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- 2019-2020 Preseason:
There Would Be No Fight If The Price Was Right
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This edition of "The Tortured
Cowboys Fan" has also been published by the fine folks at
Sports TalkLine.
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August 31, 2019 At 11:08 AM CST
By Eric M. Scharf-
- “As long as X team has Y
quarterback, they will always have Z chance.” Fans hear this remark
from commentators all the time, but it is used to reference only
those rare quarterbacks who have successfully led their teams to the
big dance. Among active quarterbacks, Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, and
Drew Brees come to mind. And Dak Prescott? He gives it all he’s got,
but he is not (yet?) a member of their amazing kind. He is somewhat
of an overachiever who seems to be steadily earning believer after
believer.
Take Less Money With A Rich Honey?
Among those top tier franchise faces, Tom Brady is the only one to
have repeatedly and unusually accepted less money in exchange for
priceless flexibility within his team’s annual cap spaces. Yes, his
wife – international modeling superstar Gisele Bündchen – makes
enough profit through her businesses and endorsements that Brady
could give back all his NFL earnings and still have absolutely zero
financial yearnings. Yet, Brady was not married to Gisele when he
first began (the calculated risk of) taking less in favor of TEAM
success. Brady had no way of knowing (for certain) that his career
would last as long as it has and that he and the New England
Patriots would have enjoyed such incredible success while other NFL
franchises, particularly one as storied as the Dallas Cowboys, would
wallow in an organizational existence so comparatively hollow.
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The one-dimensional connection between Brady and Prescott is that
both were viewed – on some draft day level – as forgettable players
until their current teams kicked their tires and answered their pro
football prayers. That is where the similarities start and abruptly
stop with a steep support system drop. Brady benefits from an
incomparable head coach and a brilliant offensive coordinator (with
whom he has not always rubbed the right way but whom almost always
draws up the right play). Prescott has Jason Garrett and a
(promising?) rookie OC who has been given the green light to dare
it. There is no comparison, and it is woefully embarrassin’.
While Brady would happily tell you how (repeatedly and
strategically) accepting lower pay can make your team’s competitive
day, it is only relevant if Dak also has a coaching staff
similarly-free from an owner’s interference, leaving those molders
of men to perpetually pursue flexible scheme adherence in a
remarkably enduring way.
Regardless and deep down, Dak knows (in the absence of best-possible
coaching with the regular season fast-approaching) that taking less
can (possibly) help ensure a higher-quality roster at key positions
to create a longer-lasting legacy of efficacy . . . and potentially
result in multiple shots at an NFL crown.
Market Price Can Be Nice
Back in the days before the “rookie wage scale,” the NFL was
treacherously trending towards mammoth first-round rookie contracts
unintentionally designed to place all but the most forward-thinking,
fiscally-responsible teams in salary cap jail. Some organizations built
their teams around those dangerous deals (often sacrificing critical
depth elsewhere as a result) and delivered an epic fail. Gargantuan
signing bonus guarantees to college stars so professionally-unproven
(with occasional exceptions who had their maturity groovin’) risked
untimely complacency and could never account for freak injury . . .
or sudden-and-repeated boo-boo history. The Oakland Raiders had JaMarcus
“Zero Hussle” Russell. The Detroit Lions had (and still have)
Matthew “Big Gun, Little Fun” Stafford. The then-St. Louis Rams had
Sam “Forever Brittle” Bradford.
While the rookie wage scale has encouraged (some but not all) teams
to (more aggressively) build championship efforts around successful
rookies and early-career veterans who have easily outperformed their
original agreements, there is little to no way to escape a return to
those substantial, (now) well-earned appeasements. This fact applies
equally to Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, and Ezekiel Elliott (each of
whom have been doing their on-the-field best at selling it). They
are each looking at you (GM Jerry), and the bill always comes due.
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Teams can spend all the time they want negotiating to avoid setting
the market, and agents (or the players themselves) can tell those
teams to “take this offer and park it.” Teams can point to
“Team-First Tom,” and say “THAT guy is the forward-thinking bomb.”
Players can respond with “I want to win as much as anyone in this
league, but I can’t continue with this fiscal fatigue. I’m unwilling
to take that short-career risk, making my earnings unreasonably
brisk. And if you keep this up, I’ll start talking about your mom.”
Teams can say “But LOOK at how many rings Team-First Tom has on
display!” Players can respond with complete dismay “Can you
guarantee me that any cap relief I provide will always be used to
procure studs who can play?!” Teams can say “Well, that’s unfair to
put such undue pressure on decisions you really can’t measure!”
Players can respond with “So, we’re in agreement that I have no
other recourse but to go for market value appeasement?” Teams can
say “Well, we can still attempt to trade you to the highest bidder
for wonderful draft picks befitting, um, err . . . just kidding. We
agree, but please do allow us a moment of bereavement.”
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Market price can be nice, but the challenging chore for Dallas
(preferably within the same time span) is to successfully get such
deals in the can but thrice. GM Jerry and son Stephen are as adept
at salary cap manipulation, err, management as any team but – in
trying to extend the Cowboys’ latest version of “The Triplets” – the
team will potentially be forced to roll the dice.
“Even if Dak, Zeke, and Amari did accept team-friendly contracts,
couldn’t they recover the difference with lucrative endorsement
compacts?” you understandably inquire. Possibly, but the players
rightfully expect such sponsorships to be wholly external to
fulfilling the financial figures they believe they have earned or
that (due to established market value) they currently desire.
