This is what sound business looks like?

[CyberB0b]

If Garrett doesn't survive, I'd bet dollars to donuts that you're next head coach is Rod Marinelli.

Mr. 0-16. Great.

 

[erod]

Mr. 0-16. Great.

Yep, careful what you wish for. Jerry ain't paying a big name coach again, I'm convinced.

 

[17yearsandcounting]

Pete Carrol won a division in New England, JOHN Fox went 11-5 twice and 12-4 once in Carolina. McCarthy? Is this serious? Reid? Again what are you even talking about? Rex Ryan back to back AFC champ games in his first 2 seasons.

PS Harbaugh took over a team that diddnt and couldnt play under Singletary and whipped them into shape.

Your boy Ginger isnt even comparable to the people that you listed.

 

[erod]

That isn't proven. You need takers. In a dream scenario you could restructure everyone. They could but that goes back to the process of what got us here in the first place....throw in some cash, backload..rinse, repeat. Then you are also using that $20 millions for what..signing guys like Allen at 32 and probably overpaying them. Again, Ware is the perfect example. You have a guy heading to 32, eating cap and losing ability. Will happen with Romo. You can't keep doing it. So the realistic answer was they were forced to finally act....age + $$$= liability. It didn't happen because of steely glances and a master plan.

Any player LOVES to be restructured. It's money up front. There's nothing but advantage in it for them.

 

[erod]

Pete Carrol won a division in New England, JOHN Fox went 11-5 twice and 12-4 once in Carolina. McCarthy? Is this serious? Reid? Again what are you even talking about?

PS Harbaugh took over a team that diddnt and couldnt play under Singletary and whipped them into shape.

Your boy Ginger isnt even comparable to the people that you listed.

They all got fired. None of them had to outcoach the worst defense in the NFL. And none of them had to deal with Jerry.

Harbaugh inherited a fantastic roster, and to his credit, he got them to play. He also made some horrible coaching and time management mistakes that very well may have cost his team the Super Bowl.
http://********.com/5981564/the-small-decisions-that-cost-the-49ers-the-super-bowl

 

[khiladi]

Let me get this straight:

Because Weeden was drafted in the first round, it was a good pick-up?

 

[Ratmatt]

It's been a good while since I've been this proud of my Cowboys. Jerry is earning a reprieve from me, albeit etched in sand, not stone.

Do you sense the calm? Isn't it refreshing for a change?

Reason, temperance, patience, and resolve. These are certainly not the qualities we associate with the back channels at Valley Ranch. We've grown accustomed - behind the landscaped mansion's pretentious façade - to the daily scurried undoings and machinations of Jed, Granny, Jethro, and Elly May. Our sitcom Cowboys are showing signs of refinement.

Lack of dough has had its role certainly, but so has the callouses of multiple run-ins with failed promises and propagandized expectations. There's no more shades of Maybelline to paint this pig's lips with. Time for a new farm animal.

I expect some sweaty palms watched Ware and Hatcher walk away to trumpets in foreign ports, and a few bottles of scotch weathered that ESPN scroll continuously NOT mentioning the Cowboys. Plan or not, that doesn't suit Jerry's fanciful ways, nor does it sell jerseys to the casual Cowboys sheep.

But it does make good football sense, and Jerry seems like he's tuned in, blasphemous and distasteful as it must feel to him. He, Will McClay, and Jason Garrett are executing a plan, of some sort, and that alone is encouraging just to write with a serious face.

Mincey and McClain make football sense. Brandon Weeden makes TONS of sense. Dallas just landed a first-round QB pick as a backup for pocket lint in return. THAT is a good football move right there, regardless of the regurgitations of the non-thinking dregs in the sports media.

And lest you didn't notice, Dallas is suddenly among the teams that HAVE money to spend now, while so many pools have since dried up. The early over-spending spree for flawed players with flawed histories and flawed bodies will not help those teams. Just watch. Those franchises will rue those signings, and their giddy fan bases will soon claim they were against it all along.

Patience very well may land Dallas some productive veteran players at bargain prices. Or, maybe not so much. It matters not, for the answers to what ills lies in the May draft. This is a young man's game, and a quarterback's game, so go get the former to help your latter. Opportunism in the meantime is fine, but don't stray from the youth movement too much.

And then there's Jason Garrett.

Love or hate him, he has looked Jerry straight in the eye without flinching, and done what needed to be done. The culture has changed. The roster has turned, with only four starters remaining from that dysfunctional mess he inherited.

Just watch this draft and the remainder of this free agency. And watch the cap pressure diminish, as this transformation continues. Through the fog, you can actually see a blueprint taking form.

