Recommended People aren't really familiar with Romo's contract

[Section446]

Any way you slice it, it was a stupid move to give him the contract. He's not a $100+ million QB, not at his age, not when the team clearly needed to be rebuilt two years ago.

 

[Beast_from_East]

I'd disagree we have no leverage. He isn't getting 17m in salary from anyone else. So if he could make decent money and help the team get better, then it behooves him to work with us.

If we made him a June 1st cut, it would save 9.5m against the 2015 cap. (27,773 cap hit - (7.5m guaranteed money + $10,773m )) and only increase 2016 cap hit by 1.5m where we tentatively have 69m in room. We only have 19 guys under contract in 2016 but even adding 32 base salaries we would still have about 53m in space tentatively. Of course there would be other moves, but it just gives you an idea.

If we don't sign any other significant free agents this year....we are going to have plenty of room to resign Dez and Smith and let Romo go.

Of course the elephant in the room is who replaces Romo.

Pointless to release him before we a replacement on the roster

 

[big dog cowboy]

Any way you slice it, it was a stupid move to give him the contract.

Why was it stupid? It's not like he is going to see all the money.

 

[DFWJC]

Romo is the cornerstone player of our team and his contract impacts the salary cap more than any other player. It's what we talk about in the off season especially during the free agency period.

Careful, you are so far over his head with comment that he may never come back.

 

[Nightman]

I really wish teams couldn't restructure contracts


How were ticket sales when Campo was coach and went 5-11 three years in a row? How about when Quincy Carter was QB?

I don't know about ticket sales but Dallas grossed over 500m last year.

 

[Nightman]

Why was it stupid? It's not like he is going to see all the money.

Exactly, the last 2 years and 40m aren't real. They are there to absorb the pro-rations, just like Ware.

 

[Galian Beast]

Drink much?

If you compare Romo's stats with Brady's you see that they are extremely comparable despite the fact that Brady has historically had one of the best offensive lines, whereas Romo has had one of the worst.

 

[daveferr33]

Any way you slice it, it was a stupid move to give him the contract. He's not a $100+ million QB, not at his age, not when the team clearly needed to be rebuilt two years ago.

Not disagreeing.

But the Cowboys had no choice. They were tight against the cap and needed to sign Romo a year early just to get some cap relief.

Remember, the Cowboys only had $51,005 of cap room before Romo’s new deal. His contract gave the Cowboys $5 million of much needed cap relief immediately by lowering Romo’s 2013 cap number from $16,818,835 to $11,818,835.

If the Cowboys had managed the cap better, we would be sitting here with a soon to be 34 year old free agent quarterback coming off back surgery. My guess is he would be commanding much less than he did last spring.

Mismanagement of the cap has real world consequences.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I was very critical of 2 Jerry moves last year.. Putting the franchise tag on Spencer and Extending Romo.. I was right on Spencer and Romo is TBD.. I think Romo is a good QB but his talents are wasted on a mediocre team.. And by the time this team is good, Romo will be long gone.. So why waste salary cap space on a franchise QB. When you don't have a good team around him..

You knew Spencer was gong to require microfacture surgery?

Can you give me the perfect bracket so I can win 1 billion dollars please?

 

[noshame]

If you compare Romo's stats with Brady's you see that they are extremely comparable despite the fact that Brady has historically had one of the best offensive lines, whereas Romo has had one of the worst.

Compare our OL and receiving corp to NEs, do I need to tell you who's better?
Brady gets the ball out to his primary into tight windows, something tony cannot do
What happens if Romo's accuracy is worse this year and for whatever reason he cannot continue, how great is this contract then?

 

[jobberone]

You know it's bad when you worry about stuff like this ......... instead of the actual team.

This stuff is all part of the team. You can't separate it and for the most part QB is going to be your main personnel expense; if you have a franchise QB....or if you think you have one. There's a lot of nuances to that. That allocation of resources affects your acquisition of more talent and keeping what you have. So I don't understand why you think that's not a concern. Perhaps I'm not getting the point though.

