Archer: Practice might mean more to Ware

Cotton

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Practice might mean more to Ware

January, 23, 2014

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com


IRVING, Texas -- The buzz coming out of the Senior Bowl when it comes to Dallas Cowboysdefensive end DeMarcus Ware is that the seven-time Pro Bowler had a down season, but it's not the start of a severe decline.

The Cowboys will have to figure out a way to make Ware's $16.003 million salary cap number work by either asking him to take a pay cut or restructuring the deal.

They also must figure out a way to keep him healthy, but Jason Garrett believes there could be a remedy to Ware's play: more practice.

Not to go all Allen Iverson here, but we're talking about practice.

Through the course of a regular season, teams practice three times a week for 16 weeks, excluding the bye week. Over the last two years, Ware has been on the daily injury report 57 times. He has been listed as a full participant 14 times. He has been listed as limited 22 times and as did not practice 21 times.

Ordinarily, a limited practice means a player did not take any team snaps but went through individual work.

Of the 96 practices the last two seasons in which a daily injury report was filed with the league, Ware was limited or out 43 times. That is a staggering percentage.

In the last two seasons Ware has recorded 17.5 sacks.

In 2010-11, Ware was on the daily injury report 18 times. He was listed as a full participant twice, limited 11 times and did not practice five times. In those seasons he had 35 sacks.

Garrett, who will give his veterans a day or two off in the offseason or in training camp, likes to say the Cowboys believe in the importance of practice.

Wednesday practices mean the most because those are the full-padded sessions. Teams can have one padded practice a week for the first 11 weeks of the season and three in the final six weeks. In the last two years, Ware has been listed as limited or did not practice in 14 Wednesday practices. Ten of those have been full-padded workouts.

"He's missed a lot of practice time over the last couple of years because of all these injuries and that's something that can impact a player, even a player of his caliber," Garrett said. "You need to practice. You need to make sure you have the skills necessary to play your best come Sunday and he's done an amazing job from a mental and physical toughness standpoint of playing in these games. We've got to get him to the point where he's healthy and he can practice and get himself ready to play the way he's capable of playing."
 

L.T. Fan

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This article has a hint of Ware exercising some malingering tendencies. Is there a virus at Valley Ranch that gets activated to players that sign large contracts? It seems to be too reoccuring to be coincidental. Big contracts seem to spawn the injury bug.
 

ravidubey

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The reason he doesn't practice is because he's trying to heal from injuries. He's injured because he's older, taken too many snaps over his career, and still asked to play every snap.
 

boozeman

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This article has a hint of Ware exercising some malingering tendencies. Is there a virus at Valley Ranch that gets activated to players that sign large contracts? It seems to be too reoccuring to be coincidental. Big contracts seem to spawn the injury bug.
If he is not a malingerer, I still get the impression he lacks competitive fire. A big fat guaranteed contract will do that. He's never been Mr. Passionate anyways.
 

L.T. Fan

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If he is not a malingerer, I still get the impression he lacks competitive fire. A big fat guaranteed contract will do that. He's never been Mr. Passionate anyways.
Yeah I think he has looked around a saw how some were making the most of doing nothing and said this ain't a bad way to go. It's funny how the money guys run this gambit especially with Dallas. Of course he is listed as injured because that is the path to their personal glory hole. The list is prominent in Dallas.
 

L.T. Fan

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The reason he doesn't practice is because he's trying to heal from injuries. He's injured because he's older, taken too many snaps over his career, and still asked to play every snap.
That's one explanation. I see too many similarities to other team goldbrickers who take the big bucks then take the day off.
 

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I doubt it's malingering. The guy didn't miss a game until 2012, and has been a big money guy long before that. I think he's just broken down after a long run as an iron man.
 

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I doubt it's malingering. The guy didn't miss a game until 2012, and has been a big money guy long before that. I think he's just broken down after a long run as an iron man.
The result is the same. Practices are generally less taxing than game conditions so when you don't engage in them or find a tailored regimen to practice then there is a hint of malingering. If I read the article correctly Ware missed practices. Edit: I don't recall Ware being listed on injury reports as much as the article indicates he missed practices.
 
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1bigfan13

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This article has a hint of Ware exercising some malingering tendencies. Is there a virus at Valley Ranch that gets activated to players that sign large contracts? It seems to be too reoccuring to be coincidental. Big contracts seem to spawn the injury bug.
Kind of. The incentive to fight through injury and lay it all on the line in practice and on the the playing field is reduced once that big payday arrives.

