Kavner: Clabo Deal Could Get Ball Rolling On Free Decision

Cotton

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Kavner: Clabo Deal Could Get Ball Rolling On Free Decision
Posted 21 minutes ago

Rowan Kavner
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer

Free agents Tyson Clabo and Eric Winston were considered the most likely replacements if tackle Doug Free didn’t accept a pay cut, but Clabo signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins during the weekend.

The move came just a few days after free agent tackle Bryant McKinnie re-signed for two years with the Ravens. Both deals were reportedly for around $3.5 million a year.

Clabo appeared to be the top target for the Cowboys if they went the free agent route. The longer the Cowboys wait to make a decision, the more free agents go off the market, swinging the leverage toward Free, who hasn’t accepted the cut yet.

Now, Winston is one of the few remaining possibilities for the Cowboys to look at via free agency, and they should be able to get him for much less than the $7 million Free is scheduled to make. But executive vice president Stephen Jones has said he’d like to have Free back at a reduced rate, and the fact that Free hasn’t been cut yet would suggest as much.

If Free stays, he’d compete with Jermey Parnell for the right tackle spot. Both players rotated in and out at the end of the 2012 season.

The question becomes whether or not the Cowboys view the 29-year-old Winston as a significant upgrade from Free, who struggled on the right side in 2012. The Clabo deal limits the Cowboys’ options and should get the ball rolling for a decision on the right tackle spot to come soon.
 

ravidubey

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Hard to see how Free is better than Winston. They are the same age and Free has stunk at both run blocking and pass protection for two solid seasons.
 

Genghis Khan

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No way in hell is Free better than or even as good as Winston.

In fact, Free isn't as good as Justice, and Justice isn't very good either. But I'd rather have Justice just to see someone different.
 

Genghis Khan

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Cowboys could stay status quo at tackle
May, 6, 2013
By Dan Graziano | ESPN.com

Yeah, yeah, I know. The end of Doug Free's time with the Dallas Cowboys was supposed to be one of the foregone conclusions of this offseason, performance and economic reasons combining to eliminate any argument for keeping the free-agent bust around. But the Cowboys didn't take a tackle in the draft, and possible free-agent replacement Tyson Clabo signed with the Dolphins over the weekend. Another possible replacement, Eric Winston, remains unsigned, but as Todd Archer writes for ESPNDallas.com, don't assume the Cowboys are in the market. They may just go with Free and Jermey Parnell at right tackle again:

Had Parnell shown enough to win over the coaches and front office, there would not be this amount of discussion about keeping Free, who struggled in 2012. Over the last few weeks, the Cowboys – well, Jerry and Stephen Jones at least – have made it clear that it is time they start using younger players sooner, the way other teams across the league do.

That’s a fine thing for them to say while a coach like Jason Garrett does everything he can to hang on to a job. He has to win games this year, not necessarily develop players.

...

The Cowboys lived with Free’s struggles for the first 12 games before finally relenting and putting Parnell at right tackle on every other series. He was OK. Nothing great and not as good as Free down the stretch.

And that’s why the Cowboys – well, at least Stephen Jones – have been emphatic about wanting to keep Free, but at a reduced rate from the $7 million he is scheduled to make this season.​

(Permit me a side note, please: If the guys who are deciding the team needs to go with younger players are the same guys who pick the head coach, it'd be pretty tough for them not to factor the first decision into the second, right? But whatever. We'll have time on here to debate Garrett's job security. You guys always seem to think he has less than I think he does.)

Anyway, the point here is about Free, whether there's a spot for him on the team and if so what that spot is. I still don't understand how any none-Jones logic says he should still be in the picture. Todd compares the Cowboys' still having Free on the roster to Linus hanging onto his blanket, but Linus' blanket wasn't a $32 million purchase that turned out to be full of holes as soon as he unwrapped it. Free absolutely has to go, and if the replacement is Parnell or Winston or Max Starks or whoever, they're not going to play worse than Free did in 2012. The stuff about how he got better at the end of the year is bogus, too. Offensive lines always get better as the year goes along, and when you start from where Free did, you only have one direction in which you can go.

