Young team + Cap heaven

[Soth]

I don't always agree with the FO, but you have to admit that they have turned our roster around. From a team full of bloated contracts and underperforming veterans to a very young team with a ton of cap space.

We have $70 million in cap space in 2019, and that is without adjusting for Witten. The only bad contract we still carry is Crawford and we can easily get rid of him in 2019.

We may be incredibly positioned in April of 2019. Yes, we have to sign Martin and D-law, but we have $70 freaking million dollars in cap space. Most of our players are young which means they are getting better every year.

I think the FO is showing patience and discipline. Yes, we have been mediocre for 20+ years, but what I am saying is that they have changed their approach over the past 2 years. We didn't have Will McClay 15 years ago. Last year was "bad" and we still finished 9-7. I think we have gotten so bitter over the past two decades due to our lack of success in the playoffs that some fail to see our current situation. We are a young team that faced incredible adversity last year (Zeke suspension, Jerry lawsuit, etc) and still finished 9-7.

We used to draft "projects" in the second an third round, but now we expect rookies to contribute right away. Look at Lewis, Chidobe, and Woods. We got rid of half our secondary with the confidence that we could replace them in the draft and we did. This year we will expect LVE and Williams to start. I am sure Gallup will at least contribute.

The missing piece for the FO is to realize that Garrett is not good enough and we need a real HC. We get a real HC here in 2019 with this young team and so much cap space and anything can happen.

 

[TwentyOne]

We changed our approach when Garrett arrived.

The change of philosophy is all his work. Bringing in the right people. Getting JJ to a point where he starts to listen and hand the reins over to people who actully know wht they do is all Garretts work.

Will McClay is with DC since 2002.

 

[Flamma]

Just curious, how are you coming up with that 70M in cap space for next year? How do we go from hardly any cap space to 70M?

 

[DasSchnitzel]

What's neat is how it balloons suddenly. I've been wondering if they stayed stingy this year in FA because they knew if they were disciplined just one more year then they'd be set. This number isn't new and has been projected for awhile.

Now everyone will want them to get super aggressive next year in free agency but personally I think you don't want to stray too far from the practices that got you here. I don't want a couple bad years and contracts to ruin this.

Get more aggressive in the free market but stay smart, patient, and continue leaning on the draft for the core of the roster.

EDIT:
Let's not forget, a lot of that space is (or should be) spoken for with Zach Martin, DLaw, etc.

 

[Ranching]

I don't always agree with the FO, but you have to admit that they have turned our roster around. From a team full of bloated contracts and underperforming veterans to a very young team with a ton of cap space.

We have $70 million in cap space in 2019, and that is without adjusting for Witten. The only bad contract we still carry is Crawford and we can easily get rid of him in 2019.

We may be incredibly positioned in April of 2019. Yes, we have to sign Martin and D-law, but we have $70 freaking million dollars in cap space. Most of our players are young which means they are getting better every year.

I think the FO is showing patience and discipline. Yes, we have been mediocre for 20+ years, but what I am saying is that they have changed their approach over the past 2 years. We didn't have Will McClay 15 years ago. Last year was "bad" and we still finished 9-7. I think we have gotten so bitter over the past two decades due to our lack of success in the playoffs that some fail to see our current situation. We are a young team that faced incredible adversity last year (Zeke suspension, Jerry lawsuit, etc) and still finished 9-7.

We used to draft "projects" in the second an third round, but now we expect rookies to contribute right away. Look at Lewis, Chidobe, and Woods. We got rid of half our secondary with the confidence that we could replace them in the draft and we did. This year we will expect LVE and Williams to start. I am sure Gallup will at least contribute.

The missing piece for the FO is to realize that Garrett is not good enough and we need a real HC. We get a real HC here in 2019 with this young team and so much cap space and anything can happen.

All of our young players will need to get paid at the same time. Always best to have a mix of aged bets and young talent. Our FO could never quite manage without over spending

 

[CCBoy]

Just curious, how are you coming up with that 70M in cap space for next year? How do we go from hardly any cap space to 70M?

Keep up with the reading on site. Within the past two days have been posted OP's that set the amount more than once, now...

 

[CCBoy]

All of our young players will need to get paid at the same time. Always best to have a mix of aged bets and young talent. Our FO could never quite manage without over spending

In the immediate future, that possibility depends on what free agents are brought in next off season...

 

[CCBoy]

I don't always agree with the FO, but you have to admit that they have turned our roster around. From a team full of bloated contracts and underperforming veterans to a very young team with a ton of cap space.

We have $70 million in cap space in 2019, and that is without adjusting for Witten. The only bad contract we still carry is Crawford and we can easily get rid of him in 2019.

We may be incredibly positioned in April of 2019. Yes, we have to sign Martin and D-law, but we have $70 freaking million dollars in cap space. Most of our players are young which means they are getting better every year.