Tough decisions are tense, and needed changes are always uncomfortable. Big pictures are often boring and hard to adhere to, and Christmas never gets here fast enough.

This is what sound business looks like. Nice to see a semblance of it, for once in a very, very long while, even if it doesn't guarantee success in the end. The other way certainly wasn't working.

The only reason they're conducting business this way is because they were forced into it by past management failures.If or when they ever get their cap problems straightened out,they will turn right around,and start making the same old mistakes again.History has already shown that they don't learn from past mistakes.

 

[CyberB0b]

Let me get this straight:

Because Weeden was drafted in the first round, it was a good pick-up?

Just like Ryan Leaf, right?

 

[17yearsandcounting]

They all got fired. None of them had to outcoach the worst defense in the NFL. And none of them had to deal with Jerry.

Harbaugh inherited a fantastic roster, and to his credit, he got them to play. He also made some horrible coaching and time management mistakes that very well may have cost his team the Super Bowl.
http://********.com/5981564/the-small-decisions-that-cost-the-49ers-the-super-bowl

You really should do some base Wikipediaing before posting nonsense. Rex Ryan HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED. Mike McCarthy HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED. Jim Harbaugh HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED.

 

[khiladi]

I think some of these posters, if not Garrett himself, are close relatives...

 

[BigStar]

If Garrett doesn't survive, I'd bet dollars to donuts that you're next head coach is Rod Marinelli.

You couldn't let me have THAT huh Erod? Honestly though, if this team tanks like we imagine, it would be a hard sell to the fanbase that one of the coaching leftovers will take over the reigns. Mid season interim...yeah. Next HC in 2015 is highly doubtful and an impossible sell.

 

[Miller]

Any player LOVES to be restructured. It's money up front. There's nothing but advantage in it for them.

You are completely missing the point. You can't just restructure everyone. You need people willing to do it...agents.. and you need it to be feasible..cap structure that is friendly to restructure. Of course a player will like some cash up front. But the team is then setting themselves up for cap hits in the next years if/when the need to cut the guy. If I decide to extend or restructure an older guy...most likely older because of larger salary..then my issue I this: Lets say I want to just go crazy and give the guy a restructure that makes his contract a little longer..5 years. To help this year I give him $14 million with $13 million being bonus/up front and $ 1 million salary. With the bonus prorated over the years, his cap hit this year would be $3.8 Million vs whatever he made before on the books. That is an actual 10.2 million cash over on one guy. If he gets cut in the 5 years then all that cash screws the team down he road. That equals...see Cowboys now. You can sit there EVERY year and say "well we could be $30 million under the cap if "player" restructured. But there is more to it than the player just getting cash up front. They can make themselves a sitting duck a year later when being 30 and cap liability is strapping a team. Good luck then getting a similar contract even if you got that cash up front.

 

[gambit187]

It's been a good while since I've been this proud of my Cowboys. Jerry is earning a reprieve from me, albeit etched in sand, not stone.

Do you sense the calm? Isn't it refreshing for a change?

Reason, temperance, patience, and resolve. These are certainly not the qualities we associate with the back channels at Valley Ranch. We've grown accustomed - behind the landscaped mansion's pretentious façade - to the daily scurried undoings and machinations of Jed, Granny, Jethro, and Elly May. Our sitcom Cowboys are showing signs of refinement.

Lack of dough has had its role certainly, but so has the callouses of multiple run-ins with failed promises and propagandized expectations. There's no more shades of Maybelline to paint this pig's lips with. Time for a new farm animal.

I expect some sweaty palms watched Ware and Hatcher walk away to trumpets in foreign ports, and a few bottles of scotch weathered that ESPN scroll continuously NOT mentioning the Cowboys. Plan or not, that doesn't suit Jerry's fanciful ways, nor does it sell jerseys to the casual Cowboys sheep.

But it does make good football sense, and Jerry seems like he's tuned in, blasphemous and distasteful as it must feel to him. He, Will McClay, and Jason Garrett are executing a plan, of some sort, and that alone is encouraging just to write with a serious face.

Mincey and McClain make football sense. Brandon Weeden makes TONS of sense. Dallas just landed a first-round QB pick as a backup for pocket lint in return. THAT is a good football move right there, regardless of the regurgitations of the non-thinking dregs in the sports media.

And lest you didn't notice, Dallas is suddenly among the teams that HAVE money to spend now, while so many pools have since dried up. The early over-spending spree for flawed players with flawed histories and flawed bodies will not help those teams. Just watch. Those franchises will rue those signings, and their giddy fan bases will soon claim they were against it all along.

