Looking Ahead to the Offseason (Contracts, Cuts, Restructure)

[Vinnie2u]

I rather keep building the trenches... Pay those guys.. and while I'm at it find the next QB sooner than later..

 

[Oh_Canada]

I would be ok with letting Murray and Free go. McClain needs to be retained for a reasonable price, same goes for Melton if they can restructure. Don't have a feeling either way on Moore, but he's young and can play corner and safety. If you let Carr go you almost have to try to re-sign him on the cheap.

Love to see the team pursue Chris Culliver in case they can't sign Moore and let Carr walk.

 

[Carolina Cowboy]

For all those dumping Free...did you watch the offense when Free was out? We need to sign Free and Leary and draft a RT.

Thank you. Saved me the time.

 

[xwalker]

http://www.cowboyszone.com/comments/2mfkms/keeping_dezmurrayfreemelton_and_mcclain_next_year/
Got this post from Reddit. A lot of leg work went into the figures so I wanted to pass it along.
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So there has been a lot of talk in /r/cowboys and /r/nfl about whether or not the Cowboys can keep both Dez and Murray on the team next year so since it's the bye week I thought I would take a shot. I'm not saying we should do the following just showing how it is possible to keep all these players on what I believe are pretty realistic contracts.

I'm using OTC to get money amounts and to input my contracts in to figure out how our cap looks next year and the future.

Cuts and Restructures

Brandon Carr
Designate Brandon Carr as a June 1st cut. This will save us 8 million off on the 2105 cap and split the dead money to 4.7 million in 2015 and 7.4 in 2016. That's a lot however I don't feel Carr has been living up to his contract.

Henry Melton
Restructure 6 million of Melton's 9.5 million contract. I still think the Cowboys will cut him and go with Crawford at 3tech but if they decide to keep him we can restructure him to free up some cash. This will save 4 million on the cap in 2015 and spread 2 million over to 2016 and 2017.

Tyron Smith
Restructure Tyron Smith contract to full amount available which is around 10 million. This will save us around 8 million on the 2015 cap and add 2 million a year to 2016,2017,2018,2019.

Doug Free
Redo Doug Free's contract. Free is entering the voidable part of his contract, he has 2 years left at 8 million a year. Much like we reworked his contract before I would offer him a 5 year 25 million contract with 13.5 guaranteed (10 signing 2 first years guaranteed). 5 Million a year makes him the 8th highest RT(7 million is the most) with the 2nd most guaranteed money (15.5 million is the highest). This will save the Cowboys 5 million off the 2015 cap.

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 1 5 17.5 6
2016 2.5 3 11.5 5.4
2017 3 2 6 5
2018 3.5 2 4 5.5
2019 5 2 2 7
New Contracts

Dez Bryant
Sign Dez to a 7 year 94 million with 30 million guaranteed. This would make him the 3rd highest WR and second highest guaranteed money. 20 million signing bonus and first 2 years guaranteed.

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 4 4 30 8
2016 6 4 22 10
2017 8 4 12 12
2018 18 4 8 22
2019 8 4 4 12
2020 14 0 0 14
2021 16 0 0 16
2018 is so high because it would be a restructure year.

Demarco Murray
Sign Murray to a 5 year 35 million dollar deal with 16 million guaranteed (10 million signing bonus first 2 years guaranteed). This makes Murray the 7th highest paid RB with the 5th highest guaranteed.

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 2.5 2 16 4.5
2016 3.5 2 11.5 5.5
2017 5.5 2 6 7.5
2018 6 2 4 8
2019 7.5 2 2 9.5

Ron Leary
Sign Leary to a 5 year 20 million dollar deal with 6.5 guaranteed(5 million signing bonus 1st year guaranteed). This would make Leary the 11th highest paid LG and 8th highest guaranteed.

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 1.5 1 6.5 2.5
2016 2.5 1 4 3.5
2017 3 1 3 4
2018 4 1 2 5
2019 4 1 1 5

Rolando McClain
Sign McClain to a 5 year 20 million dollar deal with 10 million guaranteed ( 8 million signing bonus first year guaranteed)

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 2 1.6 10 3.6
2016 2 1.6 6.4 3.6
2017 2 1.6 4.8 3.6
2018 3 1.6 3.2 4.6
2019 3 1.6 1.6 4.6

Sterling Moore
Sign Sterling Moore to a 3 year 10 million dollar deal with 5.5 guaranteed(4 million signing bonus first year guaranteed).

Year Base Prorated Dead Cap
2015 1.5 1.33 5.5 2.8
2016 2 1.33 2.66 3.3
2017 2.5 1.33 1.33 3.8
How this effects our cap
Assuming the NFL was correct in their estimates last year that the cap should increase by 10 million a year over the next several year, and that we carry over our current 4 million into 2015 this is what we would look like.

