Cowboys rework deals of Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick

Cowboysrock55

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Cowboys rework deals of Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick
3:45 PM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- Whenever the 2017 salary cap is finalized, the Dallas Cowboys don’t have to worry about getting under the allowed amount.


Kim Klement/USA Today Sports
On Monday he Cowboys restructured the contracts of All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith and All-Pro center Travis Frederick, freeing up $17.3 million, moving them under a proposed salary-cap of $168 million for 2017, according to sources.

In a simple accounting move, the Cowboys lowered Smith’s $10 million base salary and Frederick’s $14.221 million base salary and turned the difference into signing bonus. Instead of counting $15.8 million (Smith) and $14.871 million (Frederick) against the cap in 2017, they will count $8.82 million and $4.531 million, respectively.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Cowboys were slightly more than $13 million over a cap of $170 million before the restructures.

The Cowboys can create more room by restructuring the contracts of linebacker Sean Lee, receiver Dez Bryant and defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford, as well as working on an extension for tight end Jason Witten.

A release of Tony Romo can create either $5.1 million in salary-cap room or $14 million if he is designated a post-June 1 cap casualty, however, they would not gain the credit until June 2.

The Cowboys had planned all along to rework the deals of Smith and Frederick. This is the third straight year they have restructured Smith’s contract. The Cowboys signed Frederick to an eight-year deal last August with the expressed desire for it to be restructured.

Given their age -- Smith doesn’t turn 27 until December; Frederick turns 26 in March -- and productivity, the Cowboys are OK in adding to their cap numbers down the road.

Smith has been named to the Pro Bowl the past four years, and Frederick has been named the past three. Smith is a two-time All-Pro, and Frederick earned the honor for the first time last season.
_______________________________________

And just like that we are under the cap.
 

1bigfan13

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It still bugs me that the NFL hasn't shown the foresight to institute Larry Bird type exceptions into it's salary cap rules.

A few years from now we're probably going to be in deep trouble salary cap wise, all because we've done a good job drafting young talent.

I understand that parity is one of the main selling points of the league but organizations shouldn't be punished for drafting well. That's essentially what's going to happen a few years from now.
 

Cotton

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It still bugs me that the NFL hasn't shown the foresight to institute Larry Bird type exceptions into it's salary cap rules.

A few years from now we're probably going to be in deep trouble salary cap wise, all because we've done a good job drafting young talent.

I understand that parity is one of the main selling points of the league but organizations shouldn't be punished for drafting well. That's essentially what's going to happen a few years from now.
I still can't believe I would ever read a post on this board like this. I agree, but us drafting well didn't seem plausible 5 years ago.
 

boozeman

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Extending Witten would be insane.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Extending Witten would be insane.
Talk is they will tack a year or two on to it but lower his cap number for this year. I mean he is in the final year of his contract so it doesn't bother me. Plus he would be like the highest paid TE in the NFL this year otherwise.
 

boozeman

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Talk is they will tack a year or two on to it but lower his cap number for this year. I mean he is in the final year of his contract so it doesn't bother me. Plus he would be like the highest paid TE in the NFL this year otherwise.
I don't want to add anything to a player contract that might retire in 2018.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I don't want to add anything to a player contract that might retire in 2018.
If he retires he'd have to give bonus money back. If that was a consideration for him he wouldn't redo the deal. Wouldn't make financial sense.
 

ravidubey

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I still can't believe I would ever read a post on this board like this. I agree, but us drafting well didn't seem plausible 5 years ago.
I keep thinking about Jaylon Smith. If that pick hits... holy shit
 

Simpleton

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If Smith can just stay on the field, even if he's just 80% of where he used to be athletically, it's a win for me. 80% of where he was is still a borderline Pro Bowl player.
 

Cowboysrock55

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No need to wait for Cowboys' cap approach to catch up to them
7:00 AM CT
Todd Archer

FRISCO, Texas -- Next week the Dallas Cowboys will move their operations to Indianapolis for the scouting combine and we can start to truly wonder about who they will select in the draft.

Before that, however, we have some other wonders.

Five of them to be exact.


Away we go:

I always enjoy those who get upset each year when the Cowboys restructure contracts as if they are the only team in the NFL to use such a tool to help manage salary-cap space. On Monday they reworked the deals of Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick and created $17.3 million in room, and almost immediately came the howls of "kicking the can down the road." I get it. The move adds to the cap figures of Smith and Frederick over the next five years, but after 2018, Smith's cap number decreases each year from 2019-21 and Frederick’s cap number tops out at $10.235 million. Those are manageable numbers for the best players at their positions. But I wonder if those who always say, "that will catch up to the Cowboys," ever truly know if it will catch up with them or not. The cap goes up every year. The road in which the can is kicked doesn't seem to have a stop sign. It forces the Cowboys to manage their cap differently than others, but it's not keeping them from signing players they want to sign.

We opened up Five Wonders by talking about the combine, but I wonder if the Cowboys will be able to use their time to get a feel for what their free agents will be seeking when the market opens. Brandon Carr, Barry Church, Morris Claiborne and Terrance Williams will have suitors, but the Cowboys will try to re-sign most of their free agents. For a player like Church, this will be his last chance to cash in. Same with Carr. Money will matter. Claiborne's injury history makes him a risk for any team. Williams seems like he will get more than what the Cowboys can pay. I'm not even talking about Ronald Leary. The Cowboys could get a valuable compensatory pick in return in 2018 for Leary signing elsewhere. I don't wonder if they will sign any of their free agents before the market opens. Considering the money that will be out there to spend, every player should wait for free agency to begin.