Patience very well may land Dallas some productive veteran players at bargain prices. Or, maybe not so much. It matters not, for the answers to what ills lies in the May draft. This is a young man's game, and a quarterback's game, so go get the former to help your latter. Opportunism in the meantime is fine, but don't stray from the youth movement too much.

And then there's Jason Garrett.

Love or hate him, he has looked Jerry straight in the eye without flinching, and done what needed to be done. The culture has changed. The roster has turned, with only four starters remaining from that dysfunctional mess he inherited.

Just watch this draft and the remainder of this free agency. And watch the cap pressure diminish, as this transformation continues. Through the fog, you can actually see a blueprint taking form.

Tough decisions are tense, and needed changes are always uncomfortable. Big pictures are often boring and hard to adhere to, and Christmas never gets here fast enough.

This is what sound business looks like. Nice to see a semblance of it, for once in a very, very long while, even if it doesn't guaranteee success in the end. The other way certainly wasn't working.

I applaud you and could not have said it better myself. I don't exactly how long I have been a member of this great community, but every year around this time the back and forth on this board is unbearable. We and I mean the collective group is never satisfied with any spending or lack of spending this organization does.

 

[Dhragon]

I am happy with the no signs of Melton and Allen. Stay away from big contracts this offseason.
Sure, our defense will likely be horrid again in 2014. It's all about 2015 IMO.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Hey, look. It's the yearly don't worry, we got a plan thread.

Yeah, I was entertaining the notion that they were using this offseason to clear the cap, which I would be all for, but that's giving them too much credit.

They're doing what they can, reactively, given their self-inflicted cap limitations and their unfortunate collective inability to formulate and stick with a sound plan. Their foggy, unformed, 'dynamic' plan seems to be to go for low risk/low reward roster fillers, while trying to buy low on higher-end items. That has thus far resulted in some relatively promising backups at varied prices.

 

[Miller]

You really should do some base Wikipediaing before posting nonsense. Rex Ryan HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED. Mike McCarthy HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED. Jim Harbaugh HAS NOT GOTTEN FIRED.

What is laughable is that Garrett has blown, personally, many games. His owner admits this and said he was in training. He also was one of the guys in charge when the team was being built with Wade. Yet someone taking a team that was a playoff team a year before is inheriting junk and having a process. Got it!

 

[erod]

Let me get this straight:

Because Weeden was drafted in the first round, it was a good pick-up?

For a veteran minimum deal with zero risk, you bet it was. What could possibly be negative about that?

 

[visionary]

I applaud you and could not have said it better myself. I don't exactly how long I have been a member of this great community, but every year around this time the back and forth on this board is unbearable. We and I mean the collective group is never satisfied with any spending or lack of spending this organization does.

this might be because you are looking in the wrong place

the objective of football is not "spending or lack of spending", it is to win games and win championships

once that happens, fans will be happy

 

[WV Cowboy]

I think some of these posters, if not Garrett himself, are close relatives...

Or encouraged to post outlandish posts just to stir the board up and increase traffic.

Brilliant!

 

[erod]

You are completely missing the point. You can't just restructure everyone. You need people willing to do it...agents.. and you need it to be feasible..cap structure that is friendly to restructure. Of course a player will like some cash up front. But the team is then setting themselves up for cap hits in the next years if/when the need to cut the guy. If I decide to extend or restructure an older guy...most likely older because of larger salary..then my issue I this: Lets say I want to just go crazy and give the guy a restructure that makes his contract a little longer..5 years. To help this year I give him $14 million with $13 million being bonus/up front and $ 1 million salary. With the bonus prorated over the years, his cap hit this year would be $3.8 Million vs whatever he made before on the books. That is an actual 10.2 million cash over on one guy. If he gets cut in the 5 years then all that cash screws the team down he road. That equals...see Cowboys now. You can sit there EVERY year and say "well we could be $30 million under the cap if "player" restructured. But there is more to it than the player just getting cash up front. They can make themselves a sitting duck a year later when being 30 and cap liability is strapping a team. Good luck then getting a similar contract even if you got that cash up front.

I have never seen a player or agent refuse to be restructured. Ever.

They could restructure Carr, Romo, Lee, Church, Witten, virtually anyone. It doesn't change the contract other than to give them more of their money upfront and reduce the cap hit for this year.

I realize it hamstrings the team's future. That's exactly how they got here.

The point is, Jerry could have created more cap space, and he didn't. The old Jerry would have in a heartbeat. The same guy who, for no reason whatsoever, vastly overpaid Barber, Austin, Ratliff, Roy, Newman, and seemingly countless others.