Jones: Cowboys Made Dez “Really Nice” Offers
As negotiations on a long-term contract continue between the Cowboys and Dez Bryant‘s camp, the team’s two primary decision-makers spoke to reporters, including Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News, about the situation. Both owner Jerry Jones and chief operating officer Stephen Jones expressed optimism that the Cowboys will eventually work out a long-term extension with their star wide receiver, downplaying recent reports about potential concerns about his maturity.
“What we want to do is have an agreement for the rest of Dez’s career,” Jerry Jones said. “To me, that says a lot about the concern about off-the-field [issues] if we want him on the Dallas Cowboys for the rest of his career. … I’m real impressed with how he’s evolved over the last several years, or we wouldn’t be in serious contract negotiations with him. So I think all of that is where it really is, and I do look for us to get something done with Dez.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Jones indicated that the team has offered Bryant “some really nice contracts.” Of course, it’s fair to assume that the team’s definition of a “really nice” offer may not match up with the wideout’s definition. Based on reports to date, it appears the Cowboys are attempting to lock up Bryant to a contract structured similarly to the extension signed by left tackle Tyron Smith earlier this year.
Smith’s deal is lucrative — if he plays it out, he’ll end up earning more than $100MM. However, it’s also extremely team-friendly, locking Smith up through the 2023 season with plenty of outs for the Cowboys, but none for the player himself. All of Smith’s guaranteed money will be paid by the time the 2015 season ends, meaning Dallas would essentially have club options on him for the next eight years. As Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets, Bryant would be better off being franchised for the next two years than accepting an offer like that.
Of course, Bryant has already suggested he’d be “highly disappointed” if the Cowboys used their franchise tag on him. Still, it’s something Dallas will have to strongly consider, especially if the team intends to sign running back DeMarco Murray to a multiyear extension of his own. As Machota outlines in a second Morning News article, Jerry Jones said he feels the team can “absolutely” bring both offensive weapons back, and if that’s the case, it seems unlikely that both players would get long-term deals. However, Stephen Jones pointed out that the club certainly isn’t preparing to use its franchise tag quite yet.
“The furthest thing from our mind is the franchise tag,” Stephen Jones said. “If you ask me about that, I know we have the use of it. It’s business. But our intentions are to sign Dez to a long-term contract.”
Cowboys Activate Josh Brent, Waive Dobbins
3:38pm: The Cowboys have officially activated Brent and waived veteran linebacker Tim Dobbins, according to the club (Twitter link).
3:07pm: As they head into their bye week, the Cowboys will welcome back a player who hasn’t seen the field in a regular season game for nearly two years. According to head coach Jason Garrett (Twitter link via Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com), the team will activate defensive tackle Josh Brent to its 53-man roster today.
Brent, 26, has finished serving a 10-game suspension which stemmed from a car accident that resulted in the death of his teammate Jerry Brown in December of 2012 — Brent, who voluntarily took the 2013 season off as well, was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
While Garrett cautioned that Brent will need to lose weight and get into football shape, it appears as if the team has confidence that the Illinois product can contribute. Earlier this month, the Cowboys signed Brent to an extension that keeps him under control through the 2015 season.
As is the case with other players returning from suspension, the Cowboys should get a week-long exemption to carry Brent on the roster without waiving anyone, but considering this is the club’s bye week, the team will have to create a spot for the defensive tackle at some point before its next game.
Latest On Dez Bryant
After a week of rumors and speculation about extension negotiations between Dez Bryant and the Cowboys, the star wideout showed on Sunday why he’s deserving of a lucrative new contract, torching the Jaguars in London for 158 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, Bryant’s camp doesn’t expect to work out a long-term deal with the club at this point.
Cole indicates that the Cowboys seem reluctant to engage in serious discussions about a long-term extension for now, making the franchise tag a more plausible option for Bryant. The 26-year-old said a week ago that he’d be “highly disappointed” if the Cowboys franchised him, but according to Cole, the club still has concerns about Bryant’s maturity, and aren’t sure how he’d handle getting a huge multiyear contract.
In the view of Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Bryant would be far better off if he forced the Cowboys to use their franchise tag on him rather than accepting the sort of long-term offer the team reportedly put on the table. That proposal, which is rumored to be for 10 years and $114MM, but with just $20MM guaranteed, is similar to the deal signed by left tackle Tyron Smith earlier this year. It provides some short-term security, with more guaranteed money than the franchise tag would be worth, but it also gives the Cowboys virtually all the power — the team would essentially get to make year-by-year decisions on Bryant for most of the rest of his career, while he wouldn’t have the chance to opt out of the agreement.
