Romo Scenarios and their cap hits

[Air Force One]

It doesn't make sense to construct a roster with Romo as a backup. Teams don't pay massive money for a backup quarterback. The only way I see him staying is if Dak falters dramatically...

And the thin chance of trading him this offseason becomes almost a zero chance the following offseason when he's 38 years old.

38 years old AND basically wouldn't have played in almost three years....I can't believe anyone is even suggesting such a thing. If we have any chance of trading him it has to be this upcoming offseason.

 

[Tabascocat]

The money for Romo is secondary. He wants a chance to win a ring. Denver is the right choice for him. And I agree he is traded unless Dak shows he indeed has more than a tiny bit of rookie blood in him.

Denver won't go after Romo, it is about Lynch time. It would be a good fit but I can't see them going the Manning route again. Arizona is the perfect fit for Tony IMO.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Denver won't go after Romo, it is about Lynch time. It would be a good fit but I can't see them going the Manning route again. Arizona is the perfect fit for Tony IMO.

Arizona has Palmer. He's the same age as Tony and has been healthy for the past few years. Plus he's played well in Arizona. I don't see why they would give up Palmer for Romo.

 

[Tabascocat]

Arizona has Palmer. He's the same age as Tony and has been healthy for the past few years. Plus he's played well in Arizona. I don't see why they would give up Palmer for Romo.

Palmer is half of the QB that Romo is

 

[csirl]

Romo has no trade value due to his salary, age and injury history. He will be a June 1st cut as this gives Dallas the most flexibility re the cap.

The idea of restructuring his contract to stay is nuts. You dont spend millions on a 37 y.o. oft injured QB to be a backup when you already have a promising young starter backed up by a veteran ex-Pro Bowler.

 

[T-RO]

Denver won't go after Romo, it is about Lynch time. It would be a good fit but I can't see them going the Manning route again. Arizona is the perfect fit for Tony IMO.

It's hard for me to see a real natural fit with any team.

-Arizona...Palmer was pro bowl level QB who is witnessing decline because he's 36. Romo is the same age with lesser health. On top of that Palmer just got a pricy new contract through 2018!

-Jets...Do they have a good enough o-line to protect and support? Answer is no...their line is terrible.

-Broncos...They have two young quarterbacks...would they view Romo as a solution or as a progress-stopper?

Cleveland...They seem committed to a long-term rebuild. Tony wouldn't even approve it such a deal.

Maybe there are other viable destinations. I find it hard to visualize w/the teams bantered about.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

It doesn't make sense to construct a roster with Romo as a backup. Teams don't pay massive money for a backup quarterback. The only way I see him staying is if Dak falters dramatically...

And the thin chance of trading him this offseason becomes almost a zero chance the following offseason when he's 38 years old.

Tony is Jerry's son. Until we find a replacement at backup that isn't Kellen Moore, doubt Tony is traded or cut.

 

[RJ_MacReady]

The problem with that scenario is that it just doesn't make sense for the team to pay a 25 Million cap hit to a backup QB - and it doesn't make sense for Romo to take a paycut and be a backup when he could get playing time and no pay cut (or less of one) somewhere else.

I'm not a cap expert, but I remember some cap guru saying that the guaranteed money will be paid by the Cowboys (how it's spread out is dependent on when he's traded) and the new team will only have to pay him the 14M base salary. If that's true, there will be contending teams lining up for a 14M QB that has top-5 playing ability.

Basically, we have a lot of dead money with this guy if we trade him (happens when you kick the restructure can down the road..) so we either get some serious draft capitol in the trade, we keep him as an expensive backup in 2017 (doubtful) or we ask him to take a pay cut (doubtful). We've got a lot of guaranteed money tied up, he wants to be a starting QB. Both sides will be looking for a 3rd party to compensate both of their best interests (Cowboys draft capitol and Romo a starting gig).

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I'd love for Tony to get traded so I can continue to root for him...and I can enjoy a second favorite team.

If he is traded the Cowboys will be fortunate to get one second or one third round draft pick. His salary will be a major deterrence as will the risk of his health and age. It's possible he will be entirely untradeable due to salary/age/risk.

45% chance he gets traded
45% chance he retires or is cut before 2017 football starts
10% chance he is retained as a Cowboy in for 2017 football

peyton was WAYYYY more fragile and he found a team. Tony will find one too

 

[65fastback2plus2]

this whole scenario explains why they are keeping butt fumble on the roster too....backup for next year

 

[LittleD]

He is not going to be cut. He has trade value thats why I think Jerry might audition him if he gets a chance to play this year.

Not as much trade value as you think. Other teams know the score. Jerry could only trade Tony to a team that Tony approves of.
He otherwise would just retire, Cowboys get nothing except all his cap money come crashing down next year. Only two teams
I think make sense and who knows if they would part with picks. Denver or Houston. They have defenses and a ready made team
capable of getting to the playoffs.

