How to create Salary Cap space

cern

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The best way to gauge your knowledge of a subject is how much you're paid for your advice. If no one's paying you, odds are you're not all that.:)
 

coult44

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Ignorant people will still argue and complain.

In 2035 those same ignorant people will only be able to tell stories to their great grandkids about the glory days of the Dallas Cowboys...When will people truly understand this is the worst ran organization in professional sports.?
 

cern

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In 2035 those same ignorant people will only be able to tell stories to their great grandkids about the glory days of the Dallas Cowboys...When will people truly understand this is the worst ran organization in professional sports.?
We'll be able to watch games and reruns in hologram mode. But nfl will own the rights.
 

Darthkuriboh

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How to create cap space: Cut everyone. Sign street scrubs. Lose 3 years straight and use picks to get new players, almost all cheap on rookie contracts.
 

FuzzyLumpkins

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Tremaine Edmund's 40 Time.

Since Fuzzy won't answer, it was 4.55 seconds.

Xwalker's take on slavery.

Since xwalker won't answer, it was that it was good for the slaves.

I'd know which take I'd rather have.
 

northerncowboynation

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Technically restructuring a player just gives him a bonus in March that replaces most of the upcoming season's salary which would be guaranteed after game 1 anyway.

If they are going to push 10M into the future with restructures, it's more convenient if that player stays a few years, but...

Option A:
Player A1 restructured to get 10M in cap space then cut after the season.
Player A2 restructured next year to offset added dead-money from Player A1. Player stays 3 years.

Option B:
Player B restructured to get 10M in cap space. Stays 4 years.

Either way 10M gets pushed forward over 4 years. There is no loss of money in option A relative to option B.

Have to admit I'm no capologist. You seem to have a good handle on it though. Nightman seems to also.
 

northerncowboynation

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From purely a cap point of view it makes sense to cut Dez this year. From a personnel point of view, it's hard to replace a full grown retriever with a pup.
 

xwalker

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Have to admit I'm no capologist. You seem to have a good handle on it though. Nightman seems to also.

Nightman and I make efforts to be mythbusters in regards to the cap. It's easier now that Spotrac and OTC can do the calculations for you. Years ago we would post spreadsheets with the what-if calculations for the Cowboys cap scenarios.

Your post was not wrong, but I just wanted to add perspective.

The constant "The Cowboys are in cap Hell" posts that you see are wrong. They were really only in true cap hell one year. In 2013 they had franchised Spencer for the 2nd time and were working on a new contract for Romo. They restructured all contracts to the max including the backup QB which only gained 200K in cap space. The new Romo contract freed up cap space but without his extension, they would not have been able to sign draft picks or a practice squad that year.

In contrast, today they still have the ability to create significant cap space even after using the tag on DLaw. The team is focused on keeping the cap situation clean which is why they avoid big free agent expenditures. Very few teams have "free-agented" their way to the Super Bowl. The Broncos did but most Super Bowl teams were home grown with just a few complimentary free agents.

The Patriots don't put a huge focus on free agents which is part of the reason they don't fall off the map the way the Broncos and other Super Bowl teams have done.

The Giants spent huge money on defensive free agents a couple of years ago but then couldn't afford any offensive linemen. They got good players but they were not a good enough team to justify going for broke at that point.

The Eagles cap is now a mess but they timed it perfectly for their team to peak before the cap ramifications kick in next year. That's a dangerous strategy because if they didn't win they would still have the cap ramifications.

The Patriots model where their cap is more of a straight line on a graph provides a higher probability of winning over the long term than the Eagles model which has high peaks and low valleys on a graph of their cap.

Jerry tried the max spend approach for a long time with poor results but fans still want to go back to that approach.
 

northerncowboynation

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Nightman and I make efforts to be mythbusters in regards to the cap. It's easier now that Spotrac and OTC can do the calculations for you. Years ago we would post spreadsheets with the what-if calculations for the Cowboys cap scenarios.

Your post was not wrong, but I just wanted to add perspective.

The constant "The Cowboys are in cap Hell" posts that you see are wrong. They were really only in true cap hell one year. In 2013 they had franchised Spencer for the 2nd time and were working on a new contract for Romo. They restructured all contracts to the max including the backup QB which only gained 200K in cap space. The new Romo contract freed up cap space but without his extension, they would not have been able to sign draft picks or a practice squad that year.

In contrast, today they still have the ability to create significant cap space even after using the tag on DLaw. The team is focused on keeping the cap situation clean which is why they avoid big free agent expenditures. Very few teams have "free-agented" their way to the Super Bowl. The Broncos did but most Super Bowl teams were home grown with just a few complimentary free agents.

The Patriots don't put a huge focus on free agents which is part of the reason they don't fall off the map the way the Broncos and other Super Bowl teams have done.

The Giants spent huge money on defensive free agents a couple of years ago but then couldn't afford any offensive linemen. They got good players but they were not a good enough team to justify going for broke at that point.

The Eagles cap is now a mess but they timed it perfectly for their team to peak before the cap ramifications kick in next year. That's a dangerous strategy because if they didn't win they would still have the cap ramifications.

The Patriots model where their cap is more of a straight line on a graph provides a higher probability of winning over the long term than the Eagles model which has high peaks and low valleys on a graph of their cap.