Both sides appear to be playing hardball as Bryant’s free agency nears, with the receiver joining Roc Nation and the team launching a P.R. attack against Tony Romo‘s favorite target. At this point, the Cowboys using their franchise tag on Bryant looks like the most realistic scenario, but there’s still plenty of time for the two sides to find common ground on a longer-term arrangement.
East Notes: Cowboys, Jets, McAdoo
Less than two weeks ago, the Cowboys were 6-1 and sitting pretty atop the NFC East. Then, late in a Week 8 loss to the Redskins, Tony Romo went down with a back injury that will hinder him for the rest of the season, and Dallas went on to drop last week’s contest to the Cardinals to fall to second place in the division. Although the Cowboys have a good chance to right the ship today against the 1-8 Jaguars, all is apparently not well in Big D.
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets that 20 Cowboys players missed curfew on Friday night, and that the club’s coaches and veteran players are “frustrated.” Furthermore, Rapoport notes in a series of tweets that Dallas harbors off-the-field concerns with star receiver Dez Bryant, who is due for a massive contract extension. Rapoport notes that DeSoto City Police have been called to Bryant’s home six times in four years, for a variety of reasons, and that explains why the Cowboys were only willing to guarantee $20MM of the 10-year, $114MM extension they offered to Bryant. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe believes, justifiably, that this “news” regarding the frequent police activity at Bryant’s house is simply an attempt for the Cowboys to gain leverage in negotiations with Bryant. As Volin tweets, “the annual ‘smear Dez Bryant’s reputation’ campaign is here.”
In any event, the Cowboys must find some way to quickly subdue their bubbling inner turmoil lest a once-promising season gives way to another winter nightmare.
Now for some more notes from the league’s east divisions:
- The Jets, who also find themselves in disarray, recently employed what Rapoport (via Twitter) termed an “egregious example of heavy-handed coaching.” According to Rapoport, before Geno Smith threw one of three interceptions in the team’s Week 8 loss to Buffalo, the Jets coaching staff told Smith to throw the ball to Percy Harvin. Apparently, this was not a way to get the team’s new wideout more involved in the game, it was a way to try and simplify the game for Smith by dictating his reads. Looking for some way to improve Smith’s performance, an increasingly desperate coaching staff tried to play the game for him, and it predictably backfired.
- Nonetheless, Manish Metha of the New York Daily News believes a bye week coaching change would make very little sense for the Jets and that Rex Ryan has earned the right to fight with his team to the end of the season.
- There are rumors that this could be Tom Coughlin‘s last year with the Giants, and Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News writes that New York sees a future head coach in current offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
- Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com describes how the Patriots caught a break with Akeem Ayers and Ryan Wendell this season.
Teams With Most Salary On Injured Reserve
On Friday, we took a look at the league’s highest-paid players to land on season-ending injured reserve. As I explained in that post, teams have control over how they use their cap space, but have little control over players’ injuries, so if highly-paid players end up on injured reserve, clubs may have limited flexibility to adequately replace them.
The next logical step then is to examine which teams have been the hit the hardest overall by season-ending injuries this year. Of course, a player’s cap number doesn’t necessarily reflect his importance – many of the league’s best players are underpaid – but when clubs devote significant chunks of their cap room to certain players, having those guys go down with injuries can be hard to overcome.
Listed below are the 14 teams who currently have more than $10MM in player salaries on season-ending injured reserve. Players who received the designation to return when they were placed on IR aren’t taken into account here, since those players could still contribute this season. Additionally, players on practice squad IR lists aren’t included, and cap numbers rather than base salaries are considered when adding up a team’s total IR cap hit. Here’s the top 14:
- St. Louis Rams: $30,605,636 (seven players)
- New York Giants: $22,033,726 (12)
- Oakland Raiders: $21,844,733 (8)
- Washington: $15,984,975 (7)
- Tennessee Titans: $15,202,696 (7)
- Atlanta Falcons: $14,885,479 (7)
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $14,617,538 (10)
- Arizona Cardinals: $14,230,500 (4)
- Philadelphia Eagles: $12,858,000 (5)
- Miami Dolphins: $12,567,956 (8)
- Chicago Bears: $11,210,500 (4)
- Cleveland Browns: $11,147,375 (4)
- Dallas Cowboys: $11,121,121 (7)
- San Diego Chargers: $10,316,892 (7)
So is there any correlation between a team’s “dead money” on the injured reserve list and its record? On the whole, the 13 clubs on this list combine for a 52-65 record thus far, which isn’t great. However, it gets a whole lot worse when we separate the top half from the bottom half — the first seven teams on this list have combined for an incredibly dismal 14-44 record.
