing up pay scales just because a player thinks that is what he is worth. We have played it well with Murray (who I expect to leave in FA) and I hope we do the same with Dez (knowing we have the franchise tag in our back pocket).

We are so close to being legitimate SB favorites if we can just keep Dez and shore up the DL with a couple of smart acquisitions followed up by a great draft and continued development of the young roster we have. Everyone has to band together and sacrifice to some degree for it to happen, though. This is where NE and GB have been so successful for so long by getting so many of their players to accept this sacrifice and I hope our players will follow the leads of Romo and Tyron and not the leads of Hatcher and Ware.

Romo got 55m guaranteed, but it was spread out over 3 years. Something like 40m for Dez should be more than enough to get it done. They should structure it the same way, adding new guarantees every March instead of doing it all up front. A 15-20m signing bonus would be adequate.

 

[Setackin]

I'm so confused lol

 

[Chuck 54]

No way I make Dez the highest paid WR in the NFL when I can franchise him and need the money to build a better defense. I also put in protection against his back. If Dez isn't satisfied being a multi-millionaire and leaving room to build a championship team, if he really wants that "respect" BS of top payday, then franchise him this year, use your savings to sign a pass rushing DE like JPP and maybe a veteran safety or CB.

Then make him the top paid WR next offseason.