One possible Cowboys offseason mistake

[Verdict]

OK, look at it from a different angle.

Schultz is a proven pass catcher, the only proven TE on the roster.

Why would you think it a mistake to pay him for one year while the rooks acclimate? A long term contract would've been a mistake, yes.

I agree that giving him a large value long term contract would have been a worse mistake. I’m “for” keeping him at a lower cap number. Just not at the franchise tag number.

Schultz can’t even sniff a top 5 performance level. I just see what Schultz bringing to the table as easily replaceable for a lot less money. We have two more on the roster just like him, just without the playing time or cap number.

 

[Verdict]

He wasn't asking for elite money, just market value. In any case, as I said before, what has it hurt to use a tag on him this year? They didn't need the cap space and it's not like the team hasn't acquired young TE talent to prepare if they choose to move on next year.

Every team needs their cap space. There is a finite amount of it for every team.

I would have preferred Schultz’ cap money go towards keeping a guy like Parsons on down the road, or bringing in a truly impactful player at a position of need at some point. Schultz is a nice player. He’s just not worth his cap hit.

 

[goshann]

They didn't.

Noah Brown.

Yeah

 

[rambo2]

Oh yes they did. They should call Cleveland & tell them they can have the 5th round pick back. We won't even charge them anything for using Amari the first 5 games.

Put him back on the field and your offense is as good as you could have realistically fielded.

They didn't want Cooper because he doesn't give 100%. Check out Semi on the Pollard touchdown. Would Cooper have made that block? No, he wouldn't.

 

[OmerV]

market value for an elite tight end…

No he wasn't. Kittle has a contract he signed 2 years ago worth $75 million, and if Kelce were negotiating a new contract today his would likely be around $100 million. Schultz wasn't expecting that.

Look at the contracts of David Njoku, Jonnu Smith and Dawson Knox. All $50 million plus, and Smith's contains a larger guaranteed amount than Kittle. Salaries are just high.

The Cowboys never said Schultz was asking for greater than market value, they merely said they had decisions to make and can't pay everyone.

 

[OmerV]

Every team needs their cap space. There is a finite amount of it for every team.

I would have preferred Schultz’ cap money go towards keeping a guy like Parsons on down the road, or bringing in a truly impactful player at a position of need at some point. Schultz is a nice player. He’s just not worth his cap hit.

That's exactly it. The Cowboys didn't indicate Schultz was asking for anything out of line with the market, just that the salary cap has to be managed and they have to make decisions on how to best do that.

As for Parsons, the franchise tag is just for one year and Parson's next contract is a couple of years away.

 

[JD_KaPow]

I have been of the mindset that franchising Shultz was a mistake. As the season has progressed, I am even more of that mindset.

I know he was Dak’s security blanket, but only because Dak can’t read the field that well. I think this was a case of wasted cap space and a younger player could have adequately filled Schultz’ role.

There's only so bad a one-year commitment to a player can be. Real mistakes involve actual dead cap money in the out-years.

 

[McKDaddy]

They didn't want Cooper because he doesn't give 100%. Check out Semi on the Pollard touchdown. Would Cooper have made that block? No, he wouldn't.

Let's get real. They didn't want him because he didn't do what he was told to do & he had the audacity to suggest that maybe the QB wasn't getting him the ball when he was open. Those are the real reasons.

No idea what block he would or wouldn't have made yesterday. Giving him up for a 5th was just lunacy.

 

[Verdict]

There's only so bad a one-year commitment to a player can be. Real mistakes involve actual dead cap money in the out-years.

He’s worth about half of what we are paying him, or maybe less than that. I would rather see that used that cap space used on an impact player.

 

[JD_KaPow]

He’s worth about half of what we are paying him, or maybe less than that. I would rather see that used that cap space used on an impact player.

The Cowboys have $8 million in cap space right now. They could have signed anyone they wanted to (still could) and made it work inside this year's cap. Schultz isn't preventing that, and he isn't creating a penny of dead money in future years. And there's at least a decent chance that he'll be a significant contributor in the second half of the season. Sure, it may not have been the optimal move last offseason, but hindsight is 20/20 and, as I said, at most it's a small mistake. Not like, say, getting only a 5th-rounder for Cooper.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Every team needs their cap space. There is a finite amount of it for every team.

I would have preferred Schultz’ cap money go towards keeping a guy like Parsons on down the road, or bringing in a truly impactful player at a position of need at some point. Schultz is a nice player. He’s just not worth his cap hit.

