Our 2017 salary cap situation sucks, right?

[ConceptCoop]

Or am I reading this wrong?

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/dallas-cowboys/

It looks to me like we'll need to cut 6M just to get under the cap. We'll likely cut Free and Carr and restructure Witten and Tony. But even that doesn't give us much money to improve the team via FA, after signing the rookies. Then the following year, Martin, Collins, and Lawrence will get big pay raises.

Anyone see it differently? It looks to me like we'll need to build our defense through the draft, with little FA help over the next couple seasons.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Depends on if we keep Romo. If he's released our cap situation is fine

 

[ConceptCoop]

Depends on if we keep Romo. If he's released our cap situation is fine

We don't really save much money by cutting him next year. He's 19.6M of dead money. It's the following year where it could make sense. For the savings (5.1M), you might as well keep him, even if it's as a backup.

 

[xwalker]

Or am I reading this wrong?

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/dallas-cowboys/

It looks to me like we'll need to cut 6M just to get under the cap. We'll likely cut Free and Carr and restructure Witten and Tony. But even that doesn't give us much money to improve the team via FA, after signing the rookies. Then the following year, Martin, Collins, and Lawrence will get big pay raises.

Anyone see it differently? It looks to me like we'll need to build our defense through the draft, with little FA help over the next couple seasons.

Yes you are reading it wrong.

No they are not in big trouble.

Look at this view: http://overthecap.com/calculator/dallas-cowboys/

Notice that there is 43M of cap space in 2018. Contracts will be restructured to push some into 2018. Dez has a cap hit of 17M in 2017.. They can likely gain about 10M by restructuring his contract.

Also, the actual NFL cap limit is unknown. OTC uses an estimate which is usually conservative.

The best thing is that they are not over a barrel with Romo's contract. If they cut him, then they actually gain cap space in 2017 (5.1M).

 

[xwalker]

Depends on if we keep Romo. If he's released our cap situation is fine

They gain 5.1M of cap space by cutting Romo next off-season.

 

[Nightman]

Or am I reading this wrong?

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/dallas-cowboys/

It looks to me like we'll need to cut 6M just to get under the cap. We'll likely cut Free and Carr and restructure Witten and Tony. But even that doesn't give us much money to improve the team via FA, after signing the rookies. Then the following year, Martin, Collins, and Lawrence will get big pay raises.

Anyone see it differently? It looks to me like we'll need to build our defense through the draft, with little FA help over the next couple seasons.

Nothing to worry about......OTC is a little off with their numbers...we are close to 7m under the cap right now and will be able to carry some of that over to next year

They also have a bunch of scheduled restructures with TFred, TSmith, Dez, TCrawford
They will also re-do or cut guys like Romo, Lee, Free and Witten
They have well over 35m to sign out FAs and not sign any other teams FAs

 

[John813]

They gain 5.1M of cap space by cutting Romo next off-season.

Is there a difference if it's a post June 1st cut?

 

[Manwiththeplan]

They gain 5.1M of cap space by cutting Romo next off-season.

Not if he's a post June 1st cut

 

[ConceptCoop]

Yes you are reading it wrong.

No they are not in big trouble.

Look at this view: http://overthecap.com/calculator/dallas-cowboys/

Notice that there is 43M of cap space in 2018. Contracts will be restructured to push some into 2018. Dez has a cap hit of 17M in 2017.. They can likely gain about 10M by restructuring his contract.

Also, the actual NFL cap limit is unknown. OTC uses an estimate which is usually conservative.

The best thing is that they are not over a barrel with Romo's contract. If they cut him, then they actually gain cap space in 2017 (5.1M).

Assuming they restructure Dez, do you think we'll have enough to get a couple starters via FA?

 

[Nightman]

Is there a difference if it's a post June 1st cut?

Yes.....they would get an additional 8.9m in space if they made him a June 1st cut for a total cap savings of 14m

It is more likely they keep him and either restructure his 14m salary or re-do his deal completely to lower his cap hit

 

[Nightman]

Assuming they restructure Dez, do you think we'll have enough to get a couple starters via FA?

Absolutely.....they have tremendous flexibility and can create up to 50m in cap space

SJones and JJones don't operate like that though....they like to appear 'cap poor' to help negotiations work in their favor and to keep fans from demanding we sign some big name FAs....they eventually create the space but they do it over time to make it look like each move is dollar for dollar, like they just did with Lee and Scandrick's deal.......they could have been restructured in March but they waited until the first week of Sept....

 

[xwalker]

Assuming they restructure Dez, do you think we'll have enough to get a couple starters via FA?

They can. It depends on how much cap space they want to push into future years. Also, I need to review which current players are going to be free agents.

With Stephen Jones having more control the past few years, they seem committed to avoiding huge free agent deals; however, if the DL fails this season, I would expect Jerry to demand an elite pass rusher.

 

[xwalker]

Absolutely.....they have tremendous flexibility and can create up to 50m in cap space

SJones and JJones don't operate like that though....they like to appear 'cap poor' to help negotiations work in their favor and to keep fans from demanding we sign some big name FAs....they eventually create the space but they do it over time to make it look like each move is dollar for dollar, like they just did with Lee and Scandrick's deal.......they could have been restructured in March but they waited until the first week of Sept....

I do believe they intentionally want to appear cap poor.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Assuming they restructure Dez, do you think we'll have enough to get a couple starters via FA?

Fwiw, I would not restructure Dez. Tyron and Frederick are much better candidates since their contracts will be easier to manage towards the end

 

[ConceptCoop]

Absolutely.....they have tremendous flexibility and can create up to 50m in cap space

SJones and JJones don't operate like that though....they like to appear 'cap poor' to help negotiations work in their favor and to keep fans from demanding we sign some big name FAs....they eventually create the space but they do it over time to make it look like each move is dollar for dollar, like they just did with Lee and Scandrick's deal.......they could have been restructured in March but they waited until the first week of Sept....

That makes sense. Thanks for this!

 

[Nightman]

I do believe they intentionally want to appear cap poor.

I have become convinced over the last few seasons......they only want to sign FA to bargains like Melton, Hardy, McClain, Claiborne.....they will splurge on our guys like Dez, TCrawford, TSmith and TFred but no more Carrs

Two years ago they restructured every deal but Carr's....this year they restructured every deal but Romo.....if they did March 1st they would have 40m in cap space but if they do it piecemeal it sells the tight cap narrative better.....your own work helped convince me......you showed they could spend cash over the cap by 50% every year indefinitely as long as the cap went up even slightly

 

[Nightman]

Fwiw, I would not restructure Dez. Tyron and Frederick are much better candidates since their contracts will be easier to manage towards the end

As long as Dez is going to be here, and we all know he is a lifer, then it makes sense to restructure at least once or twice.......just add a couple voidable years to spread out the cap hit and its painless....it is no more guaranteed money, just accounting tricks

 

[Joe Realist]

would love to be in a situation where they field a playoff team every year and be 15 million under cap. I dream I suppose.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I do believe they intentionally want to appear cap poor.

I disagree.

First of all playing cap poor when you are not isn't getting past even an average agent.

But more than that the Jones' always talk about how the cap is a fungible number and that they can create space whenever they want.

I think the Cowboys always appear to be maxing out their cap space because they aggressively manage it.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

would love to be in a situation where they field a playoff team every year and be 15 million under cap. I dream I suppose.

That's terrible cap mismanagement.