Cowboys Cap Space and Dak's Future / Mock

[OhioColt]

Cowboys have ~13m in cap space going into the 2021 offseason.  Most FAs are not worthy to resign it appears except for Jourdan Lewis and S Xavier Woods.  If the Cowboys tag Dak they will be immediately in the red.  So where is this extra cap space coming from to resign or tag Dak? 

 

Logical the Boys are at the point where they must decide to cut young starting LG Connor Wiliams save ~1.8m against the cap.  Seems also need to cut K Greg Zuerlein and add another 1.5m savings.  Randy Gregory would be an easy cut as well saving another 1.2m.  Now we are talking about ~18.3 in available cap space.  Can keep cutting players like TE Dalton Shultz boost cap by another 1.5m.  Punter Chris Jones would be another likely candidate imo to get cut and save another 1.4m and now were only at 21.2m in savings.  That’s the bulk of their team from where I can see them gaining capital back.  One other player is WR Michael Gallup that could save them 1.7m but can realistically see used as trade bait to gain extra draft picks.  Bottom line is I cannot see the Cowboys resigning or even attempting to franchise tag Prescott and have no choice but to draft a low cost young QB replacement in the draft with their first pick.  Don't be surprised to see Dallas move up on Day 1 and trade Gallup for the lost draft capital to help offset.

 

Welcome Dak to the Colts and let’s go digest the rest of offseason.  When the Rams signed QB Goff to an average of $33.5 million per year Prescott reportedly was seeking a new deal in the $34 million per year range.  I didn’t add salary incentives this year just base salary due to cap reductions this year but added $10 million bonus each next 3 years and increased pay scale from 35, 36, 38, 40 million next few years.

 

64.887m cap space 2021 * updated OTC as of 01/27

 

Retired

Rivers

AC

 

Cut

Skia Moore – 850k

 

FA Signings

QB Dak Prescott - 35m increasing 40m next 4 years

LT Roderick Johnson 2m/yr.  PFF stated he played 245 OL snaps only allowing 3 penalties and 1 sacks last season.  Would be a solid acquisition even coming from the Texans.

RDE Dawuane Smoot 5m/4yr.  A little faster than Muhammad should be good in-house competition

LCB Ahkello Witherspoon 3m/3yrs – Real deal CB imo get this guy signed ASAP even if means deselecting another

 

Colts FA’s lost

Autry

Hooker

Clark – wanted to retire

Walker JR

Mack

Wilson STP

Houston

Green

Brissett

Hilton

 

Unrestricted Free Agents:

Carrie STP 1 / 1.5m – solid back 

Hunt 2 /950k  

Burton 1 / 3m – played 33% of snaps

Stallworth - 1 / 750 k * updated colts already extended

Dulin 2 / 1m STP *update Colts already extended

Rhodes –played 87% snaps on a 1.5m contract resign 3m/year deal

Muhammad (starter) – 4 / 3m first year

Odum resign less than RFA 1m

 

Restricted Free Agents: 

MAC UDFA – 2nd Round Tender 3.422m

Pascal RFA 2nd Round tender 3.422m

Smith ERFA 1 / 850 k STP

 

OTC says 74 players under contract and OTC Cap Room projected 9.322m for 2021

 

Draft Needs:

LT, WR, LDE, SS, RB

 

Draft:

 

R1 LT Christian Darrisaw (Virginia Tech) – Long shot but my dream selection here and pending Combine could see him move higher in RD 1

 

R2 WR Nico Collins (Michigan) - 2019 led Big 10 receivers 0.0% drop rate and 81.3% contested catch rate and had the highest broken-tackle rate

 

R3 Edge/LB Charles Snowden (Virginia) - Snowden stands 6-foot-7. SAM linebacker blitzing / played both ends or more of a 3-4 OLB.  Great football awareness very solid in run support.  2018 breakout star along with Rock Ya.  With his size and speed like to switch him to 4-3 Edge.

 

R4 ILB Garret Wallow (TCU) Extremely athletic with impressive sideline-to-sideline speed and can lineup in the box, cover the slot and has a good grasp of where he should be in zone defense.

