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[h=1]By PATRIK WALKER Dec 11, 5:45 PM[/h]
Make it rain, Dallas Cowboys.
For the first time in a very long time, the organization will have a sizable financial cushion to work with going into the offseason, with the NFL setting the new bar for the league's salary cap. Granted, for those who actually understand how this all works, there's no such thing as the mythical "salary cap hell" you've been led to believe the Cowboys have suffered from. Wise teams always find a way to make the cap work for them, be it with pay cuts, restructures, releases or the like. Building through the NFL Draft also helps in a major way, the goal being to land exceptional talent for pennies on the dollar -- something the Cowboys have now become arguably the best in the league at doing.
That said, when it comes to the salary cap, it's still "the more, the merrier".
Heading into Week 15, the NFL announced the new cap number will range from $187 million to $191.1 million. For those claiming the league was dying, that's a 40% increase over the 2014 season, in a span that's seen the figures raise by more than $10 million per team per year, according to an official announcement. What does this mean for the Cowboys, specifically? It means they're projected available cap will have a floor of just under $47.4 million, and a ceiling of just over $51 million.
That's a lot of scratch for a team that usually carries a much, much smaller cushion, and not a moment too soon. The new figure will also include the expiration of nearly $17 million in dead money, stemming from the now-released Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, helping to free up dollars for needed contract extensions and free agency signings -- the latter now being much less of a need for next season, but still a thing.
Here are the top five in-house deals the Cowboys will look to get done in the next few months:
DeMarcus Lawrence - UFA (2019)
Byron Jones - UFA (2020)
Cole Beasley - UFA (2019)
Amari Cooper - UFA (2020)
Dak Prescott - UFA (2020)
__
Look for the Cowboys to also free up additional money, putting a prominent bullseye on the following, with the likely corresponding move:
Sean Lee - Extend or Release
Terrance Williams - Release
Allen Hurns - Release
__
Extending Lawrence is a no-brainer, and job numero uno for the Cowboys' front office. Not only is he home-grown, much like DeMarcus Ware was before him, but he's now dispelled any concerns over his continued availability and/or if he had the ability to replicate his career best 2017 season. With three games left, he still has a chance to reach or surpass his 14.5 sack mark from one year ago, despite being slowed in the middle of this season due to a torn labrum. The veteran pass rusher has 9.5 sacks on the season and many more pressures and hits on opposing quarterbacks than that, while also becoming key in stopping the run.
Currently playing under a franchise tag that pays him $17.1 million, it would be very unwise to tag him again, because that would not only drive a very real wedge between him and the team he loves -- but it'd also cost the Cowboys substantially more than it would to simply grant him his rightful extension. Based on his market value following last season, I projected his deal to land at a robust five-year, $85 million with $31 million in guarantees.
With now a second straight year of elite production, and the latest cap figures, add a 10% gratuity for making him wait.
Keeping on the defensive side of the ball, not securing Byron Jones would be a grave error, considering the team hasn't had a true shutdown corner of his caliber in an exceedingly long time. It's their own fault they didn't discover this sooner, having wasted three of his first four NFL seasons either flexing him or outright committing him to the safety position. They now have him locked in for two years as a full-time corner, and based upon how he's consistently either erased half the field or traveled to shut down the top opposing receiving threat -- consistently -- he's due his comeuppance.
It's a safe bet if Kris Richard has anything to say about it, Jones will get his dessert.
Talks of giving Cooper a new deal before his breakout over the past three weeks should surprise no one, because the team did not give up a first-round pick for a 24-year-old pro bowler with the intent of him being a rental. Currently signed through 2019, having now shown he can still dominate games when given the chance, Cooper would be much more expensive to negotiate with if he hits the free market. His deal will likely land this coming offseason as well, and should, because he has the potential to be one of the best wideouts the team has ever seen.
That, by the way, is not hyperbole.
Speaking of deserving wide receivers, it'd serve Dallas well to up their initial preseason numbers to Beasley, who stiff-armed their initial approach that was based on a downturn in 2017. The problem is, by no fault of his own, the downturn continues -- with the bi-polar offense routinely forgetting he's on the field. The veteran has already made it clear "somebody" is going to pay him, and his film is the reason why. He's open on nearly every play, remains uncoverable in the open field and although he can't command the money of a No. 1 slot receiver, paying him like the third-best could be enough to keep him around.
