Why does Dallas not have a lot of cap space?

[AbeBeta]

We're still paying for Romo.....that has a lot to do with it.

8.9 mill.

That's nothing when you consider that we spend maybe 10 mill overall at QB.

 

[OmerV]

Bingo. The reason is b/c Jerry hasn't signed a free agent whose worked out to our benefit since Dieon Sanders. In order to make effective free agent signings , you have to have a working knowledge of every team in the league and their rosters. You have to be able to figure out who fits your system and who might be available for cheap. We have nobody doing that work. Signing your own players is just the path of least resistance not a strategy.

I would say George Teague, Rocket Ismael, Terry Glenn, La'Roi Glover, Marc Colombo, and to a lesser degree there have been others, but you are right that it hasn't been a big part of the plan for the Cowboys. Much of it though isn't bad signings as much as just not many of them - at least not high profile ones.

 

[Kevinicus]

If I can recall, Dez was of of whining at the prospect of a franchise tag like he was at the sideline of the Seahawks game when Dallas were doing a good push with Eliiots running and Dez didn't get the attention he thought he deserved. I think it was a error to cave into him with such a big contact. Did Dez's contract hurt the team a lot in cap space ?

When the Cowboys were settling for FGs and setting themselves up to lose? Aikman would have been pissed and yelling at people for how the Cowboys were doing when they got in scoring range, and he would be praised as a strong leader who refused to lose.

 

[robjay04]

And that will all go to Dak if he plays decent or better this season.

Absolutely.

If Dak plays more like his rookie year this season, he will have every right to hold out for a new deal. We can still keep his cap number manageable even with a new contract for a year or two but now is the best time to be a little aggressive in free agency.

 

[gimmesix]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

It feels that Dallas has had salary cap issues for many years and would have finally solved the issue by now. Most other teams seem to be well off.

Dallas altered its cap strategy years ago in order to be able to absorb its bigger contracts and to be able to open up space if needed. This is why the Cowboys' cap is never going to look like the team has a lot of money because the money is tied up unless the team decides to use a restructure to open some of it up.

There are some problems with this strategy, primarily that it extends the players' contract, but the business model is fairly sound: If the team needs the money, it can get it and if not, then it can leave it as is, paying off a bigger portion of a player's contract instead of extending it out.

I haven't looked at the numbers, but essentially Dallas can open up somewhere around $30 million in cap space if it needs it. The team will probably at least do some of that and any new contracts will be structured to where Dallas can do the same with them for the next couple of years.

 

[ICP]

As has probably already been mentioned, Jerry and Family are terrible at running this football team, that's the bottom line. Restructure Peter to pay Paul and you never escape having no cap room.

 

[Carter]

Right now Cowboys have 3,2 M in Capspace.

Here is what they Need to do next:

Cut Scandrick as a June 1st Cut -> saves around 3M in Cap Space for this year.
Cut James Hanna -> saves another 2M this year
Restructure Frederick to a 970k Base Salary with 5M Prorated Bonus -> saves around 7M in Capspace
Now you extend Martin to a new 7 Year / 80 Million $ (or 6Y/68 Million) (40M $ Guaranteed / 12M$ Signing Bonus) Contract (Thats what the Top 3 Guards in the League get) with a Low Base Salary of 1M$ in 2018.
2019 and further Cowboys will have a lot of Capspace to pay him and Capspace will likely rise a lot in the NFL.

Now Cowboys have 14 M $ in Capspace for 2018. (Need around 7M to sign the Draft Class).
So Cowboys have around 7 M $ to spend for FA. Not much will happen in this case.

What you can still do but likely wont happen!
Cut Dez June 1st (i know likely wont happen) saves 12 M in Cap.
Cut Witten June 1st (wont happen either) saves another 7 M in Cap
Cut Crawford June 1st saves another 6 M in Cap this year

If you do that you have 45 M in Cap for 2018.

You can also restructure Dez or make him take a Paycut and Extend Lawrence with a low Base salary for this year.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

It feels that Dallas has had salary cap issues for many years and would have finally solved the issue by now. Most other teams seem to be well off.

Agree, seems each year we are the same and everyone else is not including the Skins who always out spends us in FA, since we shop at Goodwill and everyone else is at Macy's.