 

R5 SS Divine Deablo (Virginia Tech) - has elite size and excellent speed.  Very strong player/good tackler.  Bit tight in his hips limit his range but we need a decent backup and he should do fine.

 

R6 RB Devin Wynn (Furman) – Decent ground game.  Rarely used in pass plays.

 

R7 WR Emeka Emezie (NC St) - Z position size and speed to separate.  Willing blocker in Run game.  Impressive hands in contested engagements.  Impressive layout diving catch vs Virginia 6:13 3Q.  Originally struggled with dropped passes but cleaned that up this year.

 

UDFA MLB Blake Gallagher (Northwestern) – Bit on the small side 6’0” but one heck of a tackler in the open field.  All-Big 10 honors in 2018 after a campaign that saw him tally 127 stops (7.5 for a loss) and an interception.  Wisconsin game had a good QB strip for turnover.  Good chase angles and hustle down field.  Tip ball caused team INT.  Impressing blitz sack.  Looks good in both run, blitz and coverage support.

 

Overall a solid group to build upon.  For 2022 can see our focus on TEs, RCB and potentially LDE if we move Snowden to SLB.  Shall see how well Wallow does his rookie season before adjusting.  We got a young QB for long-term.   The Colts should be playoff contenders for many years.

 

3WR 1TE

 

QB

Dak Prescott

Jacob Eason

 

RB

Jonathan Taylor

Nyheim Hines

Jordan Wilkins

Devin Wynn

 

WR

Nico Collins

Emeka Emezie

Ashton Dulin

Gary Jennins

 

WR

Michael Pittman Jr.

Dezmon Patmon

Quartney Davis

 

WR

Zach Pascal

Parris Campbell

DeMichael Harris

 

TE

Jack Doyle

Trey Burton

Mo Alie-Cox

Noah Togiai

 

LT

Christian Darrisaw

Roderick Johnson

 

LG

Quenton Nelson

Joey Hunt

 

C

Ryan Kelly

Danny Pinter

 

RG

Mark Glowinski

Jake Eldrenkamp

 

RT

Branden Smith

Will Holden

 

Base 4-3 D

 

LDE

Charles Snowden

Ben Banogu

Kemoko Turay

 

LDT

DeForest Buckner

Tyquan Lewis

 

RDT

Grover Stewart

Taylor Stallworth

 

RDE

Al-Quadin Muhammad

Dawuane Smoot

Kemoko Turay

 

WLB

Darius Leonard

Matthew Adams

 

MLB

Garret Wallow

Zaire Franklin

Jordan Glasgow

 

SLB

Bobby Okereke

E.J. Speed

 

LCB

Ahkello Witherspoon

Rock Ya-Sin

Kenny Moore II

Isaiah Rodgers

 

SS

Khari Willis

Divine Deablo

 

FS

Julian Blackmon

George Odum

Ibraheim Campbell

 

RCB

Xavier Rhodes

T.J. Carrie

Marvell Tell III

Tremon Smith

 

[DaColts85]

That contract for Xavier Rhodes is a 1 year deal for 3 million? I mean that is funny. I think he might be looking for a lot more than that. Plus I would not be shocked if he gets at least a two year deal. 

[DougDew]

Did I just read Dak Pres for $38 million when Stafford, Wentz, or even Matt Ryan might be had for about $22?  

[danlhart87]

1 hour ago, DougDew said:

Did I just read Dak Pres for $38 million when Stafford, Wentz, or even Matt Ryan might be had for about $22?  

[stitches]

Dak Prescott will get 35M+ IMO. This is not the eyebrow raising thing here. The eyebrow raiser is that Dallas will let him go for nothing. They won't. Unless his injury is really really REALLY bad and he's on the verge of retiring Dallas will 1. try to re-sign him or 2. if not able to re-sign him, they will franchise tag him. One thing I'm almost certain about is - they won't let him go for nothing. If you want him, you will have to pay and very likely more than you will have to pay for Stafford. 

