Stephen Jones blames the salary cap for not pursuing Derrick Henry

[Sydla]

Reality is if the Cowboys wanted a mid-tier guy like Henry, they could have signed him if they truly wanted to.

This is all excuse making and rationalizing by him to cover up the fact they simply choose not to spend real money in FA like most other teams. They are dragging their feet on extensions because they simply do not want to create cap space that fans would then wonder why they aren't using.

Lamb is a $17.5MM hit this year. Sign an extension and they could drop that initial cap hit to like $5MM saving nearly $12.5MM. You could get a Henry for that. Further, it's not like the Cowboys don't have cap space in the future. Per Over the Cap they are 8th in cap space for next year (before rollovers, etc) at $80MM and then 2nd in 2026 with just under $210MM in cap space available. So they have the availability into the future to restructure, sign guys, etc.

They chose not to. Because their strategy is simply to ignore FA. So be honest, Stephen. You weren't active in FA because you chose not to be.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Where's the "cap is a myth" crowd?

its a myth. stephen is stupid. how did Ravens able to sign Henry, and having paid Jackson 260M. how did Philly sign so many of their players to top 5, top 10 contract. yet stephen is unable to come up with another 5M?

its a matter of I didn't want to pay another 5M, because it impacts the bottom line. and we are not winning anything anyway, so why bother, so I just signed something cheap and spin it to our fans. top of that, we changed Zeke's number so people now buy more zeke jersey's with new number.

we have become the Bengals of the early 2000s. where they spent the minimum, signed the minimum, just to collect money from NFL. one of the reasons they put in a salary spend floor. so teams don't just collect money from NFL and hurt the brand with crappy product on the field.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Absolutely. Think if you were the owner and you just saw that. Would you be getting out the checkbook? The effort you want to see is what the Lions and Packers put forth. The 49ers barely held them off. At home no less. On the flip side, our owner was embarrassed.

Here's the problem with this......Dak has all the leverage. He can play great and Dallas could want him...and he could say no thanks.

The jam we are in with Dak is the fault of the front office. Too many people are trying to complicate this because we feel there is no way a professional football operation could not be this inept. BUT THEY ARE

A professional football front office should know what they do or don't have in Dak...and either decide you want more or you don't want any more. We know he is not Mahomes...but guess what...no one else is either. Do you think you can win with him or not? If you can't....MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!

Is he worth what he is asking for? Well how do you answer that? Would he be worth it if he won the Super Bowl last year? Does that mean you pay him? If he doesn't win it the following year, does that mean you overpaid?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Reality is if the Cowboys wanted a mid-tier guy like Henry, they could have signed him if they truly wanted to.

This is all excuse making and rationalizing by him to cover up the fact they simply choose not to spend real money in FA like most other teams. They are dragging their feet on extensions because they simply do not want to create cap space that fans would then wonder why they aren't using.

Lamb is a $17.5MM hit this year. Sign an extension and they could drop that initial cap hit to like $5MM saving nearly $12.5MM. You could get a Henry for that. Further, it's not like the Cowboys don't have cap space in the future. Per Over the Cap they are 8th in cap space for next year (before rollovers, etc) at $80MM and then 2nd in 2026 with just under $210MM in cap space available. So they have the availability into the future to restructure, sign guys, etc.

They chose not to. Because their strategy is simply to ignore FA. So be honest, Stephen. You weren't active in FA because you chose not to be.

For this year sure but the AAV between the three players up for deals is around $130m or more. That is half the cap. They have to fit that into this and future years and you are already backloading.

 

[TNCowboy]

Only twice in the last decade have the Cowboys been in the top 5 in actual cash spent, and neither year was anything extraordinary.

The cap is easy to maneuver if a team wants to spend more. The Cowboys simply don't want to. Whether it's tanking, arrogance, stupidity, whatever, they could easily have added a veteran RB without being hampered. They're laughing at Cowboy fans who defend them.

 

[IrishAnto]

Stephen says they’re “hanging around the rim”.
I’m assuming he means Jerry’s rim

 

[iceberg]

now go blame the management that mismanaged the cap.

i'll be over -> waiting for that to happen.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Here's the problem with this......Dak has all the leverage. He can play great and Dallas could want him...and he could say no thanks.

