(Disclaimer: this is a long and somewhat pointless rant. I'm just in the ranting mood today.)
I'm 33 and was 7 the last time the Cowboys were in an NFC Championship game. I grew up about 2 hours east of Dallas and absolutely loved Troy, Emmitt, Michael, Moose, Newton, Tueni, et (yes, even as a 7 year old my dad made sure I knew about the linemen), etc. To me, those players were The Cowboys. The closest I've come to that as an adult was rooting for Romo, Witten, and Dez, and now Dak, Zeke, and Amari. As much as I root for the star I root for the players I love who have invested in the star. I'd much rather Dak stay here, continue to grow/improve, and win a Super Bowl than I would somehow acquire a QB like, say, Russell Wilson, even though I know Russell is better than Dak right now, and win a ring. And that's simply because Dak has earned my love and loyalty as the QB for the team I love. These days it feels like many fans would be fine if we cut every player on the team and an entirely different group of players won a SB wearing the star that year, and then half of those players move on the next year. In fact, many fans advocate for that. How is that fun? Wouldn't you rather root for the players on the roster to grow, bounce back, become elite, etc., instead of constantly trying to replace them?
I hate that the cap and the way the markets are now is forcing teams to keep players for shorter windows. I also hate that it's turned almost every fan into an armchair GM and makes us over-critical of players because of how tight the cap is to where many fans seem to root for them to fail so that they can justify moving on from them. It's also, IMO, made it where many players don't have the seething hatred for opposing teams they used to because everyone is so focused on being professional and getting paid in the current system that they are willing to play for any team that will pay them. I'm not saying that's wrong but my point is that it feels like a lot of players and fans have lost sight of what it is to root for a team and to have loyalty to a franchise. And yes, I know the teams are as cutthroat with the players as the players are with the teams, so I'm in no way blaming players. But rivalries are what make sports great, and those feel rarer and rarer. I'm not saying rivalries don't exist and I'm not saying fans don't still root for players but it just feels watered down compared to what it used to be. Maybe it's the internet, maybe it's because I'm an adult, or maybe Risen Star and Ranching have finally broken my spirit, lol.
I completely understand the purpose of the cap. I'm probably just complaining because it would be better for the Cowboys if Jerry could just throw money at everything instead of having to make calculated and correct decisions to build a winning team under the current confines of the league since he'll never hire a GM.
What would you do to "fix" this? I'd allow teams to designate 10 players as salary cap exempt. Let them pay whomever whatever they want to retain them. Then subject the remaining 43 players to the cap. Or, I would let teams have the cap plus 15% of their overall merchandise sales. You want them to sign Dak? Go buy some jerseys. Again, I understand the need for the cap but I think the league should try to find a way to let teams retain more than just 3-5 players long-term.
