If anything this year has proven that this team can definitely contend next year, especially if it improves the defense.
Assuming that the Salary Cap next year is 140 million, we would only have 1.7 million in cap space, clearly not enough to sign anyone.
That doesn't mean the team can't become aggressive in improving the team.
Here are some steps that I will highlight.
#1 Romo restructure or pay cut, saves as much as 12.8 million against the cap in 2015
#2 Smith restructure, saves about 8.2 million against the cap in 2015
#3 Carr pay cut or june 1st cut saves 8 million (june 1st cut) against the cap in 2015.
#4 Melton cut saves 8.5 million against the cap in 2015.
#5 Witten restructure saves 3 million against the cap in 2015.
#6 Dekoda Watson cut saves 1.5 million against the cap in 2015.
#7 Terrell McClain cut saves 900k against the cap in 2015
(#8 I simulated cutting Doug Free which saves 7 million, but I think slightly less savings could be had by reworking his contract). I'm not sure what measures we have for reducing a club option, but if we have to cut him to re-sign him, then I'm not sure if we will do that given the dead money involved in cutting him, and future potential dead money.
These moves would bring us 51 million dollars under the cap in 2015 (again assuming that the cap was 140 million).
51 million could definitely allow us to re-sign Dez and McClain and give us latitude to see what we want to do with Murray or Peterson. I would also allow us to reinvest in the defense.
I would suggest we could still be prudent shoppers though and get guys like Charles Tillman on low end deals. Those combined with a nice defensive draft (save for a WR and maybe a RT).
These aggressive moves would have to show a lot of faith in Romo and Crawford especially. Cutting Melton may turn out to be a mistake, but at this point I think going with Crawford and Okoye may be the more prudent measure and focusing resources elsewhere and getting the best 11 out there.
I think getting McClain and Hitchens this year puts us in a very strong position next year. Once we re-sign McClain, we're probably set at linebacker, especially if we bring Durant back, which shouldn't prove difficult.
We can bring Tillman in as a stopgap to replace Carr, and we can draft a rookie cornerback that fits the system, rather than necessarily drafting one high.
We can focus the draft on getting another pass rusher, but with the money in free agency we can get the best options available there as well. The problem here is that there aren't that many options out there in free agency scheduled for 2015, so unless someone gets cut, I'm not sure what we're going to do here. I definitely don't want Greg Hardy.
I infamously made a topic about blowing the defense up, but I think some of the moves made in this offseason can belay that a bit. Replace Carr, upgrade the defensive line, get Sean Lee back and move him to the less injury susceptible weak side, and this could be a really good defense next year, at the very least good enough to be a super bowl contender.
I think we'll also have the ability to get that speed WR for Romo, though the front office might be reluctant to give up on Williams, which the move would clearly suggest.