Would some of those teams have been cellar-dwellers even without injury problems? Most likely. It’s hard to imagine a team like the Raiders, for instance, as even a .500 squad if they’d stayed completely healthy. Still, a few of those clubs were expected to compete for playoff spots, and the fact that they’ve fallen well out of contention likely has at least something to do with how much of their cap space is currently being devoted to players who aren’t actually playing.
Information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.
Extra Points: Murray, Cowboys, Roc Nation
Let’s look at some assorted notes from around the league…
- In his latest chat for the Dallas Morning News, Jon Machota argues that the Cowboys must make all attempts to re-sign running back DeMarco Murray, reckoning that Joseph Randle isn’t cut out for lead-back duties. If Murray does leave via free agency, writes Machota, Dallas would look to give Ryan Williams, a second-round pick by the Cardinals in 2011, a bigger role.
- Machota’s Morning News colleague, Rick Gosselin, also chatted with readers today, and opined that it’d be an upset if defensive tackle Henry Melton doesn’t return to the Cowboys roster in 2015. Melton has played well in 250 snaps this season as he continues to recover from a torn ACL. Per the terms of his contract signed earlier this year, Melton will be automatically trigger a three-year, $24MM extension ($9MM guaranteed) if he’s on Dallas’ roster through the first day of the 2015 league year.
- Roc Nation has hired a football lifer to its staff in the form of Ari Nissim, reports Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports (Twitter link). Nissim was the Jets’ director of football administration from 2006-2013, and has recently been contributing articles to the National Football Post.
- University of Washington redshirt junior cornerback Marcus Peters has been dismissed from the team, reports Adam Jude in the Seattle Times. Peters, who was recognized on NFL.com’s Midseason All-America team, is considered a potential first-round pick.
Matt Feminis contributed to this post.
NFC Notes: Bryant, Hardy, Morgan
After checking in on a pair of AFC divisions earlier today, let’s head over to the other conference and round up a few NFC items….
- Now that he’s represented by Roc Nation, Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has changed his stance on discussing a contract extension during the season, indicating earlier this week that he’d be willing to enter in-season negotiations “if it’s right.” Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News takes a look at what the “right” deal for Bryant would entail.
- With an eye toward players like Bryant, Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com points out (at The Sporting News) that the market for wide receivers may be trending down after a handful of recent big-money deals have failed to pay big early dividends. That’s not to say that Bryant and other big-name receivers won’t sign big contracts this offseason, but Fitzgerald expects more difficult negotiations than in the past.
- While his chances of playing this season look increasingly slim, Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy told James Walker of ESPN.com that he still hopes to return to the field this season. Hardy agreed to be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list until his legal case was resolved, and his trial has now been postponed until January.
- Saints head coach Sean Payton confirmed yesterday that the suspension that receiver Joe Morgan is serving came from the team and not the league, and it won’t end Morgan’s season (Twitter link via Evan Woodbery of the Times-Picayune).
- Former Norfolk State wideout Roderick Bell had a tryout with Washington on Thursday, according to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).
East Notes: Romo, Washington, Prosinski
While Tony Romo has been plagued by back injuries within the last year, recently being forced to the bench with two small fractures in his back, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t expect the quarterback to retire anytime soon, writes Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPNDallas.com.
“I think it’s realistic for him to play five more years,” Jones said of Romo. “I’m aware of his back. Only God knows what is in store for his back. I’ve seen backs out there that you wouldn’t believe how they look on the MRIs and how they look on X-rays. If you’re concerned about his future, then look at his age, and you might say, boy, you need to be thinking about a time when he doesn’t play. I don’t look at it much differently than that with his back, because there have been three very different types of injuries that have caused him to miss games with his back.”
While we wait to see if Romo returns to the field in London this weekend against the Jaguars, as is expected, let’s check in on a few items from out of the NFL’s two East divisions….
- Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com takes an early look at Washington‘s salary cap situation for 2015, including identifying a handful of players who could be cut before next season. While there’s been no indication from the team that those players are in danger of being released, defensive end Stephen Bowen, nose tackle Barry Cofield, and guard Chris Chester are among the players who potentially fit the bill due to a combination of age and cap numbers, says Tandler.
- Safety Chris Prosinski‘s new deal with the Eagles is for two years, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). That doesn’t necessarily mean the former Jaguar will stick in Philadelphia for the 2015 season, but if things goes well this year, he’ll be an inexpensive option in the secondary for next year.
