When do all those draft picks start rolling in?

watch the Texans offer 30 million...

They won't offer 30 million....

over two years with much of it incentive-based, maybe

Teams know they have to cut him because they aren't going to carry a $14 million backup. Why pay with trade value when there is a 100% chance that he's going to be dumped?

I think his 2017 salary is less of an issue as far as his contract is concerned. I think it's going to to take that to sign him. But 2018 and 2019 when his base escalates to $19.5 and $20.5 million are likely more of an issue. Now that could always be renegotiated when you trade for him, but once you've given up picks for him, you're in a tougher space negotiation-wise with him if you're interested in having him for 2-3 years. Again, you may just want to sit back and sign him off the market with a structure that works for you (or choose not to if the bidding gets up).

All the picks any day now. Jerry's got 'em right where he wants 'em.

Matsui said:

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No ***** No one was trading for that contract.

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FAKE NEWS

DannyDuberstein said:

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Why pay with trade value when there is a 100% chance that he's going to be dumped?

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It's your only chance to guarantee you get him.

If he's released, then you get into a bidding war, and maybe dont get him.

Is a starting QB worth a 2nd Round pick?

mm98 said:

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Corleone99 with ****ty info as usual.

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What I get for believing Jerry was going to do the smart thing.

Isnt' getting something in return for him better than outright releasing him?

Osweiler dumped in an attempt to acquire Romo.

AgGrad99 said:

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Isnt' getting something in return for him better than outright releasing him?

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Depends on how you view the function of the salary cap.

Pretty sure the salary cap implications are the same whether they trade or cut him (5 million cap savings), unless they designate him a June 1 cut at which point they save additional cap space this year, but there would be dead money next year. Given that the Cowboys aren't expected to be major players in free agency, and haven't been for several years, the dead money next year may be more prohibitive than taking the entire remaining cap hit this year. Especially if you can alternatively get a mid round pick that escalates to a 2nd rounder for Romo.

hph6203 said:

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Pretty sure the salary cap implications are the same whether they trade or cut him (5 million cap savings), unless they designate him a June 1 cut at which point they save additional cap space this year, but there would be dead money next year. Given that the Cowboys aren't expected to be major players in free agency, and haven't been for several years, the dead money next year may be more prohibitive than taking the entire remaining cap hit this year. Especially if you can alternatively get a mid round pick that escalates to a 2nd rounder for Romo.

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This is what I admit 100% that I don't understand....would seem "reasonable" that if we traded him we should wipe his impact from our salary cap completely...???

planoaggie123 said:

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hph6203 said:

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Pretty sure the salary cap implications are the same whether they trade or cut him (5 million cap savings), unless they designate him a June 1 cut at which point they save additional cap space this year, but there would be dead money next year. Given that the Cowboys aren't expected to be major players in free agency, and haven't been for several years, the dead money next year may be more prohibitive than taking the entire remaining cap hit this year. Especially if you can alternatively get a mid round pick that escalates to a 2nd rounder for Romo.

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This is what I admit 100% that I don't understand....would seem "reasonable" that if we traded him we should wipe his impact from our salary cap completely...???

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That would normally be the case, however, the Cowboys have restructured so much of Romo's contract that a ton of his guaranteed money has been pushed back. The Cowboys still owe Romo that portion of his guaranteed money he hasn't received. Once he's traded, all that money gets accelerated and is due immediately. If we release him, I believe it can be spread out over a few years.

Ok. Thanks for that. I guess under the rules then they must not be able to "trade" the guaranteed portion....interesting....

Base salary gets wiped, but bonuses are spread over the remainder of the contract and whenever the player is cut/traded the bonuses get accelerated to the current league year or if it occurs post June 1st they can spread the impact over two years. Essentially this year's bonus impact stays the same and the following year gets the accelerated remainder. Teams can designate two June 1st cuts per year that allows them to cut them at the start of free agency and still spread the accelerated bonuses.

Ex: Player signs 5 yr 20 mil base salary, 10 million bonus equally distributed over the 5 years (teams can structure base salary differently, but we'll keep it simple here). Each year gets a salary cap hit of 6 million. If he's cut after 2 years he still has 6 million in bonuses remaining on his contract, so even though his base salary is gone the cap hit is the remaining bonus money for 6 million. If he's cut post-June 1st or designated it's a 2 million cap hit this year and a 4 million hit next year.