The caveat there is, he'll probably not hang around as long as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan is in charge of the play-calling -- a key reason for Beasley's lack of targets. At this point, Beasley would probably fancy himself in a New England Patriots' or Green Bay Packers' uniform, and no one could blame him if that's what ultimately occurred.
For the Cowboys, however, if he can be kept -- they have the funds to make it happen. Tavon Austinis injury-prone and an unrestricted free agent himself in 2019, but shouldn't be looked upon as the successor to a player he's only a year younger than, and to one who's proven himself at the NFL level in both durability and production. If the team wants to retain Austin after this season, the smart move would be to pay him a one-year deal at money commensurate with what he is: An unreliable gadget player.
So, who will throw Cooper (and potentially, Beasley) the ball beyond the 2019 season?
The Cowboys' goal is for it to be Prescott, with owner Jerry Jones essentially guaranteeing a second contract for the former fourth-round pick. There's still work to be done on and by Prescott to reach the next level, but he's admittedly better than any option that's already on the team, and they won't have a shot at landing a franchise talent in the 2019 draft -- even if they did have a first-round pick. What will the money on Prescott look like? That depends, but his numbers don't justify breaking open Fort Knox. Additionally, Jones never said when Prescott would land his new deal, leaving the option open for a potential franchise tag come 2020.
With mega-deals potentially landing for both Lawrence and Cooper, an amicable Prescott may be willing to hold off talks until after next season. If he doesn't, the money is still there, given the new cap numbers stated above.
Plus, more money can be freed up in a pinch.
Lee is set to hit next year's cap for an obese $10.075 million, a number much too massive for a player who has missed as many games as he has due to injury. A pay cut would be the most viable option, but in the interest of being thorough here, I'll go ahead and let you know releasing him pre-June 1 yields $7 million in cap savings with only a $3.075 million dead money hit. A post-June 1 release doesn't change those figures, but there's the aforementioned curveball that could work as well.
Extending Lee would not only keep the 32-year-old around a couple more years to help with the progression of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, but his new and final contract could be negotiated to a figure that's similar to what he would receive by accepting a pay cut -- although it'd add at least one more year to his overall payout.
In the end, it could very well be worth it, all things being considered.
Last but certainly not least, staying on the topic of generating a bigger cap cushion, there's the happenings of both Williams and Hurns. Both veterans have been disappointing on the whole in 2018, although the latter has tried his best to remain a viable option in rotation, while the former has easily had the worst year of his short NFL career. From a broken foot to an arrest that led to a three-game suspension to a setback on the foot that landed him on injured reserve, Williams will make over $4 million for giving the Cowboys just 18 total receiving yards this season.
With the addition of Cooper and rookie Michael Gallup coming along nicely, Williams is wholly expendable, especially considering he hits the 2019 cap for $4.75 million -- followed by a $5.25 million hit in 2020. Releasing him pre-June 1 yields $2.25 million in savings but with a dead money hit of $2.5 million, the Cowboys would still be in the hole for $250,000. Should they play chess here instead of checkers, they could designate him a post-June 1 cut, and they'll up their savings to $3.5 million minus a dead money hit of just $1.25 million -- a net gain of $2.25 million.
Checkmate.
For Hurns, a solid rotational guy, he could ultimately find himself beat out by someone like Noah Brown and not being around to play in the final year of his two-year deal. Letting him go pre-June 1 drops a $5 million savings in the Cowboys' lap, with a dead money hit of $1.25 million, for a net gain of $3.75 million. A post-June 1 cut won't change those numbers, which buys the team time to see what happens in the draft or in the third wave of NFL free agency, as patience will be key in how they handle Hurns' situation.
Playing the numbers game, if both Williams and Hurns are sent packing in ways that maximize savings against the cap, the Cowboys could net an additional $6 million in just two moves -- before factoring in a change on Lee and the fact several other players' contracts will expire in March. In essence, starting at the ceiling of a projected $51 million, Dallas could very well be hovering near $60 million in cap space before it's all said-and-done. That's great news, because the elephant in the room is one I haven't even addressed in this column, and his name is Ezekiel Elliott -- who joins Prescott in the 2019 expiration of his contract.
The difference is Elliott will more than likely see his fifth-year option exercised, locking him in until 2021, but make no mistake about it:
They better be prepared to pay his weight in gold.
Until then, Jones can thank the NFL for being able to dive into a rare mound of available cash in a few months, as he swims like Scrooge McDuck toward keeping all the right bodies in Dallas -- and showing all the wrong ones the door.
