Sturm On Cowboys Contract Handling

[haleyrules]

run your cap like the other 31 teams

That would be a good and logical starting point.

 

[fredp22]

That would be a good and logical starting point.

yes. Seeing us dead last because of our constant restructuring is getting old. Happened again this year and we........restructured

 

[yimyammer]

everytime we restructured Romo's contract we were pushing the guaranteed amount from the original contract lifespan out to future years. Its guaranteed money that doesnt go away with a cut, injury, retirement but does go to the new team in a trade.
heres site that shows Romos pending restructured money
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/tony-romo-2447/

as u can see theres 14+MM still owed Romo in restructured money by the Cowboys if we cut (that amount plus 5mm signing bonus is where u get the 19mm dead cap amount it shows) or goes to the new team in a trade.

I was using spotrac as well and I'm pretty sure the restructured bonuses represent amounts already paid at the time of the restructure and then deferred over the remaining life of the contract. Its hard to trace it all back to arrive at the current amounts remaining because they've done so many restructures with Tony.

Perhaps someone like @bkight13 can chime in and clarify everything and explain it better than I can. I may have it wrong but I thought the restructured bonuses were already paid and are merely being deferred in terms of when they hit the Cowboys cap.

I'm 99% sure any team that assumes Tony's contract is only obligated to pay the base salaries remaining on Tony's contract.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

And at the cost of $14M those reasons you stated are why its not worth a draft pick to QB needy teams.

Romo will get more than 14mm when he hits the open market.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

@Sturm1310 hit the nail on the head with this article...

- The Cowboys use this practice out of necessity and the Romo trade situation (or lack thereof) is a product of this malpractice. No team wants to take it on because it's simply not worth the money vs the injury risk. That's why the Broncos and Texans are willing to wait it out until we cut him.
- The same thing happened with Ware as well, we tried offering a trade but no team was willing to take on his ballooned contract due to the constant restructures.
- I do like the fact that the Cowboys have been able to convince poor performing players to take pay cuts (Free and Carr) but this isn't a sure fire thing.
- I think its comical that fans/bloggers convince themselves that we stay away from the top tier FAs because its not a good way to build a team. However that is hyperbole, because it doesn't mean you go out an build your entire team from FA. 1 top tier player and 1 mid tier player can make a world of difference but we cant even do that because we are paying out ballooned contracts that we can't even make an offer. The storylines seem to always be you overpay but that also has to do with how exactly the contract is structured. Players don't always go with the max money especially ones that are looking to play for a contender.

The most ironic thing to me though is that it's obvious that Jerry has taken a backseat to Stephen and Will but the same old "snake oil salesmen pitch" has fooled some of you into thinking that we have changed.

How does dead money have any effect on a trade. The dead money does not transfer. Ware had been hurt for the previous two years and his contract was due to balloon. The Broncos and Texans just want to wait us out and it is not certain they will the longer this goes. Romo's dead money is irrelevant.

And you cannot forget that in 2012 we got a cap penalty for $10m and had Romo as a FA. That had more to do with the situation than anything else.

Philly, Skins, Fins, and Giants are all examples of teams that signed big money FA to build a team and none of them make the playoffs. Last time we went that route was with Carr and it didn't work. For every Denver who hit on 5 FA signings, there are a dozen teams that failed. Then of course Denver has been hemorrhaging talent and is tight to the cap only a few years later now.

The Steve-o special started in 2012 with Bernadeau and Livings. We have been doing it since including this year. That is the most obvious change. Manziel is not a Cowboys and there are plenty of other examples of changes in the past 5 years.

And it is not Jerry that is selling it. It is just the writing on the wall. The notion that Jerry would relinquish credit is prima facie absurd.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Who's been replaced at one and looking to be at the other? Let's face facts here.

Who came out of camp the starter at the 3? Him moving to SDE was about Collins being better than Jack Crawford and starting the best 4 for all of your spin.

 

[yimyammer]

everytime we restructured Romo's contract we were pushing the guaranteed amount from the original contract lifespan out to future years. Its guaranteed money that doesnt go away with a cut, injury, retirement but does go to the new team in a trade.
heres site that shows Romos pending restructured money
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/tony-romo-2447/

as u can see theres 14+MM still owed Romo in restructured money by the Cowboys if we cut (that amount plus 5mm signing bonus is where u get the 19mm dead cap amount it shows) or goes to the new team in a trade.

FYI

Below is a quote from an article from 2013 that explains how the restructured bonus works to save cap space for a given team but it requires this money to be paid in full at the time of the restructure, which I believe was done with the restructured bonus amounts you believe are still due to Romo from the Cowboys:

teams have discovered a clever short-term trick: If you convert a player's base salary into a signing bonus, you can create cap room out of nothing.

So all over the league, teams are tearing up players' contracts and drawing up new ones that are heavily weighted toward signing bonuses.

For instance, today Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger restructured his deal. In his new contract, $9 million of his $11.6 million base salary in 2013 was converted into a signing bonus.

Since Roethlisberger has three years left on his contract, the bonus will only count as $3 million against the cap this year. So the team saves $6 million in salary cap space in 2013.