Explain to me how Schultz's 2022 cap money and total lack of out-year commitments has anything to do with our ability to sign Parsons down the road.

 

[xwalker]

I have been of the mindset that franchising Shultz was a mistake. As the season has progressed, I am even more of that mindset.

I know he was Dak’s security blanket, but only because Dak can’t read the field that well. I think this was a case of wasted cap space and a younger player could have adequately filled Schultz’ role.

It is the opposite.

The option was Franchise Tag vs New Contract.

They made the decision before the draft. It would have been dumb to not Franchise him at that point.

If they let him leave, then they would have needed to sign somebody.
- It is difficult to sign any half-decent players without a multi-year contract.
- The option would have been something like signing an unknown mediocre TE on a 3-year, 15M contract.
- Then if you cut that player after 1 year, then it's ends up costing 10M for 1 year.

 

[kskboys]

Yeah. But did we need another year to evaluate what he “is” as a player? Didn’t we already have a large body of evidence that says he’s a good player, but doesn’t do anything worthy of the franchise tag.

I realize that the team was probably faced with either giving him the franchise tag, or letting him walk. I get the argument for tagging him. But I would have let him walk and received a comp pick for him rather than pay him tag money. But that’s just me.

Like Witten before him, he is getting lots of targets simply because that’s what defenses want us to do.

Since we didn't have a proven replacement on the roster, we absolutely did need him. Just a smart roster move, a rare smart one among many dumb ones!!!!!!

 

[ak47kaehu]

They didn't.

Noah Brown.

No one is afraid of Noah brown. He does not get open on a consistent basis nor does he command special attention the way amari did.

 

[Bates]

Seems TE play has somewhat been quiet. Rush has been hitting WRs with consistency not relying too much on the dump off. Watch out when Gallup goes full speed and sync with Rush, or Dak.

this is funny. You realize including all those “ dump offs” we still averaged a full yard more per attempt and more per reception than this year? Rush doesn’t utilize the te. I wish he would. Would probably improve our bottom of the league 3rd down percentage. Also, we run the ball more than all but a handful of teams, yet we are bottom of the league in time of possession. We could use a couple of dump offs to extend a couple drives a game.

 

[Mr_437]

Shultz value has tanked, Cowboys are going to get a 6th round comp pick for him the way this is going. No worries just make sure to develop the young TEs because they've outplayed #86 anyway.

 

[CTcowboy203]

No he wasn't. Kittle has a contract he signed 2 years ago worth $75 million, and if Kelce were negotiating a new contract today his would likely be around $100 million. Schultz wasn't expecting that.

Look at the contracts of David Njoku, Jonnu Smith and Dawson Knox. All $50 million plus, and Smith's contains a larger guaranteed amount than Kittle. Salaries are just high.

The Cowboys never said Schultz was asking for greater than market value, they merely said they had decisions to make and can't pay everyone.

So your point is I should be happy Schultz wasn’t expecting a $100 million dollar contract? Lol. “Salaries are just high” you are correct -I understand the cap but that’s why you have to be conservative with whom you choose to pay. Paying solid /good players like elite players or very good players is how you get into trouble.


You don’t pay the dalton Schultz’s of the world when you have the diggs, parsons and others up next. We literally have Hendershot and
Ferguson out there and even if those 2 don’t pan out, the tight end position can be fixed via the draft in todays nfl very easily. Let Schultz get paid by someone else.

 

[Strykerscm]

3rd or 4th round pick: wer'e getting a comp most likely anyways
Dalton Schultz (TE)
LVE (MLB) or Noah Brown (WR)

for:

Roquan Smith (MLB, Bears) or DJ.Moore (WR, Panthers)

Yes or No to either?

Smith would be dream.

 

[glimmerman]

I was wondering about his fumble habits. But it says he only fumbled 2 times in his career. Thought it was more.

 

[Flamma]

I have been of the mindset that franchising Shultz was a mistake. As the season has progressed, I am even more of that mindset.

I know he was Dak’s security blanket, but only because Dak can’t read the field that well. I think this was a case of wasted cap space and a younger player could have adequately filled Schultz’ role.

Tell me what difference does this make since the Cowboys aren't using all of their cap space? I agree it was money that could be rolled over to next year to help pay Dak's ginormous cap hit, but little else.

Other than that, I agree with you. I like Shultz because he's a player on the Cowboys, but I never thought he was that good, and said as much about 50 times. The only successful season he's had was because the attention was elsewhere. Now that we're not WR loaded, we're not going to see much from him.