Revisiting Free Agency Next Year

blueblood70

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way too early for this especially its cap and money THING. leave this to the fo..ill cheer for whoever they put back on the field next season..

couldn't be less interested about next year..

i do wish the draft was before FA because it gives us better idea who to keep..
 

VaqueroTD

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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).

Someone is always willing to pay big money for a guy who may be an elite pass rusher. We're going to have to pony up for him. All these injuries in the middle of the season stunk, but hopefully it also took his asking price down.
 

Techsass

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Menudo for breakfast.....great cure for a hangover!. Lol
So he guessed your breakfast right? How a successful adult could still subject himself to menudo is one of life's great mysteries to me.
 

Hawkeye0202

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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.

This bring me back my original question.........Can we afford to tag Gregory ($16M) and bring DLaw back w/o restructuring? ( kicking his deal further down the road)
 

Cowboyny

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Something to keep mind, Jerry was highly p'd at Coop for missing the 2 games. In fact, he stop short blaming him for one loss, calling him selfish. My point is, some have long memories........it wouldn't surprise me if Coop still doesn't sit well with Jerry after the season's over.

Think CW walks and competition is brought in to compete ( draft or free agent ) with McGovern for starting LG[/QUOTE
Passing offense pre Cooper was awful, same can be said after he missed 2 games, he isn’t going anywhere
 

Hawkeye0202

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Someone is always willing to pay big money for a guy who may be an elite pass rusher. We're going to have to pony up for him. All these injuries in the middle of the season stunk, but hopefully it also took his asking price down.

I agree 100%.......why I'm not sure we can afford him.
 

xwalker

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DALLAS COWBOYS ON PACE TO BE -$12M CAP SPACE IN 2022 (3rd Worst)


2022 FREE AGENTS (Sample cap hits below of potential big contracts)

  • QB none
  • RB Corey Clement
  • TE Dalton Schultz
  • (Top 10 TEs NFL 2021 Cap Hits $5.8-$8m)
  • WR Michael Gallup, Cedrick Wilson, Noah Brown, Malik Turner
  • (Top 20 WRs NFL 2021 Cap Hits $6.5-$22mm)
  • G/C Connor Williams
  • (Top 10 Gs NFL 2021 Cap Hit $7.7-$18.8m)
  • OT Ty Nsekhe

  • DE Randy Gregory, Dorance Armstrong
  • (Top 5 EDGEs NFL 2021 Cap Hit $20-$25m)
  • DT Brent Urban, Carlos Watkins
  • LB LVE, Keanu Neal, Luke Gifford
  • S Jayron Kearse, Demontae Kazee, Malik Hooker
  • (Top 5 Ss NFL 2021 Cap Hit $10-$20m)
  • CB Maurice Canady

  • ST Brian Anger, Jake McQuaide
  • (Top 5 P NFL 2021 cap hit $2-$4m, Top 5 LS cap hit $1-$1.5m)


2022 TOP SALARY CAP HITS:
  1. Dak $34.5m
  2. Tank $27m
  3. Coop $22m
  4. Zack Martin $20.2m
  5. Zeek $18.2m
  6. Tyron Smith $17m
  7. Lael Collins $15.2m
  8. Anthony Brown $6.5m
  9. Blake Jarwin $6.2m
  10. Jourdan Lewis $4.7m
  11. Micah Parsons $3.9m
  12. CeeDee Lamb $3.8m
  13. Terrell Basham $3m
  14. Greg Zuerlein $2.8m


2022 TOP 100 NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS BY POSITION COUNT:
  • QB 7
  • WR 15
  • RB 7
  • TE 3
  • G/C 5
  • OT 13
  • EDGE 16
  • DT 5
  • LBs 8
  • S 8
  • CB 14
  • K/P 0


2022 TOP FREE AGENTS IN COWBOYS POSITIONS OF NEED:

  • OT (Tyron Smith's injuries) Terron Armstead, Orlando Brown Jr.
  • EDGE (if lose Gregory and/or Tank) Chandler Jones, Von Miller, Jadeveon Clowney
  • DT Akiem Hicks
  • WR (if lose Gallup and/or Coop) Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, Mike Williams, Courtland Sutton
  • TE (if lose Schultz) Mike Gisecki
  • S (if lose Kearse and Kazee) Marcus Williams, Jesse Bates, Tyrann Mattheiu
  • Even if Cowboys cut Zeke's contract, Pollard is a good RB replacement, so didn't include RBs.
  • No idea on how many journeymen will be available at each position.
Good post.