Make it rain, Dallas Cowboys.
For the first time in a very long time, the organization will have a sizable financial cushion to work with going into the offseason, with the NFL setting the new bar for the league's salary cap. Granted, for those who actually understand how this all works, there's no such thing as the mythical "salary cap hell" you've been led to believe the Cowboys have suffered from. Wise teams always find a way to make the cap work for them, be it with pay cuts, restructures, releases or the like. Building through the NFL Draft also helps in a major way, the goal being to land exceptional talent for pennies on the dollar -- something the Cowboys have now become arguably the best in the league at doing.
That said, when it comes to the salary cap, it's still "the more, the merrier".
Heading into Week 15, the NFL announced the new cap number will range from $187 million to $191.1 million. For those claiming the league was dying, that's a 40% increase over the 2014 season, in a span that's seen the figures raise by more than $10 million per team per year, according to an official announcement. What does this mean for the Cowboys, specifically? It means they're projected available cap will have a floor of just under $47.4 million, and a ceiling of just over $51 million.
That's a lot of scratch for a team that usually carries a much, much smaller cushion, and not a moment too soon. The new figure will also include the expiration of nearly $17 million in dead money, stemming from the now-released Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, helping to free up dollars for needed contract extensions and free agency signings -- the latter now being much less of a need for next season, but still a thing.
Here are the top five in-house deals the Cowboys will look to get done in the next few months:
DeMarcus Lawrence - UFA (2019)
Byron Jones - UFA (2020)
Cole Beasley - UFA (2019)
Amari Cooper - UFA (2020)
Dak Prescott - UFA (2020)
__
Look for the Cowboys to also free up additional money, putting a prominent bullseye on the following, with the likely corresponding move:
Sean Lee - Extend or Release
Terrance Williams - Release
Allen Hurns - Release
__
Extending Lawrence is a no-brainer, and job numero uno for the Cowboys' front office. Not only is he home-grown, much like DeMarcus Ware was before him, but he's now dispelled any concerns over his continued availability and/or if he had the ability to replicate his career best 2017 season. With three games left, he still has a chance to reach or surpass his 14.5 sack mark from one year ago, despite being slowed in the middle of this season due to a torn labrum. The veteran pass rusher has 9.5 sacks on the season and many more pressures and hits on opposing quarterbacks than that, while also becoming key in stopping the run.
Currently playing under a franchise tag that pays him $17.1 million, it would be very unwise to tag him again, because that would not only drive a very real wedge between him and the team he loves -- but it'd also cost the Cowboys substantially more than it would to simply grant him his rightful extension. Based on his market value following last season, I projected his deal to land at a robust five-year, $85 million with $31 million in guarantees.
With now a second straight year of elite production, and the latest cap figures, add a 10% gratuity for making him wait.
Keeping on the defensive side of the ball, not securing Byron Jones would be a grave error, considering the team hasn't had a true shutdown corner of his caliber in an exceedingly long time. It's their own fault they didn't discover this sooner, having wasted three of his first four NFL seasons either flexing him or outright committing him to the safety position. They now have him locked in for two years as a full-time corner, and based upon how he's consistently either erased half the field or traveled to shut down the top opposing receiving threat -- consistently -- he's due his comeuppance.
It's a safe bet if Kris Richard has anything to say about it, Jones will get his dessert.
Talks of giving Cooper a new deal before his breakout over the past three weeks should surprise no one, because the team did not give up a first-round pick for a 24-year-old pro bowler with the intent of him being a rental. Currently signed through 2019, having now shown he can still dominate games when given the chance, Cooper would be much more expensive to negotiate with if he hits the free market. His deal will likely land this coming offseason as well, and should, because he has the potential to be one of the best wideouts the team has ever seen.
That, by the way, is not hyperbole.
Speaking of deserving wide receivers, it'd serve Dallas well to up their initial preseason numbers to Beasley, who stiff-armed their initial approach that was based on a downturn in 2017. The problem is, by no fault of his own, the downturn continues -- with the bi-polar offense routinely forgetting he's on the field. The veteran has already made it clear "somebody" is going to pay him, and his film is the reason why. He's open on nearly every play, remains uncoverable in the open field and although he can't command the money of a No. 1 slot receiver, paying him like the third-best could be enough to keep him around.
