Spending 25 Million on running backs next year?

[xwalker]

I guess the question is if we don't cut Zeke are we willing to invest 20 plus million in 2 running backs. Zeke is due 15 million next year and I'd guess Pollard is going to want at least 10 million per year. This assume of course that Pollard has no issues with his recovery. I mean IMO Pollard earned a raise, but the reality is you are paying him for what believe he will produce for the next 3 years. Guess plan A might be the franchise tag for next year.

Zeke is due 10.9M. Any cap hit above that amount is for money already paid out in previous years.

Zeke will likely be cut but might stay with a huge pay cut.

Pollard likely Franchised.

If Zeke stays with pay cut, the combination of Pollard and Zeke will be less than 15M.
- Zeke's average on his contract was 15M per season.
- The Cowboys will save money in total RB compensation for 2023 as compared to Zeke's average salary over the years since he signed the big contract.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

You can draft RBs every other year and have a good stable. After rookie deal is over let them walk and draft more.

It's silly to pay for RBs, that includes Pollard

 

[xwalker]

Zeke is going to be restructured or cut. Pollard is a huge mystery. I suspected they’d use the franchise tag on him before the injury. But now, I have no clue.

Restructured means same pay but cap hits pushed into future years.
- That is not what will happen with Zeke.

Renegotatiate means pay cut.
- Zeke will be cut or take a huge pay cut.

 

[conner01]

I’d move on from Zeke just because of the future money could be used on other players contracts
I’d sign pollard because he’s a playmaker that’s not being used at his best
He could be what CMc is to the 49ers
CMC got twice the targets in the passing game. Pollard avg more yards per catch than CMC did
We have two offensive playmakers in Lamb and Pollard
You can add a RB but you aren’t likely to add a playmaker like pollard is

 

[xwalker]

It's idiotic to franchise a RB unless he was the next Smith, Sanders, Peterson, Campbell etc...

Pollard is a good back, who has never shouldered the load here. Leave it to the Cowboys to overrate his worth.
Zeke has 10.9mil in salary next year. They need to cut it in half or more to bother sticking with him as his dead cap if cut outright is 11.8mil, so if his cap hit dropped to 11.8mil(5mil cap cut) it wouldn't be terrible to lug him around one more year.

Pollard ain't worth big bucks if they are hellbent on keeping him here, hopefully it's a multiyear deal where his cap hit is low year 1.

Wrong.

The Franchise Tag is a good option for RBs and TEs because it is much smaller than for other positions.

Franchising Pollard and cutting Zeke will give them a season to develop a replacement (draft pick).

There is a reason that players/agents hate the Franchise Tag and Teams love it.

 

[xwalker]

3 years ago.

That would have saved Zero Cap Dollars because is salary was guaranteed for 2022 and previous years.
- 2023 is the 1st year that his salary is not guaranteed.

 

[CowboyRoy]

That would have saved Zero Cap Dollars because is salary was guaranteed for 2022 and previous years.
- 2023 is the 1st year that his salary is not guaranteed.

True, we still had two years left. Personally I would trade him at the time. Someone definitely gives us a 2nd for him.

 

[32BellyOption]

I think Zeke will be gone. Even at a reduced salary, and how much of a cut would he actually take, what value does he add to the offense? Yea he can block. A lot of other guys, a lot cheaper can too. And Pollard’s injury I think makes it more likely he returns.

 

[Stash]

In a functional organization Zeke would be gone.

In a functional organization, they BOTH will be. Successful teams don’t pay running backs big money.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

In a functional organization Zeke would be gone.

In a functional org, Zeke and Dak would both be distant memories.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I guess the question is if we don't cut Zeke are we willing to invest 20 plus million in 2 running backs. Zeke is due 15 million next year and I'd guess Pollard is going to want at least 10 million per year. This assume of course that Pollard has no issues with his recovery. I mean IMO Pollard earned a raise, but the reality is you are paying him for what believe he will produce for the next 3 years. Guess plan A might be the franchise tag for next year.

bye bye Zeke or we pay him 2M to be a blocking FB for short yardage situations.

 

[doomsday808]

But, Running Backs sell a lot of Jerseys!

 

[LatinMind]

I guess the question is if we don't cut Zeke are we willing to invest 20 plus million in 2 running backs. Zeke is due 15 million next year and I'd guess Pollard is going to want at least 10 million per year. This assume of course that Pollard has no issues with his recovery. I mean IMO Pollard earned a raise, but the reality is you are paying him for what believe he will produce for the next 3 years. Guess plan A might be the franchise tag for next year.

