How the Dallas Cowboys waste the recruit contract of Dak Prescott

In reality, however, they do not spend because they find themselves in a difficult capitalization situation, even with the benefit of the minimal Prescott salary. For years, they have been operating with a unique strategy designed to pay their highest value contracts, while keeping their course relatively favorable to the team. This may seem like a great plan, and that's when everyone stays healthy and effective.

The disadvantage is that when these players become ineffective or are unable to play, the teams end up paying the price. While most teams can switch from veteran offers without incurring significant costs, the Cowboys have been forced to pay unpleasant sums of money. After Prescott's peak season in 2016, the Cowboys spent more than $ 54 million of their capital on dead money. Only the Bills, the Browns and the 49ers – all the teams that have undergone regime changes being rebuilt on their lists – paid more. The median team paid just over $ 23 million over the same period. Instead of surrounding his young quarterback with the losses, Dallas has left $ 27 million per season to ghosts.

How does dead money work, and how did Dallas get here?

To understand why this happened, let's look at Prescott's predecessor. Tony Romo was once an undivided free agent who took over from Drew Bledsoe and emerged as a quarterback for pennies on the dollar. Romo signed a $ 67.5 million six-year extension during the 2007 season and signed an extension of $ 108 million over six years, with a signing bonus of $ 25 million and $ 40 million guaranteed in 2013.

Here's what the success of Romo's 2013 extension was like at the time of signing. I will also include what it would have cost the Cowboys to leave Romo by cutting or exchanging their starback star:

Remember that they recruited Prescott in 2016 and were forced to turn to him while Romo was out because of a back injury. If the Cowboys had respected this original contract without making any changes, they would have been able to leave their old team while paying only $ 5 million in 2017 and nothing in 2018. Do not forget that.

Note the "Bonus Option" and "Restructure" columns? These are the remains of Romo's previous agreement. The option bonus is a $ 8.175 million payout that Romo won in 2012 and the Cowboys have been spread over the next five years. Restructuring is the problem to solve here. They restructured Romo's first agreement three times to create a ceiling space, pushing more than $ 20 million of its capitalization success in the future.

When a team restructures a contract, it usually takes a base salary for a player that it will keep and convert the vast majority into a bonus. For the player, there is no loss; they receive what would have been their salary at one time, instead of waiting for game checks on a weekly basis. The team, meanwhile, manages to spread this base salary over five future seasons for cap purposes.

To use round figures, say that a player has a base salary of $ 11 million in 2018 and that his team needs a ceiling space. The organization can convert $ 10 million of this base salary into a bonus, leaving him a salary of $ 1 million and a $ 10 million bonus, which the player actually wins during the 2018 campaign The bonus is charged to the ceiling at a cost of $ 2 million per season. The success of our player in 2018 will increase from $ 11 million to $ 3 million, representing his base salary of $ 1 million and the signing bonus of $ 2 million. Our team suddenly has a cap of $ 8 million to spend without losing its workforce.

While a player is on the list, teams can continue to pay pro-rata bonuses on an annual basis. Once the team decides to leave a player, bonuses will accelerate on his current course. Let's say that same organization decided to cut this player after one season under this contract. Instead of paying $ 2 million a year for the next four seasons, all capitalization costs accelerate over the current year, resulting in $ 8 million for a player who is not even a member from the list. The $ 8 million is what is commonly known as dead money.

The Cowboys have worked this way for years. During Romo's first contract, they restructured his contract three times to rehire rookies like Marion Barber and Jay Ratliff, and retain imports like Terrell Owens and Ken Hamlin. In many cases, these extensions became albatrosses, which led them to restructure more contracts in order to absorb the money of the players they eliminated while maintaining a competitive list. The organization was hoping to take advantage of the uncapped campaign of 2010 to absorb some of the contract costs, but the league felt that it was an unfair advantage and controversial its heap of $ 10 million.

Not surprisingly, the Cowboys structured Romo's contract hoping that they would convert more of his base salaries into signature bonuses. By awarding a six-year contract to Romo, they maximized the space they had available to distribute bonuses. They would restructure the Romo transaction twice, reducing base salary in 2014 and 2015 to $ 1 million, while converting $ 28.5 million in combined base salaries into bonuses. The 2015 restructuring, in particular, probably allowed them to sign Greg Hardy.

Romo missed 12 games in the 2015 season and had a collarbone surgery, which probably discouraged them from restructuring his contract before the 2016 season. At that time, however, the damage to the cap was done . Here's how Romo's agreement ended up watching before the Cowboys released him during the 2017 off season:

Under Romo's original extension, the Cowboys could have cut Romo and paid only $ 5 million in dead money. Since they restructured Romo's contract several times, they have to pay $ 19.6 million in accounting fees. Dallas used the exception after June 1 to allocate these fees over two years, paying $ 10.7 million in 2017 and $ 8.9 million this season. Romo has played four games in the past three seasons, and the Cowboys have donated more than $ 40 million in investment fees. If Prescott stays healthy this season, he will play 48 games over the same period and cost a fraction of over $ 2 million.

The other Cowboys hats

This year, the $ 8.9 million held by Romo represents less than one-third of the money from the Dallas books. The Cowboys are responsible for $ 8 million after cutting Bryant, which is one of the few Dallas extensions that has not led to any restructuring. The $ 8 million amount equals two years of accelerated signing bonus. Thornton and Carroll are back for a combined $ 4.5 million. Deonte Thompson, who signed an agreement with a signing bonus of $ 1 million in March, was cut before the season before being re-signed. Benson Mayowa is also on the books for $ 1.1 million in dead money.

