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Cowboys off season - training camp is almost here!!!


WizardHawk

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46 minutes ago, textaz03 said:

 Jerry uses deception and misdirection when disclosing their plans. 

 

You can take it as far as far back as Ellis draft. When Jerry was hyping up Moss so much and Moss was convinced he was goin to be a Cowboy. We have opportunity to draft him and boom, we draft Ellis instead. 

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They would be dumb not to use the 4.3mil 1st round tender on Irving. Yes, there is risk involved considering his past suspension and the unknown of his commodity.

But what we DO know of his commodity is that he is the best inside rusher and gap player the team has, and he is quite damn good when he is firing on all cylinders. If he continues to get better he could be a fulltime monster, and losing that for a measley second round pick over a silly 1mil in cal dollars is absolutely crazy - especially for a team seriously lacking for defensive firepower.

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I still think Dez is getting cut.

I don't get how this team fills out its roster with Lawrence, Smith, and Bryant counting ~$51M against the cap combined. Restructuring Frederick and extending Martin doesn't save that much. Either you're cutting like 4 guys for the same net savings as one Dez, or pushing back a bunch of dead money on old/injured dudes.

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4 minutes ago, matt79511 said:

I still think Dez is getting cut.

I don't get how this team fills out its roster with Lawrence, Smith, and Bryant counting ~$51M against the cap combined. Restructuring Frederick and extending Martin doesn't save that much. Either you're cutting like 4 guys for the same net savings as one Dez, or pushing back a bunch of dead money on old/injured dudes.

I dont think he will be cut. I mean, if it happens it would financial sense. Diminishing returns but increasing cap figure? Its business.

However I do not think that the coaches would be willing to let him go. Without him, a position of great need becomes a position of emergency attention, life support, even. Dez hasnt just become crappy overnight. Hes still got plenty of game left, im sure of it.

I could go into all the Xs and Os of what happened, but its been well documented by me kn this forum already. My point is, it makes good business sense to cut him, but it makes very poor coaching/football sense. I could see it going either way though i suppose.

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33 minutes ago, Dallas94Ware said:

I dont think he will be cut. I mean, if it happens it would financial sense. Diminishing returns but increasing cap figure? Its business.

However I do not think that the coaches would be willing to let him go. Without him, a position of great need becomes a position of emergency attention, life support, even. Dez hasnt just become crappy overnight. Hes still got plenty of game left, im sure of it.

I could go into all the Xs and Os of what happened, but its been well documented by me kn this forum already. My point is, it makes good business sense to cut him, but it makes very poor coaching/football sense. I could see it going either way though i suppose.

My thinking is that it's not a dissimilar situation to that of your usernamesake- I'm pretty sure the cap hit/dead cap/savings numbers for 2018 Dez Bryant are very, very close to what they were for 2014 DeMarcus Ware (roughly 16/8/8 and more down the line). We're not drastically over the cap like we were then, but we are slightly over after tagging and tendering D-Law and Irving. While we felt Ware's absence for years until the emergence of the aforementioned D&D, we still showed sizable improvements as a team in 2014, in part because we used his savings to effectively reinforce the DL depth (Mincey, McClain, Melton). Our current WR depth chart isn't necessarily as barren as the DL going into that offseason, but there are absolutely other places where we could use that $8M in savings- LG, OT, LB, S, to name a few.

To me, it's like, do we want to do anything besides the status quo? Because, sure, you can restructure Tyron again, do something with Lee and/or Witten, and that'll get you some room for some pieces. But those guys are past their peak, too, and more dead $ kicked down on them is gonna cost you some players down the line. Moving on from Dez has the opposite effect in that it totally clears his $16.5M '19 cap hit off the books- meaning there's no question of whether you can afford Byron or Irving on top Martin and Lawrence, and still have room for a big splash FA.

I know it's dumb when fans ask "Why can't our team be more like the Patriots???" because they're the ultimate outlier... but it really is insane how Belichick always seems to know when to move on from an alleged key player and never skip a beat or miss a postseason. Compare that to our team, and you wonder whether or not continuity, our level of commitment to "our guys," and the exuberant, celebrity aspect of being a Cowboy, actually yields its intended positive effect in practice.

