2024 Cowboys Free Agency Thread
- Thread starter boozeman
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Yeah I mean I'm sure he would rather pay a guy a mil or two on a rookie contract to play LT as opposed to 15 mil for a guy in the last year of his career.
I have no problem with that as long as the plan is to move Tyler to LT unless a better option comes up in the draft. If the plan is to leave Tyler at LG no matter what then I think it's fucking ridiculous. Like cutting Dak and saying, eh we will jist draft a QB to play for peanuts. That's not a strategy when you have no idea who will be available on draft day.
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It doesn't even exist anymore. Teams cut those players now and just "designate" them
Genghis Khan
The worst version of myself
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Even the 4/29 compensatory deadline is a farce because it's not like we'd spend enough money to affect our formula anyway.
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This is absolutely true. Besides no one is going to be left to sign by then.
Simpleton
DCC 4Life
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I bet there's one RB in particular who will be available.
data
Forbes #1
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Who’s that? I looked at the list of names available and nobody rings a nose
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This thought is so gross but on brand at the same time.
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At this point I'd be happy with JK Dobbins and praying he actually stays healthy for once.
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He is too expensive. Will cut into their bottom line.
SaveAHorseRideACowboy
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Here we go with the opening up of Goof Son Bargain Mart again…I’ve said it over and over ( and some of you folks here also) ..just enough to be competitive.. that is all …band aid if ya will
Genghis Khan
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What is the theory? I can't see it.
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WHY AREN'T THE COWBOYS SPENDING MONEY ON PLAYERS???!!!!
Why are they one of the lowest cash spending teams in the league despite being the most valuable??
It's time to put our tin foil hats on and go for a ride through the world of the N. Texas ultra wealthy
BIG TIme THREAD ME
Before we get into the football payroll side of things, let's talk about a concept called the "Family Office" the family office is a tool used by the ultra wealthy to make significant investments into private companies.
These are fully incorp'd investment businesses...
In that vein, I would like to introduce you all to Blue Star Innovation Partners... The family office of the Jones Family... They currently hold significant stakes in 9 portfolio companies and have already made exits (ie sold their stock) from 2 add'l companies.
In addition to that, the Jones' own a massive NTX land/real estate developing company (Blue Star Land LLC), and a multitude of other significantly sized ventures with which the family are intimately involved, as well as Legends Hospitality, etc.,
Then there are the Oil & Gas holdings...
Including Comstock Holdings, of which the Joneses own a majority stake, and just placed an add'l $100M equity investment in (it was announced TODAY)...
So if they can just toss $100M into a Nat'l Gas company to refinance some bank debt, they clearly have cash available...
So why won't they pay football players?
That's where the speculation comes in....
I have been preaching for a while that NFL teams operate more off of cash budgets when it comes to player payroll than the actual salary cap... and from a purely business perspective this makes a ton of sense.
See, despite what fans want to believe, the upside for return on investment of a dollar spent inside an NFL team is relatively capped, ESPECIALLY for a brand as prominent as the Cowboys.
League wide sponsorship and broadcast revenues are distributed evenly among the 32 teams, AT&T stadium is going to sell out every week, concessions and merch will be sold, and tours will be taken regardless of whether DAL is playing in a SB or getting bounced in rd 1 every year
This wasn't the case when Jones bought the team in 1989 when he essentially staked EVERYTHING into the team. Clark Hunt called it the greatest risk anyone had ever taken in sports.
Because of this risk, and the state of the Cowboys org. at the time, the only thing that could save them was winning on the field. Jerry's passion for being in the NFL and the fact that he burned the boats put him in a position to do one thing. WIN.
But now Stephen, who was placed high into the FO months after he graduated from Arkansas, doesn't have the same view.
His view revolves around the portfolio as a whole.
And in 2024, the return on investment of a dollar spent in the land development company, (which holds nearly 30 parcels of land in Collin County alone), or the Family Office, or O&G is virtually unlimited.
This is why I talked about the idea of a "loss leader" a few days ago. The Cowboys don't lose money for sure, but now, the Jones' main purpose is not to "win" based on the Cowboys, financially or otherwise it's to let the Cowboys brand be the thing that gets them ahead other ways
The Cowboys, despite being their most forward facing business, are no longer their only business, probably not their largest business, or even arguably their primary business, they are simply part of the portfolio.
With the goal being to maximize their ROI across the portfolio.
So my theory is that there is a cash budget set somewhere in the range of $200M cash for the year, and that that number likely hasn't changed for several years.
From 2021-2023 they never crossed $200M in cash spending, despite the size of their QBs contract.
In 2024 they sit at ~$183M in cash obligations, with a CeeDee Lamb extension likely to increase that by $7-10M depending on the signing bonus.
This is why even a $12M commitment to Tyron was too much, and why they are prioritizing CeeDee over Dak's contract.
