Revisiting Free Agency Next Year

Ranching

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Releasing Lawrence creates $8M in cap savings but also escalates $19M in dead money ($27M cap hit for 2022) so I do not see Lawrence leaving until after the 2022 season (Dallas would save $18M against 2023 salary cap with $11M in dead money).

If Dallas makes an effort to re-sign either or both Gallup & Schultz then Amari Cooper might be in trouble as he will only have $6M in dead money remaining after this season and his trade/release would save Dallas $16M against the 2022 cap (with $22M saved in both 2023 and 2024) which would be enough to re-sign BOTH Gallup & Schultz should Dallas choose to go that route.
Cmon man.....your talking about releasing him but you'll be cheering him next week.....lol!
 

Ranching

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I think they just rip the band-aid off. 2022 cap situation almost demands it.



I don’t expect that. The offense thrived without Gallup. Without Cooper? Not so much.
A voice of reason......how refreshing....
 

Hawkeye0202

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Releasing Lawrence creates $8M in cap savings but also escalates $19M in dead money ($27M cap hit for 2022) so I do not see Lawrence leaving until after the 2022 season (Dallas would save $18M against 2023 salary cap with $11M in dead money).

If Dallas makes an effort to re-sign either or both Gallup & Schultz then Amari Cooper might be in trouble as he will only have $6M in dead money remaining after this season and his trade/release would save Dallas $16M against the 2022 cap (with $22M saved in both 2023 and 2024) which would be enough to re-sign BOTH Gallup & Schultz should Dallas choose to go that route.

Good post.......couple things

If what you're saying about DLaw stands, I see no way Gregory is back coz I'm guessing his floor will be $12_15M range. Can they restructure DLaw?

Not sure many remember him saying this during negoiation but he wanted an out after two years.
 

John813

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  • Who do you target for re-signing?
  • Who do you cut to get under cap?
  • What positions do you rely on the draft or free agency?
I would try to re-structure Tank, Zeke and Coop with potential cuts for all three depending on how much room is needed and what the draft or FA holds. Other cap hit targets - Collins (replace with Steele), Zuerlein (replace with free agency), Jarwin (replace with free agency, draft).
Top free agents for me would be Gregory, Kearse, Schultz, and Gallup. Lower contracts would love to retain if possible - Armstrong, Neal, Anger and McQuaide. C.Williams is a goner if they're already benching him for McGovern.
OT and EDGE are looking nice in the draft for a first rounder.

One thing to watch with the Cowboys is when they don't restructure core players deals.
They had two players above 4.2mil base salary this year. Cooper and Law.

This past offseason they restructured Daks new deal, Zekes and did Smith's and Collins deals
They didn't touch Lawrences deal even though they did it the previous year. Going into 2022 he will have 2 real years left(including 2022) and a void year so unless they add more void years/real years there's a limited amount of years left to spread the bonus. Add in while he still is a good player, he's been injured and hasn't quite been the sack getter since his new deal.

I think with Law they either decide to keep him at his hit or move on with a cut. That'll depend on how well he plays to finish the year IMO.
I don't think they want to roll any more bonus with him but at the same time it's not like they have a replacement for him for the run stopping element he brings.

Jarwin's deal makes him likely for a cut if they want to re-sign Schultz. That's if Schultz agent demands fall within what they have him valued at.

Cowboys, along with the rest of the NFL are adding void years and putting minimum base year one on deals to make contracts fit short term.
 

USArmyVet

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Good post.......couple things

If what you're saying about DLaw stands, I see no way Gregory is back coz I'm guessing his floor will be $12_15M range. Can they restructure DLaw?

Not sure many remember him saying this during negoiation but he wanted an out after two years.


I would not be surprised if an offer for Gregory actually exceeds the $12-$15M range as his agent may argue he is a DE more than a B thereby elevating contract demands, even for Dallas. As far as Lawrence, restructuring him only pushes him further down the road as I think Dallas has to simply recognize that the contracts they gave to Lawrence, Cooper, and Zeke were inflated and the return on investment simply did not match the contract....therefore trying to get out of them ASAP (Cooper could be gone after this season, Lawrence and Zeke after the 2022 season).