I wonder if the New England Patriots will break the Cowboys' mark for consecutive winning seasons. The Patriots are at 16 and counting. The Cowboys posted 20 straight winning seasons from 1966-85. With Tom Brady saying he wants to play until his mid-40s, who's to say New England won't continue to win? Heck, it showed in 2008 it can win without Brady when Matt Cassel took over for the final 15 games and posted a 10-5 mark. They went 3-1 without Brady last season with Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. The AFC East remains a mess with the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills running in quicksand. The Miami Dolphins showed promise under Adam Gase at coach, but they showed promise under Tony Sparano a few years ago and weren't able to keep it together. The Cowboys' run of success over those 20 seasons remains Tom Landry’s hallmark, but Bill Belichick might have something to say about it.


One of the more underrated parts of the Patriots’ comeback in Super Bowl LI was the strategy they used on their kickoffs. Stephen Gostkowski made the Atlanta Falcons returners make decisions. After cutting the gap to 28-12, Gostkowski's kickoff was popped up to the Atlanta 17 and returned for 10 yards. After cutting the gap to 28-20, the ensuing kickoff went to the Atlanta 3 and returned 7 yards. After tying the score at 28-28, the kickoff went to the goal line and returned 11 yards. I wonder if the Cowboys would want a do-over on their kickoff in their divisional round loss to the Green Bay Packers. After tying the score, Dan Bailey's kickoff went for a touchback and Aaron Rodgers put together a winning drive in the final 35 seconds. Had Bailey been asked to hang the ball high and force Christine Michael to make a decision on the ensuing return, they could have burned time off the clock as well as perhaps pinched the Packers deeper inside their territory.

I wonder how much Adidas will be fans of the Cowboys. Dak Prescott has a sponsorship deal with the shoe company and it will undoubtedly do more with him if his success continues to grow. Prescott has a great story to tell that can earn him a good deal of money off the field. But Adidas also has a deal with linebacker Jaylon Smith. His comeback from nerve damage sustained in a serious knee injury would be another great story to tell. Perhaps Prescott and Smith could combine in some ads?
 

1bigfan13

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Nice that some actual long-term good came of this. I was assuming that we’d be stuck with the typical ballooning salaries at the tail end of their contracts. These restructured deals are actually quite manageable and shouldn’t handcuff us too much in the future. This is assuming we don’t have to do any additional tinkering with their contracts going forward.

The important thing now is that we maximize the salary break that we’re getting with Dak Prescott. We’ve got two more years of “tax breaks”, so to speak, before we have to pay the piper. I know he’s on a 4 year deal but I’m assuming they’ll look to lock him up long term before his deal expires. Obviously franchising him is an option as well but I don’t see the Joneses going that route with the QB position.

It would also be a huge win if they can get this Romo situation figured out sooner rather than later and in a manner that saves the Cowboys some cap space. If they can do that there’s no excuse for us not to be active participants for quality free agents these next couple of years. Dragging out Romo’s status too long would probably cost us a run at this year’s top free agents.
 

mcnuttz

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Nice that some actual long-term good came of this. I was assuming that we’d be stuck with the typical ballooning salaries at the tail end of their contracts. These restructured deals are actually quite manageable and shouldn’t handcuff us too much in the future. This is assuming we don’t have to do any additional tinkering with their contracts going forward.

The important thing now is that we maximize the salary break that we’re getting with Dak Prescott. We’ve got two more years of “tax breaks”, so to speak, before we have to pay the piper. I know he’s on a 4 year deal but I’m assuming they’ll look to lock him up long term before his deal expires. Obviously franchising him is an option as well but I don’t see the Joneses going that route with the QB position.

It would also be a huge win if they can get this Romo situation figured out sooner rather than later and in a manner that saves the Cowboys some cap space. If they can do that there’s no excuse for us not to be active participants for quality free agents these next couple of years. Dragging out Romo’s status too long would probably cost us a run at this year’s top free agents.
Zach Martin's bout to get paid, too.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Zach Martin's bout to get paid, too.
He will and he will get one of these big long contracts like Frederick and Smith. One that we will probably rework every year if we need to. It's easy to do on guy like that because they are young and O-lineman tend to have pretty consistent careers.
 

Cujo

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Does anyone have any idea when we might go into an offseason with decent money to spend without having to do this every year?
 

Cowboysrock55

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Does anyone have any idea when we might go into an offseason with decent money to spend without having to do this every year?
I think it's sort of by design. I mean we have a ton of cap space going into 2018 right now but all of that will change with signings, draft picks, restructures, Romo...
 

ravidubey

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Does anyone have any idea when we might go into an offseason with decent money to spend without having to do this every year?
Looking like 2018.

"Franchise QB on 4th round rookie contract" really kicks in that year, we also lose Jason Witten's large base salary (sob), and should have La'el Collins on an RFA deal too.

We'll pick up Zack Martin's fifth year option, but IMO should be signing him long term by mid-2018. So whoever we sign will need to share with Martin.

Then no later than mid-2019 we should extend Prescott to a monster deal and we'll be once more tight under the cap.

2020 offseason we resign Maliek Collins (and maybe Jaylon Smith and Tapper) and pick up Elliott's 5th year option, but we lose Sean Lee.
 

townsend

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It'd be nice to get Leary under contract. I wonder how butt hurt he is about getting benched for Collins.
 

mcnuttz

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It'd be nice to get Leary under contract. I wonder how butt hurt he is about getting benched for Collins.

It would be nice, but I get the feeling that he's wanting to make bank.

No way he can get it here.

It's kind of amazing to have this issue.

We have so many good OL that we can't sign them all. Is this some kind of bizarro world?
 

Rev

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It would be nice, but I get the feeling that he's wanting to make bank.

No way he can get it here.

It's kind of amazing to have this issue.

We have so many good OL that we can't sign them all. Is this some kind of bizarro world?
He did tweet out that he couldnt wait to test the market. I read that as him wanting $$$$$.
 
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