Fiscal Responsibility.

[TNCowboy]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...ontract-status-of-2010-firstround-draft-picks

Read the actual list there for 2010 and notice the severe drop off in contract totals and yearly.

Spiller's deal being backloaded is largely irrelevant as the total contract and guaranteed money are what matters by slot. Again this guy got 21 million GUARANTEED. That is MORE than the total contact of anyone after pick 14.
You are arguing that cost doesn't matter but it clearly does. Why are NFL owners in court if they do not care about costs?

I am guessing the majority of the backlash to this thread has been people in man love with Michael Huff but that will simply not be happening. Huff isn't a true free agent and we aren't paying him what he wants anyway.

I never said costs didn't matter. I said that the difference between a few draft slots will be irrelevant in signing any FAs.

There's a severe dropoff after Spiller because a lot of his $$$ probably isn't realizable. The $12M is not part of his $20M. And yes, even if he gets the $12M (which I seriously doubt Buffalo will ever allow), that $12M being 5 years down the road makes a huge difference. That's why contracts are backloaded in the first place.

 

[Randy White]

Here, although, Stephen hit a home run as the combined cost of a new contract for Doug Free plus the negotiated 'rook' contract will equal to what Colombo would have received.

No way.. Not even close. Columbo would have made, at the most ( including the future 700k roster bonus ) 3 million dollars. As a matter of fact, you take what Biggs and Columbo are going to make next season combined and it won't be half of what Free and Smith are going to make combined. That doesn't mean that Columbo and Biggs should stay, mind you, but just pointing out how much Smith and Free are going to make.

Having said that, by cutting both Biggs and Columbo, the Cowboys would be in a better financial place after they get Free and Smith's contract done. Of course, they can't stop with those 2 either. Roy Williams, Terrence Newman, Marion Barber, they all need to go, especially if there's no cap this year that way their contracts don't come back to haunt us in the future when a cap is implemented. The Cowboys payroll is bloated. You have players with big contracts who are currently worth them ( Romo, Witten, B-Ware, Austin ), will add 2 more players to that list in ( Tyron Smith and Doug Free ) shortly, but have the above mentioned who are not worth it any longer ( Williams, Newman, Davis, and Barber ).

 

[burmafrd]

There will almost certainly be no cap this year; not now. so keep them and then cut the bad ones in camp if they continue to look bad. The rest of them after the season before the next year starts.

 

[sonnyboy]

I love Smith's athleticism and age. One could compare him to Witten who also came out as a pup and wowed athletically without a lot of college experience. We saw how that worked out.

But 9th picks cost a lot of money. And Smith is probably less ready today than Carimi or Costanzo and possible a few others. We went for the best overall athlete and I am not complaining. I am pointing out how this relates financially as it has become the mantra of this off-season.

You look at where the Cowboys are financially and this is why we are not a middle of the pack team in player expense. We like to grab headliners and we spend for them. We very seldom go safe or conservative.

I keep reading this and to a certain extent I agree. Yes, he's not as "ready" as perhaps Costanzo or Carimi today. But were not playing today. Sept is a long way off and all three of these players will have to deal with the adjustment to the pro game.
If Smith is that much more physically gifted, it should show week one.

And I wasn't on board with the pick. Considering OL was our primary need and my personal belief that OL should not be taken in RD one, I was all in favor of trading down to the bottom of the RD one or perhaps out of it all together.

Pick up 4-5 extra selections in the top 80-100 and address multiple needs with multiple selections.

Now we'd have 7 picks from maybe 34-80 in the 1st 3 rds.

We could get 3 OL, DL, ILB, RB, CB all by the end of day two.

Then draft two more OL and a couple of BPAs at other spots.

Not have too many of our eggs or cap dollars in any one basket. And have more total cap dollars for Free, Spears, Bowen and perhpas Huff.

Out of five drafted offensive lineman, what are the odds we get even one to start day one at RT? I'd say they're good.
One more who could probably be ready to play sometime in 2011, another in 2012 and perhpas two who'll be out of the game by 2013.

 

[Idgit]

Sorry, it took me a bit to get back to this. I didn't mean to come off snarky; it's just that I don't agree with any of it. Smith was by far the best pick available to us; dropping down out of the blue chips would obviously have been cheaper, but it would have hurt the team. We're almost certainly going to sign Huff (Nnamdi was never realistic). I don't think we'll necessarily cut Colombo (though I do think we probably do). We're not cutting Newman, unless it's to sign him to a cheaper deal. Spears we let walk, but not because of anything we do in this draft. Barber's gone, but Roy Williams isn't. Selections 4-6 are important in any draft, but I don't think there particularly telling in this case. 4-6 is where you find role players and talented development projects.

For Jerry to walk the walk what he has to do is draft well. And draft day 1 starters.

Today was a start but he would have come out much better financially by dropping 10 slots and getting a guy more prepared to start day 1.

This also means forgetting free agents like Nmandi certainly and even Huff.

I personally believe every pick we make in the first three rounds sees their incumbent released. Today meant bye bye to Columbo. Tomorrow could be Marcus Spears or Terence Newman or Leonard Davis but getting expenses under control means cutting dead overpaid weight. I expect RW11 and Barber are gone for certain as replacements are already on the roster. But selections in rounds 4-6 at those spots would be telling imho.

 

[YosemiteSam]

For Jerry to walk the walk what he has to do is draft well. And draft day 1 starters.

Today was a start but he would have come out much better financially by dropping 10 slots and getting a guy more prepared to start day 1.

This also means forgetting free agents like Nmandi certainly and even Huff.

