Keeping Zeke in 23 vs Releasing him

[RonnieT24]

9 Months ?
Nope i would not think so. Once playoffs decides to continue on or go home to re-plan 2023. Those 2023 plans has to get going the moment the 2022 playoff season is over.
That's coaching,- departures, promotions, re-signings or outside new hirings ..its free agency period ... cap roster plans ..contracts negotiations or cap casualties .. NFL draft plans....
.there's too much more of that cannot wait until training camp time.

i think maybe the talk of the Cowboys possibly moving on without Zeke may have you paranoid in some sorts, otherwise this would be your typical, average
good ole Cowboys Fan Zone football thread.

I am always amused at people who feel the need to assign feelings to other people. Whether you think so or not the 2023 roster will be shaped over the next 9 months.. Not tomorrow.. not next week... not next month. There will be changes AFTER the season is done as there is every season.. I just have no interest in worrying about any of them UNTIL the season is done. The impending departures of coaches, players, staff et al is a given. You guys are far more invested in any of that than I am. I have been a fan of this team for 57 years.. No player or coach leaving is going to change that. No matter how hard yall try to make it so.

Oh and none of this salary cap nonsense will ever be mistaken for a "football thread."

 

[quickccc]

I am always amused at people who feel the need to assign feelings to other people. Whether you think so or not the 2023 roster will be shaped over the next 9 months.. Not tomorrow.. not next week... not next month. There will be changes AFTER the season is done as there is every season.. I just have no interest in worrying about any of them UNTIL the season is done. The impending departures of coaches, players, staff et al is a given. You guys are far more invested in any of that than I am. I have been a fan of this team for 57 years.. No player or coach leaving is going to change that. No matter how hard yall try to make it so.

Oh and none of this salary cap nonsense will ever be mistaken for a "football thread."

ok, ..That's Cool and da Gang .. To each his own,.. no interest or wanna talk about it
Future, Past, ..Present. ..Player, Coaches, Jerry, ..etc.

.But why be so frantic about it if others choose to discuss players and coaches future status on a mere discussion forum board ?

 

[RonnieT24]

ok, ..That's Cool and da Gang .. To each his own,.. no interest or wanna talk about it
Future, Past, ..Present. ..Player, Coaches, Jerry, ..etc.

.But why be so frantic about it if others choose to discuss players and coaches future status on a mere discussion forum board ?

Because it's a friggin buzzkill that's why!!! I come here to enjoy choppin it up about my favorite team and when they have success to the level they had it Monday night I want to soak it in and be happy and these sort of posts and the people who make them detract from that. Not JUST in these posts but their penchant for interjecting their vitriol into anything remotely resembling a positive post about the team. If they would just keep this nonsense contained to separate threads like this it wouldn't bother me so much. But they insist on making sure we can't enjoy anything by spewing this nonsense every chance they get.

 

[LatinMind]

Someone help me out here if I am wrong but looking at his cap hit next year which is 16.7 million. If we out right release him the dead money hit would be 11.9 million resulting is a savings of nearly 5 million.

Considering we only have 5 million in projected cap right now with 43 players signed and some young players that will be looking for big contracts over the next couple of years (Diggs, CeeDee, Parsons) Maybe it's the right time to move on from Zeke. He's not a bad compliment RB but he's certainly not a featured back anymore and most would agree Pollard is better.

Also interestingly enough, Dak's 2022 cap hit was 19.7 million, 2023 is 49.1 million, nearly 25% of the available cap.

They can keep him and draft robinson.

 

[vlad]

Other than resident Stans i just can’t see any reason to keep him. I get he sells jerseys or whatever but he was done years ago

 

[StuckMojo]

It’s time to let Zeke go. I’ve been a big fan but his legs are gone after all the hits he had taken and given through the years. I would love to keep Pollard but he may be too expensive and unfortunately not sure how Davis will be.

Since OP mentioned Diggs, I would not give him a big contract.

 

[fivetwos]

A lot of talk about Zeke’s contract (it’s 100% bad)…I’m surprised there’s no talk of DLaw too. He’s due a $23M next year, which will make him (as of now) a top 10 paid defensive player in football. Not sure there’s any incentive for him to renegotiate either. While it’s a little different because Lawrence is at least productive still, but if you want to talk about potential cap issues next year Lawrence definitely belongs high on the list of the conversation.

I wouldn’t worry about that one.

What they agreed on was a 3/30 deal fully guaranteed. So the 2023 number was meant to be restructured all along.

Remember they are now allowed to push dead money into a year after a deal expires now, so that’s going to factor in, and really how the Dak contract is manageable for now.

 

[Cmac]

We're in the middle of a potentially magical playoff run and you people can't stop yourselves from worrying about next year's cap? What is wrong wit yall?

Thinking the same thing. When all else fails or it's boring between games......."It's Zeke fault".......the board's periennal Fall Guy. Many don't want him on the team, come hell or high water......no matter what and if SF wins.....the onslaught will increase. Never seen anything like it.

We had a TE retire after the draft, return the next season, play marginally, replace the young TE,.......and was welcomed or treated with open arms......and glorified on this board.

 

[b0xZZ]

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/ezekiel-elliott-18952/

https://overthecap.com/player/ezekiel-elliott/4717

Cowboys have a potential Opt out in 2023 for Zeke's contract.

- They can (and will) toy and play with Tyron another year with LT and Tyler to LG, ..and ride that until Tyron physically cannot return to football any longer.
I believe In Cowboys minds, if Tyron can still physically hold his own, they will gamble it out, squeeze that contract juice out, until he cannot hold his own anymore.

- Tyler's ability to play both OT and OG, will give them that flexibility. He'll eventually be entrenched at one position- to where he can master that position.
But until the Tyron Smith saga is over ...

