Cowboys Have Cap Woes Coming in 2014

[Smitty]

This just in: You can't go on spending sprees every season. More at This Ain't Madden, son.

So you agree with me that we can't do "whatever we want to" in free agency, then.

Good, we're on the same page.

 

[superpunk]

We have such a talented core to retain, that we keep going 8-8 with it, and have no money to supplement it in free agency a good three-quarters of the offseasons.

haha there are no such things as injuries, etc.

Waste someone else's time. I'm not doing this dance again only to be proven right AGAIN when we get under the cap and make the signings we need to make. Why is this even a story now? Oh that's right because idiots will eat it up.

 

[Smitty]

haha there are no such things as injuries, etc.

Waste someone else's time. I'm not doing this dance again only to be proven right AGAIN when we get under the cap and make the signings we need to make. Why is this even a story now? Oh that's right because idiots will eat it up.

Proven right again? You mean proven right a first time?

We didn't make the signings we need to make this offseason, or any offseason for that matter, as we keep going 8-8 based on horrendously obvious problems with our roster heading INTO the season, like along the OL and DL, at safety, problems with depth at WR, etc.

These problems crop up every single offseason. Every single offseason we go into the year, after finishing out of the playoffs the year before, having not addressed those glaring problem areas because we had no money to do so in free agency.

You are confusing "making the signings we need to make" with "have enough money to scrape by and sign some guys to field a team."

I can't remember the last time I felt like we adequately addressed all our holes in FA going into the season. It was probably 2007.

Bad contracts and missed draft picks have robbed us of the ability to field a complete team since then, every single year.

Only an idiot would say that we have a track record of "doing whatever we want" in free agency. Unless we actually wanted to just ignore the problems at OL and DL all these years in favor of fucking Phil Costa and MacKenzie Bernadeau (actually, that might be scarier).

 

[Cotton]

haha there are no such things as injuries, etc.

Waste someone else's time. I'm not doing this dance again only to be proven right AGAIN when we get under the cap and make the signings we need to make. Why is this even a story now? Oh that's right because idiots will eat it up.

You happy that we had to restructure Austin to get under the cap and are now stuck with his contract?

Yeah, me either.

 

[superpunk]

Find me a team with a QB who is getting PAID that has this cap flexibility ya'll have such a boner for. It doesn't exist, get over it. Wait and see what happens to SF and SEA's depth when Wilson and Kap come up for new deals. We can do what we need to. The only correct thing you've said is that bad drafts are hurting us - fortunately we're starting to come out of that now, it looks like.

 

[boozeman]

I hate Jerry and Goof Son, but the cap really isn't that big of a deal. Teams get around it all the time.

The real issue is trimming dead weight like Austin and moving on. Jerry hates to give up his shiny little toys.

They have to get around it. They have no choice. They need to draft better and get cheaper and not hand out backloaded deals out to guys like Ratliff and Austin anymore.

Beyond Bailey, Bryant needs to be the next megadeal. Beyond that, I hold off...and that includes signing Bruce Carter thinking he's some prize.

 

[boozeman]

"routinely"

like we didn't just sign Brandon Carr and a bunch of mid level FAs.

Well, you just said it here. Carr and a bunch of mid level FAs like Bernadeau and Livings, both of which were huge misevaluations...making it necessary we had to lure Waters out of retirement.

It is not about getting room. It is the lack of flexibility because of the way we get that room that restricts what kind of player we can get. That's hardly being able to "do what we want" or better phrased, what is best.

 

[Simpleton]

They have to get around it. They have no choice. They need to draft better and get cheaper and not hand out backloaded deals out to guys like Ratliff and Austin anymore.

Beyond Bailey, Bryant needs to be the next megadeal. Beyond that, I hold off...and that includes signing Bruce Carter thinking he's some prize.

Unless Carter greatly elevates his play the rest of this season and next I'd let him walk, Smith will get something of a megadeal too.

 

[boozeman]

Unless Carter greatly elevates his play the rest of this season and next I'd let him walk, Smith will get something of a megadeal too.

Yeah, forgot about Smith. He's going to be very expensive.

We just have to avoid what we always tend to do which is overvalue what we have and think they are indispensable...like we did with Austin...or "reward" clearly declining veterans pretending they are just in a rut like Ratliff.

It is just about elevating the bar with who gets the expensive deals and not give out contracts like candy.

 

[boozeman]

Stephen Jones: Dallas Cowboys not panicking over 2014 salary cap; ‘I see some light at the end of the tunnel’




By Jon Machota
jmachota@dallasnews.com
7:08 pm on October 21, 2013 |

The Dallas Cowboys have several young players that they’d like to sign to long-term deals in the near future. Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Bruce Carter and Dan Bailey immediately come to mind.

But will they have the salary cap space?

Some may be worrying that it will be difficult for the Cowboys to sign those players considering how little cap space they have going forward. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday that the Cowboys are projected to be $31 million over the salary cap next year.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday that the franchise is not panicking over such a figure.