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Few good points @matt79511

Couple things to also consider though -

1. Ware looked done. He was not just playing hurt or having a bad year, or being taken away systemically by the opposing coaching staff. He looked done, beat up. Slow. Weak. Tired. I honestly thought he was done too because of what he showed on film (everything i just mentioned) while also being hurt to boot. 

With Dez, a lot of his issues are linked to the systemic elimination of him as the teams only real weapon for the passing game. If the opposite wide out is not a threat, and the tight end no longer can beat you consistently in a more vertical, or even 10-12 yard manner, it becomes easy to put an extra guy in Beasley's lane and roll a cloud over Dez to ensure he has no real openings. Couple this with struggling protection and Dak having to run for his life all too often, and the suspension of Zeke as the only other weapon on the offense, PLUS playing from behind so often, and there was not a single factor working jn Dez's favor. He didnt have a good year; he needs to get open, he needs to hang onto more passes, but he does not look tired. Or beat up. Or slow. And especially not "done" like Ware looked. 

And you would think tthe team would think twice considering it was apparent they let Ware go far too soon.

2. The salary cap has gone up 10 million, and with several contracts due for restructure, the teams cap number should look much better by FA opening next week. Status quo is impossible given the unique situation this team has, of a big mix highly seasoned vets and very young 2nd/3rd year guys making up the nucleus. But would removing your only threat at receiver truly do more than let you sign a few more second and third fiddle FAs, that arent going to put up the season we know Dez is capable of havin? Maybe, but I dont see it.

3. The Patriots are unique because they DO NOT SEEK THE MOST TALENTED PLAYERS. They seek players capable of playing the role they are looking to fill. So a llayer can go to NE, look great for 3 years, then be a nonfactor for 2 years elsewhere and out of the league by their sixth season. Because they are being asked to play a position, and not fill a role. It isnt that NE knows when to let a guy go, its that they are built in a way where anyone can really be let go, because they will just create a new role to fill the void with some other two bit player no one else wants because they are too busy viewing him by position, instead of by role.

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JG and Co. are coaching for their jobs. If they let Dez go, they deserve exactly what they get. Fired. Honestly, I'm watching Witten more at this point. Save $7m and no dead money. Next year I think Lee and Crawford are gone too. Cutting those 3 saves $21m against the cap. 

The Twitter cap guys seem to believe it is quite doable that Dallas keeps DLaw, Zach and Dez....and still are able to pay E.T. 

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3 minutes ago, WizardHawk said:

JG and Co. are coaching for their jobs. If they let Dez go, they deserve exactly what they get. Fired. Honestly, I'm watching Witten more at this point. Save $7m and no dead money. Next year I think Lee and Crawford are gone too. Cutting those 3 saves $21m against the cap. 

The Twitter cap guys seem to believe it is quite doable that Dallas keeps DLaw, Zach and Dez....and still are able to pay E.T. 

You assume JG has the final say in the matter.

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10 minutes ago, WizardHawk said:

JG and Co. are coaching for their jobs. If they let Dez go, they deserve exactly what they get. Fired. Honestly, I'm watching Witten more at this point. Save $7m and no dead money. Next year I think Lee and Crawford are gone too. Cutting those 3 saves $21m against the cap. 

The Twitter cap guys seem to believe it is quite doable that Dallas keeps DLaw, Zach and Dez....and still are able to pay E.T. 

I think that's accurate, but there's always tradeoffs. Hitchens, for sure. Irving/Byron next year. Generally viable OL depth, barring some draft steals.

Cap management in the current NFL, with the cap rising $10M annually, isn't really about "well we have to move on from so-and-so" as much as "who would we rather have, and for what?" I love Dez to death and agree this team is probably not prepared for life without him... but he hasn't given us many indications in the last 3 years that he's really worth the $25M non-guaranteed he's got left, and we can't have a closed mindset about player acquisition. Have to consider every possible venue.

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22 minutes ago, Calvert28 said:

You assume JG has the final say in the matter.

If he can pound the table for Charlton and get his way, he can pound the table for Dez too.  TWill or some rookie at WR1 would be a death sentence. I see no way around that. 

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