[DougDew]

3 hours ago, stitches said:

Dak Prescott will get 35M+ IMO. This is not the eyebrow raising thing here. The eyebrow raiser is that Dallas will let him go for nothing. They won't. Unless his injury is really really REALLY bad and he's on the verge of retiring Dallas will 1. try to re-sign him or 2. if not able to re-sign him, they will franchise tag him. One thing I'm almost certain about is - they won't let him go for nothing. If you want him, you will have to pay and very likely more than you will have to pay for Stafford. 

For me, it is the $38mill. (in a $175mill cap?)  I don't think he's 1.75 times the QB that Wentz, Stafford, or Ryan are.

[MikeCurtis]

After living in Texas and watching Dak play last year and the years before..... My vote is NO

 

Too expensive, and he a good runner, but not as accurate enough to take a team to a SB

 

 

[stitches]

56 minutes ago, DougDew said:

For me, it is the $38mill. (in a $175mill cap?)  I don't think he's 1.75 times the QB that Wentz, Stafford, or Ryan are.

It doesn't matter. That's not how players get their new contracts. I'm not saying I will give him that money, but I'm saying someone will... or he will get franchise tagged(from what I'm seeing that is $36.9M). 

[Zoltan]

6 hours ago, DougDew said:

Did I just read Dak Pres for $38 million when Stafford, Wentz, or even Matt Ryan might be had for about $22?  

Well Dad can be 38 million without trading draft picks while stafford Wentz or Ryan would be 22 and draft picks.

 

4 hours ago, stitches said:

Dak Prescott will get 35M+ IMO. This is not the eyebrow raising thing here. The eyebrow raiser is that Dallas will let him go for nothing. They won't. Unless his injury is really really REALLY bad and he's on the verge of retiring Dallas will 1. try to re-sign him or 2. if not able to re-sign him, they will franchise tag him. One thing I'm almost certain about is - they won't let him go for nothing. If you want him, you will have to pay and very likely more than you will have to pay for Stafford. 

 

I'm sure they will try to resign him, but their cap space will make it hard and Dan may not want to return. As for the franchise tag, I don't think they would cut a lot of players just so they can tag and trade him, which they wouldn't get much because every team will know they can't keep him and field a competent team.

 

15 minutes ago, stitches said:

It doesn't matter. That's not how players get their new contracts. I'm not saying I will give him that money, but I'm saying someone will... or he will get franchise tagged(from what I'm seeing that is $36.9M). 

Is that number include that he has been franchised before? I'm not 100% on how the franchise tag works but doesn't it increase if you were franchise tagged the year before

[stitches]

26 minutes ago, Zoltan said:

I'm sure they will try to resign him, but their cap space will make it hard and Dan may not want to return. As for the franchise tag, I don't think they would cut a lot of players just so they can tag and trade him, which they wouldn't get much because every team will know they can't keep him and field a competent team.

Just watch... close to zero chance they let their franchise QB go for nothing. They will cut Tyrone Smith and several others before they let Dak go. 

Quote

Is that number include that he has been franchised before? I'm not 100% on how the franchise tag works but doesn't it increase if you were franchise tagged the year before

Yes. The first franchise tag last year was 31.4M. Depends on which franchise tag they will choose this year. The exclusive one means only they can negotiate long-term contract with him. The non-exclusive means other teams can sign him to an offer sheet which the Cowboys can either match or not and if they don't match it, they get 2 1st round picks from the team giving him the offer sheet. This is why I said Dallas will get more than Detroit will from Stafford - 2 1sts is pretty much the minimum they will be aiming at if they want to trade him after giving him the franchise tag. That's also the reason they will cut other players before they let him go for nothing.

[Zoltan]

2 hours ago, stitches said:

Just watch... close to zero chance they let their franchise QB go for nothing. They will cut Tyrone Smith and several others before they let Dak go. 