If Free is really giving the Cowboys a hard time about a pay cut, then there's no sense in keeping him around. But the Joneses don't like to part with their players or admit mistakes, so the situation remains in limbo. They can't get the savings from cutting him until June 1 anyway, so there's no rush from that end of things. But as other options disappear from the market, you're left with the once-unthinkable idea that Free could be the Cowboys' starting right tackle again in 2013.
 

p1_

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Stone cold mortal lock. No "could" about it.
it's unbelievable to me. A commitment to terrible play is unforgivable. Screw Free, screw Jerry and his
dumb assed son.
 

p1_

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Columnist Rick Gosselin answered questions in a chat on Thursday. Here are some highlights.

If you were Doug Free and your play was woefully sub par, would you accept a pay cut to stay with the team? And what do you think the Cowboys should do at the RT position for 2013?

I think you can pencil in Jeremy Parnell at right tackle. And I wouldn't be surprised if Ronald Leary starts at one of the guards. Plug in Frederick at center and Smith at right tackle. Ideally, that would leave Livings, Bernadeau, Arkin and, if he takes a cut, Free competing for one spot. I'd like to see Callahan make a commitment to Arkin during the preseason to see what he has. The Cowboys thought enough of him to make Arkin a fourth round draft choice. Those aren't throwaway picks. It's time to see if he can play. If he can't, cut him. But it would be a shame to cut him before ever finding out if he can play. They did that with Stephen Peterman, and he wound up starting for eight seasons in Detroit on a pretty good offense.



Just how long are they going to give Free to decide whether or not to take the pay cut? Clabo is off the market so it's just Winston left out there who could reasonably be expected to perform well in Free's spot. And he wasn't wanted by the Chiefs. The. Chiefs. That can't be good.

Older is not necessarily better. Signing someone else's retread may not be what's best for this franchise in the long term. Tony Wise developed youngsters Erik Williams and Mark Stepnoski into Pro Bowl caliber players. Maybe Bill Callahan can do that with Frederick, Leary and Parnell. It would do wonders for the Cowboys cap situation if he could.



If the Boys were truly interested in Clabo, could they have handled the situation any worst? What really happened?

The Cowboys didn’t have the money to sign Clabo. Money talks -- and Miami had the money to get Clabo into the building for minicamps and the offseason program.
 

boozeman

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The Cowboys thought enough of him to make Arkin a fourth round draft choice. Those aren't throwaway picks. It's time to see if he can play. If he can't, cut him. But it would be a shame to cut him before ever finding out if he can play. They did that with Stephen Peterman, and he wound up starting for eight seasons in Detroit on a pretty good offense.

RLAR played entire games last preseason due to injuries. Granted it was at center, but still.

It is funny how Gosselin brings up the fact they thought enough of him to make him a fourth round pick, but has it ever occurred to him, with our track record, that we don't know what the hell we are looking at?

That's part of the problem in Dallas, being afraid to move on from a mistake. And if he turns into another Peterman, so what? It is clear to me, in this environment, Arkin can't cut it. Arkin can't even get on the field and we are signing dorks like Dockery because he isn't getting it done.

Just how long are they going to give Free to decide whether or not to take the pay cut? Clabo is off the market so it's just Winston left out there who could reasonably be expected to perform well in Free's spot. And he wasn't wanted by the Chiefs. The. Chiefs. That can't be good.

Older is not necessarily better. Signing someone else's retread may not be what's best for this franchise in the long term. Tony Wise developed youngsters Erik Williams and Mark Stepnoski into Pro Bowl caliber players. Maybe Bill Callahan can do that with Frederick, Leary and Parnell. It would do wonders for the Cowboys cap situation if he could.
Tony Wise also got Newton, Gogan and Tuinei to eventually play well. My curiosity about Callahan is where has he taken pieces of clay and molded them?

In New York, he had a line with Mangold, Faneca, Moore, Ferguson and Woody. While there with the Jets, they took Ducasse, who has never worked out and Callahan stuck with him over and over and over again, even after it was evident he couldn't play. When the Jets had injuries, the depth, that Callahan pretty much signed off on, was horrible. I don't see that any better in Dallas.
 

