The Mythical Salary Cap Monster

[Nightman]

no, you just think you know more than you do

I know more than you, that's for certain

 

[starfrombirth]

We cut Ware and Austin because they are not the players they once where. That is what "good teams" do. They offered Ware money that probably still overpaying for his production and he chose to get a little more from somewhere else. Just business. When was the last time they cut someone because of money and they went somewhere else and had a great year. Newman, Canty, Spears, Jenkins, Flozell, Gurode, Robinson? Maybe Kevin Burnett.

I agree with you but do you think for a second that Jerry doesn't want to keep DWare? If he was in the business as usual department, he would have done just that but he is starting to realize that this is becoming a self perpetuating problem. I don't expect anyone that we let go to go on and have stellar careers but Jerry considers Ware part of his family and salary cap hell is the reason DWare is no longer with the team not because Jerry doesn't want to pay him or feels DWare isn't worth it.

 

[burmafrd]

I know more than you, that's for certain

its boring having a battle of wits with an unarmed person. See the Scarecrow in wizard of Oz- or better yet look in the mirror.

 

[CyberB0b]

At the moment, we probably have the worst DL in football and we have $20 million in dead cap attributable to mostly + 30 year old, no longer on the team, defensive linemen. Those lost cap dollars would be sufficient to re-stock the line. Poor salary cap management is not a "fear", it is a reality.

This is pretty accurate. We max out the cap every year for an 8-8 team and a couple of years of historically bad defense. This defense is even more sparse in talent than the Campo years. We are getting the least amount of value out of the salary cap, while spending the most money. We are paying wine prices for grape juice. That tells me the guy buying the groceries has no idea what he is doing.

 

[Doomsay]

We are not in a crunch. We are 26m under the cap with 3 pen strokes and that includes the 20m in dead money. As long as you can create 40-50m in cap space with restructures and cutting under-performing players, you can afford plenty of dead money.

Yeah, that just isn't true. Over-restructuring especially of older players crowds out a team's ability to balance solid BPA drafting with key FA acquisitions. Tell me a story about how we chose to not improve our obviously crippled roster with quality FA's last season.

 

[supercowboy8]

Restructuring one or two contracts every few years to make room is ok but doing it every year to 4 or 5 players is wrong and gets us into trouble. Take this year for example. We had to restructure players just to get under the cap due to having over 20 million in dead money because of prior restructuring. If we had that 20 million of non dead money to spend we wouldn't have to restructure and could still sign free agents.

We are set to have over 25 million on cap space next year. 2015 free agent class is going to be the largest and best in history. Why take more money from that to over pay a 32 year old DE and DT with a gimp knee and off field issues. If we can't get them at low deals then let the walk away.
This team is not Allen and melton away from winking the superbowl. So why restructure to bring them in. Ware IMO is better than Allen and Hatcher had a better year last year than melton has ever had and we couldn't even make the playoffs with them.

 

[Nightman]

Yeah, that just isn't true. Over-restructuring especially of older players crowds out a team's ability to balance solid BPA drafting with key FA acquisitions. Tell me a story about how we chose to not improve our obviously crippled roster with quality FA's last season.

The roster wasn't crippled last year until the season started. They had Spencer-Hatcher-Ratliff-Ware penciled in as starters. And they still had room to tag Spencer for 10m, give Lee an extension, give Romo a monster deal and sign Durant, Allen, Waters and Sims. Then they still had room to eat all the injuries and dead money when Ratliff quit and every other guy on Defense went down.

 

[supercowboy8]

This is pretty accurate. We max out the cap every year for an 8-8 team and a couple of years of historically bad defense. This defense is even more sparse in talent than the Campo years. We are getting the least amount of value out of the salary cap, while spending the most money. We are paying wine prices for grape juice. That tells me the guy buying the groceries has no idea what he is doing.

Yep thanks to restructures and then having to cut players with high caps due to the restructuring we have over 20 million in dead money. Our top 51 team salary right now is only 108 million. That's one of the lowest in the NFL but we have one of the least amount of cap space. And some people think we should still restructure old players to sign old players to massive deals. Some people don't get it.

 

[DuDa]

Yep thanks to restructures and then having to cut players with high caps due to the restructuring we have over 20 million in dead money. Our top 51 team salary right now is only 108 million. That's one of the lowest in the NFL but we have one of the least amount of cap space. And some people think we should still restructure old players to sign old players to massive deals. Some people don't get it.

Bingo!

 

[Nightman]

Restructuring one or two contracts every few years to make room is ok but doing it every year to 4 or 5 players is wrong and gets us into trouble. Take this year for example. We had to restructure players just to get under the cap due to having over 20 million in dead money eyes because of prior restructuring. If we had that 20 million of non dead money to spend we wouldn't have to restructure and could still sign free agents.

