Just a Thought On Romo

[KJJ]

The INTs against the Niners were mental mistakes. His arm strength might or might not have declined, but the INTs were not due to arm strength issues.

Wade Wilson said during camp Romo lost something on his deep balls and you could see that last Sunday. The deep pass to Dez that was picked off was short and fluttering and the lucky completion to Harris was also a duck that was short but Harris was able to make a play on it.

 

[daveferr33]

Yes, my focus going into this season has been on 2015. My feeling is that Romo's back is OK all season which is a good indicator for 2015 OR his back fails and they draft a QB with a top 10 pick.

People panic about dead-money, but forget that when players are cut their massive base salaries are gone also. There is dead-money from cutting Ware, but they ended up with more cap space without him on the roster because his base salary is gone.

I don't think people forget that the base salary disappears. My repeated objections to your salary cap posts (which I appreciate and hope to learn from) is your continuing use of the term "offset." As you example shows, the dead money remains, but the team doesn't have to pay the base salary. The base salary doesn't offset the dead money; the base salary is gone so the cap hit is reduced, but it does not reduce or offset the dead money.

People (and most front offices around the league) "panic" about dead money because it eats up valuable cap space. If, by your calculations, Romo's dead money is around 30 million if cut, that means the team cannot sign 30 million worth of players. That is where the "panic" comes from.

It really is as simple as that.

Gladly the Cowboys front office woke up this this realization this offseason and, to the celebration of many, did not sign aging vets to backloaded contracts (as they had done in the past). They learned that dead money is not a good thing.

 

[Deep_South]

Tony had one of his worst games ever, but still threw for 281 yards and a TD. He really needs to adjust his game to his current physical ability, not what he could do in the past, and we can still win with him. There is no point in receivers getting open at a place on the field he simply can't hit with any regularity. Just run the ball, dink and dunk, throw an occasional 35 yard pass to keep the other team loose, and make some big plays off of screens to Murray and Dunbar.

 

[xwalker]

Wade Wilson said during camp Romo lost something on his deep balls and you could see that last Sunday. The deep pass to Dez that was picked off was short and fluttering and the lucky completion to Harris was also a duck that was short but Harris was able to make a play on it.

Romo didn't see the underneath defender on the pass intended for Dez. Dez was actually triple covered on that play. Regardless of the quality of the pass to Dez it was a bad decision.

Like I said, his arm strength might be a problem, but it's not the reason for the INTs. The reason he didn't see the underneath defender is because they ran play action and Romo does a 360 in the backfield with his eyes off the field. As soon as he turns back around, he throws the ball to the spot where he is expecting Dez. It's easy to see from the endzone camera view that it would be difficult to see that defender in that situation. If not for the play-action I think he would have seen the underneath defender and he might have even seen Williams running wide open.

The INT in the endzone was a really bad decision. Harris had been wide open early in that play, but Romo didn't see him.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

They went through a lot of QBs before Peyton found Romo. Can't imagine how long it would take them this time.

You dont think with the Red Genius who has dramatically improved our drafts all by himself, and with his eye for talent, and being a QB guru he wont steal one for us in the next draft?

 

[xwalker]

People (and most front offices around the league) "panic" about dead money because it eats up valuable cap space. If, by your calculations, Romo's dead money is around 30 million if cut, that means the team cannot sign 30 million worth of players. That is where the "panic" comes from.

The comparison is having Romo on the team vs not on the team.

If Romo's cap hit is 27M while on the team OR 27M while not on the team, then it's an offset. You don't have the player, but you don't have less cap space than you had with him on the team.

Consider 2 scenarios:

1. Romo plays in 2015.

2. Romo is cut after 2014 and Weeden is the starter in 2015.


The Cowboys cap situation is almost identical in both scenarios. Let's say that Romo plays in 2015 and they have the cap space to sign the DT Suh in free agency. They still have the cap space for Suh if Weeden is the starter and Romo is cut.