Signing a Dak extension this spring, or really anything more than one vet FA over the league minimum would push them to the point where they are at or over their budget.
In short, they could easily spend another $100M cash on players this year, and stay well within cap compliance, but they'd rather invest that same $100M into an O&G company, and blame the salary cap for why they didn't do more.
Chocolate Lab
Mere Commoner
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That's not even tinfoil hat material. It's probably just reality.
Genghis Khan
The worst version of myself
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WHY AREN'T THE COWBOYS SPENDING MONEY ON PLAYERS???!!!!
Why are they one of the lowest cash spending teams in the league despite being the most valuable??
It's time to put our tin foil hats on and go for a ride through the world of the N. Texas ultra wealthy
BIG TIme THREAD ME
Before we get into the football payroll side of things, let's talk about a concept called the "Family Office" the family office is a tool used by the ultra wealthy to make significant investments into private companies.
These are fully incorp'd investment businesses...
In that vein, I would like to introduce you all to Blue Star Innovation Partners... The family office of the Jones Family... They currently hold significant stakes in 9 portfolio companies and have already made exits (ie sold their stock) from 2 add'l companies.
In addition to that, the Jones' own a massive NTX land/real estate developing company (Blue Star Land LLC), and a multitude of other significantly sized ventures with which the family are intimately involved, as well as Legends Hospitality, etc.,
Then there are the Oil & Gas holdings...
Including Comstock Holdings, of which the Joneses own a majority stake, and just placed an add'l $100M equity investment in (it was announced TODAY)...
So if they can just toss $100M into a Nat'l Gas company to refinance some bank debt, they clearly have cash available...
So why won't they pay football players?
That's where the speculation comes in....
I have been preaching for a while that NFL teams operate more off of cash budgets when it comes to player payroll than the actual salary cap... and from a purely business perspective this makes a ton of sense.
See, despite what fans want to believe, the upside for return on investment of a dollar spent inside an NFL team is relatively capped, ESPECIALLY for a brand as prominent as the Cowboys.
League wide sponsorship and broadcast revenues are distributed evenly among the 32 teams, AT&T stadium is going to sell out every week, concessions and merch will be sold, and tours will be taken regardless of whether DAL is playing in a SB or getting bounced in rd 1 every year
This wasn't the case when Jones bought the team in 1989 when he essentially staked EVERYTHING into the team. Clark Hunt called it the greatest risk anyone had ever taken in sports.
Because of this risk, and the state of the Cowboys org. at the time, the only thing that could save them was winning on the field. Jerry's passion for being in the NFL and the fact that he burned the boats put him in a position to do one thing. WIN.
But now Stephen, who was placed high into the FO months after he graduated from Arkansas, doesn't have the same view.
His view revolves around the portfolio as a whole.
And in 2024, the return on investment of a dollar spent in the land development company, (which holds nearly 30 parcels of land in Collin County alone), or the Family Office, or O&G is virtually unlimited.
This is why I talked about the idea of a "loss leader" a few days ago. The Cowboys don't lose money for sure, but now, the Jones' main purpose is not to "win" based on the Cowboys, financially or otherwise it's to let the Cowboys brand be the thing that gets them ahead other ways
The Cowboys, despite being their most forward facing business, are no longer their only business, probably not their largest business, or even arguably their primary business, they are simply part of the portfolio.
With the goal being to maximize their ROI across the portfolio.
So my theory is that there is a cash budget set somewhere in the range of $200M cash for the year, and that that number likely hasn't changed for several years.
From 2021-2023 they never crossed $200M in cash spending, despite the size of their QBs contract.
In 2024 they sit at ~$183M in cash obligations, with a CeeDee Lamb extension likely to increase that by $7-10M depending on the signing bonus.
This is why even a $12M commitment to Tyron was too much, and why they are prioritizing CeeDee over Dak's contract.
Signing a Dak extension this spring, or really anything more than one vet FA over the league minimum would push them to the point where they are at or over their budget.
In short, they could easily spend another $100M cash on players this year, and stay well within cap compliance, but they'd rather invest that same $100M into an O&G company, and blame the salary cap for why they didn't do more.
I think this is very very real.
Genghis Khan
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Not cap money, but actual money.
So for example with Dak, they can extend him let's say 4 years, $240 million. And then manipulate the deal to have his cap charge at like 30 million or whatever.
But the problem is, he'll get a signing bonus of let's say $100 million (probably more). That's $100 million that they have to pay out immediately.
So while his cap hit might be $30 m, his actual money paid out will be above $100 m in year one.
So it has little to do with the cap and everything to do with actual cash spent in a given year (which is their own internal budget).
It does seem pretty clear that they are intent on staying around the same actual dollars spent each year for the past several years. I doubt that's a coincidence.