Method to the madness?

[kskboys]

First off, I’d like to state that this thread is not an attempt to defend the way the Cowboys handle their big contracts. I do not agree with how the Joneses have done business lately.

But in looking at the Parsons deal and potential deals for Tyler Smith, Daron Bland, and possibly George Pickens it got me wondering.

Micah Parsons is undeniably a great player and a top pass rusher, but he also plays at arguably the Cowboys most well-stocked position.

Could - the key word here - could the Cowboys live without him in the future?

If EZE is what early reviews suggest. If Sam Williams shows he’s back and a force to be reckoned with.

Could the Cowboys live without Parsons?

Would the team be better off with draft picks and cap space to retain the other players mentioned above?

I don’t think there’s any cap magic that would allow you to pay Parsons $41 million a year-plus and still afford Smith, Bland, and Pickens.

But if you were to tag and/or trade Parsons next year? It might then be manageable.

My thinking is that Diggs is in his last season in Dallas anyway, and his numbers could be replaced with a new deal for Bland.

So I’m wondering, are the Cowboys playing this one out and keeping their options open? Or is this just yet another example of the Joneses poor management?

I've been thinking along the same lines. If EZ is 85% of Parsons, the dropoff would be negligible.

I love Parsons, but I think paying him 40+ mil/season would be a mistake. Now, the problem is, if we weren't going to keep him, he should've already been traded.

 

[kskboys]

I rather have the combination of Bland, Pickens, Smith and some high draft picks to be honest when you really think about it.
But losing a player like Parsons is tough. Williams would need to play terrific. If you can have EZE and Micah for years if can make average players cheap contracts look and play g=better.

And another player to think about. If Diggs is gone, and if Elam pans out, plays well. He will be a player that will need to sign as well.

Not Williams, EZ would need to play terrific. Williams is most likely just a decent rotational guy.

 

[kskboys]

Players like Parsons are so rare that the idea of just backfilling them is a long shot, at best, regardless of the haul they bring.

We criminally underrate Parsons on this board, finding fault with everything possible and giving him credit for next to nothing.

All his sacks are meaningless.
All his mistakes are crucial game costing errors
His podcast angers a lot of “traditional” fans.

We simply don’t reflect the sentiment of fans of other teams, let alone the professionals in the industry.

The idea that a rookie second round pick, after three training camp practices without pads gives the team enough comfort to just start shopping Micah to save money that the team will be unlikely to use in anything resembling a fair return on dollars spent seems silly.

When you catch lightning in a bottle, releasing it, only to attempt to run through a field trying to catch a firefly seems like an incredibly poor strategy.

But, many on the board are experts at playing GM, Head Coach, Chief Scout and position coach for the every group on the field. It just creates a lot of noise.

Agenda much?!!!!!!

 

[kskboys]

If you planned to not sign Micah then you should have traded him before the draft. That’s a huge part of the problem. There’s no overal plan to maintain the roster.

Yup.

 

[kskboys]

I would first like to see how well stocked the position is to begin with. Because the only serious pass rusher I've seen on the Cowboys is Parsons. The rest haven't done him any favors so far. I can't just assume Sam and EZ are going to be edge monsters.

Yes, they can pay them all. Especially if Diggs is gone next year. It's about wanting to spend that much money. They'd have to really push a lot of money back. Or forward, depending on how you're looking at it.

Parsons is not going to be a 41M dollar cap hit. He's going to be around a 15M cap hit. Bland and Diggs would cancel out, then it's Smith and Pickens next year. Parsons would then be the first of the three to get a contract restructure a few years down the road. That's how you afford all of the players.

It's not going to play out that way. Parsons will get paid. Pickens and Bland are gone next year. Diggs either stays or goes depending on how he plays this year. The Cowboys always take the easy route. They reset after every season.

Maybe, but they cannot pay them all and win.

 

[kskboys]

For all the pay Parsons guys…

Are you worried about him at all? It will take big money to lock him up. You think his arrow is still pointing up? You think he is a leader? Does the podcasting stuff bother you? Would a couple 1s make you feel better?

Don’t get worked up I am genuinely interested.

Parsons has big risk in my opinion.

Excellent questions.

And then there's the size issue. Playing DE at his size means there's a good chance he won't last long. Think of him like a RB, get your 4-6 years out of him and move on. Yes, he's a rare talent, but paying him that much would hurt the team.

 

[kskboys]

To add, I was confused as to why we'd use a 2nd on a position of strength. Only thing that makes sense is that he's Parsons' replacement.

 

[Flamma]

I do agree that having all these players to sign is going to be a problem, but maybe not as much as people think.

Look at where they are today with their CAP numbers for 2026 and 2027.

