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Tony Romo

East Notes: Manziel, Patriots, Cowboys

May 9th, 2014 at 10:11pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Here’s the latest from out of the NFL’s two East divisions:

  • ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the Patriots were considering taking Johnny Manziel at pick No. 29 (via the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin on Twitter). This report clashes with a leaked Pats scouting report on Manziel, which painted the quarterback in a largely negative light.
  • Cowboys owner Jerry Jones conceded that Manziel was the highest player left on Dallas’ board when it picked at No. 16, but noted that the team simply has too much invested in Tony Romo, according to Charean Williams of the Fort-Worth Start Telegram (via Twitter).
  • The Dolphins’ selection of Jarvis Landry could mean the team parts ways with Brian Hartline after the 2014 season, tweets Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post. Miami could save a little over $6MM by cutting Hartline after the coming season.
  • Jace Amaro, taken by the Jets in the second round (No. 49), thought New York might select him in the first round, according to SiriusXM NFL Radio (Twitter link).
  • Eagles coach Chip Kelly agrees with the sentiment that this draft is exceptionally deep, tweets Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com. “There are guys right now still on the board that we have rated in the third round that will be there tomorrow,” said Kelly.

Cowboys To Rework Tony Romo’s Contract

March 4th, 2014 at 7:56am CST by Luke Adams

After restructuring a pair of defensive players’ contracts, the Cowboys have turned their attention to Tony Romo, and will rework their quarterback’s contract to reduce his 2014 cap hit, reports Todd Archer of ESPN.com. According to Archer, the team will convert all but $1MM of Romo’s base salary for ’14 into a signing bonus.

By reducing Romo’s 2014 salary by $12.5MM, the club will spread that amount over five seasons, meaning it will apply to the cap at a rate of $2.5MM per season. For 2014, Romo is now slated to have a $1MM base salary, plus $10.773MM in total prorated bonus money, for a total cap number of $11.773MM.

The move creates $10MM in cap savings for the Cowboys for 2014, meaning the club is well on its way to gaining a little cap room. According to Archer, Dallas will be less than $1MM above 2014’s $133MM salary cap once Romo’s restructure is official. The team has until next Tuesday afternoon to get under the cap for the new league year.

Of course, while restructuring Romo’s contract creates some breathing room for the Cowboys in 2014, another restructure will likely be required a year from now to reduce the signal-caller’s exorbitant 2015 cap hit. Adding $2.5MM in prorated bonus money to Romo’s ’15 cap number increases that figure to $27.773MM.

Poll: Who Faces Seahawks In NFL Opener?

February 8th, 2014 at 7:33pm CST by Peter Sowards

One of the many perks of being Super Bowl champions, with the exception of last year’s Ravens, is hosting the following season’s opening game in primetime.

Though the official schedule for the 2014 season won’t be announced until April, we do know each team’s home and road opponents, which gives us some insight as to who might be heading to Seattle for the first of the league’s 256 contests.

Fresh off a 43-8 whooping in Super Bowl XLVIII, the Broncos could be an interesting choice for the opener. They opened the 2013 season as well, avenging a devastating loss in the divisional round to the Ravens with a 49-27 victory. The game was played in Denver because of a scheduling conflict with Baltimore’s MLB team, the Orioles. As you probably recall, Peyton Manning tied an NFL record with seven touchdown passes.

For a rematch of the most recent NFC championship — one of the better games played during the 2013 season — the league could call for the division-rival 49ers to open against Seattle. Plenty of sparks flew the last time these teams played (cough, Richard Sherman) and the rivalry is developing into Bears/Packers and Steelers/Ravens territory.

One of the more memorable regular season games the past few years is the “Fail Mary” game between the Packers and Seahawks, the last game played with replacement referees. With Green Bay set to travel to the Pacific Northwest in the 2014 season, pitting two of the top teams in the NFC up against one another in the NFL opener would be a great way to kick off the season.

Lastly, there’s always a chance that the league and networks will schedule the Cowboys in a must-see primetime game. This is probably the most improbable of all the scenarios, but it’s not impossible. “America’s Team” continues to draw monster ratings year after year with the unpredictable Tony Romo under center, and their 2006 playoff matchup with the infamous bobbled snap by the aforementioned Romo remains one of the most exciting finishes in postseason history.

Back up your vote with a comment as to why you think a certain team should open its season with a trip to Seattle.

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.