The Mythical Salary Cap Monster

[Doc50]

The problem with the dline isn't the cap, it's that they haven't drafted any dlineman of significance since 2007, probably since they used a 3-4 and they felt like they were stocked at the position. They switch to the 4-3 and inexpilcably decided to ignore the position again last offseason because Kiffen and Maranelli seemed content with what they had.

Again, that's an evaluation and performance problem -- not a cap problem.

And......oh my God........Marinelli isn't infallible.

 

[Common Sense]

 

[Tezz]

Cowboys did not have a surplus entering the new year... You are using a what if we push everything into the future type scenario, it isn't likely to happen and I explained issues with it in my previous post. They want to avoid restructuring Carr, Witten and Free unless in emergency because they are trying to get out or stay ahead of the curve. Blind restructuring takes away flexibility by making it difficult to get rid of declining or incorrect valued players. As I stated long contracts rarely last the full duration and cutting causes an acceleration of dead money...

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I normally agree with you YR but not this time. When your cap situation prevents you from keeping people you wanted to keep and being competitive for players you want to acquire, it's salary cap hell. I don't think JJ was onboard with signing hatcher for a long term big money deal but I'm sure he would like to have kept him for another 2-3 yrs and he definitely would have let Ware's contract ride if he could have. Remember he had to let Ware go to get under the cap not because he didn't think he was worth it.

The Commanders paid Hatcher twice more than his value..and gave him a 4-year deal. It would be 'cap hell' if Hatcher was signed for $3 million to $4.5 million a year and there was no way possible we could afford that. That simply was not the case. And that's not 'cap hell.'

We could have kept Ware if we wanted to. But, he's not worth the money he is asking for at this time because he can't stay healthy and he's north of 30 years old. If we had to release him because we could not get under the cap, that would have been 'cap hell.' But, that wasn't the case either.

Believe me, 2000-2002 was 'cap hell' for the Cowboys. This ain't it.






YR

 

[Doc50]

Cowboys did not have a surplus entering the new year... You are using a what if we push everything into the future type scenario, it isn't likely to happen and I explained issues with it in my previous post. They want to avoid restructuring Carr, Witten and Free unless in emergency because they are trying to get out or stay ahead of the curve. Blind restructuring takes away flexibility by making it difficult to get rid of declining or incorrect valued players. As I stated long contracts rarely last the full duration and cutting causes an acceleration of dead money...

And the restructuring hasn't been blind -- it's been directed toward those players that have been productive enough to generate some confidence in their ability to continue playing at a high level. You can say that advancing age will always bring about declining performance and injuries, but at what age? That's another dilemma of evaluation requiring both expertise and blind-*** luck.

 

[SkinsFan28]

Maybe not cap hell, but possibly cap purgatory? That is a place where, although you can land anyone you want, you aren't fully able to maneuver without pushing money down the road. It also tends to mean you either A) have a few big name talents that must stay healthy and perform, or you have a ton of no name talents you are hoping to breakout. An injury or dud puts your team at risk.

I know the spiel about injuries is that they happen to every team, and they clearly do, but that's where depth comes in. Vinnie Cerrato definitely had no understanding of that, as an example when Phillip Daniels went down in a preseason game, rather than next man up, he traded a 2nd round pick for the Dolphins guy. He constantly (with Snyders blessings) would pay that one big name, and leave the roster in shambles behind the 22 starters.

The cowboys, and Commanders, will always have the cash to land players, and thus will always be able to maneuver within the cap. Heck even with 2 straight 18mil deductions, we kept our own and the first year brought in who we wanted. Without that severe a penalty, there is no reason to think the cowboys couldn't use cap manipulation techniques to get who they want when they want them. They just might not be able to put the depth in place needed to survive the full season.

 

[BlindFaith]

I think you are absolutely right about the continuity of the GM being the reason that most teams don't operate this way. It also takes a lot of cash upfront to restructure and pay large signing bonuses. You do have to adopt it as your salary cap system for it to be most effective. You just can't operate willy-nilly going back and forth.

Xwalker had a great analysis showing that as long as you maintained a certain discipline as to spending above the cap and dead money, you can operate this way forever. The bill never comes due and we have witnessed that for the most part, even with a very flat salary cap for a number of years.

All he showed is that you can "borrow" to artificially inflate the cap, and then operate as normal as long as you don't keep borrowing and borrowing. But why borrow to begin with? It should be to get an edge or to be able to add a couple components to get you into a position to win. Did we ever do that, that win part? No.

But we continue to borrow and borrow and see no results. That is bad management.

See below. Dallas lead the league in dead money. The results below were the Friday prior to the start of FA, so the numbers are not reflective of what has happened so far during FA, but you can see the shape of every team before they started spending.