Plan9Misfit

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I just don't understand the logic of wanting to keep Free if he plays at a reduced rate. If a guy sucks shit on the field, all a pay cut does is keep the shitty player at a lower price. Why not actually try to improve the play at that position rather than placing the emphasis on price to talent? Clabo represented both an upgrade in play AND a lower price. Isn't that what smart teams do? Find better players who are both better than the ones they have and are less expensive? It makes zero sense to keep Free on the team at all. Slapping him in the face with a pay cut and making him a backup after being a starter isn't likely to inspire him to play better.
 

boozeman

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I just don't understand the logic of wanting to keep Free if he plays at a reduced rate. If a guy sucks shit on the field, all a pay cut does is keep the shitty player at a lower price. Why not actually try to improve the play at that position rather than placing the emphasis on price to talent? Clabo represented both an upgrade in play AND a lower price. Isn't that what smart teams do? Find better players who are both better than the ones they have and are less expensive? It makes zero sense to keep Free on the team at all. Slapping him in the face with a pay cut and making him a backup after being a starter isn't likely to inspire him to play better.
The reason to ask him for a pay cut is for cap relief. We probably have every intention, mainly because we can't sign anyone, of keeping him.

All this tough talk about cutting him...feh...it is probably just public posturing. He holds all the cards.
 

Cotton

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Bryan Broaddus ‏@BryanBroaddus 5m
“@LeeThomason1: @BryanBroaddus in your opinion, why is Winston unemployed?” Because he is not as good as everyone is making him out to be.

___________________________________

I know he has suffered in the run game, but I believe he is still a solid upgrade over Free.
 

Rev

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I would just as soon just play Parnell. That way we can see that he can't play instead of 5 years down the road.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I would just as soon just play Parnell. That way we can see that he can't play instead of 5 years down the road.
I'm with you on the Parnell thing at this point. I think he at least deserves to be in competition for the starting spot regardless of who we sign. That should go without saying but in Dallas isn't doesn't. For some reason Parnell was terrible as a third TE (Always way late off the snap) but as an OT he was pretty solid from what I remember. He isn't my ideal big, run blocking RT, but he is very athletic and good in pass protection. Not sure he brings much to the running game but we have already lost out on those OTs.

I would dump Free and save myself 7 mil in cap space for his base salary this up coming season and start dealing with his bonus now so that we can have room later.
 

Smitty

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I would dump Free and start Parnell because I don't think there is much difference, but Parnell is not a solution based on what we saw last year.
 

Carp

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I don't really think you can make a call on Parnell yet.
 

Smitty

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I don't really think you can make a call on Parnell yet.
He might get better but I don't think I would call it prudent to go into a season counting on what he offered last year.
 

Genghis Khan

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There is no reason on god's green earth that Eric Winston could not be a solid 1 year stop gap. And we can afford him. And he'll be cheap. And he's willing to take a one year deal. And he's 31 so he's not ancient either. And if we cut Free, and sign Winston, we'd probably still save money versus what we originally were slated to pay Free alone.

This is ludicrous.
 

Cujo

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it's unbelievable to me. A commitment to terrible play is unforgivable. Screw Free, screw Jerry and his
dumb assed son.


Me too. It's not as if this was an unmanageable problem. I look at some organizations and watch the things they do and most times, it makes sense. But I watch the Cowboys and there is no rhyme or reason to the moves they make. It's just a bunch of random horseshit, usually, that often suggests they have no idea what they're doing. And it's grows more painfully obvious every year.
 

Plan9Misfit

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The reason to ask him for a pay cut is for cap relief. We probably have every intention, mainly because we can't sign anyone, of keeping him.

All this tough talk about cutting him...feh...it is probably just public posturing. He holds all the cards.
I understand that. But, Clabo would've been less expensive on the cap. At $4M, he would've been cheaper than Free, so there would've been greater cap savings in signing Clabo and dumping Free on June 1. But now, those morons placed themselves in a position where we have no leverage, Free knows it, and we can't do anything about it. How can these people be so fucking stupid?
 
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