 

[risco]

What is our cap number?

 

[coult44]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

It feels that Dallas has had salary cap issues for many years and would have finally solved the issue by now. Most other teams seem to be well off.

Because there is no worse FO in football!!!

 

[DFWJC]

There is a cost to bad contracts. Dead money is the result. Romo alone is a cap killer that will take a couple years to work out. Crawford is a prime example of the next contract to hurt.

The Romo dead money ends after 2018 and although any dead money sucks, 8.5 mill is not going to kill the cap.

 

[atlantacowboy]

.

We're still paying for Romo.....that has a lot to do with it.

How so? including Dak's salary, we have 9 million of the 177 million cap space dedicated to QB's........and that included Romo's dead money. Thats a very low number and near the bottom of the league. Just wait until Dak signs a deal for 25 million a year.

 

[atlantacowboy]

I would say George Teague, Rocket Ismael, Terry Glenn, La'Roi Glover, Marc Colombo, and to a lesser degree there have been others, but you are right that it hasn't been a big part of the plan for the Cowboys. Much of it though isn't bad signings as much as just not many of them - at least not high profile ones.

When you consider thats about all we've done over a 22 year period, its hardly worth mentioning. I should have been more specific. We haven't signed a FA whose gotten the team over the top since Dieon Sanders.

 

[LittleD]

Come on. Everyone wanted them to extend Crawford. I guess no one knew it would be for that much.

I didn't...I didn't see a big difference player at all. Maybe they did.

 

[BlindFaith]

At least they are doing better the last few years, like tagging Lawrence, in years past they would have signed him to a huge long term deal, like they did with T. Crawford, then if he doesn't pan out like they thought, it's more cap heck...

It's only impactful to the cap if there is guaranteed money involved.

I'd be curious to see where we rank in terms of the amount of guaranteed money as a percentage of each contract.

 

[LittleD]

Come on. Everyone wanted them to extend Crawford. I guess no one knew it would be for that much.

Actually, the FO should have known that a player who has had an Achilles tear and sustained a lower bad ankle injury last year is not going to
be a big play star. His film at Idaho was marginal at best. He's been an adequate backup player but, never a first string guy. The FO continues
to miss evaluate players and overpay them too!!!

 

[Jake]

What are some of the reasons Dallas doesn't have a lot of cap space?

 

[Idgit]

The OL + Lawrence and Dez make up about ~45% of the cap charges for this year. Throw in the rest of Romo's dead money and that's about what you get.

 

[CouchCoach]

When a team is challenged evaluating talent, they are prone to overpay for just good talent. While they have improved, and I assume McClay is the reason for that because I don't think anyone in the family is anything but mediocre at it, they have not improved enough to be in the top echelon of the NFL.

The other issue is "good enough". Do you see anyone in that organization that is driven to excel on the field? Those that are driven are examining and evaluating their roster continuously to make improvement anywhere and everywhere they can with the only loyalty shown to a contract they cannot escape. However, as we saw with the HOU and Osweiler, there is always a way out if they seek it.

Look no further than how uncomfortable those in management and coaching might be for how motivated they are for improvement. Being comfortable in the NFL is the path to complacency. And that is the problem as I see it. There is no penalty to the Cowboys for cap mismanagement so it becomes a little too casual of a thought process. And the price to pay for success is one that the Jones family is unwilling to make.......stepping aside.

 

[OmerV]

When you consider thats about all we've done over a 22 year period, its hardly worth mentioning. I should have been more specific. We haven't signed a FA whose gotten the team over the top since Dieon Sanders.

Of course whether a free agent signing helps get a team over the top is a hindsight designation, so I really this has to be limited to a discussion about the free agent efforts in general the last several years, and the reality is simply that we haven't had a great deal of success. Carr was a reasonable player, but seriously overpaid. McClain was a nice addition when available, but he was a bad seed that wasn't available nearly enough. Hardy wasn't much more than a shot in the dark on a troubled player. I don't care to see the team go crazy signing free agents and put the team back into the salary cap hell it was in for many years (another reason there weren't a lot of free agent signings for a long time), but I have to believe a nice strategic fit can be found from time to time, and that isn't happening.