Dak is $74 million and $68 million
CeeDee -s $38 million and $41 million
Diggs is $18 million and $23 million
OSA is $20 million and $24.5 million
Steele is $18 million and $21 million
Micah is $26.5 million if they franchise tag him. If they sign him to an extension his 2026 number will probably be low but his 2027 number will be somewhere in the area of $30 million.

If they do nothing their CAP number for these players is $176 million. The CAP for 2026 is projected to be about $295 million. Which leaves Dallas with about $119 million to sign everyone else. But they are currently sitting on $34 million in CAP space which they can roll over into 2026 if they don't use it. That gives them $143 million CAP space for the rest of the roster if they do nothing.

If they trade or release Diggs and Steele, they can save another $21 million in 2026. That brings them to $164 million for the remaining players.

But they also have $16 million in dead money (so far) for Zack Martin so subtract that which brings us back to $148 million.

In 2026 the bottom 47 players add up to a total of $118.1 in CAP space. Even if they sign Micah, Tyler Smith, Aubrey and Ferguson to new contracts, I suspect they will be fine in 2026 with room to spare. My guess though is Diggs, Steele and Ferguson will be gone next year and replaced by cheaper players and any new contracts will more than likely be low CAP numbers in the first year.

Over-the-CAP shows Dallas with about $4 million in CAP space in 2026 with 54 players signed. But that does not include any carry over CAP money from 2025. Maybe now we know why Jerry is sitting on that $34 million now.

I think the problem will be 2027 when all these contracts and their CAP numbers get bigger. It will get worse if Jerry chooses to restructure some contracts in 2026 pushing money into 2027 and the years after that. I haven't done the math for 2027 but if they sign Micah and Tyler and Pickens, I sense 2027 will be a tough year CAP-wise.

If I just flip to 2026, Spotrac has Dallas with 18M in cap space. But that doesn't include Parsons. Signing him now just gives Dallas more space this year. We'll probably be at 40M for this year. Parsons cap hit will eat more than half of that up.

Pushing money forward is how you can afford a lot of good players. No easy way to do it otherwise. Speaking of 2027, that's probably a good year to restructure Parsons. Dak is the biggest cap space pool we have. But I doubt Dallas does it.

 

[jazzcat22]

Not Williams, EZ would need to play terrific. Williams is most likely just a decent rotational guy.

What I meant was, how do you replace Micah.
Does Williams step up, or Kneeland?
With EZE, if he is what we want him to be, and Micah. Both would need to be accounted for. Therefore opening up for other players to make plays.

Without Micah, who takes his place that would demand that attention he gets.
Williams, Kneeland, some one else? Or do they need to draft another DE?

It is like with Lamb and Pickens. Say they both do great, but they can't sign Pickens, or won't. Then they are back to a WR issue, unless someone steps up.

 

[Flamma]

To add, I was confused as to why we'd use a 2nd on a position of strength. Only thing that makes sense is that he's Parsons' replacement.

Good point. But I'm not sure that is a position of strength minus Parsons. If EZ turns out to be really good, we got a year window. They should probably try to build around that.

 

[kskboys]

What I meant was, how do you replace Micah.
Does Williams step up, or Kneeland?
With EZE, if he is what we want him to be, and Micah. Both would need to be accounted for. Therefore opening up for other players to make plays.

Without Micah, who takes his place that would demand that attention he gets.
Williams, Kneeland, some one else? Or do they need to draft another DE?

It is like with Lamb and Pickens. Say they both do great, but they can't sign Pickens, or won't. Then they are back to a WR issue, unless someone steps up.

EZ would take Parsons place.

The DE positions are not interchangeable. You basically need your speed edge rusher on one side(Parsons/EZ) and the bigger edge setter on the other. Playing both Parsons and EZ at DE would be a mistake. The pressure would be great, but it would come w/ an inherent weakness vs the run.

 

[kskboys]

Good point. But I'm not sure that is a position of strength minus Parsons. If EZ turns out to be really good, we got a year window. They should probably try to build around that.

We drafted a Parsons clone. If EZ pans out, Parsons is gone. If not, who knows.

 

[blueblood70]

What I meant was, how do you replace Micah.
Does Williams step up, or Kneeland?
With EZE, if he is what we want him to be, and Micah. Both would need to be accounted for. Therefore opening up for other players to make plays.

Without Micah, who takes his place that would demand that attention he gets.
Williams, Kneeland, some one else? Or do they need to draft another DE?

It is like with Lamb and Pickens. Say they both do great, but they can't sign Pickens, or won't. Then they are back to a WR issue, unless someone steps up.

That is something every team has to deal with I'm not even reading how you got to this point this too long a thread but this is how cap juggling happens it's hard to keep your best players and still build a team and people want them to spend more money in free agency but you have to draft well and yes find replacements for some of these players...