 

[jobberone]

Compare our OL and receiving corp to NEs, do I need to tell you who's better?
Brady gets the ball out to his primary into tight windows, something tony cannot do
What happens if Romo's accuracy is worse this year and for whatever reason he cannot continue, how great is this contract then?

Where in the heck did you get the information to come to this conclusion? Brady has a better INT%.

Brady has a 63% Cmp%, 2.0 INT%, and 7.5 YPC.
Romo is at a 64.6% Cmp%, 2.7 INT% and 7.8 YPC.

Brady's advanced passing stats are:

96-123 Cmp%
104-129 INT%
86-125 Sack%
102-148 Rate

Romo:

101-128 Cmp%
88-128 INT%
98-123 Sack%
106-123 Rate

As you can see their numbers are similar and except one year living in another galaxy Brady's been about the same as Romo. He's just played on better teams and I would say the stats don't show you the big rutrows which I think Romo has a few more than Brady. But don't think that Brady doesn't have his share. Also I didn't throw it up there but Romo and Brady are the same with 4th QCBs. Brady avgs about 3.5 GWDs per year and Romo 2.9.

Putting the ball into tight spaces is subjective although I think a good observer can comment on it but only after looking at a lot of tape and knowing the route that was supposed to be run. Romo is a tad bit more accurate than Brady overall but your comment is more subjective for a fan.

 

[NEODOG]

This stuff is all part of the team. You can't separate it and for the most part QB is going to be your main personnel expense; if you have a franchise QB....or if you think you have one. There's a lot of nuances to that. That allocation of resources affects your acquisition of more talent and keeping what you have. So I don't understand why you think that's not a concern. Perhaps I'm not getting the point though.

Basically his contract is what it is..... The Broncos pay #18 $20mil.....Pats pay Brady etc etc etc. I hardly ever hear a peep from those boards about how they are strapped by the QB's contract. On here, it's like the pink elephant in the room.

Did we overpay Romo to the point we can't operate? No....

 

[noshame]

Where in the heck did you get the information to come to this conclusion? Brady has a better INT%.

Brady has a 63% Cmp%, 2.0 INT%, and 7.5 YPC.
Romo is at a 64.6% Cmp%, 2.7 INT% and 7.8 YPC.

Brady's advanced passing stats are:

96-123 Cmp%
104-129 INT%
86-125 Sack%
102-148 Rate

Romo:

101-128 Cmp%
88-128 INT%
98-123 Sack%
106-123 Rate

As you can see their numbers are similar and except one year living in another galaxy Brady's been about the same as Romo. He's just played on better teams and I would say the stats don't show you the big rutrows which I think Romo has a few more than Brady. But don't think that Brady doesn't have his share. Also I didn't throw it up there but Romo and Brady are the same with 4th QCBs. Brady avgs about 3.5 GWDs per year and Romo 2.9.

Putting the ball into tight spaces is subjective although I think a good observer can comment on it but only after looking at a lot of tape and knowing the route that was supposed to be run. Romo is a tad bit more accurate than Brady overall but your comment is more subjective for a fan.

really, I watch a lot of tape also and if you're talking throws over 10yds (in the air) Romo's accuracy isn't close, plus his receivers make spectacular catches. Not to mention defenders are closing on his throws over 10yds at a alarming rate. if you watch tape as you say, you must see this, if you don't, well that's okay. GWD is a nice stat, but I think failure on those same situations might be a bit more telling, and BTW 3.5 vs 2.9 are NOT the same.

As far as the tight spaces, some QB's will throw a ball with a 1/2 yd of daylight and some cannot. It's not too subjective. Romo no longer tries too.

 

[Vinnie2u]

It's ridiculous to suggest you let a good QB go because you think your team is so bad that he will be too old when the rest of the team get's good even if you were right on your projection. The 1 million that Spencer MIGHT have been over paid was worth it to keep the D-line together and keep him from coming back to Dallas in a ginat or skin uniform. The fact that he got injured doesn't make it a bad 1 year deal.

You knew Spencer was gong to require microfacture surgery?

Can you give me the perfect bracket so I can win 1 billion dollars please?

I knew he wasn't worth 10 million for the second year in a row...

 

[OhSnap]

I knew he wasn't worth 10 million for the second year in a row...

I knew Brett Favre wasn't gonna get the Vikes to the SB but he was worth the money to them anyway just to increase their odds and because he was the best option at the time.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

really, I watch a lot of tape also and if you're talking throws over 10yds (in the air) Romo's accuracy isn't close, plus his receivers make spectacular catches. Not to mention defenders are closing on his throws over 10yds at a alarming rate. if you watch tape as you say, you must see this, if you don't, well that's okay. GWD is a nice stat, but I think failure on those same situations might be a bit more telling, and BTW 3.5 vs 2.9 are NOT the same.

As far as the tight spaces, some QB's will throw a ball with a 1/2 yd of daylight and some cannot. It's not too subjective. Romo no longer tries too.

Nice delusional scouting report. Stick to Madden.

 

[jobberone]

really, I watch a lot of tape also and if you're talking throws over 10yds (in the air) Romo's accuracy isn't close, plus his receivers make spectacular catches. Not to mention defenders are closing on his throws over 10yds at a alarming rate. if you watch tape as you say, you must see this, if you don't, well that's okay. GWD is a nice stat, but I think failure on those same situations might be a bit more telling, and BTW 3.5 vs 2.9 are NOT the same.

As far as the tight spaces, some QB's will throw a ball with a 1/2 yd of daylight and some cannot. It's not too subjective. Romo no longer tries too.

I didn't say I watched tape on him and I haven't this last year. But you can't say his passes aren't accurate if he's more accurate than Brady who was your standard. Throws over 8 years for Romo and 12 for Brady should have evened out with opponents play and such.

I did say you would have to watch the tape AND know the route the receiver was supposed to run before you can say what you're espousing.

As far as you knowing Romo isn't trying to throw the ball into tight windows then you'd have to know him which you don't. As far as seeing the ball get where it needs to be then I'll let his accuracy stats speak for themselves.

Having said all that I think Romo doesn't see the field in the pocket as well as I'd like. I won't be too definite with that as I'm not standing back there and being pressured. And i don't have any knowledge of the play called or where the receivers are supposed to be. Romo is going to look where he thinks the receiver should be based on HIS read of the defense pre-snap. The receiver has to be on the same page. And defenses are NOT going to be where you thought they'd be because they changed it up to confuse everyone.

You're welcome to your opinion and mind is no better than yours. These are the reasons why I think the way I do.

 

[ConstantReboot]

I thought I tried to address this before, but I guess it didn't stick.

Romo's contract was extremely team friendly and the whole plan was to restructure it as needed.

Let's again look at every facet of Romo's contract

1. Base Salaries
2013: 1.5 million (restructured)
2014: 1 million (restructured)
2015: 17 million
2016: 8.5 million
2017: 14 million
2018: 19.5 million
2019: 20.5 million

2. Signing Bonus Proration

Romo received a 25 million dollar signing bonus. Signing Bonuses can only be prorated over the course of 5 years by NFL rules. This is why teams often sign players to 6 year deals or 7 year deals with the idea that they will restructure those deals and prorate one or two of those years as if it had originally been signing bonus in the first place. Basically a loophole, but what that means is Romo's signing bonus is not on the books for 2018 and 2019.

2013: 5 million
2014: 5 million
2015: 5 million
2016: 5 million
2017: 5 million
2018: 0
2019: 0

So when you look at cap hit you have to look at base salary + signing bonus.

3. Restructured Bonuses

Restructured Bonuses are essentially after the fact signing bonuses as I said earlier. The team takes base salary and converts it to prorated bonuses across the range of the contract. A restructure can only be spread 5 years just like a signing bonus, and shouldn't be confused with a paycut. The players are paid upfront.

Romo has restructured twice now so these are his restructured bonuses per year

2013: 5,813,833
2014: 5,773,000
2015: 5,773,000
2016: 4,315,000
2017: 2,500,000
2018: 2,500,000
2019: 0

Since prorated money can only be spread 5 years, the amount that goes into later years is limited. That is why you see the amount decrease over time. The most recent restructure doesn't touch 2019 (because that would be the 6th year).

4. Cap Hit

The final thing you have to look at is the cap hit per year which takes everything into account

2013: 11.8 million dollars
2014: 11.7 million dollars
2015: 27.7 million dollars
2016: 17.6 million dollars
2017: 21.5 million dollars
2018: 22 million dollars
2019: 20 million dollars


5. Restructuring 2015

As you can see 2015 looks like a huge number, and we'll have to cut Romo, right? No.

As you can also see 2016 is a really small number in comparison.

First thing you have to realize is that the salary cap increases, so every dollar Romo receives as a percentage of the cap shrinks with each additional year that the cap rises. In other words if the cap is 140 million in 2015 and 150 million in 2016, Romo's percentage of the cap in 2015 is 19.7% and 11.7% respectively.

When you look at that and the fact that he still has one more year that is untouched by proration, it makes complete sense to restructure him again next year.

Assuming you restructure the entire contract you would take his 17 million dollar base salary subtract the veteran minimum which would be 970k, let's just call it 1 million.

Base salary 1 million

leaves you with 16 million divided by 5, which gives you 3.2 million in proration per year.

6. Final Cap Hits

2013: 11.8 million dollars
2014: 11.7 million dollars
2015: 27.7 million dollars - 16 million + 3.2 million = 14.9 million (10.6% of projected cap)
2016: 17.6 million dollars + 3.2 million = 20.8 million (13.8% of projected cap)
2017: 21.5 million dollars + 3.2 million = 24.7 million
2018: 22 million dollars + 3.2 million = 25.2 million
2019: 20 million dollars + 3.2 million = 23.2 million

This gives you a nice curve of accounting increases, that will be appropriate given increases in the salary cap. And part of the reason why the team wants to focus on the draft more. Of course this has a lot to do with Romo's health and performance. How much would it cost for Romo to be cut?

Well that is why you have to look at dead money. Which is another reason why the team is cleaning the books of bad contracts now.

7. Dead Money

Current dead money for Romo if he is released:
2014: 41.6 million
2015: 19.9 million
2016: 11.6 million
2017: 5 million
2018: 0
2019: 0

But remember we restructured Romo again in 2015:
2015: 35.9 million
2016: 24.4 million
2017: 14.6 million
2018: 6.4 million
2019: 3.2 million

The formula you really need to look at is Base Salary - Dead Money

8. Base Salary vs Dead Money

2015: 14. 9 million - 35.9 million (upside down)
2016: 20.8 million - 24.4 million (upside down, but not by much, if you draft a QB you basically don't feel this dead money at all)
2017: 24.7 - 14.6 (you save 10.1 million by cutting Romo)
2018: 25.2 million - 6.4 million (you save 19 million by cutting Romo)
2019: 23.2 million - 3.2 million (you save 20 million by cutting Romo)

You can ultimately cut Romo in 2016 if you want. You take less than a 4 million dollar hit on the salary cap. And who knows depending on where we are, Romo might take a paycut, or maybe we'll be doing so well that we don't need him to. As I suggested earlier, Romo's contract is pretty friendly to our team. These are also assuming we don't cut him in June.

Also if you cut him in 2015 instead of restructuring him you also only take a 2 million dollar cap hit. So after 2014, you can do with Romo as you wish.

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!

 

[yentl911]

I don't think Romo has more than two season left in him to be honest. He is a beaten soldier. He has been pounded on week in and week out for the past several seasons and it is starting to take its toll. His mobility has decreased, arm strength decreased and he now looks gun shy at times in the pocket. I never saw him be that way before.

He is a tough SOB but a body can only take so much.