The remaining 6 million in the example given above is charged to the cap at 3 million per year for 2014 & 2015--BUT has already been paid in full and is merely a cap hit, not an actual cash payment due from the Steelers.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

everytime we restructured Romo's contract we were pushing the guaranteed amount from the original contract lifespan out to future years. Its guaranteed money that doesnt go away with a cut, injury, retirement but does go to the new team in a trade.
heres site that shows Romos pending restructured money
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/tony-romo-2447/

as u can see theres 14+MM still owed Romo in restructured money by the Cowboys if we cut (that amount plus 5mm signing bonus is where u get the 19mm dead cap amount it shows) or goes to the new team in a trade.

Romo is due a $14m salary in 2017. That amount has nothing to do with his restructures and was negotiated on signing the deal initially.

The $20m in dead money accelerates onto our cap for either the 2017 or 2018 league year depending on when and how he leaves the roster. It's a sunk cost and nontransferable.

 

[Afigueroa22]

Not to mention that Tony has a very poor big game reputation. He never wins when it counts...

 

[windward]

And at the cost of $14M those reasons you stated are why its not worth a draft pick to QB needy teams.

Which has nothing to do with restructures.

 

[zekecowboy]

I'm sorry but how does restructuring contracts hurt them? As long as they have money to re-sign their guys I don't see the problem.

The Cowboys don't have enough money to resign their players. Church, Wilcox, Carr, Claiborne. Dallas keeps saying there not in cap hell. Well, they are. After Romo is off the books however it turns out, hopefully Dallas has learned their lesson and will start paying the bills on time.

 

[Hoofbite]

From Sturm, "Try writing one deal that you plan to pay out as you wish. Write one deal where in Year 3 of a five-year deal, if you don't like the player's performance, you can walk away because you paid him every guaranteed penny when it was scheduled."

Do they acutally write the contracts with language regarding possible future restructures, or can any contract be restructured simply by adding an addendum to convert salary to signing bonus and getting a player signature? I just thought they could do it with any contract.

They can do it with any contract just like any team can. I dunno if a player even has to agree because I've never heard of a player refusing. The difference he is talking about is Dallas plans on it and schedules a massive base salary in year 1 or year 2 of the contract.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The Cowboys don't have enough money to resign their players. Church, Wilcox, Carr, Claiborne. Dallas keeps saying there not in cap hell. Well, they are. After Romo is off the books however it turns out, hopefully Dallas has learned their lesson and will start paying the bills on time.

They are $11m under the cap now. They are going to get at least $5m more when Romo goes. That is $16m right now. We could restructure Dez, Crawford and several other players to free more space if we wanted to and we are saving $54m off the cap over the next 3 years with Romo gone.

We could sign all 4 of those guys for more than they got/will get for that $16m.

Perhaps you will learn simple accounting.

 

[CyberB0b]

I believe they specifically structure the contracts to be restructured in the future. The cap is going up significantly every year, so it makes sense to get a player now, and pay for it later. It is an interest free loan. I think the reason they are sitting out on the shopping spree is a change in philosophy, not a tight cap situation.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The Cowboys don't have enough money to resign their players. Church, Wilcox, Carr, Claiborne. Dallas keeps saying there not in cap hell. Well, they are. After Romo is off the books however it turns out, hopefully Dallas has learned their lesson and will start paying the bills on time.

I mean the actual players they NEED to re-sign. Church, Wilcox, Carr and Claiborne.......they were replaceable players. I'm talking about letting Zach Martin walk....I'm talking letting Dez Bryant walk....not having enough money to sign your All Pro guys. If the Cowboys really wanted to they could've signed Wilcox, Church or Carr or Mo.

 

[CyberB0b]

The Cowboys don't have enough money to resign their players. Church, Wilcox, Carr, Claiborne. Dallas keeps saying there not in cap hell. Well, they are. After Romo is off the books however it turns out, hopefully Dallas has learned their lesson and will start paying the bills on time.

They let those guys go by choice.

 

[Hoofbite]

Maybe one of these days all the coulda/woulda/shoulda cap restructuring possibilities will actually be put into practice.

At least then we'd get to see what it actually looks like.

 

[Hoofbite]

They let those guys go by choice.

Of course they did. Just like they let players go by "choice" for the past 4 offseasons. The only question that remains would be why the team is choosing to lose more talent than they acquire.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Of course they did. Just like they let players go by "choice" for the past 4 offseasons. The only question that remains would be why the team is choosing to lose more talent than they acquire.

Leary is the only one of significant talent to leave and given they are about to add about $13m AAV to an OL already making $30m it makes sense to let him go. IF he plays a lot we will get a 3rd out of it.

McClain was a Steve-o special that did nothing before his contract year. You want to pay for that?

Not paying Demarco was a smart move.

Giants overpaid for Harris and he never developed into a WR worth a flip.

Only guy in recent memory I wish they had matched was Parnell.

What bad deals have they signed? Carr and Crawford?

Meanwhile they retained Dez, Tyron, TFred, TWill, Lee, Witten, Scandrick, Beasley, and Heath and they are going to be able to keep Jones, Martin, Dak and the other developed talent worth keeping. They are able to sit on Romo's contract without a problem.

 

[CyberB0b]

Of course they did. Just like they let players go by "choice" for the past 4 offseasons. The only question that remains would be why the team is choosing to lose more talent than they acquire.

Carr and Mo are still on the street. One of them took a paycut to stay here, and the other signed a one year deal last year, with limited interest thusfar. Did you really want to go 4/26M on Barry Church? T. McClain is on his 5th team since 2011. I would have paid Wilcox to stick around, because he is the only one who isn't on the tail end of their career.