 

[JohnsKey19]

I don't think its a financial decision at the end of the day, but I do think Romo is traded. They owe it to him to let him play somewhere instead of being a backup in Dallas. And given the dearth of QBs, Dallas should be able to get multiple premium draft picks back for trading him. It sad in a way, but it makes sense all the way around.

He'll definitely be traded. Jerry, Romo and his agent will work it out to get him to a team that makes sense and for Dallas to get some compensation as well. Not sure about multiple premium draft picks. But likely 1 high pick(2nd) and then a future mid rounder(3rd-4th). I could be wrong but that's just my guess, due to Romo's age.

 

[darthseinfeld]

The money for Romo is secondary. He wants a chance to win a ring. Denver is the right choice for him. And I agree he is traded unless Dak shows he indeed has more than a tiny bit of rookie blood in him.

Honestly I think the Bills are a better choice. The Broncos are slowly trending downwards on the talent and Bills have a very strong line and running game to keep his hits to a minimum as well as a very talented receiving corps. A strong QB makes them a possible 12 win team. The Broncos are getting old, expensive and creeping up on a rebuilding phase. There OL isnt very strong either, and they dont have a very good running game. I dont think Romo plays more then 10 games in Denver

 

[Risen Star]

My eyes go crossed when I read about how a team owes a player something. The Cowboys owe Romo nothing.

 

[reddyuta]

I want him to go to Denver but their oline is going to get him killed,i am not sure if they can build a solid oline for him next year.

 

[Falco78]

Houston would be a great fit for him

 

[Hailmary]

Does Romo have veto power written into his contract?

 

[haleyrules]

It's hard for me to see a real natural fit with any team.

-Arizona...Palmer was pro bowl level QB who is witnessing decline because he's 36. Romo is the same age with lesser health. On top of that Palmer just got a pricy new contract through 2018!

-Jets...Do they have a good enough o-line to protect and support? Answer is no...their line is terrible.

-Broncos...They have two young quarterbacks...would they view Romo as a solution or as a progress-stopper?

Cleveland...They seem committed to a long-term rebuild. Tony wouldn't even approve it such a deal.

Maybe there are other viable destinations. I find it hard to visualize w/the teams bantered about.

Tony is released June 1st and retires. This guy is wealthy with serious back problems and simply does not need the abuse any longer. Most Clubs will avoid an aging, injured , highly paid QB with a poor play off reputation.

 

[haleyrules]

The money for Romo is secondary. He wants a chance to win a ring. Denver is the right choice for him. And I agree he is traded unless Dak shows he indeed has more than a tiny bit of rookie blood in him.

He wouldn't last two games behind Denvers OL. He couldn't get out of the preseason behind the Cowboys OL.

 

[waldoputty]

Here is my plan

DAL plays this year out with Dak and Tony

If he wants to stay he takes a huge paycut and if he wants to leave he still gets paid but we don't get killed on the cap and get the cap space when we need it in the Spring......if we trade him before June 1st there is nothing we can do about the 19.6m cap hit but at least it will be off the books forever

Next Spring DAL signs Romo to a new 3yr/21m contract.....they take the 14m he is owed for 2017 and guarantees it plus another 1m for a total of 15m guaranteed ...... that comes in the form of a 1m base salary in 2017, a 12m option bonus in 2017 and a 2m base salary in 2018 .... that reduces his cap hit from 24.7m to 15.7m


Option bonus 12m due Sept 1st
................Base...+.....old bonus..+..new OB..=...Cap hit.............old Cap
2017------ 1m...............10.7m..........4m.............15.7m................24.7m
2018*------2m................5.7m...........4m.............11.7m................25.2m
2019*------6m................3.2m...........4m.............13.2m................23.7m

*if he is traded, salary jumps to 10m for both 2018-19 and he gets 250k per game roster bonuses



That makes it a 2yr/15m deal if we keep him as the back-up

It means he makes 3yr/41m if we trade him with 23m guaranteed
We can trade him anytime in 2017 and get top price since the new team will have control for up to 3 seasons......his 13m compensation for 2017 is very fair and we get immediate and long-term cap relief

Thanks for putting this together.

Dallas is over the cap by 7 mil and will carry forward about 6 mil. So lets assume that cancels out.
The free agents need to be signed and money allocated for draft picks before draft.
We need to sign/resign 1-2 CB, 1-2 WR, and 1-2 S. Also may want to resign DL Mcclain. Who knows what happens to Leary - probably cannot afford, and he will want to leave unless Collins moves to RT.

So lets assume 20-25M will be needed.
We can restructure TSmith and probably TFred to get us most of the way - is that right?

So my questions are:
1. Do you think there are enough restructures to get us the necessary money without changing Tony's contract by draft day? If so, Tony's money would only be relevant for resigning someone like Martin after draft day (possibly during the 2017 season).
2. Is 20-25M enough - other than resigning Martin.
3. If Tony is traded, teams should be willing to pay $15M for QB. The bonus do not count on their cap? He could restructure to help Dallas sign players, but why would Romo need to lose a single dollar? Or is this your 3 yr / 41M plan?