Offseason Cheat Sheet

[Matts4313]

Hey all,

I will keep this OP updated with the most accurate information I can find to help you while you build mocks, plan for FA, debate others or simply for informational purposes. I will try to clearly state whether what I am sharing is fact or opinion. Feel free to post any corrections and I will update. Mods can sticky if they want, but probably no need to.

**All $# are ROUGH estimates for illustrative purposes**

This will be similar to the thread I did last off season.

---------------------------------------------------------

Anticipated draft picks:

RD1 - Pick 4
RD2 - Pick 34
RD3 - Pick 67
RD4 - Pick 98
RD4 - Comp
RD6 - ?
RD6 - Comp
RD6 - Comp
RD6 - Comp

--------------------------------------------------

Cap Space:

2016: $143M under contract
2016: $154M anticipated league cap
2015: $5M in rollover

$159M Cowboys team cap
-$143M Current contracts
---------
$16M in current cap space

---------------------------------------------

Cap Tidbits:

1. In 2015 we had $19M in dead cap. 2014 we had $27M in dead cap. In 2013 there was $17M in dead cap. In 2016? We have less than $1M in dead cap as of today. In other words, this next year will have the most money spent for the product actually playing on the field. In theory that should mean we have a very competitive team assuming we spend wisely.

2. Below are some moves we COULD (not suggesting we will) make to generate additional space if need be.

Cuts:
Carr - $10M in additional cap space, $3.7M in dead cap 2016/2017
Witten - $6M in additional cap space, $2.2M in dead cap 2016/2017
Free - $4M in additional cap space, $1.5M in dead cap 2016/2017
Church - $3M in additional cap space, $500k in dead cap 2016
Gachkar - $1.3M in additional cap space, $600k in dead cap 2016
T. McClain - $1M in additional cap space, $100k in dead cap 2016


Restructures:
Romo - $6M in additional cap space
Smith - $8M in additional cap space
Bryant - $7.5M in additional cap space
Crawford - $5M in additional cap space
Scandrick - $3.5M in additional cap space

**What you should take from this, is through various methods we have MORE than enough $$ to sign any FA that we want. Of course, under the Garrett/SJ/McClay administration, we have shown a much greater degree of prudence when signing FAs.**

-----------------------------------------------

Draft Tidbits:

1. Cowboys coaching staff is coaching the North Senior bowl team, QB'd by Carson Wentz

2. Cowboys use a vertical and horizontal system when making a draft board:
Vertical - typical sequential (1, 2, 3) ranking, broken by round. Some rounds may have more or less players than selections available. IE - we may have 17 people with a first round grade and 46 people with a second round grade.

Horizontal - players are grouped by position and given a grade relative to their peers. The grade factors positional importance, mental and physical health, ceiling/floor, etc.

Paxton Lynch might be the 10th best player in the draft. On the vertical board he would be ranked 10.

Paxton Lynch could be graded as the most mentally healthy, highest potential player with the greatest positional importance. On the horizontal board he would be ranked #1.


-------------------------------------------


More to come....

 

[hornitosmonster]

Awesome, great stuff!!

 

[big dog cowboy]

 

[DallasEast]

Excellent thread.

 

[Jarv]

Thanks you, actually it's pretty cool we get to coach the senior bowl and see these players first hand in game action. If JG uses his offensive system he can put 3 or 4 QBs through to see if any can figure it out...lol.

 

[tm1119]

Good stuff...some important dates (start fa, draft, ect) should be added to this and stickied to the top. Would pretty much cover most questions anybody would have regarding the Cowboys off season

 

[BAT]

What is cap hit affect if any of these guys are traded instead of cut?

Carr - $10M in additional cap space, $3.7M in dead cap 2016/2017
Witten - $6M in additional cap space, $2.2M in dead cap 2016/2017
Free - $4M in additional cap space, $1.5M in dead cap 2016/2017
Church - $3M in additional cap space, $500k in dead cap 2016
Gachkar - $1.3M in additional cap space, $600k in dead cap 2016
T. McClain - $1M in additional cap space, $100k in dead cap 2016

 

[waving monkey]

I like this thanks these kinda post are makes the zone most interesting

 

[Risen Star]

I'm hoping for an active FA this year because I want the team to be okay with using the 4th overall pick on a player who doesn't help on the field in 2016. Probably not in 2017 either.

The more we help Romo in FA the more likely it is our GM would be comfortable with making that QB pick at 4, IMO.

 

[jobberone]

This probably fits in the Draft Zone better.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Hey all,

I will keep this OP updated with the most accurate information I can find to help you while you build mocks, plan for FA, debate others or simply for informational purposes. I will try to clearly state whether what I am sharing is fact or opinion. Feel free to post any corrections and I will update. Mods can sticky if they want, but probably no need to.

