Salary Cap Actually Looks Half Decent

[Nation]

According to Over The Cap we currently have $130,212,355 in current liabilities against a $143,260,739 salary cap with rolled over money for 2014. That leaves us with $13,048,384 in room to work with for our initial 2015 operating budget.

I'm going to be simplistic here and go overly conservative on our rookie contract pool, and say that after getting those guys under contract it will leave us with around 6,000,000 in room. Note that we don't need to include our rookie cap hit until after June 1st, so it isn't a factor in early-operations.

The first step for the year will be getting in shape to apply the franchise tag to Dez. We can do that right away because as noted the rookies don't need to be figured in right away, but it makes sense to operate in a way that captures the big picture. Jason La Canfora estimates the 2015 franchise tag for receivers will be 12.71M. Signing our rookie pool and franchise Dez would leave us in the dink with a -5,710,000 cap number.

The most obvious move on the roster other than franchising Dez is cutting Henry Melton so that we are not left to pay him a 9M base salary in 2015. This brings our cap space back to the positive with 2,790,250.

I also believe I've found an error in OverTheCap's tracking in that they show Dekoda Watson being under contract for 1.25M for Dallas in 2015. I think this contract reflects his contract that he signed with the Jaguars as opposed to the new one Dallas signed him to. Either way, eliminating it frees us up to 4,040,250 in salary cap space.

Next up are the Exclusive Rights Free Agents. Given the low cost I'm going to assume both Ronald Leary (obvious) Darrion Weems, and Cameron Lawrence both have these picked up. This brings us to 2,285,250 in room.

Then we have our restricted free agents. Cole Beasley will be tagged for certain. I know the struggles with Davante Adams are fresh in everyones minds, but I think Sterling Moore gets retained for another year. I'd bet that Lance Dunbar does as well. I'm going to again go conservative here and assume one 2nd round tender and two original round tenders. This leave us at -2,394,750 and we have not restructured a single deal on the roster. With Brandon Carr schedule for an 8M salary in 2015 he'll either be a June 1st cut or take a paycut, both of which will put the team back in the positive.

This cap space includes a 17M salary for Tony Romo and an 11M salary for Tyron Smith. Romo's salary in 2016 is half of his 2015 salary, so if we need to convert some of that to bonus it is a non-issue. But the nice thing is that we really don't have to. For a change we can address guys like Doug Free, Rolando McClain, Anthony Spencer, Justin Durant, and Jeremy Parnell without making nine different guys convert salary to bonus. We can sign Dez to a longterm contract but we can also use the franchise tag to our advantage as needed. And while I think Dallas now recognizes that making a big splash in free agency isn't what wins, but if need be they can even do that. Discipline in following "The Process" is still needed, but the cap is in good shape as we head into the 2015 offseason.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

I'm going to be simplistic here and go overly conservative on our rookie contract pool, and say that after getting those guys under contract it will leave us with around 6,000,000 in room. Note that we don't need to include our rookie cap hit until after June 1st, so it isn't a factor in early-operations.

Just so you know, this is not at all correct. AdamJT13 can chime in, but I think in the past that number has been significantly lower, even when we pick much higher. Should be around 2 million

 

[Bowdown27]

I saw on Twitter that by cutting Carr and Melton we save over 20 million ?

 

[ElGatoGrande]

This guy drops a lot of numbers and what-ifs,,, not a bad read:

http://dal.scout.com/story/1461480-cowboys-2015-salary-cap-overview-part-1-of-2

 

[Nation]

Just so you know, this is not at all correct. AdamJT13 can chime in, but I think in the past that number has been significantly lower, even when we pick much higher. Should be around 2 million

The rookie pool is a cap within a cap more or less, but it is correct that it doesn't have a dollar for dollar correlation to the team's overall cap because of the Rule of 51 and the way the rookie contracts are structured. But the 2M number is based on those players "replacing" players in the Rule of 51 prior to the regular season salary cap, and I used the higher number as we don't yet have a realistic 53 man roster in place and wanted to be conservative.

 

[Nation]

I saw on Twitter that by cutting Carr and Melton we save over 20 million ?

Cut Carr at start of league year: 566,000 in savings
Cut Carr at June 1st designation: 8,000,000 in savings

Cut Melton at start of league year: 8,499,500 in savings
Cut Melton at June 1st designation: 9,000,000 in savings.

So the max appears to be 17M. But if they do it my guess is it is Carr cut at June 1 and Melton cut at the start of the year because they need to not guarantee Melton's remaining money. Gut feel would be that Carr is back on a Doug Free style paycut, especially if Dallas uses their opportunity to play hardball and not release Carr until the free agency spending has dried up.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

The rookie pool is a cap within a cap more or less, but it is correct that it doesn't have a dollar for dollar correlation to the team's overall cap because of the Rule of 51 and the way the rookie contracts are structured. But the 2M number is based on those players "replacing" players in the Rule of 51 prior to the regular season salary cap, and I used the higher number as we don't yet have a realistic 53 man roster in place and wanted to be conservative.

just letting you know, it's overly conservative.