The jam we are in with Dak is the fault of the front office. Too many people are trying to complicate this because we feel there is no way a professional football operation could not be this inept. BUT THEY ARE

A professional football front office should know what they do or don't have in Dak...and either decide you want more or you don't want any more. We know he is not Mahomes...but guess what...no one else is either. Do you think you can win with him or not? If you can't....MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!

Is he worth what he is asking for? Well how do you answer that? Would he be worth it if he won the Super Bowl last year? Does that mean you pay him? If he doesn't win it the following year, does that mean you overpaid?

this is a professional football team focused on profitability only. that's why sometimes they are indecisive because they don't know what the market impact of some of their decisions would be. will Dak continue to have top 5 jersey sales? or is it going to drop? how do we fill the gap of jersey sales if Dak is gone? how do we get butts in seats and sell out, and how much can we raise ticket prices. they are responding to market. they are worried about bottom line and value, than football success. thus from time to time they put themselves in this position. Jerry speaking off the cuff and then they have to spin their way out of it.

Dak's worth to cowboys is not about football, its about dollars. and not cap dollars, as there is a cap. its about jersey sales, popularity, etc.

 

[beware_d-ware]

Our cap situation is really just paying the Dak piper.

Most teams will can-kick QB contracts indefinitely. Structure the deal so your QB has small cap hits up front and big cap hit in later years, then you just sign him to a new contract once the expensive years come up and do it again. The athlete gets more guarantees upon resigning, and you basically get an interest-free loan from your future cap space.

But if we want to dump Dak, then that loan comes due. He's eating up a quarter of our cap this year, so the rest of the team is going to get shafted while we basically pay him to go away. Dak essentially got cut in the 4th quarter of the GB playoff game.

 

[Sydla]

For this year sure but the AAV between the three players up for deals is around $130m or more. That is half the cap. They have to fit that into this and future years and you are already backloading.

They have the cap space even accounting for those guys into the future. They chose not to sign Henry because they didn't want to spend the money, not because they had serious cap problems.

 

[Swagger]

Correct me if I'm wrong but all he had to do was restructure 1 or 2 players. Think about it, he's paying Zeke what, $2-3M but could find another $5-6M to pay Henry? Odd he would say this .......


https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...failure-to-pursue-derrick-henry-on-salary-cap

Stephen Jones blames failure to pursue Derrick Henry on salary cap​

• By
• Mike Florio

Published May 6, 2024 04:14 PM


Ravens running back Derrick Henry had interest in at least hearing from the Cowboys in free agency. The Cowboys, however, never called.

Appearing with Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio, Cowboys executive V.P. Stephen Jones addressed the failure to make a phone call to Henry.

“Well, first of all, nothing but respect for Derrick Henry,” Jones said. “I mean, he’s one of the top backs in this league. He’s had one of the great careers in this league. I wish him nothing but the best with the Ravens. I’m sure a great place for him. Our situation is just, you know, and no one ever wants to say it, but it’s salary cap, and we just didn’t have the money to allocate to that position in terms of where we were from a cap standpoint, knowing what we’re looking at with Dak [Prescott] and certainly Micah [Parsons] and CeeDee Lamb. We just didn’t have those type of resources to allocate to that position or we probably would’ve already had it filled with Tony Pollard. We hated to lose Tony Pollard. We had to lose Zeke the year before from a cap standpoint. And, you know, we just didn’t have the dollars to allocate to the running back position. And, certainly, looking to do it in a more efficient way in terms of how it complements the rest of our offensive roster.”


No clue who PFT who is in the pic.......don't think it's Henry though

Interesting choice of words.
Interpretation is Micah and CeeDee will be resigned whilst they are looking at Prescott i.e., he's gone after the 2024 season.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

They have the cap space even accounting for those guys into the future. They chose not to sign Henry because they didn't want to spend the money, not because they had serious cap problems.

And why did they not want to spend the money?

Capboy talks about roster construction and how to allocate veteran contracts over various positions through the years. You are handwaving at the ability to prorate a few salaries.

They are changing the way they do business. It appears they are doing a reset on the roster and cap. At least it is different.

The NFL is changing. Star players are taking up more and more of a proportion of the cap. In this environment, the Cowboys have 3 All Pros coming up for deals at the leagues 3 priciest positions.

I imagine the uncertainty surrounding that is why they are not giving out significant contracts.

 

[Cowfan75Lives]

Cap Boy has spoken.

 

[Bobhaze]

Reality is if the Cowboys wanted a mid-tier guy like Henry, they could have signed him if they truly wanted to.