The Dallas defense is now the Parsons/Diggs defense and Dallas should continue adding youth and moving on from the bad contract guys (Lawrence just like LVE and Smith).
 

ultron

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Gregory is priority #1. Kearse is priority #2. I do not resign any of the others if it interferes with us resigning Gregory and Kearse.
I think this is the right answer & Schultz would be the 3rd guy I’d like to keep. I think Gallup is out simply because he’s too good and will get a big contract somewhere else. I don’t view him as a #1 receiver but he’s a very good #2 receiver and obviously an amazing #3 option, but he’ll be gone in a few months unfortunately. RG94 and Kearse are MUST keep players in my opinion.
 

fansince68

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  • Who do you target for re-signing?
  • Who do you cut to get under cap?
  • What positions do you rely on the draft or free agency?
I would try to re-structure Tank, Zeke and Coop with potential cuts for all three depending on how much room is needed and what the draft or FA holds. Other cap hit targets - Collins (replace with Steele), Zuerlein (replace with free agency), Jarwin (replace with free agency, draft).
Top free agents for me would be Gregory, Kearse, Schultz, and Gallup. Lower contracts would love to retain if possible - Armstrong, Neal, Anger and McQuaide. C.Williams is a goner if they're already benching him for McGovern.
OT and EDGE are looking nice in the draft for a first rounder.
Excellent piece of work.....thank you for posting
 

fansince68

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He did the neck surgery last year to extend his career. Don’t see him retiring now because of a bone spur. Again, considering they chose to restructure him instead of Lawrence and Cooper this off-season, I don’t see them expecting to make any significant move at that position anytime soon!
There are 206 bones in the human body. I'm sure Tyron will find another bone/muscle to injure and miss games. 2nd round draft pick needs to be LT, I don't see a decent one in free agency.
 

Hawkeye0202

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I would not be surprised if an offer for Gregory actually exceeds the $12-$15M range as his agent may argue he is a DE more than a B thereby elevating contract demands, even for Dallas. As far as Lawrence, restructuring him only pushes him further down the road as I think Dallas has to simply recognize that the contracts they gave to Lawrence, Cooper, and Zeke were inflated and the return on investment simply did not match the contract....therefore trying to get out of them ASAP (Cooper could be gone after this season, Lawrence and Zeke after the 2022 season).

The Dallas defense is now the Parsons/Diggs defense and Dallas should continue adding youth and moving on from the bad contract guys (Lawrence just like LVE and Smith).

So guess it comes to keeping DLaw on his current with a 2022 out or letting Gergory walk. As stated before, I'm not sure Stephen is ready to give him a long-term deal, especially $15M+. He set a prerequisite for DLaw long-term deal at 2 years of double digit sacks and this comes from DLaw on statements. So I'm guessing he'll apply the same standard to Gregory. So IMO keeping Randy comes down to two options

* Accepting a below market long-term deal
* Playing well enough to justify the tag ( not sure enough time left )
 

Bigdog

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I would love to get Jessie Bates but his price might be to high. I think he is really good.
 

VaqueroTD

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no interest in Schultz.i think Gregory is gone too.

The problem with TE and DT is there isn't much of an option in free agency and the draft. If you hit, you better hit accurate. I didn't put it in original post, but I think we should also sign one of those DTs for depth if possible. Only good thing about Schultz and bid wars is I think a lot of teams have their own version of Schultz. "Okay" TEs seem to be easier to find.
 

USArmyVet

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So guess it comes to keeping DLaw on his current with a 2022 out or letting Gergory walk. As stated before, I'm not sure Stephen is ready to give him a long-term deal, especially $15M+. He set a prerequisite for DLaw long-term deal at 2 years of double digit sacks and this comes from DLaw on statements. So I'm guessing he'll apply the same standard to Gregory. So IMO keeping Randy comes down to two options

* Accepting a below market long-term deal
* Playing well enough to justify the tag ( not sure enough time left )


Franchise Tag in 2021 for DE is $16M and $14.7M for LB......so as you referenced I would not be surprised to see Dallas apply the tag to Gregory as both a means to retain Gregory while also seeing how he performs next season given his obvious checkered past as well as injuries this season.
 

CCBoy

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Is Parsons really worth 4 million?

Tired of these terrible contracts.
Next season, contract monies expand again...show why a ROY level player isn't worth that positional value in the least.
 
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