Now, hopefully it would be a draft pick in place of Weeden and the draft pick will get paid a little more, but it's not a significant amount relative to this discussion.

 

[SHAMSzy]

No, we should have traded him for a #1 draft pick to some QB hungry team and in the meantime given up a 3rd for a QB like Alex Smith. Sure, Alex isn't the answer here but he would have easily gotten us to 8-8, same as Romo did.

Lol you guys have become so unappreciative of what Romo has done for this franchise based on one week, it's **** sad. Worst part is if he throws 300 yds 3 tds 0 ints a couple games in a row you'll all be claiming BSPN is underrating him. Quit being so reactionary.

 

[xwalker]

They went through a lot of QBs before Peyton found Romo. Can't imagine how long it would take them this time.

Probably much faster if they used a 1st round pick to get a real NFL QB prospect.

Most of the QBs they tried after Aikman were ex-baseball players, reject veterans or a mentally challenged Quincy Carter.

 

[TwoDeep3]

You dont think with the Red Genius who has dramatically improved our drafts all by himself, and with his eye for talent, and being a QB guru he wont steal one for us in the next draft?

Sometimes there is no substitute for well played sarcasm.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Probably much faster if they used a 1st round pick to get a real NFL QB prospect.

Most of the QBs they tried after Aikman were ex-baseball players, reject veterans or a mentally challenged Quincy Carter.

And why was that, exactly?

One might assume Jerry was trying to find a diamond in the trash. he did make a statement how having a franchise quarterback not making franchise money benefited the team cap wise. This was before Romo's first big payday.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Sometimes there is no substitute for well played sarcasm.

Well, you know some are thinking it.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Well, you know some are thinking it.

That's why it is funny as Hell.

 

[xwalker]

Oh no, walker. I am not suggesting cutting him or moving him along.

My premise is what if he CAN'T play anymore because his physical aspects have taken a dip they cannot recover from.

The contract is ludicrous. I grant you that. But the idea of what this team would be with a cap hit the magnitude of Romo and him being on the gold course as we hunt thr9ough every dumpster Jerry can find to come up with another Romo is like watching end of times videos on YouTube.

I have to turn it off because it scares me. So does the idea of Jones performing his Quest for Quarterback.

If he can't play due to the back, they would have to cut him. I just wanted to show that if that happens, it's not that big of a setback, cap-wise.

Yes, it's scary for the Cowboys to be looking for another QB, but it would be real helpful to use a 1st round pick on a QB instead of trying to find one in the dumpster like they did after Aikman.

 

[morasp]

Probably much faster if they used a 1st round pick to get a real NFL QB prospect.

Most of the QBs they tried after Aikman were ex-baseball players, reject veterans or a mentally challenged Quincy Carter.

I was so glad we didn't take Johnny Manziel. He may turn into a good QB someday but the last I read he was having trouble just learning the offense in Cleveland.

 

[KJJ]

Romo didn't see the underneath defender on the pass intended for Dez. Dez was actually triple covered on that play. Regardless of the quality of the pass to Dez it was a bad decision.

Like I said, his arm strength might be a problem, but it's not the reason for the INTs. The reason he didn't see the underneath defender is because they ran play action and Romo does a 360 in the backfield with his eyes off the field. As soon as he turns back around, he throws the ball to the spot where he is expecting Dez. It's easy to see from the endzone camera view that it would be difficult to see that defender in that situation. If not for the play-action I think he would have seen the underneath defender and he might have even seen Williams running wide open.

It was a bad decision into triple coverage and the ball came up short. The play to Harris wasn't a good decision either it was a duck that fortunately Harris came down with. Hopefully the reason you're giving for the pass intended for Dez came from Romo or Garrett and not your own vantage point.

 

[TwoDeep3]

If he can't play due to the back, they would have to cut him. I just wanted to show that if that happens, it's not that big of a setback, cap-wise.

