Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on DeMarcus Ware: ‘You can’t have it all’

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has not shown defensive end DeMarcus Ware the door but he sure seems to be pointing in that direction.

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(USA TODAY Sports)
Ware is scheduled to count $16 million against the salary cap in 2014. Dallas is projected to be over the salary cap in 2014, which means Ware will have to restructure his contract or be released. It appears Jones is ready for the latter to occur.

“There’s no question when you are where we are on the cap, even though we’ve had some new cap space added, and you have a defensive player that’s your highest paid defensive player, and he hasn’t been on the field much the last two years, that has to be considered,” Jones said on ESPN’s "SportsCenter" (via The Dallas Morning News). “You can’t have it all.”
Jones proceeded to tell a story about getting off his plane and entering a Ford Bronco at the airport. After a reporter asked why Jones did not own a more expensive vehicle, he explained.

“Well, in order to have a plane, you have to drive a five-year-old Bronco. You can’t have it all,” Jones said (via The Dallas Morning News). “We’ve got those kinds of decisions to make, which is a part of what makes it so exciting in the NFL.”
Ware, 31, missed three games last season and had six sacks, the lowest output in his nine-year career. He also had surgery earlier in February to repair nerve damage in his right elbow.

Dallas has not released Ware, but it appears to be an option if the seven-time Pro Bowler does not restructure his contract.

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Anwar S Richardson is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at NFLAnwar@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Looks like Ace will get his wish this season.

He hasn't been on the field so much the last two years? That's not remotely accurate. He didn't even miss a game til this year. He's been banged up a lot, but that's a different argument. He's mostly played.

Regardless, we'd be patently retarded to get rid of Ware off of one bad season.

It's one bad season, an overall state of decline, and an outrageous price tag.

I personally think he has 3 good seasons left in him, but none with the snap count the Cowboys require of their few star players.

Dallas has had such pathetic and unreliable depth they couldn't afford to let Ware rest more than a down a game. Ridiculous! Leave it to the Cowboys to overuse one of the NFL all-time great talents when he falls in their laps.

And the term "restructure" is not right. Ware would love to restructure his deal. What Jones and the Cowboys need to do is give him a pay cut, and Ware wouldn't be able to face the locker room if he had to do that.

Too bad for him. He can go to Atlanta for maybe 2 years 10 million with an incentive-laced deal, but his best deal would be in Dallas if his pride would accept it.

Genghis Khan said:

Regardless, we'd be patently retarded to get rid of Ware off of one bad season.

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He'd have to be willing to restructure his contract. But I think Austin needs to be let go so much sooner than even looking at Ware.

Genghis Khan said:

Regardless, we'd be patently retarded to get rid of Ware off of one bad season.

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According to Jerry over the weekend, he's "barely played" over the last two years.

That might be him posturing, but I somehow doubt it.

I am pretty positive he has slipped into total senility.

With Ware it isn't a matter of evaluating his past, it is strictly a financial necessity to cut his pay or let him go. Unfortunately there are few options for him with the Dallas organization. Their cap situation is too far over the cliff to even consider any other options.

I still think he can be a solid pass rusher and put up 7-10 sacks if healthy. Obviously you don't want to be charged $16M for that kind of production.

Ware kind of hurt his value as well as he's turned himself into a one trick pony. He's largely invisible when it comes to defending the run. It's as if all he cares about is rushing wide up field trying to get to the QB and he's been average at best at doing that.

I don't want to outright release him, but I don't want to restructure him either.

All we'd be doing is pushing that penalty further down the road.

It's pay cut or hit the road.

Pay cut or buhbye seems the theme, and I agree.

ravidubey said:

It's one bad season, an overall state of decline, and an outrageous price tag.

I personally think he has 3 good seasons left in him, but none with the snap count the Cowboys require of their few star players.

Dallas has had such pathetic and unreliable depth they couldn't afford to let Ware rest more than a down a game. Ridiculous! Leave it to the Cowboys to overuse one of the NFL all-time great talents when he falls in their laps.