And for anyone who thinks "it's only practice, so what's the big deal" most great teams practices are as intense and competitive as a real game. Great players and coaches usually point to those hard practices as a reason as to why they've had success. The practices are so tough that the game is easy, etc.

I don't necessarily think Ware is intentionally malingering but I do think he could certainly push himself more. A lot of these guys think they can get by on talent and experience and don't fully appreciate the importance of practice and preparation. That's where it's up to the coach to pull the greatness out of these players. Learn what buttons to push and push them.

Remember when Spurrier kind of needled Clowney about wanting to play? I could see a guy like Parcells needling Ware in that nature.

If Parcells were here I highly doubt Ware would miss this much practice time.
 

Clay_Allison

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I think the fact that Ware was asked to play every snap for so long took a huge toll on his body. I don't blame him for that but I do think we should move on from him.
 

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I think the fact that Ware was asked to play every snap for so long took a huge toll on his body. I don't blame him for that but I do think we should move on from him.
I'm not ready to completely cut cord but what we can't do is sit on our hands again assuming that Ware is that same 15 sack pass rusher that he was a few years ago.

I hope we can add a solid pass rusher via the draft who can split time with Ware because I think a fresh/healthy Ware can still be an above average pass rusher, even at this stage of his career.
 

Clay_Allison

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I'm not ready to completely cut cord but what we can't do is sit on our hands again assuming that Ware is that same 15 sack pass rusher that he was a few years ago.

I hope we can add a solid pass rusher via the draft who can split time with Ware because I think a fresh/healthy Ware can still be an above average pass rusher, even at this stage of his career.
He's not being paid like a situational pass rusher and we could use his salary to get a younger guy.
 

1bigfan13

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He's not being paid like a situational pass rusher and we could use his salary to get a younger guy.
True. But that's not his fault. I'm no salary cap expert but I think even if we were to cut him his salary would still sit on books for a couple of years.
 

Cowboysrock55

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True. But that's not his fault. I'm no salary cap expert but I think even if we were to cut him his salary would still sit on books for a couple of years.
His signing bonus stays on the books but his base salary doesn't. So you have to ask yourself if his base salary is worth his play. Which I have no idea what that amount is.
 

Clay_Allison

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His signing bonus stays on the books but his base salary doesn't. So you have to ask yourself if his base salary is worth his play. Which I have no idea what that amount is.
It's 12.25 million. IIRC the cap savings from cutting him would be 7.55 million. You could get a young potential starter like Bennett or Young for just the savings.
 

ravidubey

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True. But that's not his fault. I'm no salary cap expert but I think even if we were to cut him his salary would still sit on books for a couple of years.
Only if they cut him in June.

Cutting him now: Base salary of 12,250,000 plus the 3,753,750 SB amortization (total 16,003,750) and workout bonuses we would have paid are replaced with 8,571,500 in dead money. That's a net cap savings of 7,432,250.

Cutting him in June: Same, but dead money is split between 2014- 3,503,750 (net 2014 cap savings of 12,500,000) and 2015- 5,067,750. The split is uneven because of the way they restructured Ware's contract.

Problem with June cut is cap savings don't appear until June, so you miss all of free agency.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It's 12.25 million. IIRC the cap savings from cutting him would be 7.55 million. You could get a young potential starter like Bennett or Young for just the savings.
It's not even about the immediate cap savings. These things need to be viewed at from a long term perspective. If his base salary is 12.25 million then ultimately you are saving 12.25 million against the cap. Now you might not see the entirety of that savings in year one, but in future years you will see that savings. So in deciding if you should keep Ware next year you should ask yourself, is what he will give you on the field worth 12.25 million? The question is as simple as that.

The salary cap is so flexible and fluid that there isn't much reason to get overly concerned about the specific cap relief it provides you just next year.
 

Clay_Allison

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It's not even about the immediate cap savings. These things need to be viewed at from a long term perspective. If his base salary is 12.25 million then ultimately you are saving 12.25 million against the cap. Now you might not see the entirety of that savings in year one, but in future years you will see that savings. So in deciding if you should keep Ware next year you should ask yourself, is what he will give you on the field worth 12.25 million? The question is as simple as that.
And the answer to that question is no.
 

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