Jerry tried the max spend approach for a long time with poor results but fans still want to go back to that approach.

It seems to me that the very best teams spend low in free agency. The Pats and Pack as prime examples. It was strange to see the Pats so involved in FA in 2017. I think it kind of signals the beginning of the end for them. The Steelers are another team that haven't rushed head long in to FA either. So many teams go that route and fail. I know we want instant answers. There aren't any. It takes time for draftees to acquire a taste of the NFL and for their team to acquire a taste for them. FA's come in with an acquired taste and sometimes it's fishy
 

xwalker

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Xwalker's take on slavery.

Since xwalker won't answer, it was that it was good for the slaves.

I'd know which take I'd rather have.

I guess you've decided to test the mods to see how many times and in how ways you can call someone a racist and not get banned.

Tremaine Edmund's 40 Time is in the 90 percentile range for LBs over 235 pounds.
 

xwalker

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It seems to me that the very best teams spend low in free agency. The Pats and Pack as prime examples. It was strange to see the Pats so involved in FA in 2017. I think it kind of signals the beginning of the end for them. The Steelers are another team that haven't rushed head long in to FA either. So many teams go that route and fail. I know we want instant answers. There aren't any. It takes time for draftees to acquire a taste of the NFL and for their team to acquire a taste for them. FA's come in with an acquired taste and sometimes it's fishy

Didn't they just sign 1 significant free agent?

2017 FREE AGENTS SIGNED
PLAYER POS TEAM
Rex Burkhead 1-year, 3.6M
Lawrence Guy 3.6M average
Stephon Gilmore 13M average
2017 FREE AGENTS LOST
PLAYER POS TEAM
Chris Long DE Philadelphia Eagles
Martellus Bennett TE Green Bay Packers
Logan Ryan CB Tennessee Titans
Barkevious Mingo LB Indianapolis Colts
Jabaal Sheard DE Indianapolis Colts
LeGarrette Blount RB Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Floyd WR Minnesota Vikings
 

northerncowboynation

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Didn't they just sign 1 significant free agent?

2017 FREE AGENTS SIGNED
PLAYER POS TEAM
Rex Burkhead 1-year, 3.6M
Lawrence Guy 3.6M average
Stephon Gilmore 13M average
2017 FREE AGENTS LOST
PLAYER POS TEAM
Chris Long DE Philadelphia Eagles
Martellus Bennett TE Green Bay Packers
Logan Ryan CB Tennessee Titans
Barkevious Mingo LB Indianapolis Colts
Jabaal Sheard DE Indianapolis Colts
LeGarrette Blount RB Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Floyd WR Minnesota Vikings

Seems so
 

EGTuna

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Make tough, unsentimental decisions.

Cut Dez. He's not going to take a pay cut, and he's not performing anywhere near the market value of contract. Dez was a beast because of his ability to physically dominate DBs in tight, 1v1 situations and his open field athletic ability. Injuries and a more risk-averse QB have diminished his abilities and contributions. You don't get healthier as you get older. He'll never be the player he was before 2015.

Cut Witten. He was DEAD LAST in the league in YAC at 1.6, which is less than if he had just fallen forward after every catch, as he's taller than 1.6 yards. He's lost all speed and quickness and isn't as effective as a blocker. He's an all-time Cowboy and first ballot HOFer, but he's not worth his current contract, and if you took the name and number away and looked purely at the player, he's not an NFL starter, and this staff refuses to take him off the field.

Cut Scandrick. He's older, and the team has plenty of young, talented, cheap DBs.
 

Nightman

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I said retire. And again we're up to the cap. Even eating half the proration puts us over the cap.
You mean like Romo.........He retired in March but didn't file the papers until June 1st

He had 18.9m in Dead Money and when he suddenly retired he saved the team 14m last year and 20m this year.......... but even if they took it all last year they would have still saved 5m against the cap

So hypothetically if a player retired in Mar/Apr and the team couldn't push back the tranny until June 1st and the team went over the cap .... they would have 7 days to get in compliance with no penalties.......certainly not 1m a day like you suggested several times(and it wasn't part of the old CBA either)..... they would be prohibited from making other moves until they got back into compliance

Same rules would apply mid-season but I can't think of a scenario how it would happen..... since it is clearly past June 1st all the pro-rated signing bonuses or Dead Money would stay off the books until next year with any retirement, trade or cut

edit- maybe if they waived someone with guaranteed money still owed in future years like Aaron Hernandez they would go over until he was actually suspended but the money and cap space could be recovered
 

Nightman

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From purely a cap point of view it makes sense to cut Dez this year. From a personnel point of view, it's hard to replace a full grown retriever with a pup.
There are other ways to mitigate the 16.5m cap hit

A paycut, a paycut disguised as an extension, a restructure, a restructure that added voidable years or even a trade would be better than a cut........ Dez would have big demand on the open market..... AJeffrey just got 4/56m and watch what ARobinson gets and they aren't as good as Dez
 

CyberB0b

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In 2035 those same ignorant people will only be able to tell stories to their great grandkids about the glory days of the Dallas Cowboys...When will people truly understand this is the worst ran organization in professional sports.?

I agree, the organization as a whole is poorly run. When it comes to the salary cap, however, they CAN do whatever they want, they just chose not to. That is my only argument.
 
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