**All $# are ROUGH estimates for illustrative purposes**

This will be similar to the thread I did last off season.

---------------------------------------------------------

Anticipated draft picks:

RD1 - Pick 4
RD2 - Pick 34
RD3 - Pick 67
RD4 - Pick 98
RD4 - Comp
RD6 - ?
RD6 - Comp
RD6 - Comp
RD6 - Comp

--------------------------------------------------

Cap Space:

2016: $143M under contract
2016: $154M anticipated league cap
2015: $5M in rollover

$159M Cowboys team cap
-$143M Current contracts
---------
$16M in current cap space

---------------------------------------------

Cap Tidbits:

1. In 2015 we had $19M in dead cap. 2014 we had $27M in dead cap. In 2013 there was $17M in dead cap. In 2016? We have less than $1M in dead cap as of today. In other words, this next year will have the most money spent for the product actually playing on the field. In theory that should mean we have a very competitive team assuming we spend wisely.

2. Below are some moves we COULD (not suggesting we will) make to generate additional space if need be.

Cuts:
Carr - $10M in additional cap space, $3.7M in dead cap 2016/2017
Witten - $6M in additional cap space, $2.2M in dead cap 2016/2017
Free - $4M in additional cap space, $1.5M in dead cap 2016/2017
Church - $3M in additional cap space, $500k in dead cap 2016
Gachkar - $1.3M in additional cap space, $600k in dead cap 2016
T. McClain - $1M in additional cap space, $100k in dead cap 2016


Restructures:
Romo - $6M in additional cap space
Smith - $8M in additional cap space
Bryant - $7.5M in additional cap space
Crawford - $5M in additional cap space
Scandrick - $3.5M in additional cap space

**What you should take from this, is through various methods we have MORE than enough $$ to sign any FA that we want. Of course, under the Garrett/SJ/McClay administration, we have shown a much greater degree of prudence when signing FAs.**

-----------------------------------------------

Draft Tidbits:

1. Cowboys coaching staff is coaching the North Senior bowl team, QB'd by Carson Wentz

2. Cowboys use a vertical and horizontal system when making a draft board:
Vertical - typical sequential (1, 2, 3) ranking, broken by round. Some rounds may have more or less players than selections available. IE - we may have 17 people with a first round grade and 46 people with a second round grade.

Horizontal - players are grouped by position and given a grade relative to their peers. The grade factors positional importance, mental and physical health, ceiling/floor, etc.

Paxton Lynch might be the 10th best player in the draft. On the vertical board he would be ranked 10.

Paxton Lynch could be graded as the most mentally healthy, highest potential player with the greatest positional importance. On the horizontal board he would be ranked #1.


-------------------------------------------


More to come....

Nice info bro, I really appreciate it.

 

[Matts4313]

This probably fits in the Draft Zone better.

Actually, this thread will probably be more cap/FA related than anything. At least, in my experience thats were most the questions are. Any chance you can move this back to Fan Zone?

Also - am I going crazy or is the ability to edit post gone? I was just about to update the original post with some free agent links and a few other things, but I cant figure it out. There used to be an edit button I thought....


Edit - so strange. I can edit this post but I can not edit the first post of the thread... Why is that?

 

[Matts4313]

What is cap hit affect if any of these guys are traded instead of cut?

Carr - $10M in additional cap space, $3.7M in dead cap 2016/2017
Witten - $6M in additional cap space, $2.2M in dead cap 2016/2017
Free - $4M in additional cap space, $1.5M in dead cap 2016/2017
Church - $3M in additional cap space, $500k in dead cap 2016
Gachkar - $1.3M in additional cap space, $600k in dead cap 2016
T. McClain - $1M in additional cap space, $100k in dead cap 2016

Trading them will escalate all bonus money into this year as opposed to spreading it out over two. So essentially the "dead cap in 2016/2017" becomes just dead cap in 2016. For example, Carr would then have 7.4M dead cap hit which would lower the savings from $10M in additional cap space to only adding ~$6.3M.

 

[jobberone]

Actually, this thread will probably be more cap/FA related than anything. At least, in my experience thats were most the questions are. Any chance you can move this back to Fan Zone?

Also - am I going crazy or is the ability to edit post gone? I was just about to update the original post with some free agent links and a few other things, but I cant figure it out. There used to be an edit button I thought....


Edit - so strange. I can edit this post but I can not edit the first post of the thread... Why is that?

I can move it back to the Fan Zone but not sticky it. I was going to sticky this in the Draft Zone but there are already too many there as it is.

If you support the CZ then you have longer to edit a post. But you cannot go back and edit it after a period of time.

PM me your wishes if you like.