Year Liabilities Projected Cap Cap Room Signed Players
2015 133.6 143 13 46
2016 123.8 153 29.1 33
2017 115.3 163 47.6 19
2018 97 173 75.9 10
2019 27.4 183 102.9 9

So we would have 13 million left to sign 7 rookies, and FA's(Possibly resign some other players like Spencer, Selvie, Carter or Durant). This also would not touch Romo's contract so we would still be able to restructure up to around 16 million if needed.

Have you not noticed that the Cowboy are winning more games this season with a large number of young and lower paid players as compared to less wins in past year with players that had huge contracts (Ware, Austin, Sensabaugh, etc..).

Free will be 31 in a couple of months. Free compensates for a lack of strength with excellent quickness. If he loses any quickness, he will be done. Most players start to lose quickness once they pass 30.

Leary is a restricted free agent. He should cost about 2M for 2015.

I know people really don't like Carr because he has not lived up to his contract; however, he is a mid-level NFL CB. It would probably be better to get him to take a pay cut than to try to replace him with a mid-level free agent.

Your contract for Murray likely turns out to be a 2 year, 16M deal. That's 8M average. They could just franchise him for 9M.

You giving Moore 3.3M per season? I think they'll be looking to upgrade at his position if possible with a mid-round pick. I know people love guys like Moore because he's an overachiever and people hate Claiborne because he is an underachiever; however, I don't know that Moore is really any better than Claiborne in 2015 as the 3rd CB.

 

[Wood]

http://www.cowboyszone.com/comments/2mfkms/keeping_dezmurrayfreemelton_and_mcclain_next_year/
Got this post from Reddit. A lot of leg work went into the figures so I wanted to pass it along.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So there has been a lot of talk in /r/cowboys and /r/nfl about whether or not the Cowboys can keep both Dez and Murray on the team next year so since it's the bye week I thought I would take a shot. I'm not saying we should do the following just showing how it is possible to keep all these players on what I believe are pretty realistic contracts.

I'm using OTC to get money amounts and to input my contracts in to figure out how our cap looks next year and the future.


So we would have 13 million left to sign 7 rookies, and FA's(Possibly resign some other players like Spencer, Selvie, Carter or Durant). This also would not touch Romo's contract so we would still be able to restructure up to around 16 million if needed.

You would be fired immediately. I don't even have time to get into how wrong your numbers are.

 

[jterrell]

Have you not noticed that the Cowboy are winning more games this season with a large number of young and lower paid players as compared to less wins in past year with players that had huge contracts (Ware, Austin, Sensabaugh, etc..).

Free will be 31 in a couple of months. Free compensates for a lack of strength with excellent quickness. If he loses any quickness, he will be done. Most players start to lose quickness once they pass 30.

Leary is a restricted free agent. He should cost about 2M for 2015.

I know people really don't like Carr because he has not lived up to his contract; however, he is a mid-level NFL CB. It would probably be better to get him to take a pay cut than to try to replace him with a mid-level free agent.

Your contract for Murray likely turns out to be a 2 year, 16M deal. That's 8M average. They could just franchise him for 9M.

You giving Moore 3.3M per season? I think they'll be looking to upgrade at his position if possible with a mid-round pick. I know people love guys like Moore because he's an overachiever and people hate Claiborne because he is an underachiever; however, I don't know that Moore is really any better than Claiborne in 2015 as the 3rd CB.

Your Free takes are a bit dated. He has added strength and already lost some quickness.
He is now arguably better in the run game than the pass game.
Out at RT he can play a long time.

 

[Nation]

This horrifies me. I hate the approach of signing guys to big extensions AND restructuring deals pushing dollars from today into future years. It just screams future cap hell to me. Going through it deal by deal and putting my GM hat on:

Designate Brandon Carr as a June 1st cut: I can live with this, although this would probably be my 3rd approach. My 1st approach would be to tell him we want you to take a paycut, and if you don't we are going to hold you till the summer and then cut you, and by that time the free agent money will be all dried up. The Patriots were willing to do this with decade-long team captain and Super Bowl contributor Vince Wilfork. We can do that to Brandon Carr and not feel bad about ourselves. My 2nd approach would be to eat my medicine and cut him Pre-June 1st, and take the marginal cap hit now but have no future dead money. My 3rd approach would be the June 1st cut.

Restructure Melton: If he looks like a dominant player the rest of the way I'm game for this. If not it's fine to move on. I don't think Melton is on pace to get his option dollars picked up by the Cowboys or anyone else, so maybe there is also a happy medium here.

Restructure Tyron Smith to full amount available: NO. We did this with Ware, taking a manageable cap hit for that position and just borrowing from it year after year after year. Not necessary and sets up for eventual cap hell.

Redo Doug Free's contract: Free got lazy the 1st time he got money, then he started playing well when money became at stake on a year to year basis. That does not make me want to pay him a 3rd time.