Once they signed Lamb and Prescott last year, now they have to sign Parsons, and decide what to do between Diggs and Bland which you didn't mention but that's another big question mark on who to keep or can you keep both it depends on what they do this year they're both basically trying to prove they need to Be picked one over the other this year..

And they decided they were going to keep the window open now you have to sign all your big names You have a short window you got to keep your stars it would have been all or nothing so trade everyone not re sign anyone and start from scratch or do what they're doing now they'll figure it out.

I hope we can keep Pickens but the problem with Pickens if he cost too much you have to let him go not a lot of teams have two highly priced wide receivers meaning if he wants true number one money nobody has two true number ones the other guys are making around 25 to around 30 mil but if he wants that 38 to 42 million there's no team that will be able to do that They don't I mean there are teams that have two good wide receivers signed to 2 high contracts but not 2 #1 contracts..

If he truly loved it here and took number two money then the Cowboys probably have a chance to keep him but think about this though this gives us another year or two let Tolbert or some of these other guys we picked up, to progress and get better having your number one in place is the most important we have that....

But they can go back to the first round again they were going to pick TET and they didn't because he was gone that then we're got at least a year reprieve to go back into the draft and get the best wide receiver in the first round that we're targeting..

I mean you can't keep everyone even the Eagles have had to release a bunch of players this year and they lost a couple of coaches it happens every year this is what an owner and AGM have to go through and fans don't realize how chaotic it is...

 

[Flamma]

We drafted a Parsons clone. If EZ pans out, Parsons is gone. If not, who knows.

They're going to pay Parsons before we find out how good EZ is. EZ can be the second coming of Lawrence Taylor. It's too late if they already paid Parsons.

 

[blueblood70]

Good point. But I'm not sure that is a position of strength minus Parsons. If EZ turns out to be really good, we got a year window. They should probably try to build around that.

I'm not following this straight close enough to know where this started or where it ends but if you guys are talking about allowing Parsons to play under his 24 million 5th year option I don't think that's gonna happen I think he will hold out.... And then you try to franchise tag him next year and he'll hold out again I don't think he's going to play unless he has a new deal so you're not going to get him this year if you don't redo his deal so if that is where this conversation has been going in my opinion is you have to sign in because I don't think he'll play..

I could be wrong but I really doubt It.

 

[Jipper]

Letting one of the best players in the league go in his prime would certainly be a decision.

I think there's a big difference in letting him go vs getting a higher sum value Ala picks then paying other guys on the roster.

The question is would someone give up multiple High picks for him? I dont know

 

[JohnsKey19]

We drafted a Parsons clone. If EZ pans out, Parsons is gone. If not, who knows.

You're not going to have the information to make that determination in traing camp. In fact, it would be silly to make such a decision based on TC/preseason. Parsons will have to be signed before the season starts.

 

[Stash]

If you planned to not sign Micah then you should have traded him before the draft. That’s a huge part of the problem. There’s no overal plan to maintain the roster.

Ideally, sure.

But you didn’t know that Ezeiruaku would be available in round 2. And you’re still not 100% sure he’ll excel at the pro level. So far, so good, but we haven’t played a single game yet.

 

[KingCorcoran]

To add, I was confused as to why we'd use a 2nd on a position of strength. Only thing that makes sense is that he's Parsons' replacement.

Then they should have traded him already. After this season to trade him they have to franchise tag him. That means the Cowboys are unwilling to sign him for what he wants or he’s unwilling to sign an extension with the Cowboys. Either way it reduces his trade value. In addition, the tag amount will be the greater of $28 million or average of the top five compensation at his position. The downside is all of the amount goes against the salary cap for next season. No way to mitigate it.

There will be interest from other teams. That’s for sure. But only a few will be simultaneously willing to give up significant draft capital and be able to sign him to a $40+ million deal. All 31 teams will understand the Cowboys have painted themselves into a corner with Parsons’ contract situation. That reduces his trade value. This is where being proactive would have served the Cowboys. The opportunity to get max value for Parsons has passed.

 

[Sheepherder]

I rather have the combination of Bland, Pickens, Smith and some high draft picks to be honest when you really think about it.
But losing a player like Parsons is tough. Williams would need to play terrific. If you can have EZE and Micah for years if can make average players cheap contracts look and play g=better.

And another player to think about. If Diggs is gone, and if Elam pans out, plays well. He will be a player that will need to sign as well.

I also wonder if his 3 straight years of folding in December concerns anyone? I just don’t see him holding up as a full time DE. He is not built for that.

Also why was he just made a DE? How did that just magically happen? Why didn’t they get creative with him? Move him around. A little MLB? The guy is an elite talent. Why force him to take on OTs every snap? I don’t see him holding up.

I dont get why he doesnt linebacker. He is built for that. Probably be more effective stopping the run also. I've never understood it.