And the term "restructure" is not right. Ware would love to restructure his deal. What Jones and the Cowboys need to do is give him a pay cut, and Ware wouldn't be able to face the locker room if he had to do that.

Too bad for him. He can go to Atlanta for maybe 2 years 10 million with an incentive-laced deal, but his best deal would be in Dallas if his pride would accept it.

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Suggs took the kind of deal Ware should take.

But you're right, this idiotic organization puts way too much on the shoulders of stars who usually have big contracts. It's like Jerry thinks his star players are his CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. and that these are guys should be ran into the ground or something.

It's really odd and just another indication of how after 20+ years Jerry still doesn't know dick about building a team, in this case he doesn't understand the value of depth and competition throughout the roster.

boozeman said:

According to Jerry over the weekend, he's "barely played" over the last two years.

That might be him posturing, but I somehow doubt it.

I am pretty positive he has slipped into total senility.

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Seriously. It's beyond senility. Ware has missed 3 games in the past 2 seasons.

Iamtdg said:

Pay cut or buhbye seems the theme, and I agree.

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I'll believe it when I see it. Not until then.

vince said:

He'd have to be willing to restructure his contract. But I think Austin needs to be let go so much sooner than even looking at Ware.

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I agree about Austin. Not only has he been overpriced and underperforming for a couple years, he got to the point last year where just him being on the field hurt the team. He rarely got open and when he did he couldn't catch the ball. It's well past time for him to go.

As for Ware, we need to figure out the money and keep him. Letting him go would be the on-field talent equivalent of when the 49ers let Charles Haley go. When you have impact pressure players, you have to maximize their talents and you have to keep them while they are still effective.

He had a huge down year year last year. But it's only been one down year. Maybe injuries have caught up to him, but it's too soon to know. He's so good when he's on, the reward outweighs the risk.

For this year, we have to figure out the money and keep him. It's not like we have anything remotely legitimate waiting in the wings.

Is Ware still an impact pressure player though? Injuries have played a part, but his sack totals have gone down the last two years.

Carp said:

Is Ware still an impact pressure player though? Injuries have played a part, but his sack totals have gone down the last two years.

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He definitely wasn't an impact player last year. If he will take a substantial pay cut, I keep him. If not, well...

Carp said:

Is Ware still an impact pressure player though? Injuries have played a part, but his sack totals have gone down the last two years.

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I think he could have an impact and put up around 8-12 sacks if we use him in a rotation, assuming he stays healthy. We already have Selvie as a reasonable rotational DE, Crawford can probably play a little DE and assuming we draft a guy or two, we could have a decent rotation there. The only issue is we can't pay Ware what he's being paid to play a role like that.

Genghis Khan said:

As for Ware, we need to figure out the money and keep him. Letting him go would be the on-field talent equivalent of when the 49ers let Charles Haley go. When you have impact pressure players, you have to maximize their talents and you have to keep them while they are still effective.

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Two totally different situations, though.

Haley was traded because he had become a nuisance in the locker room. Neither his salary or his production was in question.

The situation we have with Ware is one of serious financial consequence. The only way to make it "work" as you put it is to restructure, but all that would do is put us in the same bind next year, or 2 or 3 years down the road, etc.

I want to keep him too, but at nowhere near the price tag he's at right now. If he can't accept a pay cut, then he has to go.

I'm not convinced Ware can be a 4-3 end at this stage of his career. He's been a LB. We haven't seen him excel at end since college.

Jones is an idiot for stating that Ware has "barely played" the last 2 years, but he'd been better off saying Ware "has not had an impact" the last 2 seasons - and that would be closer to the truth.

Too many times the last couple years Ware has been invisible when the Defense needed a big play. Some of it is age, some of it was injuries, some of it was there was no depth behind him.

Unfortunately, if you are Ware its tough to draw a line in the sand and say you aren't taking a pay cut when you have film out there showing you getting schooled by rookie tackles, and 2nd/3rd string fill ins going one-on-one with you, and winning the majority of the time.

Ware is in decline. Period.