You can see that the successful teams of late - Denver, Seattle, Cinci, Colts, San Fran, KC. All middle of the pack or much, much lower in regards to dead money.

Dallas? Leading the pack by over 9 million. They really are in a class, use that term loosely, of themselves.


http://i1079.***BLOCKED***/albums/w506/blindfaith69/NFLcap.jpg

 

[SWG9]

It's a fact that Dallas has replacement level players starting every year and next to no depth.

Yet there's nothing wrong with their approach to the cap, nothing wrong with player development, nothing wrong with the extensions they hand out, and nothing wrong with the coaching.

Just those gosh darn injuries.

Connect the dots.

 

[Alexander]

And......oh my God........Marinelli isn't infallible.

Says who, infidel?

 

[Wolfpack]

It's a fact that Dallas has replacement level players starting every year and next to no depth.

Yet there's nothing wrong with their approach to the cap, nothing wrong with player development, nothing wrong with the extensions they hand out, and nothing wrong with the coaching.

Just those gosh darn injuries.

Connect the dots.

Don't forget that bad luck thing too. Darn bad luck.

 

[Risen Star]

All he showed is that you can "borrow" to artificially inflate the cap, and then operate as normal as long as you don't keep borrowing and borrowing. But why borrow to begin with? It should be to get an edge or to be able to add a couple components to get you into a position to win. Did we ever do that, that win part? No.

But we continue to borrow and borrow and see no results. That is bad management.

See below. Dallas lead the league in dead money. The results below were the Friday prior to the start of FA, so the numbers are not reflective of what has happened so far during FA, but you can see the shape of every team before they started spending.

You can see that the successful teams of late - Denver, Seattle, Cinci, Colts, San Fran, KC. All middle of the pack or much, much lower in regards to dead money.

Dallas? Leading the pack by over 9 million. They really are in a class, use that term loosely, of themselves.


http://i1079.***BLOCKED***/albums/w506/blindfaith69/NFLcap.jpg

Outstanding, BF.

 

[Kaiser]

Out of incompetence. They switched to a 4-3, but didn't draft any front 7 players, except for a 6th round project linebacker.

They didn't draft any Front 7 players because they didn't expect five of their top six DL to be injured. If they had taken Floyd in the first and everyone had been healthy, Floyd wouldn't have played much. Then posters would be screaming about it louder than they did about Escobar.

Or perhaps commented on our starting center, Phil Costa.

 

[SkinsFan28]

All he showed is that you can "borrow" to artificially inflate the cap, and then operate as normal as long as you don't keep borrowing and borrowing. But why borrow to begin with? It should be to get an edge or to be able to add a couple components to get you into a position to win. Did we ever do that, that win part? No.

But we continue to borrow and borrow and see no results. That is bad management.

See below. Dallas lead the league in dead money. The results below were the Friday prior to the start of FA, so the numbers are not reflective of what has happened so far during FA, but you can see the shape of every team before they started spending.

You can see that the successful teams of late - Denver, Seattle, Cinci, Colts, San Fran, KC. All middle of the pack or much, much lower in regards to dead money.

Dallas? Leading the pack by over 9 million. They really are in a class, use that term loosely, of themselves.


http://i1079.***BLOCKED***/albums/w506/blindfaith69/NFLcap.jpg

I noticed on overthecap, and this chart reflects it, that Dallas does not give roster bonuses. Every other team uses it to some degree, but Dallas has not one player that will receive a roster bonus. Does anyone know what the philosophy there is?

It's just a curiosity question.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

How much do we gain in salary cap THIS year if we cut Kyle Orton ?

 

[Alexander]

How much do we gain in salary cap THIS year if we cut Kyle Orton ?

I think it is something like $900K. But that is to cut him, not if he retires.

 

[Stryker44]

I can't believe so many fans don't want to get better this year by adding guys like Melton and Allen. The are afraid of the salary cap, but it's not an issue and never has been. Dallas has always signed FAs, extended their own guys and never reached the so called "cap hell" we always hear about.

This is after the cap went from 128m in 2009 to 120m in 2011 and after getting hit with 10m cap penalty. That includes the Barber contract, the RWilliams contract, the Ratliff fiasco and the Newman and Free extensions. They have resigned Romo and Ware to monster deals, tagged Spencer twice for big hits, signed Carr to a huge deal and extended Lee, Scandrick, Church and Bailey.

If they restructure Witten, Carr and Free, they will have over 25m in cap space this year and will still be 28m UNDER the projected cap next year. That number includes Romo's 27m cap hit that will be cut in half, creating 13-14m more space. Orton, Free, Austin, Ware and Bern will be gone after next year. Carr, Witten and hopefully Allen will be gone a couple years later.