 

[burmafrd]

EDGE RUSH

Spend money there- with our draft placement there is no way we can get a top guy.

 

[AbeBeta]

I saw on Twitter that by cutting Carr and Melton we save over 20 million ?

I think it more likely that we ask Carr to take a salary cut. He's a good CB, but he isn't worth 8 mill next year.

 

[bayeslife]

EDGE RUSH

Spend money there- with our draft placement there is no way we can get a top guy.

Patriots got Chandler Jones inthe late first.

 

[Wood]

the key to this off-season is addition of anyone and everyone who can get to QB even if that means guys like McClain, Carter, Free, Carr & Murray are playing else where next year. That can come in form of DT and/or DE who can rush QB.

Also: when I check out Dallas expiring contract for 2016 - I only see Crawford as must sign so things will be much smoother next year plus no more dead money hits for Austin.

 

[maxdallasfan]

So we keep Dunbar another year so he can have 10 carries and 5 receptions.

Makes sense.

 

[Wood]

I think it more likely that we ask Carr to take a salary cut. He's a good CB, but he isn't worth 8 mill next year.

its actually about $13 million for Carr next year as-is.

 

[burmafrd]

Patriots got Chandler Jones inthe late first.

got lucky- not likely to happen again

 

[Bluefin]

its actually about $13 million for Carr next year as-is.

That's his cap number.

Brandon Carr is scheduled to make $8M in base salary next season.

If he stays, I hope it's lowered to $3M, which will create $5M in cap space.

Carr sounded like he wants to stay and he knows what will have to happen.

We shall see.

 

[Gameover]

How about a long term deal for Beaseley?

 

[Bluefin]

How about a long term deal for Beaseley?

Definite possibility.

He's in the long term plans and the team has a history of reaching extensions with RFAs instead of using the one year tender.

 

[dallasdave]

Cutting Henry Melton so that we are not left to pay him a 9M base salary in 2015= #1 Priority

 

[xwalker]

According to Over The Cap we currently have $130,212,355 in current liabilities against a $143,260,739 salary cap with rolled over money for 2014. That leaves us with $13,048,384 in room to work with for our initial 2015 operating budget.

I'm going to be simplistic here and go overly conservative on our rookie contract pool, and say that after getting those guys under contract it will leave us with around 6,000,000 in room. Note that we don't need to include our rookie cap hit until after June 1st, so it isn't a factor in early-operations.

The first step for the year will be getting in shape to apply the franchise tag to Dez. We can do that right away because as noted the rookies don't need to be figured in right away, but it makes sense to operate in a way that captures the big picture. Jason La Canfora estimates the 2015 franchise tag for receivers will be 12.71M. Signing our rookie pool and franchise Dez would leave us in the dink with a -5,710,000 cap number.

The most obvious move on the roster other than franchising Dez is cutting Henry Melton so that we are not left to pay him a 9M base salary in 2015. This brings our cap space back to the positive with 2,790,250.

I also believe I've found an error in OverTheCap's tracking in that they show Dekoda Watson being under contract for 1.25M for Dallas in 2015. I think this contract reflects his contract that he signed with the Jaguars as opposed to the new one Dallas signed him to. Either way, eliminating it frees us up to 4,040,250 in salary cap space.

Next up are the Exclusive Rights Free Agents. Given the low cost I'm going to assume both Ronald Leary (obvious) Darrion Weems, and Cameron Lawrence both have these picked up. This brings us to 2,285,250 in room.

Then we have our restricted free agents. Cole Beasley will be tagged for certain. I know the struggles with Davante Adams are fresh in everyones minds, but I think Sterling Moore gets retained for another year. I'd bet that Lance Dunbar does as well. I'm going to again go conservative here and assume one 2nd round tender and two original round tenders. This leave us at -2,394,750 and we have not restructured a single deal on the roster. With Brandon Carr schedule for an 8M salary in 2015 he'll either be a June 1st cut or take a paycut, both of which will put the team back in the positive.

This cap space includes a 17M salary for Tony Romo and an 11M salary for Tyron Smith. Romo's salary in 2016 is half of his 2015 salary, so if we need to convert some of that to bonus it is a non-issue. But the nice thing is that we really don't have to. For a change we can address guys like Doug Free, Rolando McClain, Anthony Spencer, Justin Durant, and Jeremy Parnell without making nine different guys convert salary to bonus. We can sign Dez to a longterm contract but we can also use the franchise tag to our advantage as needed. And while I think Dallas now recognizes that making a big splash in free agency isn't what wins, but if need be they can even do that. Discipline in following "The Process" is still needed, but the cap is in good shape as we head into the 2015 offseason.

Yes, I looked at Dekoda Watson salary immediately after the trade when he was still listed as a Jag and his salary was the same as after he was listed as a Cowboy. He was not claimed on waivers, so II doubt if the Cowboys gave him the same salary.

 

[Nation]

got lucky- not likely to happen again

Unfortunately for Dallas the success rate of edge rushers picked off in free agency is as mediocre as the early returns from edge rushers drafted in the final third of the 1st round