Speaking of OL Zach’s probably going to be in line for another renegotiation as he Carrie’s a pretty hefty cap number in 23 as well

 

[b0xZZ]

I am always amused at people who feel the need to assign feelings to other people. Whether you think so or not the 2023 roster will be shaped over the next 9 months.. Not tomorrow.. not next week... not next month. There will be changes AFTER the season is done as there is every season.. I just have no interest in worrying about any of them UNTIL the season is done. The impending departures of coaches, players, staff et al is a given. You guys are far more invested in any of that than I am. I have been a fan of this team for 57 years.. No player or coach leaving is going to change that. No matter how hard yall try to make it so.

Oh and none of this salary cap nonsense will ever be mistaken for a "football thread."

Why are you so butthurt? For someone that’s not interested in this cap talk you sure love being in here crapping on everyone about it.

 

[b0xZZ]

ok, ..That's Cool and da Gang .. To each his own,.. no interest or wanna talk about it
Future, Past, ..Present. ..Player, Coaches, Jerry, ..etc.

.But why be so frantic about it if others choose to discuss players and coaches future status on a mere discussion forum board ?

Some people are just miserable man that’s really all it comes down to.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

We're in the middle of a potentially magical playoff run and you people can't stop yourselves from worrying about next year's cap? What is wrong wit yall?

No...we needed ANOTHER Zeke/Dak cap discussion. Look this can't wait until after our Super Bowl. This needs handled, by us fans...STAT.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I don't know why you would even entertain keeping him with a pay cut. He is thoroughly washed. Malik Davis would upgrade the position. Certainly you can find better and cheaper in the draft.

Malik would be better in some regards, worse in others.

 

[Risen Star]

Malik would be better in some regards, worse in others.

He'd help you far more than he'd hurt you.

Spare me this notion that we need to keep a horrific player on the field because he's this super duper pass blocker.

 

[xwalker]

Someone help me out here if I am wrong but looking at his cap hit next year which is 16.7 million. If we out right release him the dead money hit would be 11.9 million resulting is a savings of nearly 5 million.

Considering we only have 5 million in projected cap right now with 43 players signed and some young players that will be looking for big contracts over the next couple of years (Diggs, CeeDee, Parsons) Maybe it's the right time to move on from Zeke. He's not a bad compliment RB but he's certainly not a featured back anymore and most would agree Pollard is better.

Also interestingly enough, Dak's 2022 cap hit was 19.7 million, 2023 is 49.1 million, nearly 25% of the available cap.

Don't worry about when per year cap hits. It is the total caps hits over all future years that matter.

Keeping Zeke in 2023 adds 10.9M to the multi-year cap total vs cutting him (10.9M is his 2023 salary).

• The actual cap hits:
  • Keep for 2023 then cut in March 2024:
    • 2023 16.7M (
    • 2024 6.1M (dead money)
    • Total 22.7M
  • Cut in March 2023:
    • 2023: 11.9M
    • 2024: Zero
    • Total: 11.9M
  • Difference Keep - Cut:
    • 22.8 - 11.9 = 10.9M

• Pre vs Post June 1st cut does not really matter.
  • They can free up 6.1M in 2023 with a post June 1st cut;
  • however, they can just restructure another contract to free up the same amount.
• Summary:
  • You can avoid all of the cap hit calculations by just looking at how much the player will get paid for the season in question.
  • For Zeke that number is 10.9M in 2023.
    • In previous seasons it would have been completely different because his base salaries were guaranteed.
    • i.e. Cutting him when his base was guaranteed would have saved Zero total cap dollars.

 

[aikemirv]

It's a no brainer. Cut him post June1 and you take a 5.8 million dollar dead cap hit, and you save 10.9 million in cap savings. You would also take a 6 million dollar dead cap hit in 24.
To me that is a very digestible number over two years.
If you do nothing and bring him back his cap hit in 23 is 16.7 million
He has no production, other than being a slow fullback.

Yep, I don't see how anyone can justify keeping him. That's the price to sign Pollard right there! No brainer! David gets 10 carries per game next year and there's really no drop-off

 

[speedkilz88]

What does doing that mean for the cap though? Honest question as I am far from a cap guru, but typically whenever that gets done it pushes the cap hit into future years. With Daks contract almost up I'm just not sure where else they can hide that hit? Also if he signs a new extension can that do away with the money put towards the voided years? If not it almost feels like Dallas just needs to bite the bullet to avoid more pain in 2024/2025.

Every big contract in the league pushes money to future years. That's what signing bonuses do. Some teams do it from the beginning structure and others like the Cowboys do it year by year so they can pick and choose which guys they want to do it with and which ones they don't (ones that aren't playing up to the contract)

 

[jgboys1]

Zeke's lost it. Ditch him, Anyone in the draft could perform as well. Keep Pollard at all costs. Jerry is a buffoon paying out big money (EGO) to a RB which then screws the team in later years.

Jerry loves putting us in cap hell every few years. We will be going through it again in 2023 and 2024, I am afraid.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Every big contract in the league pushes money to future years. Some teams do it from the beginning structure and others like the Cowboys do it year by year so they can pick and choose which guys they want to do it with and which ones they don't (ones that aren't playing up to the contrac)

Yeah I get that but what are the actual ramifications of doing it with Dak this year? He is set for a $49MM cap hit next year, a $52MM cap hit in 2024, and $21MM in 2025 when he isnt even under contract anymore. It feels to me that the Cowboys have ran out of time on pushing money into future years and have to either bite the bullet or sign him to an extension before they can continue to push back cash. Not sure if that is accurate or not though.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think Cowboys will look to Zeke to take a cut in pay, if not they will likely release him