The math behind trade/cut Romo

[Matts4313]

This is to be informational, not siding with either pro/anti Romo (I love the guy). Just wanted to share.

For cap purposes the Cowboys owe $73.6M to Romo over the next 3 years. Whether we cut or trade Romo, we are going to suffer a $19.6M "penalty". That can be accounted for a number of ways. The Cowboys will gain $54M in cap space (net of said penalty) over the next 3 years. That can also be account for in different ways.

As for a TRADE - What it looks like this year is we have already accounted for all of his current cost. If we cut or trade him we will accelerate that $19.6M "penalty" to this year BUT we would be relieved the rest of his salary (~4.6M).

$19.6M penalty - $4.6M salary adjustment = $15M more charged onto this years cap.

According to Sportrac we have $6M in cap space. So trade Romo we would need to conjure up $9M more. Its doable.


Any team that trades for Romo is basically getting him 3 year for $54M with NO GUARANTEED MONEY. Which means they can cut him with no penalties if he underperforms or is injured. He is only owed $14M next year, which would be damn cheap for a team that could be in the Vikings scenario - a bunch of pieces but no QB. Or a HC on the hotseat trying to make a push. The AAV of the salary portion of his contract is like 20th in the league - below the 'Tyrod Taylors' of the league.

 

[Nightman]

This is to be informational, not siding with either pro/anti Romo (I love the guy). Just wanted to share.

For cap purposes the Cowboys owe $73.6M to Romo over the next 3 years. Whether we cut or trade Romo, we are going to suffer a $19.6M "penalty". That can be accounted for a number of ways. The Cowboys will gain $54M in cap space (net of said penalty) over the next 3 years. That can also be account for in different ways.

As for a TRADE - What it looks like this year is we have already accounted for all of his current cost. If we cut or trade him we will accelerate that $19.6M "penalty" to this year BUT we would be relieved the rest of his salary (~4.6M).

$19.6M penalty - $4.6M salary adjustment = $15M more charged onto this years cap.

According to Sportrac we have $6M in cap space. So trade Romo we would need to conjure up $9M more. Its doable.


Any team that trades for Romo is basically getting him 3 year for $54M with NO GUARANTEED MONEY. Which means they can cut him with no penalties if he underperforms or is injured. He is only owed $14M next year, which would be damn cheap for a team that could be in the Vikings scenario - a bunch of pieces but no QB. Or a HC on the hotseat trying to make a push. The AAV of the salary portion of his contract is like 20th in the league - below the 'Tyrod Taylors' of the league.

Most of what you say is correct but the major error is that dead money will not be added to this years cap.......the 19.6m would hit next year

and DAL never intended on paying Romo 20m in 2018 and 2019...those were placeholders to make the deal look bigger and to help pro-rate the signing bonuses over the full 5 years allowed

they will save a lot of cap space by trading Romo next year, but they can also get it by re-doing his contract.....we have to see how he feels and how healthy he is

 

[superonyx]

So if we traded him in the offseason how much additional cap space would this give us next year and the year after?

 

[waldoputty]

Most of what you say is correct but the major error is that dead money will not be added to this years cap.......the 19.6m would hit next year

and DAL never intended on paying Romo 20m in 2018 and 2019...those were placeholders to make the deal look bigger and to help pro-rate the signing bonuses over the full 5 years allowed

they will save a lot of cap space by trading Romo next year, but they can also get it by re-doing his contract.....we have to see how he feels and how healthy he is

Very interesting. Did not realize that.
So what you are saying is that we gain cap space if Romo is traded this year or next year?

 

[Matts4313]

So if we traded him in the offseason how much additional cap space would this give us next year and the year after?

$54M over the next 3 years. Its accounted for differently whether he is traded/cut/june cut

 

[Nightman]

Very interesting. Did not realize that.
So what you are saying is that we gain cap space if Romo is traded this year or next year?

If we traded Romo this year we would save 5m...that could be rolled over to 2017 and mitigate his dead money hit of 19.6m down to 14.6m....that would be a 10m savings over his scheduled cap hit of 24.7m

If we trade him next Spring we would save 5m and carry a cap hit of 19.6m

 

[Matts4313]

Most of what you say is correct but the major error is that dead money will not be added to this years cap.......the 19.6m would hit next year

Source? I have never read that. I have always read that the money is accelerated into the current years cap. I labeled it as a "penalty" to keep it easy, but its all various bonus which are accelerated.

 

[superonyx]

$54M over the next 3 years. Its accounted for differently whether he is traded/cut/june cut

I read that if he is cut during the offseason it only gives us about $5 million in extra cap space for next year?
Not sure what is true at this point. Almost every time someone post something it goes into too many details that don't actually answer the question everyone wants to know....
How much cap space does cutting him free up in each of the next 2 season.
How much cap coach does trading him after this season free up for the next 2 season.(each season)

I know it's hard to answer. Just wish instead of getting mumbo jumbo about prorated bonus and cap offsets we could just get the bottom line answers.

 

[Nightman]

Source? I have never read that. I have always read that the money is accelerated into the current years cap. I labeled it as a "penalty" to keep it easy, but its all various bonus which are accelerated.

It is in the CBA

Article 13 of the CBA Section 6

(2)For any player removed from the Team’s roster or whose Contract is
assigned via waivers or trade after June 1, except in the Final League Year, any unamor-
tized signing bonus amounts for future years will be included fully in Team Salary at the
start of the next League Year.
(3)
In the event that a player who has had a signing bonus allocated over the
years of his Player Contract is traded, or whose Contract is assigned to another team
pursuant to the NFL’s waiver procedure, the Team Salary of the player’s new team will
not include any portion of the signing bonus.

