Let's cut Dez

[garyo1954]

I see we have another Dez apologist here If you don't think either of those guys could have 55-60 catches, 800 yards and 7 touchdowns, then you're delusional. Because that is what Dez had averaged the last two seasons.

For proper perspective, in 2016:
-there were 67 WR with more than 55 catches
-there were 49 WR with more than 800 yards
-there were 16 WR with more than 7 TD

In other words, even if it wasn't Pryor or Watkins, PLENTY of guys can fill the statistical shoes of Dez Bryant.

Yeah, there are 500 people who can coach the Cowboys too.
We should be able to pick a player off Madden and trade.
Or get a pee-wee football player to take Dez roster spot.
And we can pay him in jello pudding cups.

Let's do this!

 

[BobSacamano]

Someone say, 'Dez Bryant?

 

[DOUBLE WING]

Bryant is gone. Who is your #1 WR? The answer seems to be "Oh, just draft your new #1". This logic is folly on a few levels. For one, few WRs come in and immediately plant their flag as a legit #1 WR. Second, this isn't a strong draft in terms of WRs to begin with. There is no Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, AJ Green, Dez Bryant type in this draft.

I'm a Dez "apologist" but:

1.) Dez doesn't belong in that class anymore.

2.) The days of needing to spend big resources on a #1 alpha dog WR are long gone. The majority of the leading receivers in the NFL today were drafted outside the first round. Look at the impact guys like Cooper Kupp and Juju Smith-Schuster are making as rookies.

 

[Section446]

No one wants to point to the fact that Daks inexperience is what's hindering this receiving core, how's Beasley, Wittens and Twills numbers this year?

Josh Gordon seems to be doing okay after being away for a couple of years, maybe Kizer is just better than Dak.

 

[Gameover]

Passes thrown 20+ yards in the air. This is where Dak-to-Dez has been the biggest concern, whoever is to blame. On 20+yard throws, Prescott's 112.0 passer rating ranks 4th in the NFL, despite a 15.1 rating when throwing to Bryant.

20+yard targets
Bryant
15 targets, 4 catchable, 2 drops
everyone else
17 targets, 11 catchable, 1 drop

20+yard targets
passer rating
Bryant
2 of 15 57 yd 0 td 1 int 15.1
everyone else
10 of 17 343 yd 4 td 0 int 142.7

Unbelievable

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

The guy hasn't had a 100-yard game in 20 consecutive games.

How much of that is his regression? How much of it is the inability of the rest of the WRs? How much of it is his lack of chemistry with Dak? How much of it is Linehan, or the unwillingness for the QB to go downfield?

It's a mixture of all that, I think.

You don't cut Dez. But he's wildly overpaid, and that money could better be spent. Problem is, cutting him brings it all due.

Perhaps an extension at a lower rate. More security in exchange for a more palatable dollar amount.

This. Good post. Dez is still our best receiver, and it's obviously a different dynamic with Dak. Cutting him doesn't make sense and isn't worth it unless you can replace him with a serious top-tier receiver(NOT Pryor, Watkins, or Wallace). It's better to look for receivers in the draft that will work well with Dak and the offense, while also cutting Dez's salary in an extension.

 

[haleyrules]

Bryant takes a big pay cut or he is released.

 

[lqmac1]

I'd love to get him on the team. tough, baller, plays angry. Dolphins will never let him walk.

He was on the trade block

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

Let's see, the Cowboys are 25th in passing offense with Dez making big money as their "#1 receiver" so at most we drop 7 places in passing offense without him. Now let's look at some of the top ten teams:

New England, Pittsburgh, Chargers, Detroit, Chiefs, Rams, Seahawks, Vikings - where are all of those "#1 receivers"? Pittsburgh's best is a little guy taken in the 6th round. Adam Thielen? Chris Hogan? Tyreek Hill? Golden tate?

You're operating from a flawed premise, leading to a flawed conclusion. Spending a boatload on a big, physical receiver isn't necessary in 2017, unless your coaching staff is intent on running a 1990s offense.

Well, Adam Thielen is 6'3, but I get your point.

