Time to move on to 2015

[RS12]

Welp like the Prewitt pick. The play of Wilcox yesterday was bad beyond words. Velcrowed to the field while guys ran buy him. Fairley supposedly has work ethic issues. Paying either Carter or McClain is worriesome IMO. Have you Perryman from Miami play? He would be the 2015 version of Hitchens.

 

[Joe Realist]

I woke up bummed that the Cowboys wont be playing until August. Im over the disgust and here are some thoughts and things on how i think they could unfold.

Starting with coaching:
1. JG will get a new contract thats a given. But for how long? I think its going to be a nice one. Jerry wants JG to be his guy.

2. I think as much as Dallas wants Marinelli to stay he is in Dallas because of 1 man, Monte Kiffin. His contract is up too. I really dont think Marinelli will be back. Its not about money with him. Its about loyalty to his friends.

3. I think Callahan is gone, but he has done a good job grooming Frank Pollack and i think he takes over.

4. Think Eberflus will be the new DC, what the guy did with the LBers this yr was incredible.

5. I dont think Linehan is going anywhere.

6. Probably the most important move will be McClay staying put.

Jerry has said there will be change to the roster(i think the cap will be closer to 145mil but ill go with overthecaps 140mil. Dallas has an adjusted cap of 143.2mil)

As of right now Dallas has 13 mil in cap space.

Melton i dont think will be brought back so add 8.5mil to the cap (21.5mil)
Free lowers the cap by almost a mil. (20.588mil)
Tyron restructure affects the future capat a minimum because of the orginal SB being so low.(28.8mil)
Carr being cut outright gives Dallas minimal cap but no future charges(29.3mil)
Dekota Watson, Brandon Weeden, Jakar Hamilton free up more(31.884mil)
Devonte Hollomon not being on the team(32.495mil)

All this caproom without having to restructure Romo or Witten. And people in this forum would have you believe this team wont be able to sign guys in 2015. And you can even add more by simply Cutting Carr as a jone cut and have 39.929mil. 7.5mil to sign draft picks. and have 31.5mil to spend on FAs and RFAs.

Dez Bryant: Give him more guaranteed money. Hes earned it. But keep that first yr base salary down. Keep his first yr salary 6-8mil

Bruce Carter: Would love to see him back, think this team needs him back too. a 4 yr deal around 16-20mil with a 4-6mil signing bonus would be about as much as i would hope they would spend. If a Bidding war flares up i would hope they would then turn to McClain. But id like for the option to be either or, and not both. First option IMO has to be Carter tho.

Doug Free: He's the piece that hold the OL together. They look up to him and thats a good thing. He's only 30 so its not like he's over the hill, he's in his prime right now. 2-3 yr deal 4-5mil per yr. Somebody might pay him more tho.

Sterlin Moore: did a solid job doing what was asked of him. He was aggressive and he covered. A 1-2 yr deal would be nice for a role player. He got picked on and he held up but had some struggles so i dont think teams will be beating the door down.

Chris Jones: Hes nothing special but he gets the job done. He can pin it inside the 20 with good regularity.

Dwayne Harris and CJ Spillman: Both need to be brought back ST is nice on this team.

Anthony Spencer: I like him back on a yearly basis. The team likes Ben Gardner too. Does Dallas see what they have in Gardner?

Tyler Clutts: he is servicable and is a very good lead blocker. Bring him back on a 1-2 yr deal.

Restricted guys will most likely all be brought back.
Ron leary
Darrion Weems
Cam lawrence
Lance Dunbar

FAs Id like
DT Nick Fairley
DT Stephen Paea

I really like JPP on this defense but he might be too expensive.
Hardy i dont think wants to leave Carolina and his trial starts in Feb. Then theres the league discipline. IDK

Now that i think about it, This team seems to want to play alot of guys throughout the game. Instead of having just 1 guy playing the whole game. Something to think about. Do they sign 1 guy or 2-3 guys to play along the DL for the price of that 1 guy?

I see alot of people mentioning Hughes and Sheard. Not on this defense only being 6'2. I dont see this team giving them Lawrence's snaps on the right side because they arent playing on the strong side.

A DE i like is of course Spencer and i like Adrian Clayborn. Has some injury problems in 2 of his 4 seasons. Could be cheap.

I think the draft just might be the place to go with this spot. 2 guys come to mind which ill talk about later.

If Dallas doesnt bring back Carter or Durant id love for this team to bring in a guy like Malcolm Smith. He is buried behind great guys in seattle. Very Athletic and plays ST too.