Base salary and guarantees are more important than cap hit.
- The cap hit amount above the base salary is a "sunk cost".
- i.e. They've already spent the money.
- Unguaranteed base salaries are what they save if a play is cut (10M for La'el).

They're stuck with Zeke and DLaw for another year due to guaranteed salaries for 2022.

La'el is likely a cut or trade unless Tyron retires.

- They're not going to pay La'el 10M when Steele can do the job for 765K (average salary).

Jarwin's base is 4.5M for 2022. They'll probably retain him.
- Blocking TEs are cheap. They can add one to pair with Jarwin and McKeon.
- I would be in favor of using a premium draft pick on a TE is a quality prospect is available.
- It appears that McKeon can likely replace Schultz.
- Kellen Moore has schemed Schultz open.
- Schultz often struggles with contested catches and his blocking is erratic.

Basham's based is 1.75M for 2022. That might keep them from re-signing Armstrong.

Expensive Players to Retain:
- They'll try to retain Gregory.
- They'll try to retain Kearse; although, I don't think they'll give him anything more than an average NFL starting Safety contract.
- Gallup is a big question mark. Cooper's base is 20M for 2022 through 2024. Would they pay 2 WRs top dollar for multiple seasons?
- Pollard is another difficult decision. Pollard will want to be a starter and could likely do that elsewhere.
 

xwalker

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Never too early to start signing my friend. Especially if you want to avoid a bidding war with teams being rewarded $30m in new cap space next year.
Just ignore him. You have quality posts. He has never posted anything informative.
 

Malhavoc

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I read that Dak’s contract was setup intentionally to allow a restructure that will reduce his cap hit this year by about 15 mill. If you release Tank, Brown, and Jarwin that will bring the cap hit down by another 18 mill. This will absolutely allow you to keep Gregory an Kearse.

Schultz, Gallup, and Williams likely gone. At that point to the bargain bin we go. Smaller 1 year and 2 year deals will be what we see.

The heavy lifting once again will be in the draft.
 

xwalker

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I look at Tyron as more of an unexpected retirement loss than a cut. It's so hard to find a franchise LT, I think the Cowboys will ride it out until they know for sure they have their replacement. But with all the constant damage, I could easily see Tyron saying "#*$# it, I've had enough!" A few guys here wanted a LT last year. Glad we got Parsons, but yeah, I think it's time now to start looking for one. That and an EDGE will be easy to find in the first round this year, and they are both just as important.
They need a plan for replacing Tyron even if he remains on the roster.

He could be out injured at any time and neither Steele or La'el are legit LT options, in my opinion.

Josh Ball might be an option at LT. He would have been a 2nd or possibly 1st round pick if he had stayed at Florida State.
- He was better in 2017 as a redshirt freshman than Steele was in 2020 as a Senior.
- The problem is that the draft comes before the preseason. They won't really know about his ability until camp/preseason.
 

John813

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I read that Dak’s contract was setup intentionally to allow a restructure that will reduce his cap hit this year by about 15 mill. If you release Tank, Brown, and Jarwin that will bring the cap hit down by another 18 mill. This will absolutely allow you to keep Gregory an Kearse.

Schultz, Gallup, and Williams likely gone. At that point to the bargain bin we go. Smaller 1 year and 2 year deals will be what we see.

The heavy lifting once again will be in the draft.

Yup the two void years were added for a restructure this offseason. Signing bonus is prorated over 5 years including the current year. So, his deal is setup to spread out the restructure new signing bonus over 5 years, including the two void years.
 

CowboysFaninHouston

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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.
I think Gregory and Schultz are primary players we have to resign. we have no depth behind them that can produce close to the same level.

jarwin, Lawrence are prime cut candidates.

there is about 8 contracts that can be restructured.

