Who should get a new deal first

[Thick 'N Hearty]

I was reading a couple other threads, and began thinking about our key FA that are coming up at the end of this season: Barber, Canty, T-New, TO, Hamlin and Colombo. That's going to require a lot of money to get all of those guys re-signed.

So, I was thinking who we could live without/replace more easily. Here are my thoughts:

Colombo: Played solid last year and could continue to improve. However, there are a few players - Free, Marten and McQ - who could slide into the RT spot and be servicable. I would love to keep him, but I don't think we lose much if he goes to another team.

Hamlin: He proved his worth last year and balanced out RW's poor play at safety. He's a hard-nosed hitter and can play in coverage. But, are the Boys in a position to throw a big contract at him like Gibril Wilson got? It almost depends on who they think is expendable. That's also putting a lot of money in the secondary. The flip side is we need someone solid back there to protect RW. Hopefully he'll sign the 1-year tender and we can revisit it next year. That would, from the Boys' perspective, more financial sense.

Canty: Love this guy and his motor. He's not a great defensive lineman, but he's solid for this unit and contributes just about every game. Our DL is very solid though with Rat, Hatch and Spears (although I think we all agree Spears needs to step it up this year). I also think Marcus Dixon will make some noise in camp. This is a big 'if', but if the Cowboys were able to find a suitor for Spears before camp, I could see them making a trade for either another player (perhaps a WR) or picks in next year's draft. If this happens, then yes, sign Canty to a longterm deal. Otherwise, offer a tender and go from there.

TO: Not much to say here. He's the best WR we have and we need to lock him up. Period.

Barber: I would love to see Barber stay with the Boys, but not for what he's asking. He is very solid, but he's no Larry Johnson, Ladanian Tomlinson or Adrian Peterson (Minny, not Chicago). He hasn't earned that type of money yet. RB, IMHO, is one of the easier positions to find a player. Look at the Giants and Green Bay. I would wait and see how he performs this year before offering him a contract. If he is one of the top 5 in the NFC, then sign him to a bigger deal.

T-New: To me, this is a no brainer. It's incredibly difficult to find cover corners who can sit out on an island and survive. His injuries are little concern, but I would take that chance to have him locked up for the longterm. Pacman isn't reinstated, and we don't know when/if he will be. We need to keep this secondary strong and not let our stars walk.

 

[Romo2Dez4six]

Hamlin IMO

 

[cowboyfan4life_mark]

Barber: I would love to see Barber stay with the Boys, but not for what he's asking. He is very solid, but he's no Larry Johnson, Ladanian Tomlinson or Adrian Peterson (Minny, not Chicago). He hasn't earned that type of money yet. RB, IMHO, is one of the easier positions to find a player. Look at the Giants and Green Bay. I would wait and see how he performs this year before offering him a contract. If he is one of the top 5 in the NFC, then sign him to a bigger deal.

My thought on this one is, although he had a good year last year, how do we know that he can be a 16 starter? With the performance that he put up during the playoff game with the Giants, it has to make you wonder if he will be like the 1st half Barber or the 2nd half Barber. Now I am not saying that it was his fault that the Cowboys lost, but I do feel that it was part of it.

Jerry may take the same approach that he did with Romo. Let the season start and if he performs, pay him. If not, then next year look to draft someone to replace him while going with Jones/Choice as the work horses.

I felt this same way when JJones was starting to look like the real thing. A few great games does not make a player great. But some bad games (playoff loss) doesn't mean they are going to be bad ones. We will just have to wait and see what he can do as the primary RB for this offense.

Thoughts??

 

[Redball Express]

..what we will continue to see is exactly what we have been seeing thus far.

These players that have new deals coming are going to have to show in their last year of their deals that they are either improving and still have some upside that is worth investing in or have reached a plateau of performance that is going to continue into the foreseeable future and if not, no new deals.

Dallas will wait until the very last moment to make the decisions as they happen. They have little cap to work with and they have to be very careful with the end of 2009 coming as a possibly uncapped season as to where they want to continue to invest and where they want to cut ties.

My feeling is that we will see a lot more of these guys let go than we want to see after next year because Dallas has to be conservative with their approach and there maybe some players all of a sudden open on the market from other teams because of the end of the labor agreement and signable and pursuable we'd rather have.

If we tie ourselves up over the next year or two with adding a lot more long-term mega-contracts, all of which will require a lot of bonues up front to get them under the present cap..we'll be stuck with having to play them regardless to get something out of the money spent.

If we don't have all the money bonused out, when 2009 and 2010 gets here and there is no salary cap anymore, those teams with strong revenue bases such as Dallas, be in a much stronger position to sign some very desirable talent when it becomes available.

It's no coincidence IMO that Jones has pushed so hard for this new stadium to be completed by 2009 before this present labor agreement expires. By all indications, the owners are preparing for an uncapped year at the 2009 season and a financial re-apportioning of the profits and the costs b/w themselves and the players.

If that continues, teams like Dallas will fair much better at dealing with signing and keeping a competitive team on the field than possibly teams in smaller markets without sufficient income streams outside of the network/TV contracts with which to keep their teams together.

So when you factor who stays and who goes, it's not just about who is worthy or marginal to re-sign today, but you have to actually look further down the road at the end of 2009 and what the team sees as the next big opportunity to replace some areas of our talent with what maybe suddenly available at that time and having the ability to financially pusue it.

The dynamics it appears are suddenly about to change and you have to plan for that and how it will affect the decisions made this year and next year in your personnel..



We'll see.

:starspin RedBaLL ExPreSS:starspin

 

[speedkilz88]

2009 is a capped year, its 2010 that is unclear at the moment. And the Cowboys can make more cap room whenever they need it.