That's why when you see things like Romo having a 17 million base with 5 million in bonus cap hit for the current year and he converts 12 million in base to bonus with 4 years remaining on his contract, what they're really doing is taking that 12 million base, converting it into a 3 million cap hit for each remaining years of his contract and reducing the overall cap hit for this year from 22 million (17 million base + 5 million bonus) down to 13 million (17-12=5 million remaining base, 5 million initial bonus money, 3 million new bonus money).

This is the game the Cowboys are constantly playing.

Thanks for that! Makes more sense....

hph6203 said:

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Pretty sure the salary cap implications are the same whether they trade or cut him (5 million cap savings), unless they designate him a June 1 cut at which point they save additional cap space this year, but there would be dead money next year. Given that the Cowboys aren't expected to be major players in free agency, and haven't been for several years, the dead money next year may be more prohibitive than taking the entire remaining cap hit this year. Especially if you can alternatively get a mid round pick that escalates to a 2nd rounder for Romo.

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They aren't the same unless you plan on UFA's filling out the back of the roster because so far in FA they have yet to address the need for two starting CBs and a starting FS. And those are just the spots we know of today that they'll need to fill.

Now the draft can address some of this but at some point you need some space this year to have enough guys to fill out the two deep.

When you see the Cowboys consistently get to the edge of real contention and then fall flat on their face it's the depth issues this kind of cap management causes that you can thank for it.

What I was saying is that there's no difference between them trading him or cutting him as a pre-June 1st cut from a cap perspective, and designating him a post-June 1st cut is just pushing the dead money down the road to next year. If they look at this year's free agency market and determine that they don't want to be major players as they don't think players fit their scheme/aren't worth the dollars they'll garner then it's more appropriate to trade/cut Romo as a pre-June 1st cut to allow flexibility next year when they may view the free agency market more favorably. If they can get a pick while still maintaining the same level of activity in free agency then its worth the additional cap hit this year, rather than next.

And make no mistake, there are quite a few teams with quite a bit more cap space than the Cowboys out there, so if it comes down to a bidding war they Cowboys are going to lose whether they designate Romo a June 1st cut or trade him.


I'd argue that the Cowboys have more consistently screwed themselves by trying to buy a winner rather than build one. They messed up with Joey Galloway, Roy Williams, Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne etc. etc. more than they have by restructuring deals. The restructuring was a symptom of overpaying for mediocre returns.

Yep...the post June 1 cut gives them more room this year which I believe they should think is important.

Now if they think they can field a team and take the whole hit this year...awesome. I look forward to seeing it up against a first place schedule.

If they're desperate for cap space they can kick the financial can down the road by restructuring Dez Bryant's deal. They can create roughly the same amount of cap space by restructuring his deal as they can with cutting Romo as June 1st cut, and not negatively impact next year's cap as much as cutting Romo would.all the while gaining what is probably going to be a 4th round pick next year at a minimum, and probably something that could scale up to a 2nd round pick if he plays 16 games (if its less than something like this then like you said, its probably better to just June 1st cut him and play free agency this year).

As it stands they're staring at ~9 million in cap space, June 1st cut would put them at ~17 million and they'd still be something like 28th in the league in overall cap space to spend.

Yup...and that strategy continues to not work if your goal is to win in the playoffs.

Matsui said:

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No ***** No one was trading for that contract.

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lol you sure bro?

Nobody is trading for Romo. The contract years 2-3 are the reason. Denver and Houston will probably try to get him when he is cut. After the draft, Romo might need to wait for the first big injury. Den and hou won't be interested any more after the draft.

Better hurry or he will have no place to go

Why are years 2-3 a problem?

If Romo is good in 2017 and team wants him back, he's owed $19mm in 2018 and $20mm in 2019

That's reasonable for a good starting QB.

If he's not good or gets hurt, he can be cut with $0 dead money.

LincolnBorglum79 said:

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Den and hou won't be interested any more after the draft.

Better hurry or he will have no place to go

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Houston will still sign him. They aren't drafting a guy at 25 who will be expected to start day one.

It's not like Romo can't redo his deal with a team he's traded to. Guys do it all the time. It's the one piece of leverage Romo has... He can agree to play nice if traded to a desirable team. If it's a bad team he can make it known he will not negotiate.

As soon as Jerry realizes that no team is going to trade for Romo, he'll cut him. plain & simple. This standoff is likely to continue until the draft though as that's probably where Jerry thinks he'll get his best trade offer if he does get any. Have to think that Romo will be starting training camp w/a new team.

Tony to announce retirement today. Wow.

mm98 said:

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Corleone99 ahead of the game per usual.

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Agreed.

He's not being released per news today. Weird brag