Draft we should focus on LB, Saftey, DT, Center, Guard probably in that order. I M not sure what's available in FA. usually those who hit FA are way too expensive ( you over pay), injured or often injured or older. Players who are worth it, often don't hit FA...so anyone we sign probably is a stop gap for one year.
 

Jarntt

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We should get under that number pretty easily. Likely will be Cooper or Gallup, Schultz or Jarwin and some restructures as we see every year. The tricky thing will be how much Gregory gets. Also, Kearse will be interesting. Has been incredible, but how high can you go for a guy that's been a JAG for his career and then explodes all of a sudden? Losing him would leave a mark. I suspect Kazee is back on a relatively cheap deal and we have Wilson so there is only so much we will pay for Kearse even though he has been great this year. I'd like to bring back Wilson to be a #3 assuming Coop or Gallup is gone. All the other guys are take it or leave it guys. Certainly some that can help us, but no one that we can't replace. Another good draft would go a long way towards helping our salary cap issues
 

VaqueroTD

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Good post.

Basham's based is 1.75M for 2022. That might keep them from re-signing Armstrong.

Jarwin's base is 4.5M for 2022. They'll probably retain him.
- Blocking TEs are cheap. They can add one to pair with Jarwin and McKeon.
- I would be in favor of using a premium draft pick on a TE is a quality prospect is available.
- It appears that McKeon can likely replace Schultz.
- Kellen Moore has schemed Schultz open.
- Schultz often struggles with contested catches and his blocking is erratic.

Expensive Players to Retain:
- They'll try to retain Gregory.
- They'll try to retain Kearse; although, I don't think they'll give him anything more than an average NFL starting Safety contract.
- Gallup is a big question mark. Cooper's base is 20M for 2022 through 2024. Would they pay 2 WRs top dollar for multiple seasons?
- Pollard is another difficult decision. Pollard will want to be a starter and could likely do that elsewhere.

I don't see how we'll upgrade TE unless we get lucky in the draft.

Didn't put it in there, but Pollard would be my "Most Likely to Hold Out." I would if I were him. Now or never, as Zeke did earlier. He's small too, every year is a potential career threatening injury.

The Ticket Fake Jerry cracked me up last week talking about Zeke vs Pollard's salaries. Asked the Hardline how many millions per yard we were paying Zeke, and then said thank god we have Pollard at minimum wage. :laugh:
 

xwalker

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I don't see how we'll upgrade TE unless we get lucky in the draft.

Didn't put it in there, but Pollard would be my "Most Likely to Hold Out." I would if I were him. Now or never, as Zeke did earlier. He's small too, every year is a potential career threatening injury.

The Ticket Fake Jerry cracked me up last week talking about Zeke vs Pollard's salaries. Asked the Hardline how many millions per yard we were paying Zeke, and then said thank god we have Pollard at minimum wage. :laugh:

If Zeke's base salary was not guaranteed, it would be an easy decision, IMO, to cut Zeke and pay Pollard.
- Unfortunately Zeke has one more year with a guaranteed base salary.

As you said, why would Pollard want to re-sign with the Cowboys when he could be a starter elsewhere?

Some time might take Zeke's salary in a trade if the Cowboys just wanted to dump the salary.
- The new team's only risk would be the 2022 guaranteed base salary.

Pollard is 6-0, and reported to be 215 this past training camp.
- He has been a good inside runner.

When healthy Zeke obviously more physical; however, his lack of threat as an outside running causes him to face stacked boxes more often than Pollard.

Even Jerry enjoys the Ticket's fake Jerry per Jerry himself.

TE: Witten was a 3rd round pick...
 

glimmerman

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Would love to keep Gallup and Gregory and Kearse. Some of these FA we have will sign cheap. We need to Gafford and I like Bernard. LVE will be gone. We can improve some positions by drafting smart. We need O-Line players that can start. Steele will be a starter next year. Williams can go. But need a LT soon. We have one that’s gonna be a FA and heard he has potential but haven’t seen him on the field..
 
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