A number of those teams have legit #1 WRs(Tate, Brown, Thielen, Keenan Allen), but being a big target(6'2+) isn't necessarily a requirement.

Part of it IRT the Cowboys offense is just the fact that Dak isn't as a big of a passer as some of the QBs on the teams you listed(Goff, Brady, Wilson). He's a good QB, but does best as an athletic "decision maker" flanked by a strong RB and offensive line. Russell Wilson was a bit more like that in his earlier years, and I think there's definitely potential for him to grow Wilson has.

 

[birdwells1]

Josh Gordon seems to be doing okay after being away for a couple of years, maybe Kizer is just better than Dak.

What's Gordon's stats?

 

[birdwells1]

I see we have another Dez apologist here If you don't think either of those guys could have 55-60 catches, 800 yards and 7 touchdowns, then you're delusional. Because that is what Dez had averaged the last two seasons.

For proper perspective, in 2016:
-there were 67 WR with more than 55 catches
-there were 49 WR with more than 800 yards
-there were 16 WR with more than 7 TD

In other words, even if it wasn't Pryor or Watkins, PLENTY of guys can fill the statistical shoes of Dez Bryant.

Both of those guys play in better passing offenses and with better passers while not out performing Dez. Smh

 

[xwalker]

It seems to be a suggestion/plan that keeps gaining steam with some around here. I don't get it but let's explore it.

For starters, let's look at the cap implications. If you cut him in the 2018 league year, you take an $8MM dead cap hit but save $8.5MM. If you make him a June 1 designee, that's $4MM in dead money and $12.5MM in cap savings. More than likely, they would want the cap savings immediately because they will have holes to fill in FA.

Now let's look at roster implications.

Bryant is gone. Who is your #1 WR? The answer seems to be "Oh, just draft your new #1". This logic is folly on a few levels. For one, few WRs come in and immediately plant their flag as a legit #1 WR. Second, this isn't a strong draft in terms of WRs to begin with. There is no Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, AJ Green, Dez Bryant type in this draft.

Oh, maybe we can just sign a FA WR. OK...... here are the Top 3 WRs in free agency - Pryor, Wallace and Watkins. Any of those three strike you as legit #1s? Maybe Pryor with his upside but he's going to cost you and eat up whatever cap savings you had with cutting Bryant. And are you really better off with Pryor over Bryant? This might work IF you could get Pryor on a one year deal like Washington has. Little risk in that if he doesn't improve you have no long term implications but I am not sure he makes you better than if you had Bryant.

So I am fascinated by this cut Dez talk. I truly would love to see the plan some of you have come up with that involves cutting Dez and yet still improving the WR corps.

Regardless of Dez, I really want people to understand a simple issue with regards to the cap.

They save the total salary that he would make by cutting him. That is 12.5M. They get 8.5M of that savings in 2018 and 4M in 2019.

If they wanted all 12.5M they could restructure another player and push 4M into 2019. That 4M would not add to the 2019 cap because the 4M savings from cutting Dez would offset it. You therefore cut Dez, got the 12.5M savings in 2018 and 2019 was unaffected.

Which year the savings occurs would only matter if they were completely maxed out against the cap with no contracts that could be restructured. They are very far from being in that situation. They were only in that situation once. It was the year Spencer was franchised the 2nd time.

The bottom line is that when a player is cut they save the full amount of his salary. It's much easier to think about the implications of cutting a player by just looking at that number which for Dez is 12.5M.

Dead-money will hit the cap with or without the player on the roster. It's just not called dead-money when the player is still on the roster; nevertheless, it is bonus money that was already paid to the player but just hasn't hit the cap yet because it was prorated.

 

[wssaustin]

We got a bus driver and run-first offense, the stats won't be good no matter who the WR is.

There is no need pay any WR in this offense big money in this offense.

The local radio stations will not stop talking about how bad the wr are and how beasley needs to be benched and dez released.

Cowboys break keeps saying the same thing, get rid of Dez.

I dont get it, Yes he is being paid for previous accomplishments but that does not mean he has to be released.

the more accurate the qb gets and the more time he has the better all the wr will get.