Yes, it's scary for the Cowboys to be looking for another QB, but it would be real helpful to use a 1st round pick on a QB instead of trying to find one in the dumpster like they did after Aikman.

The ancillary fallout is this.

Would Dez stay or go?

Would Free Agents come? And would they cost more coming to a team in shambles?

How many wasted years would we have with the offensive line being what it is before we had someone worth protecting?

Would Fred Bread and Martin force the tag to prevent the highest bidder on a team that wins?

Now factor in what it will take to rebuild the defense. One that I do not agree showed anything even close to not being bad in this last game.

How long until that side of the ball is productive?

This is more than Romo and Romo's money. That is merely the surface of this dilemma.

These waters are swift and deep.

 

[xwalker]

Im a big Romo fan but he has never had the post season success to get that kind of money.

Dallas should've let him test the market and matched whatever his top offer would be.

Agree. If they were willing to go as high as they did, then they didn't have anything to lose by letting him test the market. No team was going to give him a better contract than the one he got.

I'm hopeful that Jerry really is letting other people make the decisions now that we've seen 2 very non-Jerry moves this year. Cutting Ware and not drafting Manziel were out of character for Jerry. Hopefully that continues.

I really think the Ratliff issue and maybe a couple of other issues like Franchising Spencer might have influenced Jerry to reconsider how he hands out money.

 

[silver]

If Romo somehow retires at the end of this year the CAP wouldnt be that big of an issue if we draft his replacement. With the way the new rules are the first contract of all rookies is pretty much set regardelss where he's drafted. I look at what the Seahawks did with Russell Wilson (of course this is a best case scenario), he got drafted in the 3rd round and his cap hit was something close to the minimunm wage.

 

[xwalker]

It was a bad decision into triple coverage and the ball came up short. The play to Harris wasn't a good decision either it was a duck that fortunately Harris came down with. Hopefully the reason you're giving for the pass intended for Dez came from Romo or Garrett and not your own vantage point.

I've already said that Romo's arm strength might be an issue, but if we look at the problems in the Niners game, arm strength is not the primary issue. Regardless of the quality of the pass to Harris, it's didn't cause the loss or cause any problem because it was caught by Harris.

Romo said that he was good physically but the problems were mental.

The pass to Dez was fine if there was no underneath defender. If the defender behind Dez was the one that Romo saw, then he would error on the side of under-throwing that pass. The problem was that he didn't see the underneath guy. It's obvious in the game footage and it correlates with Romo's comments about it.

 

[daveferr33]

The comparison is having Romo on the team vs not on the team.

If Romo's cap hit is 27M while on the team OR 27M while not on the team, then it's an offset. You don't have the player, but you don't have less cap space than you had with him on the team.

Consider 2 scenarios:

1. Romo plays in 2015.

2. Romo is cut after 2014 and Weeden is the starter in 2015.


The Cowboys cap situation is almost identical in both scenarios. Let's say that Romo plays in 2015 and they have the cap space to sign the DT Suh in free agency. They still have the cap space for Suh if Weeden is the starter and Romo is cut.

Now, hopefully it would be a draft pick in place of Weeden and the draft pick will get paid a little more, but it's not a significant amount relative to this discussion.

I appreciate the response.

There is no "offset" in your example. I think what you mean is the overall cap number is reduced by the amount of the base salary; the overall cap number that would have been paid is "offset" by the base salary. But again, the dead money remains.

And the Cap numbers may be identical in both of your scenarios (with and without Romo) but the situations are drastically different because you are paying for a player not on the roster and now you need to replace him, but don't have the money (or have a reduced amount) to spend because its tied up in dead money.

In addition, the use of the term "offset" to describe the reduction in the overall cap money gets even more confusing when you look at how offset language works in players' contracts (an offset that does appear to reduce the dead money owed a player). Take a look at the Tenn. Cortland Finnegan contract for an example.

See: http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/tag/_/name/cortland-finnegan