This is all excuse making and rationalizing by him to cover up the fact they simply choose not to spend real money in FA like most other teams. They are dragging their feet on extensions because they simply do not want to create cap space that fans would then wonder why they aren't using.

Lamb is a $17.5MM hit this year. Sign an extension and they could drop that initial cap hit to like $5MM saving nearly $12.5MM. You could get a Henry for that. Further, it's not like the Cowboys don't have cap space in the future. Per Over the Cap they are 8th in cap space for next year (before rollovers, etc) at $80MM and then 2nd in 2026 with just under $210MM in cap space available. So they have the availability into the future to restructure, sign guys, etc.

They chose not to. Because their strategy is simply to ignore FA. So be honest, Stephen. You weren't active in FA because you chose not to be.

Absolutely true. We could have created a lot more space to sign a few FAs. They either chose not to or possibly worse, these guys just don’t know HOW to manage the modern cap. It’s one of the two.

 

[jaythecowboy]

The Cowboys are in a perpetual cap hell of their own making

 

[Flamma]

Here's the problem with this......Dak has all the leverage. He can play great and Dallas could want him...and he could say no thanks.

The jam we are in with Dak is the fault of the front office. Too many people are trying to complicate this because we feel there is no way a professional football operation could not be this inept. BUT THEY ARE

A professional football front office should know what they do or don't have in Dak...and either decide you want more or you don't want any more. We know he is not Mahomes...but guess what...no one else is either. Do you think you can win with him or not? If you can't....MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!

Is he worth what he is asking for? Well how do you answer that? Would he be worth it if he won the Super Bowl last year? Does that mean you pay him? If he doesn't win it the following year, does that mean you overpaid?

Here's the thing with the quarterback position. No other position can do this They can demand top money for the position while not being a top player at the position. No one is paying a second rate CB 20 million a year. Had Gallup asked for 25M a year, he would have been let go. But a quarterback will do it because you have no one to replace him. Maybe this is one of the rare times an owner is questioning whether or not he's getting his moneys worth.

 

[gtb1943]

If the NFL wanted to make an improvement, they would exempt QBs from the salary cap. While some would get paid more, teams would be able to more quickly jettison failures.

 

[KingCorcoran]

Here's the thing with the quarterback position. No other position can do this They can demand top money for the position while not being a top player at the position. No one is paying a second rate CB 20 million a year. Had Gallup asked for 25M a year, he would have been let go. But a quarterback will do it because you have no one to replace him. Maybe this is one of the rare times an owner is questioning whether or not he's getting his moneys worth.

The better quarterback you can acquire makes whatever you’re paying the rest of your players on offense that much more valuable. Teams will pay a premium for that reason alone. The fact that a large majority of Super Bowls were won with starting quarterbacks now in the HoF, particularly if you assume Brady will get inducted, top performing quarterbacks’ pay is warranted.

 

[Bullflop]

The Cowboys FO needs to improve upon their negotiation skills before they can expect to create a healthier cap situation to work for them.

Overpaying their perceived star players is a habit that they must overcome. Sadly, they also love to laud their fav players as an ego boost.

 

[Sydla]

And why did they not want to spend the money?

Capboy talks about roster construction and how to allocate veteran contracts over various positions through the years. You are handwaving at the ability to prorate a few salaries.

They are changing the way they do business. It appears they are doing a reset on the roster and cap. At least it is different.

The NFL is changing. Star players are taking up more and more of a proportion of the cap. In this environment, the Cowboys have 3 All Pros coming up for deals at the leagues 3 priciest positions.

I imagine the uncertainty surrounding that is why they are not giving out significant contracts.

Because they tend to be cheap in FA. They've eschewed big money, long term deals to FA for years now. It's not new. But this year, they have been in damage control since Jerry emoted about how they were going to be all in this year. Since that moment, they've tried to walk back that statement and it's just more spin/deflection from the front office when Stephen comes out and says hey, we can't sign anyone because we are "cap poor" as fans get pissed that the literally did the bare minimum in FA.

They are lying. They aren't "cap poor". At least not by circumstance. They are cap poor because they choose to be and don't do what others team do in other to manage the cap to try to get better. They have the cap space in the future to not only sign the three guys coming up if they choose but also do far more in FA than they've done to date.

They choose to not be active or lay out the money necessary.