Yes. The first franchise tag last year was 31.4M. Depends on which franchise tag they will choose this year. The exclusive one means only they can negotiate long-term contract with him. The non-exclusive means other teams can sign him to an offer sheet which the Cowboys can either match or not and if they don't match it, they get 2 1st round picks from the team giving him the offer sheet. This is why I said Dallas will get more than Detroit will from Stafford - 2 1sts is pretty much the minimum they will be aiming at if they want to trade him after giving him the franchise tag. That's also the reason they will cut other players before they let him go for nothing.

 

It would take some serious cap manipulation, I was playing around on spotrac and could get to 35 million available cap space but it gutted their entire roster. The Lawrence, Elliot, and Cooper contracts will need to be restructured if they are gonna be able to keep Dak. Honestly I see Dak as a more realistic option for the Colts compared to some of the other names I've seen thrown around on the board.

[OhioColt]

17 hours ago, DaColts85 said:

That contract for Xavier Rhodes is a 1 year deal for 3 million? I mean that is funny. I think he might be looking for a lot more than that. Plus I would not be shocked if he gets at least a two year deal. 

Sorry Coach D someone gave me the short list on Rhodes contract and only seen we had him for 1.5m last season.  Went back and pulled his file and with bonuses and incentives Rhodes valued out over 3m last season.  Good catch Coach D.

 

Tell you what Coach D go back to Rhodes and remind how well he done in our system and won't get many other teams that run a similar defensive scheme.  He will be 31 at the start of next season and agree we should lock him down for 2 years and probably max out his potential before he starts to decline .  Doubt he is ever going to be Terence Newman  playing in his late 30's let alone at a position that demands as much athleticism as cornerback.  With the reduction in team caps this off-season Rhodes will probably see a lot of players in their 30's go unsigned with big contracts.  Too many teams are hurting this off-season and and will seek younger cheaper options.  We will obvious go back over our financials and can't immediately make any guarantees but should be able to come up with another 1-2m offer for this year giving Rhodes 4-5m/year range.  Surely we can get 1-2 players to take a small salary reduction in order to sign important roster players.  Offer the 2 year deal with a minimum of 8m plus incentives and and roster guarantee for 2022 which we will have more team capital to at our discretion next season.

 

As for those questioning the Dak contract it's already on open record where the starting value is for him.  Again really can't see the Cowboys sign Dak and play the game risking the NFL penalty of a $5 million for each violation being over the cap, cancellation of contracts and/or losing draft picks.  They might be able to restructure some contracts but have a hard time seeing them come close to retaining a team.  My best guess is Cowboys trade up with the Bengals to #5 and take a new QB then Trade Gallup to the Packers and recoup a Third Round pick they would more likely have to trade to the Bengals.

[OhioColt]

18 hours ago, DaColts85 said:

That contract for Xavier Rhodes is a 1 year deal for 3 million? I mean that is funny. I think he might be looking for a lot more than that. Plus I would not be shocked if he gets at least a two year deal. 

Alright Coach D looks like Ryan Kelly is scheduled to make a 4.65m roster bonus coming up in March.  Will sit down with Kelly and see if he is willing to move the 3.5m to next year so we can adjust the cap and resign Rhodes to a 6m contract this year plus INT and roster bonus incentives.  Kelly has an out clause in 2022 but honestly doubt he would request it and this should ensure we would actually keep Kelly and not worry about dead cap money.

[OhioColt]

Cowboys could potentially seek to move all of Amari Coopers Guaranteed Salary from 20m in 2021 and move more to say 2023 and some to 2022.  Same as Demarcus Lawrence has a 17m Guaranteed bonus this year and could move to 2022 maybe 2023.  Ezekiel Elliott has a 9.6m Guaranteed salary this year and none in 2022 as a potential movement.  Hypothetically, that could free up 46.6m add that to the 13.898m current available cap room now Dallas has 60.5m to play with without cutting any active roster players.  If Dallas does franchise tag Dak again your looking at a $37.7 million second consecutive tag leaving around 22.8m in cap space to resign former free agents such as Jourdan Lewis for ~$5 million and Xavier Woods $7 million.  Dallas could always part ways with a few had named earlier as well suppose but can't see them cutting too many quality starters just to save 1-2 million and owe dead cap money into next season.