On the backend ive been impressed with what Devin McCourty has been doing in the playoffs. Let Church and Wilcox battle it out for the SS spot. But i think it would be hard for anybody to pry McCourty from NE.

Moving on to the draft. As of right now i have my mock like this.

RD1 Deforest Buckner DE Oregon
A guy who has the speed to play the right side, and the size and strength to play the strong side.

RD2 Cody Prewitt FS Ole Miss
Played the single high in college. Perfect match for Dallas.

RD3 Ladarius Gunter CB Miami
Tall plays man and zone, and a good tackler.

RD4 Javorius Allen RB USC
Tough runner who can also catch out the backfield. Good pass protector.

RD5 Austin Shepherd OT Bama
Did a good job taking over for Fluker. Good footwork, i see this guy as being a Free clone.

RD7 AJ Tarpley LB Stanford
Serious tackler for Stanford. Nice backup

Starters
QB Tony Romo
RB Joseph Randle
FB Tyler Clutts
WR Dez Bryant
WR Terrance Williams
TE Jason Witten
LT Tyron Smith
LG Ron Leary
C Travis Fredrick
RG Zack Martin
RT Doug Free

LDE Deferest Buckner Rookie
3TECH Tyrone Crawford
1TECH Nick Fairley FA DET
RDE Demarcus Lawrence
SAM Bruce Carter
MIKE Rolando McClain
WILL Sean Lee
LCB Morris Claiborne
RCB Orlando Scandrick
SS JJ Wilcox
FS Cody Prewitt Rookie

I think Brandon Graham would do well here.

 

[Brooksey]

I do not want to resign Rolondo McClain or Bruce Carter. I think Carter played well the last month or so but he **** bagged way too much for my liking. His effort was really lacking and he kept drawing the ire of the coaching staff. What happened to McClain? Was he legitimately hurt or does he not want to play football anymore? Either way his play trailed off significantly at the end of the year and Hitchens began to outplay him. I would rather sign Durant and roll with Sean Lee and Hitchens as both guys love football.

Right, let's dump two young early round selections that played good this year. Durant has not shown to be reliable with his injury history. Bruce Carter and Rolando are not going anywhere along with Hitchens and Lee.

 

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

according to fisher, we're not losing mcclay...this year.

Where did he say that? Not saying you're lieing it just gets me excited

 

[FLcowboy]

Latin Mind, great write up. How do you not have Hitchens at LB though. The guy has played at a pretty high level. Carter seems to be good in the nickel, so fine, leave him there, but in the 4-3, Hitchens plays both the run and the pass.

 

[Fletch]

Excellent stuff, LM.

I love Prewitt/Gunter in the 2nd/3rd!

I think Prewitt out of Ole Miss will be a first round pick. He's my favorite safety in the draft, but will go before we pick.

 

[Zordon]

Where did he say that? Not saying you're lieing it just gets me excited

last night on the radio. he thinks he's still a year away from leaving.

 

[Bluefin]

Before any moves are made, this is what the team's off-season top 51 will look like.

Players under contract

1.Tony Romo $27.773M (will be restructured)
2.Tyron Smith $13.039M (will be restructured)
3. Brandon Carr $12.717M (will take pay cut or be a June release)
4. Doug Free $11.02M (contract will void)
5. Henry Melton $9.25025M (contract will void)
6. Jason Witten $8.512M
7. Sean Lee $5.45M
8. Morris Claiborne $5.175069M
9. Orlando Scandrick $4.35125M
10. Mackenzy Bernadeau $2.824168M
11. The Kicker $2.5M
12. Barry Church $2.25M
13. Zack Martin $2.038136M
14. Travis Frederick $1.873644M
15. Jeremy Mincey $1.75M
16. DeMarcus Lawrence $1.251511M
17. Dekoda Watson $1.25M
18. Gavin Escobar $1.148317M
19. L.P. Ladouceur $1.12M
20. Terrell McClain $1.1M
21. Amobi Okoye $0.87K
22. Tyrone Crawford $0.828813K
23. Terrance Williams $0.779868K
24. Kyle Wilber $0.769805K
25. J.J. Wilcox $0.751517K
26. Josh Brent $0.745K
27. James Hanna $0.686213K
28. Brandon Weeden $0.660K
29. Jack Crawford $0.660K
30. Joseph Randle $0.632220K
31. Anthony Hitchens $0.618716K
32. Jeff Heath $0.585668K
33. Jakar Hamilton $0.585K
34. Cam Lawrence $0.585K
35. Devin Street $0.560493K
36. Kenneth Boatright $0.510K
37. Ken Bishop $0.510K
38. Donald Hawkins $0.510K
39. Dustin Vaughan $0.510K
40. Tyler Patmon $0.510K
41. Ben Gardner $0.449793K (will be replaced by a futures contract, Ryan Williams $0.510K)
42. Chris Whaley $0.436666K (will be replaced by a futures contract, Davon Coleman $0.510K)

That's 42 players with a cap hit of $130.281658M.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents

43. Ronald Leary $0.585K
44. Darrion Weems $0.585K

That's 2 players with a cap hit of $1.17M.