I think the FO is showing patience and discipline. Yes, we have been mediocre for 20+ years, but what I am saying is that they have changed their approach over the past 2 years. We didn't have Will McClay 15 years ago. Last year was "bad" and we still finished 9-7. I think we have gotten so bitter over the past two decades due to our lack of success in the playoffs that some fail to see our current situation. We are a young team that faced incredible adversity last year (Zeke suspension, Jerry lawsuit, etc) and still finished 9-7.

We used to draft "projects" in the second an third round, but now we expect rookies to contribute right away. Look at Lewis, Chidobe, and Woods. We got rid of half our secondary with the confidence that we could replace them in the draft and we did. This year we will expect LVE and Williams to start. I am sure Gallup will at least contribute.

The missing piece for the FO is to realize that Garrett is not good enough and we need a real HC. We get a real HC here in 2019 with this young team and so much cap space and anything can happen.

Good review, but the expression: if at first you don't succeed, cut your throat and let it bleed...just causes this fan to remain open to judgements over the course of the upcoming season, with reference to Jason Garrett. He has contributed and did have his own generated top regular season winning team twice in four seasons. Just to be fair...

 

[DHCBF66]

Just curious, how are you coming up with that 70M in cap space for next year? How do we go from hardly any cap space to 70M?

Romo's $$$ is off the books, Dez is gone as is Scandrick, thats just the start!

 

[GenoT]

It’s gonna take a LOT worse than a 9-7 record before Jerry fires Garrett.

Moreover, if 9-7 was a “bad” year but, as the OP contends, we’re getting better, that means we should finish higher than 9-7 in 2018....and then Garrett for sure won’t be fired after this season.

Finally, no matter what else, unless we can get past the NFC semifinals for the first time since the 1995 season, nothing will have proved to be different — other than the names of some of the new coaches and players.

We’ll see...

 

[cern]

I credit stephen more than any other person for improved drafts. Then mcclay for his player evaluations. Garrett, imo is no more than an average coach. Stephen has mandated change of the hc, oc, and dc. His influence is now such that he influenced Jerry to rid the team of dez. Wr by committee is his idea. Change is coming. Accountability is coming.

 

[Idgit]

Young team. Recent history of winning, plenty of cap space. If we’d just realize all that magically happened in spite of the coaching staff, we’d really be onto something.

 

[Bigdog]

Just curious, how are you coming up with that 70M in cap space for next year? How do we go from hardly any cap space to 70M?

That's easy. Our resident expert, Nightman, who is capologist expert on this board, has done extensive work on this. I don't mean to put him on the spot like this but he is good and explains it in simple terms.

 

[JBS]

You credit McClay for being savvy and putting us in a great position in relation to the cap..

Then you follow that up by implying that we should go back to our old habits and hand out blank checks

 

[Nightman]

There is no credit to be given

It has taken far too long to rebuild with not many skins on the wall

Other teams have risen and fallen and risen again in the same 10 years Garrett has been here

We wasted the Romo years being cautious when we should have been all-in

That said the immediate future looks promising but it was not because of some genius maneuvering

 

[Soth]

You credit McClay for being savvy and putting us in a great position in relation to the cap..

Then you follow that up by implying that we should go back to our old habits and hand out blank checks

I am not suggesting that. I didn't really discuss the strategy for 2019. I just said we would be well positioned with a young team + cap space. It will be interesting to see how they approach a year with such a big amount of money to spend. My guess is they will continue to be highly selective. I am not saying the open the checkbook and spend like crazy. But if there is a very good free agent out there that make sense for Dallas, the FO can pull the trigger without getting into cap trouble.

 

[Soth]

What's neat is how it balloons suddenly. I've been wondering if they stayed stingy this year in FA because they knew if they were disciplined just one more year then they'd be set. This number isn't new and has been projected for awhile.

Now everyone will want them to get super aggressive next year in free agency but personally I think you don't want to stray too far from the practices that got you here. I don't want a couple bad years and contracts to ruin this.

Get more aggressive in the free market but stay smart, patient, and continue leaning on the draft for the core of the roster.

EDIT:
Let's not forget, a lot of that space is (or should be) spoken for with Zach Martin, DLaw, etc.

Agree. The first order of business will be to sign all our own guys like D-Law, Martin, Dak, etc. Beyond that, they should continue to be selective, but I think in 2019 we might be able to be less frugal.

 

[robertfchew]

If Dak isn't good enough then we will have to get a top pick or overpay someone like Kirk cousins. 90 million gtd for 3 years.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

People complain about Garrett....and I Won't sit here and defend Garrett the coach......but he truly had a "process" when he came here and became Head Coach. He's had to implement that process with a owner like Jerry who at times wouldn't even let him do it without him meddling. But the drafts are a lot better and this organization seems to be heading in a much better place than it was before he was head coach.

 

[Hoofbite]

We changed our approach when Garrett arrived.

The change of philosophy is all his work. Bringing in the right people. Getting JJ to a point where he starts to listen and hand the reins over to people who actully know wht they do is all Garretts work.

Will McClay is with DC since 2002.

Yeah, the approach changed in 2007....