[Freenyfan102]

Dak not worth the 35 mil I would pay him 25 does not sign good luck finding a team with a better online and defense to boot

[DaColts85]

5 hours ago, OhioColt said:

Sorry Coach D someone gave me the short list on Rhodes contract and only seen we had him for 1.5m last season.  Went back and pulled his file and with bonuses and incentives Rhodes valued out over 3m last season.  Good catch Coach D.

 

Tell you what Coach D go back to Rhodes and remind how well he done in our system and won't get many other teams that run a similar defensive scheme.  He will be 31 at the start of next season and agree we should lock him down for 2 years and probably max out his potential before he starts to decline .  Doubt he is ever going to be Terence Newman  playing in his late 30's let alone at a position that demands as much athleticism as cornerback.  With the reduction in team caps this off-season Rhodes will probably see a lot of players in their 30's go unsigned with big contracts.  Too many teams are hurting this off-season and and will seek younger cheaper options.  We will obvious go back over our financials and can't immediately make any guarantees but should be able to come up with another 1-2m offer for this year giving Rhodes 4-5m/year range.  Surely we can get 1-2 players to take a small salary reduction in order to sign important roster players.  Offer the 2 year deal with a minimum of 8m plus incentives and and roster guarantee for 2022 which we will have more team capital to at our discretion next season.

 

As for those questioning the Dak contract it's already on open record where the starting value is for him.  Again really can't see the Cowboys sign Dak and play the game risking the NFL penalty of a $5 million for each violation being over the cap, cancellation of contracts and/or losing draft picks.  They might be able to restructure some contracts but have a hard time seeing them come close to retaining a team.  My best guess is Cowboys trade up with the Bengals to #5 and take a new QB then Trade Gallup to the Packers and recoup a Third Round pick they would more likely have to trade to the Bengals.

Regarding the Dak side of this. We are tight with money and have a lot of holes to fill plus future deals to look at. I would not want to pay what you are mentioning for him at all. 

[DaColts85]

5 hours ago, OhioColt said:

Alright Coach D looks like Ryan Kelly is scheduled to make a 4.65m roster bonus coming up in March.  Will sit down with Kelly and see if he is willing to move the 3.5m to next year so we can adjust the cap and resign Rhodes to a 6m contract this year plus INT and roster bonus incentives.  Kelly has an out clause in 2022 but honestly doubt he would request it and this should ensure we would actually keep Kelly and not worry about dead cap money.

Something like this is more possible yes. Give him a base of 6mil plus incentives. In regards to his age based on this off season being different because of cap. Yes I do agree but yet certain players will still hold value. A pro bowl CB will hold some value IMO. It’s a what you did lately league and he did well recently. With this being said, I am all for Ballard having a number in mind (say it’s your 6mil number) and if Rhodes wants more or wants to sit on the market then go right ahead. 

[Moosejawcolt]

On 1/27/2021 at 11:09 AM, stitches said:

Dak Prescott will get 35M+ IMO. This is not the eyebrow raising thing here. The eyebrow raiser is that Dallas will let him go for nothing. They won't. Unless his injury is really really REALLY bad and he's on the verge of retiring Dallas will 1. try to re-sign him or 2. if not able to re-sign him, they will franchise tag him. One thing I'm almost certain about is - they won't let him go for nothing. If you want him, you will have to pay and very likely more than you will have to pay for Stafford. 

Dak is not getting 35 million. I bet Dallas lets him test the market. Dak needs Dallas more than Dallas needs Dak.

[danlhart87]

1 minute ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Dak is not getting 35 million. I bet Dallas lets him test the market. Dak needs Dallas more than Dallas needs Dak.

Teams will be reluctant after his injury but some team will be dumb enough to overpay 

[Moosejawcolt]

Just now, danlhart87 said:

Teams will be reluctant after his injury but some team will be dumb enough to ovink erpay 

I dont think teams will over pay