The caveat there is, he'll probably not hang around as long as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan is in charge of the play-calling -- a key reason for Beasley's lack of targets. At this point, Beasley would probably fancy himself in a New England Patriots' or Green Bay Packers' uniform, and no one could blame him if that's what ultimately occurred.
For the Cowboys, however, if he can be kept -- they have the funds to make it happen. Tavon Austinis injury-prone and an unrestricted free agent himself in 2019, but shouldn't be looked upon as the successor to a player he's only a year younger than, and to one who's proven himself at the NFL level in both durability and production. If the team wants to retain Austin after this season, the smart move would be to pay him a one-year deal at money commensurate with what he is: An unreliable gadget player.
So, who will throw Cooper (and potentially, Beasley) the ball beyond the 2019 season?
The Cowboys' goal is for it to be Prescott, with owner Jerry Jones essentially guaranteeing a second contract for the former fourth-round pick. There's still work to be done on and by Prescott to reach the next level, but he's admittedly better than any option that's already on the team, and they won't have a shot at landing a franchise talent in the 2019 draft -- even if they did have a first-round pick. What will the money on Prescott look like? That depends, but his numbers don't justify breaking open Fort Knox. Additionally, Jones never said when Prescott would land his new deal, leaving the option open for a potential franchise tag come 2020.
With mega-deals potentially landing for both Lawrence and Cooper, an amicable Prescott may be willing to hold off talks until after next season. If he doesn't, the money is still there, given the new cap numbers stated above.
Plus, more money can be freed up in a pinch.
Lee is set to hit next year's cap for an obese $10.075 million, a number much too massive for a player who has missed as many games as he has due to injury. A pay cut would be the most viable option, but in the interest of being thorough here, I'll go ahead and let you know releasing him pre-June 1 yields $7 million in cap savings with only a $3.075 million dead money hit. A post-June 1 release doesn't change those figures, but there's the aforementioned curveball that could work as well.
Extending Lee would not only keep the 32-year-old around a couple more years to help with the progression of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, but his new and final contract could be negotiated to a figure that's similar to what he would receive by accepting a pay cut -- although it'd add at least one more year to his overall payout.
In the end, it could very well be worth it, all things being considered.
Last but certainly not least, staying on the topic of generating a bigger cap cushion, there's the happenings of both Williams and Hurns. Both veterans have been disappointing on the whole in 2018, although the latter has tried his best to remain a viable option in rotation, while the former has easily had the worst year of his short NFL career. From a broken foot to an arrest that led to a three-game suspension to a setback on the foot that landed him on injured reserve, Williams will make over $4 million for giving the Cowboys just 18 total receiving yards this season.
With the addition of Cooper and rookie Michael Gallup coming along nicely, Williams is wholly expendable, especially considering he hits the 2019 cap for $4.75 million -- followed by a $5.25 million hit in 2020. Releasing him pre-June 1 yields $2.25 million in savings but with a dead money hit of $2.5 million, the Cowboys would still be in the hole for $250,000. Should they play chess here instead of checkers, they could designate him a post-June 1 cut, and they'll up their savings to $3.5 million minus a dead money hit of just $1.25 million -- a net gain of $2.25 million.
Checkmate.
For Hurns, a solid rotational guy, he could ultimately find himself beat out by someone like Noah Brown and not being around to play in the final year of his two-year deal. Letting him go pre-June 1 drops a $5 million savings in the Cowboys' lap, with a dead money hit of $1.25 million, for a net gain of $3.75 million. A post-June 1 cut won't change those numbers, which buys the team time to see what happens in the draft or in the third wave of NFL free agency, as patience will be key in how they handle Hurns' situation.
Playing the numbers game, if both Williams and Hurns are sent packing in ways that maximize savings against the cap, the Cowboys could net an additional $6 million in just two moves -- before factoring in a change on Lee and the fact several other players' contracts will expire in March. In essence, starting at the ceiling of a projected $51 million, Dallas could very well be hovering near $60 million in cap space before it's all said-and-done. That's great news, because the elephant in the room is one I haven't even addressed in this column, and his name is Ezekiel Elliott -- who joins Prescott in the 2019 expiration of his contract.
The difference is Elliott will more than likely see his fifth-year option exercised, locking him in until 2021, but make no mistake about it:
They better be prepared to pay his weight in gold.
Until then, Jones can thank the NFL for being able to dive into a rare mound of available cash in a few months, as he swims like Scrooge McDuck toward keeping all the right bodies in Dallas -- and showing all the wrong ones the door.