We are set to have over 25 million on cap space next year. 2015 free agent class is going to be the largest and best in history. Why take more money from that to over pay a 32 year old DE and DT with a gimp knee and off field issues. If we can't get them at low deals then let the walk away.
This team is not Allen and melton away from winking the superbowl. So why restructure to bring them in. Ware IMO is better than Allen and Hatcher had a better year last year than melton has ever had and we couldn't even make the playoffs with them.

If we restructure Carr, Witten and Free we are still 28m under the cap next year, but we are now 25m under the cap this year as well. You can roll over any excess!!!!!

 

[Nightman]

Yep thanks to restructures and then having to cut players with high caps due to the restructuring we have over 20 million in dead money. Our top 51 team salary right now is only 108 million. That's one of the lowest in the NFL but we have one of the least amount of cap space. And some people think we should still restructure old players to sign old players to massive deals. Some people don't get it.

It's called maximizing the cap. That 108m started at 130m before restructures.

 

[supercowboy8]

If we restructure Carr, Witten and Free we are still 28m under the cap next year, but we are now 25m under the cap this year as well. You can roll over any excess!!!!!

Free contract voids after this year so we can not restructure it. It was part of the pay cut he took.

Also what does it do to 2016 cap? What if Witten or Carr are terrible this year and need to be cut. Then that's a big cap hit if released. Don't say we would t cut them. We just did it to Ware.

 

[supercowboy8]

It's called maximizing the cap. That 108m started at 130m before restructures.

Right but you don't get it. Restructuring gets you massive amounts of dead money. How do you think we have over 20 million in dead money. If you keep restructure old players one day you will have to release them because they will not be worth what they are getting paid and now they are a big dead money cap hit.

The best way is to not restructure unless it's young players who has a solid future. Not older players on the way out the door.

 

[CyberB0b]

If we restructure Carr, Witten and Free we are still 28m under the cap next year, but we are now 25m under the cap this year as well. You can roll over any excess!!!!!

So what does that do to dead money for Carr's contract in future years? Just playing with overthecap.com, if we restructure him, his dead money figure is 17M for 2015 and 11M for 2016. That is an awful lot of money towards the cap for a guy who might not be on the team this time next year. That is the point. Bang for the buck, or value. We aren't getting a lot, and we ARE limited by the cap. It isn't an artificial number. We are maxing out the cap and have 1 playoff win in 15+ years. It is time to reevaluate the approach, because it is obviously not working.

 

[big dog cowboy]

If we restructure Carr, Witten and Free

The Cowboys are not touching those contracts this year unless there is an emergency. That's already been reported.

 

[Nightman]

Free contract voids after this year so we can not restructure it. It was part of the pay cut he took.

Also what does it do to 2016 cap? What if Witten or Carr are terrible this year and need to be cut. Then that's a big cap hit if released. Don't say we would t cut them. We just did it to Ware.

Free voids AFTER this year, it can still be prorated.

The 2016 cap is 70m UNDER after all these moves.

If you have to cut them, then cut them. It saves cap space that year and the hit is spread over multiple years. Not a big deal.

Dead money is just an accounting trick. Every successful business uses debt as a positive, not a minus. When the money is free, it makes even more sense.

 

[supercowboy8]

The Cowboys are not touching those contracts this year unless there is an emergency. That's already been reported.

And they shouldn't. We should look at releasing those players next year to free up more money as they will be cap savings. We will have even more money to spend in the big free agent market next year.

 

[supercowboy8]

Free voids AFTER this year, it can still be prorated.

The 2016 cap is 70m UNDER after all these moves.

If you have to cut them, then cut them. It saves cap space that year and the hit is spread over multiple years. Not a big deal.

Dead money is just an accounting trick. Every successful business uses debt as a positive, not a minus. When the money is free, it makes even more sense.

No if you release a player you get hit with all of it now. The dead money doesn't get spread out over years. Only June 1st cut spreads it out over 2 years

 

[Nightman]

So what does that do to dead money for Carr's contract in future years? Just playing with overthecap.com, if we restructure him, his dead money figure is 17M for 2015 and 11M for 2016. That is an awful lot of money towards the cap for a guy who might not be on the team this time next year. That is the point. Bang for the buck, or value. We aren't getting a lot, and we ARE limited by the cap. It isn't an artificial number. We are maxing out the cap and have 1 playoff win in 15+ years. It is time to reevaluate the approach, because it is obviously not working.

It not casual. The mistakes with personel are mistakes in any system of accounting. The players still have to perform.

As to Carr, if they restructure he saves 5m this year. If they June 1st cut next year, he saves another 6m against the cap in 2015 and the dead money of 9m hits in 2016. So they save 11m and take a hit of 9m in 2 years when the cap will be higher.

 

[Nightman]

No if you release a player you get hit with all of it now. The dead money doesn't get spread out over years. Only June 1st cut spreads it out over 2 years

Those are the guys you designate June 1st cuts, the guys with the most dead money.