 

[Matts4313]

I read that if he is cut during the offseason it only gives us about $5 million in extra cap space for next year?
Not sure what is true at this point. Almost every time someone post something it goes into too many details that don't actually answer the question everyone wants to know....
How much cap space does cutting him free up in each of the next 2 season.
How much cap coach does trading him after this season free up for the next 2 season.(each season)

I know it's hard to answer. Just wish instead of getting mumbo jumbo about prorated bonus and cap offsets we could just get the bottom line answers.

There are two types of cutting a player - straight up or June 1st. The difference is how you account for their remaining bonuses, AKA dead money. Most teams that cut a highly paid player will do a June 1st cut which allows you to spread the remaing dead money over 2 years. In this case, that amount is $19.6M.

So - Romo accounts for $24.7M in 2017. If we straight cut him, we save about $5M (unlikely). If we June cut him we save about $15M ($24.7M - (19.6/2)).

 

[Nightman]

I read that if he is cut during the offseason it only gives us about $5 million in extra cap space for next year?
Not sure what is true at this point. Almost every time someone post something it goes into too many details that don't actually answer the question everyone wants to know....
How much cap space does cutting him free up in each of the next 2 season.
How much cap coach does trading him after this season free up for the next 2 season.(each season)

I know it's hard to answer. Just wish instead of getting mumbo jumbo about prorated bonus and cap offsets we could just get the bottom line answers.

Cutting him and trading him are the same....there are 2 scenarios

Before June1st- cutting or trading him saves 5.1m in 2017 and 25.2m in 2018

After June 1st- cutting or trading him saves 14m in 2017 and 16.3m in 2018

 

[Matts4313]

It is in the CBA

Article 13 of the CBA Section 6

(2)For any player removed from the Team’s roster or whose Contract is
assigned via waivers or trade after June 1, except in the Final League Year, any unamor-
tized signing bonus amounts for future years will be included fully in Team Salary at the
start of the next League Year.
(3)
In the event that a player who has had a signing bonus allocated over the
years of his Player Contract is traded, or whose Contract is assigned to another team
pursuant to the NFL’s waiver procedure, the Team Salary of the player’s new team will
not include any portion of the signing bonus.

"Acceleration. (1) For any player removed from the Team’s roster, or whose Contract is assigned to another Club via waivers or trade, on or before June 1 in any League Year prior to the Final League Year, or at any time during the Final League Year, any unamortized signing bonus amounts will be included in Team Salary for such League Year"

Edit - I read down a little further and now I am conflicted in interpreting this.

EDIT 2 - It looks like I am wrong. Whats interesting to me is that when I googled originally all the links said it is accelerated. Did that change?

 

[Nightman]

"Acceleration. (1) For any player removed from the Team’s roster, or whose Contract is assigned to another Club via waivers or trade, on or before June 1 in any League Year prior to the Final League Year, or at any time during the Final League Year, any unamortized signing bonus amounts will be included in Team Salary for such League Year"

Edit - I read down a little further and now I am conflicted in interpreting this.

EDIT 2 - It looks like I am wrong. Whats interesting to me is that when I googled originally all the links said it is accelerated. Did that change?

It is complicated, but it clearly says on or before June 1st........I see your updates.....lol

It may have changed from the prior CBA but this one has been in effect since 2011

 

[Matts4313]

Appreciate the correction BK. I learned something new today!

 

[Maxmadden]

Winning football team minus Romo, add injury to Dak, equals Mark Sanchez, which is the equivalent to minus success in the playoffs. Simple math..

I have always been good at simple math, but Algebra blew my mind.

 

[dallasdave]

If we traded Romo this year we would save 5m...that could be rolled over to 2017 and mitigate his dead money hit of 19.6m down to 14.6m....that would be a 10m savings over his scheduled cap hit of 24.7m

If we trade him next Spring we would save 5m and carry a cap hit of 19.6m

Good info

 

[DFWJC]

Thanks

Yes, for the next three years Dallas owes Romo 54 mil, or 17 mil per year, if they keep him.
The cap numbers are ugly--especially next year--because they re-did his deal a couple fo times to clear cap room for others. Kicking the can down the street, so to speak....usually not a great idea for an aging player.

Dez' cap number will come into play as well. He's owed a lot and there are rumblings that 2017 could be interesting.

Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

 

[DFWJC]

There are two types of cutting a player - straight up or June 1st. The difference is how you account for their remaining bonuses, AKA dead money. Most teams that cut a highly paid player will do a June 1st cut which allows you to spread the remaing dead money over 2 years. In this case, that amount is $19.6M.

So - Romo accounts for $24.7M in 2017. If we straight cut him, we save about $5M (unlikely). If we June cut him we save about $15M ($24.7M - (19.6/2)).

In 2017 there's savings by doing the June 1 cut. But that cap hit savings in 2017 just gets pushed out a year.

 

[Nightman]

Thanks

Yes, for the next three years Dallas owes Romo 54 mil, or 17 mil per year, if they keep him.
The cap numbers are ugly--especially next year--because they re-did his deal a couple fo times to clear cap room for others. Kicking the can down the street, so to speak....usually not a great idea for an aging player.

Dez' cap number will come into play as well. He's owed a lot and there are rumblings that 2017 could be interesting.

Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

Every top QB has huge Dead Money......it is not just DAL.......you either pay 20m a year or you spread it out......it is smarter to spread it out

 

[big dog cowboy]

Cutting him and trading him are the same....there are 2 scenarios

Before June1st- cutting or trading him saves 5.1m in 2017 and 25.2m in 2018

After June 1st- cutting or trading him saves 14m in 2017 and 16.3m in 2018

Thanks for the clarification.