I personally believe every pick we make in the first three rounds sees their incumbent released. Today meant bye bye to Columbo. Tomorrow could be Marcus Spears or Terence Newman or Leonard Davis but getting expenses under control means cutting dead overpaid weight. I expect RW11 and Barber are gone for certain as replacements are already on the roster. But selections in rounds 4-6 at those spots would be telling imho.

Dropping 10 slots would have been incredibly stupid unless they got a deal like Atlanta paid. Your post is FAIL.

 

[Dallas]

Dropping 10 slots would have been incredibly stupid unless they got a deal like Atlanta paid. Your post is FAIL.

Some might say EpIc?

 

[jterrell]

Sorry, it took me a bit to get back to this. I didn't mean to come off snarky; it's just that I don't agree with any of it. Smith was by far the best pick available to us; dropping down out of the blue chips would obviously have been cheaper, but it would have hurt the team. We're almost certainly going to sign Huff (Nnamdi was never realistic). I don't think we'll necessarily cut Colombo (though I do think we probably do). We're not cutting Newman, unless it's to sign him to a cheaper deal. Spears we let walk, but not because of anything we do in this draft. Barber's gone, but Roy Williams isn't. Selections 4-6 are important in any draft, but I don't think there particularly telling in this case. 4-6 is where you find role players and talented development projects.

It's just tea leaf reading so I don't expect everyone to agree and I do think we find out fairly soon. At least I hope we do because that means football is open for business soon.

Addressing particulars:
Trading down: It would have been cheaper without losing much if anything THIS year. Tyron may be a Hall of a Famer but few believe Constanzo and Carimi aren't 10 year starters. We stayed at 9 and took the potential All-Star. I am not knocking that, merely noting it wasn't the cheapest decision financially.

Huff: I do not expect him in Dallas. He was tagged as Restricted in Oakland and Jerry respects Al more than the other 30 owners do. He probably won't poach him even if the courts lift the Restricted access. We are also a team unlikely to want to spend 20 mil at Free Safety.

Barber/RW11/Columbo: I see zero way these guys return at their present contracts. Zero. They simply cost too much money and have zero trade value. Columbo may take a lesser deal to return as a backup and try to prove he is healthy. But my guess is he'd rather do that somewhere without two blue chip young OTs.

TNew: Last year TNew wasn't close to worth his salary. Dallas has to decide is that is a permanent trend or just an off year. He gets paid A LOT. He needs to produce metrics in the top 15 not the bottom 5 starters. He is a willing fighter who plays hurt but you have to judge what you actually get form him and factor in his season's performance. Tough to see him as a guy who plays 16 games as a high level next year if I am making that call.

That's what 5 players I addressed? We can do the math on that and see who's right by percentage. Everyone is offering educated guesses so we'll see how it shakes out.

 

[jterrell]

Some might say EpIc?

ROFL. I love nerd ragers. It is just a shame they hardly ever have a point and even more rarely one that makes sense.

I never suggested a trade down 10 slots. We did discuss Spiller who was drafted 9th versus the 15th spot. 15 - 9 = 6.

Simple Math really.

But what we do know is Constanzo was our second rated OT and by some in house he was first. He went at 22. We could have taken the deal Washington got and walked away with Costanzo plus an extra second rounder in the top 50 while pocketing about 3 mil per year in 1st round money.

It would not have been a bad deal and only truly simple minds would see it as such. Then again, you guys can not add....

I never said we made a bad decision, I stated we didn't take the cheapest, safest route. When you swing for the fences with elite potential you pay the cost.

It's ironic the business hawks who want the NFL so badly to prevail over players also want to spend whatever it takes to get the players they like.
Ironic, much?

 

[Idgit]

It's just tea leaf reading so I don't expect everyone to agree and I do think we find out fairly soon. At least I hope we do because that means football is open for business soon.

Addressing particulars:
Trading down: It would have been cheaper without losing much if anything THIS year. Tyron may be a Hall of a Famer but few believe Constanzo and Carimi aren't 10 year starters. We stayed at 9 and took the potential All-Star. I am not knocking that, merely noting it wasn't the cheapest decision financially.

Huff: I do not expect him in Dallas. He was tagged as Restricted in Oakland and Jerry respects Al more than the other 30 owners do. He probably won't poach him even if the courts lift the Restricted access. We are also a team unlikely to want to spend 20 mil at Free Safety.

Barber/RW11/Columbo: I see zero way these guys return at their present contracts. Zero. They simply cost too much money and have zero trade value. Columbo may take a lesser deal to return as a backup and try to prove he is healthy. But my guess is he'd rather do that somewhere without two blue chip young OTs.

TNew: Last year TNew wasn't close to worth his salary. Dallas has to decide is that is a permanent trend or just an off year. He gets paid A LOT. He needs to produce metrics in the top 15 not the bottom 5 starters. He is a willing fighter who plays hurt but you have to judge what you actually get form him and factor in his season's performance. Tough to see him as a guy who plays 16 games as a high level next year if I am making that call.

That's what 5 players I addressed? We can do the math on that and see who's right by percentage. Everyone is offering educated guesses so we'll see how it shakes out.

We'll find out before too long. The players you're naming are all players who are or are close to underperforming on their deals. Except for Newman. He wasn't paid like a top-15 CB last year, to start with. And our problems in coverage were with the safeties and Jenkins much more than with TNew. He does have a big number this year, though, that I can see them wanting to work down. He's still a very good CB, though, and we'd be stupid to move on without him now that Peterson is off the board.