Bailey's deal was of minor importance, but the Cowboys have structured their contracts so that they are longer than any other player in the league. The NFL set a precedent by distributing extensions of six years or more to quarterbacks and fans, in part because their offers are so expensive. Only 11 players who have not adapted to any of these roles in the NFL have signed extensions for six years or more. Four of these players – Travis Frederick, Sean Lee, Zack Martin and Tyron Smith – are on the Dallas list. (Bailey was fifth.) Of the 19 players under contract for the 2023 season, three are Cowboys.

These four veterans are Cowboys' most notable veterans, after Jason Witten pulled out of the off-season to become a color commentator on Monday Night Football. Dallas has repeatedly restructured each of these transactions outside the Martin contract, which was only created last June. They are likely to convert most of Martin's $ 10 million base salary in 2019 into a signing bonus. (Dallas did this with Witten's contract last March, but the most recent restructuring was done to protect the Witten pension organization without incurring losses of money.)

Once again, this strategy is excellent as long as players remain healthy and productive. Asking an NFL player to stay healthy and productive for eight years bet against history and chance. Take Lee, who has the third highest rate of 2018 in the league among linebackers with $ 11 million after having restructured his contract in 2014, 2016, and 2017. He is extremely productive in good health, but he missed by six games a year for the first five years of its expansion. The Cowboys have no way out of his business without paying a minimum of $ 9.8 million in cash. They have probably recruited Leighton Vander Esch as Lee's long-term replacement, and if Dallas decides to move on after this season, he will have to pay out $ 3.1 million.

Smith's $ 97.6 million eight-year contract is excellent, in part because the left-hand tackling market has exploded since he signed it and Smith signed it after his third year in the league. At the same time, however, he also ran out of time due to various injuries last season. Perhaps because of this, the Cowboys have stopped restructuring Smith after doing so in each of the previous three seasons, pushing $ 27.7 million in the future. Although Smith is still an excellent player, it is not a bargain in 2018. The Cowboys are responsible for a $ 17.6 million payload with Smith this year, making it the highest-paid left tackle of the year. the league. (Its capitalization costs will decrease in the coming years, as some of these restructurings will start coming out of the books.)

In the case of something unforeseen, as is the case with Frederick, heading problems can become much more painful. The Dallas center is fighting against Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease, with no return schedule. The Cowboys have already restructured Frederick's accord in each of his first two seasons; If Frederick is forced to retire or if his game diminishes to the point where they want to go ahead, they will need $ 16.4 million in dead money next year or $ 11.4 million in 2019.

These are not just external problems. Hall of Famers like Calvin Johnson have retired earlier than planned, with Lions paying $ 12.9 million in cash for his deal in 2016. Young stars like Tyrann Mathieu have not developed the way their teams would have hoped. paying $ 9.3 million in dead money this year. The teams are even getting sick with key contributors like Ndamukong Suh, whose money touched to the tune of $ 9.1 million this season makes him the seventh best-paid player of the Dolphins, even though he stands prepare for the Rams.

The distribution of these contracts also creates the possibility of a situation in which the combined salary of a player and cap accounting is becoming too difficult to manage. That's what happened with DeMarcus Ware in 2014, when the Cowboys needed work space and had to pay Ware, 32, a base salary of $ 12.3 million. dollars. Dallas had already restructured Ware's contract in each of the previous three seasons to free up space, but in 2013 Ware missed a game for the first time in his career and saw his bag fall to six.

Instead of a $ 16 million tax for Ware, the Cowboys cut their gun and ate $ 8.6 million in cash on their 2014 capital. Ware quickly went to the Broncos and had a 10-bag season before winning the Super Bowl with a 3.5-bag, 12-year playoff season. Dallas spent years looking for help and attacking players like Hardy and Randy Gregory before DeMarcus Lawrence's campaign.

to play

Stephen A. Smith detonated the Cowboys and Will Cain after Dallas defeated the Panthers.

And after?

The Cowboys will be at a crossroads in 2019. They currently have a $ 64 million bill. They could have more if they decided to spend veterans like Lee and Tyrone Crawford, although they incur money costs after having previously restructured their transactions. It's not difficult to design a scenario in which the Cowboys could end up with $ 80 million margin.

Similarly, when Prescott left without Smith, his numbers went down, but not dramatically. With Smith, Prescott posted a score of 98.4 and a total QBR of 76.0. Without the left tackle, these scores fall to 82.3 and 70.1, respectively. Compare that to Wentz, who spent most of his rookie season without NFC's best tackle, Lane Johnson. With Johnson, Wentz earned a score of 99.1 and a total QBR of 73.6. Without Johnson? These numbers fall to 74.9 and 47.7.

After Lawrence and Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott will be eligible for an extension after his third season. The Cowboys could wait to sign a new deal with their star, but as we saw with the Rams and Todd Gurley, the teams are trying to beat all that Bell will become as a true unrestricted free agent next March. It would not be shocking to see the Cowboys attempt in February to reach an agreement with Elliott under an agreement that could allow Gurley to increase his capital by $ 60 million over four years.

Cowboys can use these offers to make a change. While other teams restructure business in desperation (the Ravens) or wildly aggressive spending (the Saints before 2017), no team manages its ceiling like Dallas. At this point, what evidence do we have that the Cowboys derive a significant benefit from this plan? This is an organization that has failed to break out of the divisional round in 23 years. He paid too much money for players like Roy Williams and Jay Ratliff, not to mention stars like Romo. Dallas just did not do its job responsibly.

It's fortunate for the Cowboys to start running their course like the rest of the league. They can not redo these offensive line deals, but they should start structuring the deals that they will give to Elliott, Lawrence and Prescott in the traditional way. They are costing themselves either by being too naive to think that their long-term contracts might not work or be too short-sighted to imagine what the future holds for them. It has already cost them an opportunity that all the other teams in the league are desperately trying to create. No team did less with a star quarterback than the Cowboys with Dak Prescott.