- Jets GM John Idzik was “clearly miffed” by a prank that involved a plane flying over Wednesday’s practice with a banner that read “Fire John Idzik,” according to George Willis of the New York Post, who adds that Idzik vowed the Jets will get things straightened out.
- Earlier today, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly addressed rumors that his team had “soured” on quarterback Nick Foles.
Wednesday Roundup: Peterson, Bryant, Briggs
After Adrian Peterson accepted a no-contest plea yesterday, the speculation surrounding if and when he would be allowed to take the field again predictably spiked. However, there has also been some speculation regarding if Peterson will be back with the Vikings next season, and Bob Sturm, special contributor to the Dallas Morning News, says he would not put it past Cowboys‘ owner Jerry Jones to go after Peterson in 2015.
Sturm says, “Reality says that if [Peterson] is free to play, Jerry will be interested. If you think about it, it might actually help you with leverage over [DeMarco] Murray if you choose to use it. I would stick with Murray for several reasons, but I would never rule out the possibility that Peterson is RB1 next fall. Jerry Jones has left too many bread crumbs to ignore on this front.”
Murray, who will be a free agent after this season, has been terrific in 2014, and the Cowboys will have a big decision to make regarding whether or not to bring him back. Jones, understandably, has long coveted Peterson, and he may be willing to let Murray walk if he can land AD a few months after the dust surrounding his child abuse case settles.
Now for a quick swing around the league on this quiet Wednesday evening:
- Speaking of big-name free agents in Dallas, Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News writes that super-agent Tom Condon will represent Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant in his contract negotiations. Our Dallas Robinson wrote several days ago that this would be a possibility after Bryant left his former agent to join Roc Nation.
- Lance Briggs, who is playing in his 12th season for the Bears, believes 2014 is his last year in Chicago, writes Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com.
- The Ravens have struggled mightily with their cornerback play this season, a situation dramatically worsened by the injury that Jimmy Smith suffered in Week 8. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun tweets that these problems were predictable after the club elected to allow players like Corey Graham and Cary Williams leave in free agency without investing a high draft choice on a corner since Smith himself was drafted in 2011.
- Tom Pelissero of USA Today writes that the NFLPA is pushing for a neutral arbitrator to decide all punishments for violations of the league’s personal conduct policy.
NFC Notes: Rams, Cowboys, Foles, 49ers
As rumblings about a potential Rams move to Los Angeles persist, the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri are taking a proactive approach to attempt to keep the franchise in the midwest. As Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com details, Missouri governor Jay Nixon spoke to reporters on a conference call today to discuss the city’s and state’s plan to keep the Rams. According to Nixon, former Anheuser Busch president Dave Peacock and local attorney Bob Blitz have been appointed to spend the next two months putting together options for the city’s next stadium solution. The team’s current lease on the Edward Jones Dome expires at season’s end.
“Make no mistake about it, St. Louis is an NFL city,” Nixon said. “Being an NFL city is a matter of civic and state pride and one of international significance. An NFL team in St. Louis sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player and sets it in a special class when it comes to a competitive, global marketplace. The economic impact of the Rams team in St. Louis extends long beyond Sunday afternoon and sends a clear signal that this city is a worldwide player.”
Here are a few more Wednesday items from across the NFC:
- Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant, who hired Roc Nation Sports to represent him as he approaches free agency, will be repped by CAA’s Tom Condon and Roc Nation’s Kim Miale, tweets Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal.
- Appearing on The Ticket KTCK-AM 1310 in Dallas, TheMMQB.com’s Peter King suggested he thinks running back Adrian Peterson will play for the Cowboys at some point. While he stressed that he doesn’t have any inside info, King said that he’s always viewed it as a likely scenario, even before “Jerry [Jones] had that silly flirtation with him last year” (link via the Dallas Morning News).
- Following up on a report suggesting that the Eagles were souring on Nick Foles even before his injury, Howard Eskin of 94WIP (Twitter link) says he spoke with multiple team sources and was told the Eagles never discussed making a change to Mark Sanchez prior to Foles going down with a broken collarbone. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily contradict yesterday’s report, which seemed to suggest the club was considering longer-term alternatives to Foles, rather than a short-term change.
- Although running back Marcus Lattimore never played a game for the 49ers, the team paid him his full salary during his two years on the non-football-injury list, and won’t try to recoup any of his $300K signing bonus, says Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). According to Rapoport, Lattimore will also seek payment on his $1.7MM disability policy, and has a “great chance” of receiving that.