Elliot already said he'd take a paycutvto stay in Dallas. So no his caphit won't be 15 next yr.

 

[WhizKid]

Gotta move on from Zeke. There is a lot of young RBs available in free agency this year that SHOULD come cheap. I suck with salary cap stuff so, maybe not. You don't need Saquon or a prime Zeke; you 100% don't want the latest version of zeke. Zeke is a walking obstacle to the offense, so this should be an easy to do.

Likely, Zeke takes a pay cut and Jerry throws his pocket book at Pollard and overpays. This is the Jerry way.

 

[Sydla]

Zeke is going to be restructured or cut. Pollard is a huge mystery. I suspected they’d use the franchise tag on him before the injury. But now, I have no clue.

Can't restructure Zeke.

Either he takes a massive base salary pay cut or he needs to be cut. A restructure just converts his base salary to a bonus and gets pushed into future years. The absolute last thing the Jones goobers should be doing is increasing Elliott's cap hits in future years.

 

[Sydla]

Elliot already said he'd take a paycutvto stay in Dallas. So no his caphit won't be 15 next yr.

He needs to cut his salary from 10 million to 1 million. Because even at 1 million, his cap hit would still be around 7-8 million. That's pretty ridiculous for a back up TB.

 

[Kingofholland]

I guess the question is if we don't cut Zeke are we willing to invest 20 plus million in 2 running backs. Zeke is due 15 million next year and I'd guess Pollard is going to want at least 10 million per year. This assume of course that Pollard has no issues with his recovery. I mean IMO Pollard earned a raise, but the reality is you are paying him for what believe he will produce for the next 3 years. Guess plan A might be the franchise tag for next year.

I would be shocked if Zeke is back on his current pay. Obviously Pollard is who you want to retain, but I don't know how this injury will impact his explosiveness. He too may wind up on a downward trend but I hope not.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Spending 25 Million on running backs next year?​

The Cowboys are stupid. But they aren't that stupid.

 

[Sydla]

Let's do the quick math on Zeke.

Status Quo

With no action on his contract, Zeke is $16.7 million cap hit for 2023. His base is $10.9 million with another $5.8 million in bonus/restructure cap charges.

Restructure

They would convert part of his base to bonus and spread it out over the remaining years on his contract. Let's say they convert $8 million to bonus lowering his base salary to $2 million. That would mean $8 million spread out evenly over the remaining 4 years of his deal. In that plan, his cap hit for 2023 would be $9.8 million = $2 million base + $5.8 million in bonus/restructures + $2 million for the new restructure. That's not great for a back up TB. But the other issue is adding $6 million in cap charges to future years.

Pay Cut

Even if you were to cut his base pay from $10.9 million to say $1 million, his cap hit for 2023 would be $6.8 million = $1 million base + $5.8 million bonus/restructures.

Straight Cut

Two ways to cut Elliott. Pre and post June 1. Pre June 1 saves $4.9 million with a 2023 dead cap charge of $11.9 million. June 1 cut would save $10.9 million (his base salary) and carry dead money charges of $5.8 milion in 2023 and $6.0 million in 2024. But note, while you can designate a player as a June 1 cut at any point, the team still has to carry that player's cap charge on their books until June 1. In other words, if you designate him a June 1 cut, you don't see those $10.9 million in cap savings until June 1. You stil have to be cap compliant during FA. You can't just sign over your cap number and say it's all good, I got $10.9 million coming in June.

The more you look at this, I think the cut is the best way to go. A restructure is idiotic. It just pushes cap charges into future years when he's already in decline. He'd have to take a massive paycut to get his cap number to a reasonable figure and frankly, even if they cut his base pay by nearly $10 million, a $6.8 million cap charge for a backup TB is not wise. Plus, as much as he wants to stay, is he really going to take that big a pay cut?

June 1 seems to be the best option at this point. Cowboys don't blow their cap out anyway in FA so they can afford to just sit on his June 1 savings. They always like to keep some in reserve for in season signings and rolling over to the next year.

 

[Praxit]

...give Zeke less money. He'll take it.

Get new OC. THen we talk again during the year.

Pollard now with leg injuries, wont get the going rate.

They probably sign him a short deal. We dont even know how he'll respond.