Butler will be gone at the end of the year and they can draft someone to join the other 4 next year all this release stuff sounds crazy to me.

 

[T-RO]

Well in fairness, NE has the greatest QB who ever played and a coaching staff that seems to know what they are doing. I suspect if Tom Brady had Dez Bryant, we wouldn't be commenting on how washed up Bryant is.

Totally hypothetical. I'll play along and follow that up with my own hypothetical: what would happen if the Patriots could get Dez for $8 mil per year as a free agent? I believe they'd pass up on that. The Patriots like precise routes and extreme reliability. A lot of their stuff is based on timing. Dez wouldn't be a Patriots type player. IMO.

 

[RS12]

The Rams have a dynamic playcaller. Now, if you are telling me we are going to bring in a Sean McVay type as OC for 2018, yeah, I might buy into cutting him.

We all know that aint happening. No matter what happens the last 3 games it will be blamed on Goodell, and we'll be stuck with another year of the 'process'.

 

[Verdict]

I see we have another Dez apologist here If you don't think either of those guys could have 55-60 catches, 800 yards and 7 touchdowns, then you're delusional. Because that is what Dez had averaged the last two seasons.

For proper perspective, in 2016:
-there were 67 WR with more than 55 catches
-there were 49 WR with more than 800 yards
-there were 16 WR with more than 7 TD

In other words, even if it wasn't Pryor or Watkins, PLENTY of guys can fill the statistical shoes of Dez Bryant.

Yeah, in probably about 2/3 of the number of attempts.

 

[RS12]

So many hate on Dez posts....this place is...well, amazing and not in a good way amazing...or I should say some fans, then more pile on because they think it is the "cool" thing to do.

I would say more like a lot of us think Jerry is paying for Dom and filet, but he is getting a Big Mac and a coke.

 

[xwalker]

It seems to be a suggestion/plan that keeps gaining steam with some around here. I don't get it but let's explore it.

For starters, let's look at the cap implications. If you cut him in the 2018 league year, you take an $8MM dead cap hit but save $8.5MM. If you make him a June 1 designee, that's $4MM in dead money and $12.5MM in cap savings. More than likely, they would want the cap savings immediately because they will have holes to fill in FA.

Now let's look at roster implications.

Bryant is gone. Who is your #1 WR? The answer seems to be "Oh, just draft your new #1". This logic is folly on a few levels. For one, few WRs come in and immediately plant their flag as a legit #1 WR. Second, this isn't a strong draft in terms of WRs to begin with. There is no Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, AJ Green, Dez Bryant type in this draft.

Oh, maybe we can just sign a FA WR. OK...... here are the Top 3 WRs in free agency - Pryor, Wallace and Watkins. Any of those three strike you as legit #1s? Maybe Pryor with his upside but he's going to cost you and eat up whatever cap savings you had with cutting Bryant. And are you really better off with Pryor over Bryant? This might work IF you could get Pryor on a one year deal like Washington has. Little risk in that if he doesn't improve you have no long term implications but I am not sure he makes you better than if you had Bryant.

So I am fascinated by this cut Dez talk. I truly would love to see the plan some of you have come up with that involves cutting Dez and yet still improving the WR corps.

There are other free agent WRs. Devante Adams. Allen Robinson is another one.

Dez is really only a #1 WR now because they keep forcing the ball to him. TWill has out performed him in some games and based on catch rates would have more production than Dez with the same number of targets. That's sad.

A 1st round rookie WR would be fine replacing Dez because they've already simplified the requirements for Dez to the point that there is not much to learn. They gave up trying to give him option routes because he couldn't do it correctly.

 

[Floatyworm]

Let's not.

 

[risco]

Those guys would want out of Dallas immediately! Dallas is reaThose lly a career killer for a wide out.

The funny thing about this is people are bringing up names like Jarvis Landry and one trick pony Sammy Watkins like these coaches would use them any differently.

Both

The funny thing about this is people are bringing up names like Jarvis Landry and one trick pony Sammy Watkins like these coaches would use them any differently.