HEADLINES

DeMarcus Ware

Fitzgerald On ‘Boys Cap: “Really No Escape”

February 8th, 2014 at 1:32pm CST by Matt Feminis

OverTheCap.com editor Jason Fitzgerald joined the Pro Football Focus podcast (listen here) to discuss NFC salary cap situations. A chunk of the two-hour chat was focused on the Cowboys, as Fitzgerald details the team’s current woes and paints an even bleaker future. Highlights:

      • The Cowboys are currently $24MM over the salary cap.
      • The contracts of Tony Romo and Sean Lee were designed to be restructured, and doing so will bring the excess number down to $13MM or $14MM. “From there, they’ll do what they always do,” said Fitzgerald.“They will restructure, restructure, restructure every player on the roster, they’ll convert base salaries to signing bonus money. In some cases, they’ll add voidable contract years, which essentially are ‘dummy’ years thrown on to the end of the contract just for salary cap purposes to let you lower the cost down, and then at some point in time when their contracts void – automatically – that money will all just accelerate onto the cap in two years from now, three years from now.”
      • The team does not have prime candidates to cut for short-term cap relief.
      • Fitgerald also criticized the team’s reluctance to cut the chord with high-priced veterans:“They’re the one team that does not have willingness to let go from anyone they consider like a star player. You saw that last year with Anthony Spencer, that, really, they’re making a transition in defense, they have salary cap problems – he’s a player they really should have let walk. Instead, they franchised him for the second year in a row and they just can’t let go. . .And then he got hurt and never played a down, really, for them. This is what happens, is you have a roster like this which is just incredibly high cap charges for everybody on the team and really no escape.”
      • Defensive end DeMarcus Ware, who will be 32, began to deteriorate last season, and the day is fast approaching when the team will have to address his exorbitant deal [$16MM cap hit in 2014, $17.5MM in 2015].“Do they restructure him?” asks Fitzgerald. “Which basically means you’re going to be stuck with DeMarcus Ware for a very long time, or do they do the smart thing, which is approach him with a pay cut?”
      • Fitzgerald believes if the Cowboys slap the franchise tag on defensive tackle Jason Hatcher and/or restructure Ware’s deal, it portends continued shortsighted spending, insinuating the team either will have refused to change or simply not learned its lesson.
      • The roster is littered with too many players on the wrong side of 30, and each restructured deal makes it more difficult to release players.
      • The Cowboys’ cap situation is “probably going to be much worse” next year, and Fitzgerald posits the team will eventually have to bite the bullet, a la the Oakland Raiders.“[The Cowboys are] going to have to have one year where they just hit that emergency button, dump a lot of guys, take a $50MM or $60MM “dead money” hit for one year and basically field an expansion roster.”
      • And oh by the way, Dez Bryant’s deal is up after 2014.

NFC Notes: Shields, Ware, Bennett, 49ers

February 5th, 2014 at 10:07pm CST by Rob DiRe

Among the Packers’ top priorities this offseason must be cornerback Sam Shields, writes Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Shields won’t be easy to retain — he’ll be among the best cornerbacks on the market this offseason, and Dougherty believes he could fetch a contract that pays him $8.5MM per season. With new deals coming for Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson, it may be difficult for Ted Thompson to navigate a deal for Shields and keep room open to fill out the roster. Here are some other notes from around the NFC:

DeMarcus Ware Expects To Rework Contract

January 20th, 2014 at 4:07pm CST by Luke Adams

With two years and $26MM+ remaining on DeMarcus Ware‘s backloaded contract, the Cowboys will almost certainly have to make a move with their longtime pass rusher this offseason. According to Calvin Watkins of ESPN Dallas (via Twitter), Ware doesn’t expect to be waived and doesn’t anticipate taking a pay cut, but figures to restructure his deal.

Ware’s cap number exceeds $16MM in 2014 and $17MM in 2015, and the Cowboys are projected to be over the cap in both seasons, so cutting the 31-year-old would increase the team’s flexibility significantly. Restructuring the contract would create some short-term relief, but could pose problems for Dallas again down the road. Still, it sounds as if Ware isn’t open to the idea of accepting a pay cut, so we’ll have to wait and see whether or not the club pushes that idea.

After recording seven straight seasons of 11+ sacks, Ware was slowed by a quad injury this past season, and posted just six sacks in 13 games. He’s also expected to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow this offseason. While that procedure is a minor one and shouldn’t affect his availability in the summer or fall, it’s another signal that it will be challenging for Ware to regain his old form going forward.