Sign Dez: I'd rather pay OLine and DLin than weapons and corners, but I can live with it because I know I'm gonna get overruled on this one anyways.

Sign Murray: No thanks. Murray is a good player. But he's got a lot of touches on him, he's broken down in non-contract years when on pace for 200 carries, and there isn't a need to pay running backs. Figure out how you afford a great OL for the next decade, and do that, and the running backs will take care of themselves.

Sign Leary: I think we can do better than making him a Top 10 paid player given his knee, but I'm on board with signing him. I'd like to see this closer to 6M guaranteed though.

Sign McClain: Structure on this one will be key. How do we make sure we keep his heart in it with financial incentives on a year by year basis?

Sign Sterling Moore: I like the guy and all, but do we really have to give Sterling Moore 6 million guaranteed in today's NFL?

 

[jterrell]

This horrifies me. I hate the approach of signing guys to big extensions AND restructuring deals pushing dollars from today into future years. It just screams future cap hell to me. Going through it deal by deal and putting my GM hat on:

Designate Brandon Carr as a June 1st cut: Dallas eating fairly large cap hits 2 seasons for a player they no longer have is pretty bad. I'd rather avoid that and I don;t think Carr wants to be cut so the pay cut route seems pretty likely.

Restructure Melton: Melton is essentially in a contract year and he knows it. A strong finish and my guess is he gets paid somewhere.

Restructure Tyron Smith to full amount available: No reason to do this if you manage the cap properly. This stuff should be reserved for emergency type deals or having a stud fall into your lap, not be modus operandi.

Redo Doug Free's contract: Free would be the BEST OT on the open market. If we won't pay him someone will. He sucked it up and took a large pay cut previously then outplayed that level. The team should pay him IMHO.

Sign Dez: Dez is basically a franchise tag waiting to happen. After that what happens is gonna play out over time with a million posts here to accompany it unfortunately.

Sign Murray: Murray will decide this on his own largely. If he wants major dollars he will have to find it on the open market. Dallas can find another guy who wants to run behind this OL.

Sign Leary: Leary's knees are a non-point. His knees are arguably as healthy as any veteran Guard. You'd love to keep Leary but this team can't pay every OL huge dollars.

Sign McClain: Ro is a major wild card. Injuries, history and all will balance versus potential and flashes. If he likes it here he may well take less money for fit and happiness.

Sign Sterling Moore: And No, we do not have to guarantee this guy 6m. He was a street free agent weeks ago. But we may WANT to to do to get his signature long term. He can be a long term roster fit at 2-4m per year. But you may need 6m up front to get that locked in. 5 years 18m with 6 up front sounds right to me.

 

[BAZ]

I wouldn't give Murray more than a franchise tag.

 

[Vinnie2u]

I wouldn't give Murray more than a franchise tag.

Franchise tag for a RB this year is 9.4 mil.. No thank you... Did u see what Jonas gray did behind the NE line last night? He was cut 4 times and on the practice squad...

 

[NorTex]

I've got franchise tags and I'm not afraid to use them!

 

[BAZ]

Franchise tag for a RB this year is 9.4 mil.. No thank you... Did u see what Jonas gray did behind the NE line last night? He was cut 4 times and on the practice squad...

And if he does that again I'll be amazed. I think Murray body will let him down soon. I wouldn't mortgage the farm on him long term. The tag would negate that risk.

 

[Apollo Creed]

You would be fired immediately. I don't even have time to get into how wrong your numbers are.

Hopefully your job doesn't require any reading comprehension skills because you'd be fired immediately.

 

[Bowdown27]

I think free stays for less. Leary too. I think they love it here and won't go nuts with money. I think Carr is gone and Moore too.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Those were ridiculous to me. I liked the Dez, Murray and McClain contracts though.

I will say that the exercise does a good job demonstrating how we can retain our guys given the current cap situation. I don't know how they intend to approach the offseason but there are plenty of options to get all of them signed.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I'd be more than Okay with allow Free to leave and drafting a RT to continue to build on this O-line as they have been.

 

[btcutter]

I'd be more than Okay with allow Free to leave and drafting a RT to continue to build on this O-line as they have been.

I am not sure I like to mess with the strength of this team while still needing to fill several holes on D via draft. I want to dedicate resources in filling current holes than creating another one that I need to fill again.

OL can play for awhile in the NFL. If we can get a reasonable price for Free I like to see him stay for a few more years.

Carr should stay if we can renegotiate his contract. CBs are valuable commodities even the mediocre ones. If we can upgrade our DL I think we see Carr's performance go up.

Strange as it may sound the only person on the list that I don't wish to retain is Murray (sorry). I think we can do better either via draft or FA for the same money or significantly less. I like the next RB in Dallas run with more burst and speed. This OL can create holes. We need a RB that can squeeze through then explodes through the secondary and take it to the house. I am tired of Murray falling down in the secondary ( again, I appreciate you but I want more).