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Five Cowboys facing a make-or-break season in 2015
Dan Schneier
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/dallas-cowboys-who-need-to-step-up-in-2015-080415
The NFL is an unforgiving league and the nickname "not for long" league didn't just come out of nowhere. Due to the NFL's strict salary cap, player movement is fluid from season to season, and sometimes week to week.
The Washington Commanders have built their roster for the 2015 season, but the future of their roster is in part tied to the contracts they have already signed. With several key impending free agents and a lot of future cap allocated to two disappoint defensive backs, the 2016 roster could look a lot different.
One interesting tidbit I discovered after looking into the Cowboys' 2016 salary cap situation is that their offense looks pretty set heading into the future. They have most of their cap on offense allocated to the following five players: Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Jason Wittten and Doug Free. Can you really see any of those players not returning to the team in 2016?
The following five players will need to step up and meet or exceed expectations if they want to remain members of the Cowboys in 2016.
Brandon Carr
Brandon Carr has been a major disappointment since the Cowboys signed him to a five-year $50.1 million contract in 2012. Last season, Carr's poor play was put on every screen for the world to see when Rookie of the Year Odell Beckham Jr. made "the catch" over him, but his inconsistent coverage also spanned over the course of the regular season. Despite playing in all 16 games, Carr recorded no interceptions and allowed six touchdowns in coverage. Opposing quarterbacks had a 116.6 rating when targeting Carr in coverage, per Pro Football Focus. He wasn't benched, but he probably should have been.
During the offseason, rumors circulated that Carr could be released if he wasn't willing to accept a pay reduction. In the end, Carr remained a Cowboy after calling the team's bluff and not accepting less money in 2015. Carr held all the leverage in offseason negotations based on the structure of his contract. Despite being in the fourth year of his contract, the Cowboys would have only saved $566,000 of his roughly $12.72 million 2015 cap hit. The rest would have been dead money that wouldn't have come off of their 2015 cap.
How is that possible so late into a contract? You can look directly at the Cowboys' management's cap construction. Their decision to "kick the can down the road" and create immediate cap space in recent seasons has netted them a few extra free agent additions, but it has also created a lot of dead money in future years on contracts like Carr's five-year pact.
If Carr struggles again in 2015, the Cowboys will have more flexibility to release him this coming offseason. Carr's 2016 cap hit stands at roughly $13.82 million, but the Cowboys can recoup roughly $6.83 million in 2016 cap space if they release him before June 1st. They would still be on the hook for roughly $7.43 million in dead money in this scenario, but if Carr continues at this rate, the Cowboys could justify releasing him and using the $6.83 million elsewhere.
Morris Claiborne
Morris Claiborne's three-year career with the Cowboys has been nothing short of a disappointment. The former No. 6 overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft has battled injuries and inconsistencies throughout his career. Claiborne has played in different schemes and with different supporting casts, but he hasn't found his niche as a quality cornerback.
His 2014 season ended in Week 4 when he tore his patellar tendon. Before going down with the injury, Claiborne earned very poor grades in pass coverage, according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed three touchdowns in primary coverage despite playing in just three complete games. Claiborne was limited during the Cowboys' spring practices, but he has since returned to the practice field during training camp.
Claiborne has actually drawn early praise in camp, but he will have to prove that he can do it in a game situation consistently over the course of the regular season in 2015. The lowest opposing passer rating quarterbacks have had when targeting Claiborne came in 2013, and that number was still 94.3, per Pro Football Focus.
The first hurdle for Claiborne will be to earn back a top-three spot on the Cowboys' depth chart at cornerback. He will be competing with Carr and rookie first-rounder Byron Jones to earn one of the next two spots behind the Cowboys' best cornerback--Orlando Scandrick. The Cowboys did not pick up the fifth-year option on Claiborne's rookie contract, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent...
Dan Schneier
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/dallas-cowboys-who-need-to-step-up-in-2015-080415
The NFL is an unforgiving league and the nickname "not for long" league didn't just come out of nowhere. Due to the NFL's strict salary cap, player movement is fluid from season to season, and sometimes week to week.
The Washington Commanders have built their roster for the 2015 season, but the future of their roster is in part tied to the contracts they have already signed. With several key impending free agents and a lot of future cap allocated to two disappoint defensive backs, the 2016 roster could look a lot different.
One interesting tidbit I discovered after looking into the Cowboys' 2016 salary cap situation is that their offense looks pretty set heading into the future. They have most of their cap on offense allocated to the following five players: Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Jason Wittten and Doug Free. Can you really see any of those players not returning to the team in 2016?
The following five players will need to step up and meet or exceed expectations if they want to remain members of the Cowboys in 2016.
Brandon Carr
Brandon Carr has been a major disappointment since the Cowboys signed him to a five-year $50.1 million contract in 2012. Last season, Carr's poor play was put on every screen for the world to see when Rookie of the Year Odell Beckham Jr. made "the catch" over him, but his inconsistent coverage also spanned over the course of the regular season. Despite playing in all 16 games, Carr recorded no interceptions and allowed six touchdowns in coverage. Opposing quarterbacks had a 116.6 rating when targeting Carr in coverage, per Pro Football Focus. He wasn't benched, but he probably should have been.
During the offseason, rumors circulated that Carr could be released if he wasn't willing to accept a pay reduction. In the end, Carr remained a Cowboy after calling the team's bluff and not accepting less money in 2015. Carr held all the leverage in offseason negotations based on the structure of his contract. Despite being in the fourth year of his contract, the Cowboys would have only saved $566,000 of his roughly $12.72 million 2015 cap hit. The rest would have been dead money that wouldn't have come off of their 2015 cap.
How is that possible so late into a contract? You can look directly at the Cowboys' management's cap construction. Their decision to "kick the can down the road" and create immediate cap space in recent seasons has netted them a few extra free agent additions, but it has also created a lot of dead money in future years on contracts like Carr's five-year pact.
If Carr struggles again in 2015, the Cowboys will have more flexibility to release him this coming offseason. Carr's 2016 cap hit stands at roughly $13.82 million, but the Cowboys can recoup roughly $6.83 million in 2016 cap space if they release him before June 1st. They would still be on the hook for roughly $7.43 million in dead money in this scenario, but if Carr continues at this rate, the Cowboys could justify releasing him and using the $6.83 million elsewhere.
Morris Claiborne
Morris Claiborne's three-year career with the Cowboys has been nothing short of a disappointment. The former No. 6 overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft has battled injuries and inconsistencies throughout his career. Claiborne has played in different schemes and with different supporting casts, but he hasn't found his niche as a quality cornerback.
His 2014 season ended in Week 4 when he tore his patellar tendon. Before going down with the injury, Claiborne earned very poor grades in pass coverage, according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed three touchdowns in primary coverage despite playing in just three complete games. Claiborne was limited during the Cowboys' spring practices, but he has since returned to the practice field during training camp.
Claiborne has actually drawn early praise in camp, but he will have to prove that he can do it in a game situation consistently over the course of the regular season in 2015. The lowest opposing passer rating quarterbacks have had when targeting Claiborne came in 2013, and that number was still 94.3, per Pro Football Focus.
The first hurdle for Claiborne will be to earn back a top-three spot on the Cowboys' depth chart at cornerback. He will be competing with Carr and rookie first-rounder Byron Jones to earn one of the next two spots behind the Cowboys' best cornerback--Orlando Scandrick. The Cowboys did not pick up the fifth-year option on Claiborne's rookie contract, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent...