Ranking Cowboys Cap Space by Position vs Rest of NFL

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

All of these years of Jerry loading up on the offensive side of the ball should have proven to him that defense wins championships. 26 years of loading up on the offense and nothing to show for it. So we have an owner that keeps doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.

 

[Bobhaze]

All of these years of Jerry loading up on the offensive side of the ball should have proven to him that defense wins championships. 26 years of loading up on the offense and nothing to show for it. So we have an owner that keeps doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.

In todays game it takes both offense and defense. You don’t have to have a Doomsday D from the 70s or the Bears 85 defense to win it all (although that would certainly be nice!) You need a top 10 offense and a top 15 defense. More importantly, the D needs to be able to make plays when you absolutely have to have a stop.

The stats I look at for successful modern defenses:

• Points allowed
• Sacks and turnovers
• 3rd down conversion rates

If you can be top 5-10 in those stats you have an excellent defense capable of carrying you. Assuming your offense is good too, lol.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

Where you are in contracts makes such a huge difference
Our offense as a whole has several players who are on second contracts, defense has more of the talent being young guys
Cap spending by position and side of the ball is really controlled by how many guys you have on first contracts
What it shows is our defensive stars are young and offensive are on second contracts
As you said defense is about to change as in going up in next couple years. Offense will too as guys like Zeke and Tyron get to the end of their deals
That’s why I never got fans who just want to spend to be spending. Spending is coming and carrying over money helps with that spending that’s coming

But spending at specific positions also clues you into how successful Dallas had been at that position up to this point. When every guy on your defense aside from DLaw is on a first year or prove-it deal, that means no drafted players previously have worked out longterm, and no high end free agents have been brought in to stabilize those positions.

While the current young players on the roster give hope, that hope was there in 2019 and 2017 and 2015… some people just want to break the cycle.

 

[CowboyRoy]

This year, the Cowboys rank 27th in WR spending.

Now your getting it. And that will soon go up again in a few years when Lamb signs.

 

[Bobhaze]

But spending at specific positions also clues you into how successful Dallas had been at that position up to this point. When every guy on your defense aside from DLaw is on a first year or prove-it deal, that means no drafted players previously have worked out longterm, and no high end free agents have been brought in to stabilize those positions.

While the current young players on the roster give hope, that hope was there in 2019 and 2017 and 2015… some people just want to break the cycle.

Excellent observation. Last year, we started counting on a lot of rookies and youngsters on defense and several paid off. Diggs, Parsons for example. But it’s not like before last year we had any true defensive “stars” lately.

Hopefully some of these young DL will develop into at the very least solid, dependable players. But again we are counting on a lot of unproven players. Maybe it will be great. We just have to wait and see.

 

[xwalker]

So where are the Cowboys spending the majority of their cap space this year? According to spotrac.com, this is how the Cowboys rank in cap space by position groups vs the rest of the league:

• Offense- Cowboys rank 6th in cap spending.
• Defense- Cowboys rank 30th in cap spending.
• Special Teams- Cowboys rank 27th in cap spending.

By position groups:
OFFENSE (overall ranked 6th in spending)

• QBs- Cowboys rank 13th
• RBs- Cowboys rank 1st (Zeke’s contract)
• WRs- Cowboys rank 27th
• TEs- Cowboys rank 6th
• OL- Cowboys rank 11th

DEFENSE (overall ranked 30th in spending)

• DL- Cowboys rank 15th
• LBs- Cowboys rank 27th
• DBs- Cowboys rank 23rd

A couple of things that stand out:

1. That Zeke contract looks even sillier vs rest of the league.
2. With contracts for Diggs and Parsons looming in a couple years, the defense will certainly command more cap space.

Below is the link where I got the info if you want to do a deeper dive into this.
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/positional/

That method of ranking cap space does not have much value.

Two teams have RBs with 15M average salaries:
2022 Cap Hit Team A: 10M
2022 Cap Hit Team B: 20M

Team B appears to be spending double on RB in 2022 but it's only because of how the contracts are structured.

If would be better to look at average salary over the duration of the contract; however, there are issues with that also:
1: More recently signed contracts are bigger.
2: The actual average of a contract is unknown until the player has departed.
- Big salaries at the end of a contract might inflate the average.
- If the player is gone before those seasons, then the average he was paid is less than the listed average.
- On the flip-side, if a player is cut before the end of the contract, the signing bonus end up only spread out over a smaller number of seasons.

Using the listed averages would be more accurate than current season cap hit.

Using an average based on 'expected to be earned' money would be more accurate.

Doing the calculation for seasons that occurred in the past would be the most accurate.
- The actual averages for most players would be known.

Come back to this in 3 to 5 years and I'll show you that the calculations based on 2022 cap hit were actually completely wrong.
- Not just a 10% lack of accuracy type of wrong, but wrong to the extent that some top 10 teams/positions would actually be bottom 10 and vice versa.

 

[TwistedL0g1k]

It would be interesting to also see a similar analysis that measures the amount of draft capital (from draft point/value charts) that each team has devoted to those respective positions.

 

[Blast From The Past]

Or renegotiate. My hope is for a clean break. But it sounds like JJ and SJ will never cut ties. We will see.

But if Zeke balls out this season what do the Jones boys do? Common sense says let him come back on a team friendly deal or walk imho.

 

[Jake]

Zeke's contract is the worst contract in the NFL.

I remember fans cheering ol' Jerry on when he said "Zeke who?" during the holdout. It ended up just being another t-shirt to sell after he caved to Zeke's demands.

 

[Bobhaze]

That method of ranking cap space does not have much value.

Two teams have RBs with 15M average salaries:
2022 Cap Hit Team A: 10M
2022 Cap Hit Team B: 20M

Team B appears to be spending double on RB in 2022 but it's only because of how the contracts are structured.

If would be better to look at average salary over the duration of the contract; however, there are issues with that also:
1: More recently signed contracts are bigger.
2: The actual average of a contract is unknown until the player has departed.
- Big salaries at the end of a contract might inflate the average.
- If the player is gone before those seasons, then the average he was paid is less than the listed average.
- On the flip-side, if a player is cut before the end of the contract, the signing bonus end up only spread out over a smaller number of seasons.

Using the listed averages would be more accurate than current season cap hit.

Using an average based on 'expected to be earned' money would be more accurate.

Doing the calculation for seasons that occurred in the past would be the most accurate.
- The actual averages for most players would be known.

Come back to this in 3 to 5 years and I'll show you that the calculations based on 2022 cap hit were actually completely wrong.
- Not just a 10% lack of accuracy type of wrong, but wrong to the extent that some top 10 teams/positions would actually be bottom 10 and vice versa.

Maybe you could share all this with Spotrac.com.

All cap calculations are subjective IMO anyway. Although you can still look at where the team puts their money. But comparing it across the league is very difficult because of how teams “count” signing bonus money, defer some money to the future, etc. It’s very hard to get a dollar for dollar comparison between teams. Spotrac does it but it’s not always a true representation.

However it’s counted, the Cowboys definitely spend a lot at certain positions. This will change from year to year as roster churning happens.

 

[conner01]

But spending at specific positions also clues you into how successful Dallas had been at that position up to this point. When every guy on your defense aside from DLaw is on a first year or prove-it deal, that means no drafted players previously have worked out longterm, and no high end free agents have been brought in to stabilize those positions.

While the current young players on the roster give hope, that hope was there in 2019 and 2017 and 2015… some people just want to break the cycle.

It comes back around
The last two drafts we’ve went early on D and often
Assuming they work out then they will be on second contracts. Likely Diggs and Micah real Somme but hopefully we have others who earn a second contract because that’s means they are good. That doesn’t mean they will get one though. Right now we are expensive at one TE spot but next year we will likely be cheap at all TE spots
It’s always changing
The key is having players on both sides worth a second contract and the reason we haven’t had recently is when we addressed those positions and missing on the defensive side with a couple of top 3 picks
Missing also has a huge impact
We generally draft much better on the offensive side even if some of the picks weren’t high picks
That’s something as a GM I’d be looking at also
We can take late round and UDFA on one side an get a player capable of playing in this league but not the other

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

In todays game it takes both offense and defense. You don’t have to have a Doomsday D from the 70s or the Bears 85 defense to win it all (although that would certainly be nice!) You need a top 10 offense and a top 15 defense. More importantly, the D needs to be able to make plays when you absolutely have to have a stop.

The stats I look at for successful modern defenses:

• Points allowed
• Sacks and turnovers
• 3rd down conversion rates

If you can be top 5-10 in those stats you have an excellent defense capable of carrying you. Assuming your offense is good too, lol.

I bet you didn't look up any of that data. You just pulled that out of your behind. But I'm not taking about winning one Super Bowl. I'm talking about building a dynasty... Patriots style.

A top 10 defense. A franchise quarterback. And the grade A offensive line. The Patriots excelled at winning in the trenches, year in year out.

When Emmitt Smith rushed the ball 20 times Troy Aikman's winning percentage skyrocketed. When Ezekiel Elliott reaches 100 yards Dak Prescott's winning percentage skyrockets. The difference between the 90s team and this team is, the '90s team won in the trenches. If we would have had a defense in 2016, 2014, and 2007 we could have went deeper into the playoffs. The offensive lines those years were controlling the line of scrimmage.

So, a top 10 quarterback, a top 10 defense and an offensive line that can control the line of scrimmage is what it takes to win a Super Bowl, IMO. Our defense has been lacking the last 26 years, because too much money been spent on the offense.

 

[Bobhaze]

I bet you didn't look up any of that data. You just pulled that out of your behind. But I'm not taking about winning one Super Bowl. I'm talking about building a dynasty... Patriots style.

A top 10 defense. A franchise quarterback. And the grade A offensive line. The Patriots excelled at winning in the trenches, year in year out.

When Emmitt Smith rushed the ball 20 times Troy Aikman's winning percentage skyrocketed. When Ezekiel Elliott reaches 100 yards Dak Prescott's winning percentage skyrockets. The difference between the 90s team and this team is, the '90s team won in the trenches. If we would have had a defense in 2016, 2014, and 2007 we could have went deeper into the playoffs. The offensive lines those years were controlling the line of scrimmage.

So, a top 10 quarterback, a top 10 defense and an offensive line that can control the line of scrimmage is what it takes to win a Super Bowl, IMO. Our defense has been lacking the last 26 years, because too much money been spent on the offense.

So to quote you Oz, I “didn’t look up any of that data” and pulled it from my behind. Lol. It’s all from Spotrac.com. As I noted in the OP:
“Below is the link where I got the info if you want to do a deeper dive into this.”
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/positional/

Did you read that part brother?

 

[Diehardblues]

Or renegotiate. My hope is for a clean break. But it sounds like JJ and SJ will never cut ties. We will see.

Yep

Jethro still thinks it was the Triplets that won those championships.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

So to quote you Oz, I “didn’t look up any of that data” and pulled it from my behind. Lol. It’s all from Spotrac.com. As I noted in the OP:
“Below is the link where I got the info if you want to do a deeper dive into this.”
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/positional/

Did you read that part brother?

I don't click on links. So I didn't know a website had that kind of information. But how many of those teams won multiple Super Bowls other than the Patriots. The Broncos, the Ravens, the Steelers and the Giants are the only teams to win multiple Super Bowls during the salary cap era. And all of those teams were defensive reliant teams, with the exception being John Elway's Broncos.

The better your defense the better your chances, if you ask me.

 

[Bobhaze]

I don't click on links. So I didn't know a website had that kind of information. But how many of those teams won multiple Super Bowls other than the Patriots. The Broncos, the Ravens, the Steelers and the Giants are the only teams to win multiple Super Bowls during the salary cap era. And all of those teams were defensive reliant teams, with the exception being John Elway's Broncos.

The better your defense the better your chances, if you ask me.

I agree with you that our defense needs to be a lot better.