That leaves plenty of room for Melton and Allen and still extending Dez, TSmith and Murray. Restructuring isn't scary and should be welcomed by the fans. It's a great way to maximize the cap every year and pay over multiple years in the future when the cap is higher. It's a a zero interest loan and benefits the team and the player. It in no way makes it harder to cut someone. That money is already spent either way. Why do you think most people use Visa over AmEx? You have to pay your bill in full every month with the AmEx, but with Visa you can pay over time and this card has a 0% APR.

What good is cap space if you don't spend it? It's all Monopoly money if you know what you are doing and Stephen does. With the ability to roll-over any extra cap space, there is even less risk to creating as much space as possible. I would rather have an owner/GM that tries to spend to or above the cap every year than one would rather pocket the excess. There is no prize for extra cap space. No one is saying to build thru FA, but don't be afraid to sign a guy or two that can fill a need and make the team better.

Restructuring and prorating can work well in theory. But if a player doesn't work out, or has a career-ending injury, its much like defaulting on a loan and all that guaranteed money becomes a hit on the cap right then and there.

 

[Oh_Canada]

Again, that's an evaluation and performance problem -- not a cap problem.

And......oh my God........Marinelli isn't infallible.

That's what I was saying. The cap isn't the problem, it's not addressing a position for a very long time, you can't possibly rebuild an entire unit by free agency alone. They didn't draft or sign a single UDFA lineman last year -that's absurd.

 

[Cowboys22]

Restructuring and prorating can work well in theory. But if a player doesn't work out, or has a career-ending injury, its much like defaulting on a loan and all that guaranteed money becomes a hit on the cap right then and there.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that but what is the alternative? Not re-signing your best players in their prime? Jerry hasn't re-signed a single player that nearly everyone of us did not want Dallas to keep at the time. He did his best to keep that 13-3 team together for another 4 or 5 shots at a super bowl. It was the players that didn't keep up their end but how is anyone supposed to know which players will continue to play at the same level? The decision makers can only go off how the player performed during their rookie deal. If you want to keep them because they have done well, then you have to pay market rates. The only way to do that is to do what Dallas has done or simply let guys like Ware walk when their rookie deal is up. Those complaining about cap management are misguided. If Ware was still a 15-20 sack a year guy and Austin was still a #1 WR, they would both still be Cowboys and no one would be complaining about anything. The problem is simply that to many players in Dallas are playing for a big payday, not a ring. When they get that payday, they coast and a team cannot compete with high-priced players coasting through their career instead of striving for a ring.

 

[Oh_Canada]

All he showed is that you can "borrow" to artificially inflate the cap, and then operate as normal as long as you don't keep borrowing and borrowing. But why borrow to begin with? It should be to get an edge or to be able to add a couple components to get you into a position to win. Did we ever do that, that win part? No.

But we continue to borrow and borrow and see no results. That is bad management.

See below. Dallas lead the league in dead money. The results below were the Friday prior to the start of FA, so the numbers are not reflective of what has happened so far during FA, but you can see the shape of every team before they started spending.

You can see that the successful teams of late - Denver, Seattle, Cinci, Colts, San Fran, KC. All middle of the pack or much, much lower in regards to dead money.

Dallas? Leading the pack by over 9 million. They really are in a class, use that term loosely, of themselves.


http://i1079.***BLOCKED***/albums/w506/blindfaith69/NFLcap.jpg

Bottome three in dead money....Oakland, Cleveland and Jacksonville, guess that makes them good managers?

 

[Stryker44]

It doesn't take a genius to understand that but what is the alternative? Not re-signing your best players in their prime? Jerry hasn't re-signed a single player that nearly everyone of us did not want Dallas to keep at the time. He did his best to keep that 13-3 team together for another 4 or 5 shots at a super bowl. It was the players that didn't keep up their end but how is anyone supposed to know which players will continue to play at the same level? The decision makers can only go off how the player performed during their rookie deal. If you want to keep them because they have done well, then you have to pay market rates. The only way to do that is to do what Dallas has done or simply let guys like Ware walk when their rookie deal is up. Those complaining about cap management are misguided. If Ware was still a 15-20 sack a year guy and Austin was still a #1 WR, they would both still be Cowboys and no one would be complaining about anything. The problem is simply that to many players in Dallas are playing for a big payday, not a ring. When they get that payday, they coast and a team cannot compete with high-priced players coasting through their career instead of striving for a ring.

The thing is...Seattle won with one of the youngest teams in the NFL. What does that tell you? They are hungrier while getting paid less? Sort ironic don't you think?