Restricted Free Agents (team may try to sign some of these players to extensions instead)

45. Cole Beasley 2nd rd tender $2.405M
46. Lance Dunbar 2nd rd tender $2.405M
47. Sterling Moore 2nd rd tender $2.405M
48. Chris Jones right of 1st refusal tender $1.455M (no draft pick compensation)

That's 4 players with a cap hit of $8.67M.

2015 Futures players (I'm using our practice squad players for this, most of them will likely stay on but some will not).

49. Lavar Edwards $0.585K
50. Micah Pellerin $0.585K
51. Mister Alexander $0.585K

That's 3 players with a cap hit of $1.755M.

Dead money: $7.953849M.

Dallas' initial 2015 cap commitment is $149.830507M.

I'm going to use the NFL's high end 2015 unadjusted salary cap projection of $141.8M (I expect it will be higher).

The Cowboys' 2014 cap carryover is only $3.26074M (it was over $9.7M in early Dec, multiple players must've hit incentives).

So their adjusted 2015 cap in this exercise is $145.06074M.

Romo ($12M) and Smith's ($8M) restructures will create $20M ($129.830507M).

Free ($7.04M) and Melton's ($8.4995M) contract voids save $15.5395M but two futures players (Keith Smith $510K, John Wetzel $435K) have to be added to take their spots on the top 51, so the net savings is $14.5945M ($115.236007M).

I don't know if Carr will be offered the chance to take a pay cut or if he will accept if offered, but it's that or be released with the June tag. Taking a pay cut is a tough thing for any professional athlete to do, but Carr can probably make more staying with Dallas than he can get on the open market.

I will have him as a June cut until I hear something to make me think otherwise.

So, with the above moves, the Cowboys will have $29.824733M to use on their free agents and other teams'.

If a long term extension isn't agreed to with Dez Bryant and the franchise tag ($12.69M with a $141.8M cap) is used, it would reduce our available cap space to $17.134733M.

Of our free agents, I want to keep Rolando McClain, Jermey Parnell, Justin Durant and Tyler Clutts (but I want to upgrade).

I'm open to keeping Anthony Spencer on another one year deal if a better option isn't signed in free agency.

I let DeMarco Murray, Bruce Carter, Dwayne Harris, Free, Melton and the rest walk.

I'd like to sign a DE and a CB (unless Carr stays) on defense along with any value signings that come along.

On offense, I'd like to look for a QB to compete with Brandon Weeden and an upgrade at FB.

Then I turn my attention to the draft.

 

[DandyDon1722]

Great stuff you guys.

For me Spencer should be a priority. He seemed to get a good push as the year went on and mentally and physically he is over his knee injury. Half of this year was almost a rehab for him so he should be ready from day one next year. Anything that resembles a pass rush either currently on the roster or not goes to the front of the class.

 

[Jerryrage]

Dead money: $7.953849M.

Ouch, that has to be Miles Austin and that one QB, I forgot his name already.

 

[bodi]

and has Deforest Buckner DE Oregon ever said he is coming out this year ?

 

[Common Sense]

Morris Claiborne can compete with Sterling Moore for the third CB slot.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I like the OP....but we need to stop counting on Claiborne. He was not fast to begin with...and he has had a lot of injuries to his legs in a short window. I also am wondering if the NFL is too physical for him.

 

[LatinMind]

Welp like the Prewitt pick. The play of Wilcox yesterday was bad beyond words. Velcrowed to the field while guys ran buy him. Fairley supposedly has work ethic issues. Paying either Carter or McClain is worriesome IMO. Have you Perryman from Miami play? He would be the 2015 version of Hitchens.

Love Perryman, Reminds me of london fletcher.

 

[LatinMind]

I think Brandon Graham would do well here.

Not as a 6'2 DE

 

[LatinMind]

Latin Mind, great write up. How do you not have Hitchens at LB though. The guy has played at a pretty high level. Carter seems to be good in the nickel, so fine, leave him there, but in the 4-3, Hitchens plays both the run and the pass.

Me i would start Carter/Lee/Hitchens but i think they might bring back mcclain too.