“No surprises here,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “We’ve known what we were up against. We knew what we were up against this year, and certainly know that we’re up against a very tight situation next year. We’ll certainly manage through that.

“The good news is we have a lot of good young players who are stepping up. That certainly eases the difficulty when you have good young guys stepping up and playing that we’re certainly going to be counting on next year. We’re certainly a little hand-cuffed as we move forward. That’s the nature of the business. We certainly know what’s coming at us and there’s no panic here. We’ll just work through it.”

The NFL penalized the Cowboys $10 million against the cap for front-loading contracts during an uncapped 2010 season. Jones and Co. split that in half over the last two seasons. With that penalty behind them next year, Jones says the 2014 cap is something they will “be able to work through.”

“These last couple of years we’ve been tight,” he said. “We worked through it and we’ll continue to work through it. I think I see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of that easing up. After next year, I don’t think it will be quite as tight as it’s been.

“Obviously the imposed $5 million reduction we have from the NFL each of the last two years certainly had us pushing some things out to be able to operate. We certainly had to push some things into next year. These are things we’ll be able to work through. We’ll have our good young players out there and it’ll be, I think, very positive.”

 

[junk]

You have to be pretty irresponsible to be in "cap hell" anymore. However, Dallas has been and will continue to be cap constrained.

You can get compliant in 2014 fairly easily with restructures of Carr, Witten and Romo along with cuts of Bernadeau, Costa and Miles (I'd like to accelerate all his bonus in 2014 which would only save $400K, but ensure no dead money in 2015). That, along with rolling over like $2 million in unused cap from this year, should get you about $700K under the cap next year.

You could get more space if you decide to restructure Ware ($8.4 million) and cut Orton (about 1 million)

The bigger problem is 2015 when the team would have about $120 million committed (w/out Ware restructure) and $123 million (w/ Ware restructure). Only problem is that is for only 26 people under contract and doesn't include Dez, Carter or Murray. It also includes about $100 million in cap charges for 8 players (Romo, Ware, Witten, Carr, Free, Scandrick, Claiborne, Lee)

 

[Rev]

You have to be pretty irresponsible to be in "cap hell" anymore. However, Dallas has been and will continue to be cap constrained.

You can get compliant in 2014 fairly easily with restructures of Carr, Witten and Romo along with cuts of Bernadeau, Costa and Miles (I'd like to accelerate all his bonus in 2014 which would only save $400K, but ensure no dead money in 2015). That, along with rolling over like $2 million in unused cap from this year, should get you about $700K under the cap next year.

You could get more space if you decide to restructure Ware ($8.4 million) and cut Orton (about 1 million)

The bigger problem is 2015 when the team would have about $120 million committed (w/out Ware restructure) and $123 million (w/ Ware restructure). Only problem is that is for only 26 people under contract and doesn't include Dez, Carter or Murray. It also includes about $100 million in cap charges for 8 players (Romo, Ware, Witten, Carr, Free, Scandrick, Claiborne, Lee)

Dont worry guyz!!

 

[junk]

Dont worry guyz!!

After I actually sat down and did the math, I'm not too concerned about 2014. They really won't be able to sign any FAs of note, but they can get compliant with restructures.

2015 looks like a bigger issue with only half the roster populated and $100 million committed to 8 guys. You can restructure again but, at some point, you do have to pay for all that restructuring and it becomes harder and harder to operate on a yearly basis.

 

[Cotton]

After I actually sat down and did the math, I'm not too concerned about 2014. They really won't be able to sign any FAs of note, but they can get compliant with restructures.

2015 looks like a bigger issue with only half the roster populated and $100 million committed to 8 guys. You can restructure again but, at some point, you do have to pay for all that restructuring and it becomes harder and harder to operate on a yearly basis.

Kicking the can down the road.

How long is that road?

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Kicking the can down the road.

How long is that road?

Forever!!!!! The way the cap is designed these days it is really fluid from year to year.

 

[Cotton]

Forever!!!!! The way the cap is designed these days it is really fluid from year to year.

Better management would allow us to get better cap space to have more options in FA.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Better management would allow us to get better cap space to have more options in FA.

Most teams with a big contract sunk into a franchise QB aren't spending big bucks in free agency. If you want to have lot of money under your cap get a stud QB on a rookie contract.

 

[Smitty]

Unless Carter greatly elevates his play the rest of this season and next I'd let him walk, Smith will get something of a megadeal too.

I'd resign Carter based on how he's played the last two weeks.

Not to a Lee type deal of course.

 

[Smitty]

I think I'd like to see an NBA type system implemented where you can go over if, say, you are resigning a player you drafted.

 

[superpunk]

Most teams with a big contract sunk into a franchise QB aren't spending big bucks in free agency. If you want to have lot of money under your cap get a stud QB on a rookie contract.

Exactly. We'll pay the piper when we move on from Romo. End of story. To do anything else would be incredibly stupid at this point.