HEADLINES

Jason Witten

Cowboys Restructure Jason Witten’s Contract

September 23rd, 2015 at 3:48pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cowboys have restructured the contract of tight end Jason Witten, as Todd Archer of ESPN.com writes. The Cowboys were facing a salary cap crunch following the acquisition of quarterback Matt Cassel but they now have a little bit of breathing room after moving some money around with their star tight end.

Witten, earning a base salary of $5.1MM this year, was set to make $4.5MM during the final 15 weeks of the season. To create some cap space for 2015, the Cowboys turned $3.6MM of the remaining base salary into a signing bonus. The move adds $1.2MM to Witten’s cap figures in 2016 and 2017.

By acquiring Cassel, the Cowboys took on $1.76MM in base salary plus $2.15MM in playing time/postseason incentives, although those bonuses are not likely to be earned. Dallas will also owe $5.78MM to Greg Hardy for ten game roster bonuses once his suspension ends. Now that Witten’s money has been moved around a little bit, the Cowboys won’t have to sweat either one of those charges.

Right now, Witten is focusing on getting healthy for Sunday’s matchup with the Falcons. The tight end sprained both ankles and one of his knees in Sunday’s win against the Eagles and his status for this upcoming week is uncertain.

Cowboys Notes: Linehan, Witten, Bryant

June 13th, 2014 at 8:54pm CST by Rob DiRe

Jason Witten spoke with KESN-FM 103.3 about his excitement at working with new offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, in an interview transcribed by DallasNews.com. Witten said although Linehan has a pass-happy reputation, he believes the team will have an improved ground game in 2014. “I think people sometimes think he gets pass-happy. I don’t think that’s the case. He just plays his personnel,” said Witten. “He’s added his wrinkles to our system we already had in place. Ultimately, it’s about us executing better, playing better.”

Here are some other notes from Dallas-Fort Worth:

  • Witten also described how his quarterback is going to bounce back from offseason surgery, expressing his supreme confidence in Tony Romo. “I understand there’s a lot of criticism and until you win that big game and compete for championships, when you play that position, that’s gonna come,” said Witten. “But he’s working really hard. He looks great. I know his mental mindset. I’ve been around him a long time. I think he’s gonna come back better than he has ever before and it’s going to be a great year for him and, hopefully, for our football team.”
  • Cowboy legend Drew Pearson was on NFL Network discussing how his team needs to sign Dez Bryant to an extension, writes Jon Machota of DallasNews.com. “He’s really improved the last two years, his numbers have improved, and just his overall game, his overall leadership responsibility with the football team,” said Pearson. “He is the most influential player on that team right now. He’s kind of like Michael Irvin was to the team in the 90s. Dez can be that type of leader on the field and off the field for the Cowboys.”
  • The Cowboys lost a lot of production on the defensive side of the ball, with the departure of DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher, writes Todd Archer of ESPN.com. They still have George Selvie, Anthony Spencer, Henry Melton, and Jeremy Mincey. However, those four players have exactly two eight-sack seasons in their respective careers. Hatcher had 11 in 2013, and Ware has hit double digits every year of his career except his rookie campaign and an injury plagued 2013. Ware had eight sacks as a rookie in 2005.
  • Cowboys’ corner B.W. Webb struggled as a rookie in 2013, and could fail to make the 53-man roster this season, writes Archer. Archer called the Webb the team’s fifth or sixth corner at best, and noted he would need a very good preseason to stick with the team.

NFC Notes: Suh, Witten, Falcons, 49ers

May 21st, 2014 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters after practicing with his Lions teammates today, Ndamukong Suh attempted to reinforce the idea that he likes playing in Detroit and wants to remain with the team long-term, but his comments resulted in more questions than answers. As Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press outlines, Suh alluded to having an opportunity on draft day in 2010 to be selected by a team besides the Lions, in the same way that Eli Manning pushed to land on the Giants rather than the Chargers.

“It is my choice. It is, for sure, my choice,” Suh said, when asked if he really had any say in which team selected him. “But like I said, that’s water under the bridge. I’m here in Detroit, I’m happy to be here in Detroit, I’m going to continue to play my heart out as I’ve always done and continue to do.”

Although Suh brought up the 2010 draft in order to illustrate his satisfaction with being a member of the Lions, it may have had the opposite effect, since it hadn’t been public knowledge that the defensive tackle even entertained the possibility of a Manning-esque move back in ’10.

Here’s more from around the NFC:

  • At age 32, Jason Witten is one of the oldest players on the Cowboys, but he said earlier this week that he hasn’t considered retirement at all, and doesn’t necessarily believe he’s in the final stages of his career. Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News has the details and quotes.
  • Asked about Atlanta’s receiving duo of Julio Jones and Roddy White, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said that he’d like to see both players remain with the club for their entire careers, writes Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. Jones had his fifth-year option picked up for 2015, while White is entering the final year of his deal, so both players figure to discuss contract extensions soon. “We love Roddy, and Julio as well, so we’ll continue to work with them and their agents closely,” Blank said.
  • Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com passes along an interesting story from Tom Elliott of the St. Cloud Times about Bemidji State’s Zach Noreen, a basketball player who received a minicamp invite from 49ers GM Trent Baalke despite not having played a football game since 2009 in high school.
  • Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune and Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com have provided signing bonus info for the Bears‘ and Buccaneers‘ UDFA signings, respectively. We’ve updated our posts on those signings with those bonus amounts.