Skill Surety Versus Abysmal Maturity
While team owners would LOVE for all players to have Jaylon Smith's
"Clear Eye View” (with an extraordinary show of appreciation for the
draft day risk taken by the Cowboys’ organization), that approach –
for so many other players not having to recover from a devastating
knee injury resulting in (temporary) drop foot – goes completely
kaput. So many other players (lucky enough to not begin their pro
football careers having to mercilessly grind recovery gears) know
full well their opportunities in the NFL limelight may last but a
few years. And yet, there are still, Still, STILL so many other players who
could at least make it easier for owners to focus exclusively on
their game day production instead of their personal time
destruction.
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Rarely – on the flip side – has there been an athletic talent so worthy of being
professionally compensated but so personally unmotivated. And the
man-child who controls that fantastic game day skill? He simply
cannot be trusted outside the lines because of a history of
idle-time decisions that should make any NFL organization
competitively ill.
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Ezekiel Elliott the professional football talent is a generational
player. Ezekiel Elliott the human being (since at least 2014) has
not had a societal prayer, often behaving like a spoiled teen.
Zeke’s name has appeared in more than one police report. It was only
a matter of time before he unintentionally-but-inevitably attracted
the kind of (Las Vegas) subhuman that shamelessly attempts to
extort.
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“B-BUT Zeke’s never been arrested! He's merely dumb mistake
congested!” you defeatedly insist. Zeke’s inability to
(thus far) stay out of trouble has NEVER been contested (from Ohio State to his
current professional slate). His off-the-field lifestyle might
normally give (even the most patient-if-winning owner of the most valuable franchise in all
of sports) serious pause to become further invested. Still, “The
Tortured Cowboys Fan” gets the typical-for-pro-sports gist.
GM Jerry ain’t gettin’ any younger, and in order to get any closer
to his “I did it MY way” goal, he will (surely?) find a way to curb
the team-tormenting habits of this off-the-field bungler. Damn the
consequential cap space hole (if Commissioner Goodell is, once
again, compelled to derail Dallas when it is on a righteous roll).
Though, the equally-imperfect Jones will not seal the deal without
picking his (head-scratching) spots and taking a few “Zeke WHO?”
shots.
“I've earned the right with Zeke to joke. Period. I've earned that
right (because – on his seemingly ungrateful behalf and against
Roger Goodell – I put up such a public 2017 fight).” – Jerry Jones.
While GM Jerry is privately irked at the audacity of his
critically-important running back (who – without sufficient
guaranteed goodies – appears willing to remain off the bodily abuse
track and in his training hoodie), Jones is putting on a brave face
in suggesting the Cowboys are prepared for a not-so-run-centric
offensive attack. Time will soon tell if someone’s stink causes the
other to blink.
Trendsetters Or Rejection Letters?
One thing remains undeniably clear with the start of the regular
season so dangerously near. The NFL does not (always) revolve around
“America’s Team,” as proven by the deal-making actions of other
organizations that helped trigger this “entrenched position” theme.
The L.A. Rams did the Cowboys (with an offensive attack centered on
their own stud running back) no favors when they gave talented Todd
Gurley (now suffering from a degenerative knee condition in a hurry)
a four-year, $57.5M extension with $45M in guarantees, of course. It
will be 2021 before they can validate a (reasonable) dead money
divorce.
The Philadelphia Eagles did Dallas (with a statistically better Dak
delivery) no favors when they gave Carson Wentz (a promising passer
unable to survive defensive dents) a four-year, $128M continuance
with $107.87M in guarantees, of course. Prescott supporters went
hysterically hoarse (with colossal condemnation and insistence that
Dak’s own righteous reward will trigger an incredible celebration).
Prescott is – currently and without hesitation – a
better-than-average passer with tolerable telemetry so ground game
complementary, but any deal that is a single dollar deficient to the
one dealt to Wentz will (justifiably) fail to register with Cowboys
Nation.
Therefore, both Zeke and Prescott (understandably) believe they have
no choice but to powerfully project a maximum compensation voice.
And Cooper? With a 2019 base salary of $13.9M, he (publicly) appears
content to continue being a relatively silent trooper until other
pending receiver deals around the league officially place that
annual figure in the pooper.
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According to Stephen Jones on KTCK-AM 1310 in July, "We can't push
the issue unless we want to be a market-setter, and we're damn sure
not going to be a market-setter because of all the things that go
with being a Dallas Cowboy [that traditionally make off-the-field
financial opportunities for NFL football players so much better]." And if arrangements cannot be made on who gets
properly paid, the Cowboys are willing to go into 2019 with each
player on a "prove it deal" . . . a scenario that (for the moment)
is sure to make (the impatient among) Cowboys Nation anxiously reel. “And I’ve
got some backbone to keep it that way,” GM Jerry was heard to say.
And in his attention-seeking way, that bone-on-bone friction makes
for must-see TV, (temporary?) indigestion for Cowboys Nation, and
ultimate exposure of each player or GM Jerry as the true bed-wetter.
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Will the Cowboys become one of the latest trendsetters, or will they
continue to exchange rejection letters (with players determined to
see Dallas be maximum guaranteed moolah payers)?
Will Zeke really pull a complete Le’Veon Bell and tell the Jones’s
to go to hell . . . or will GM Jerry bring Elliott’s work stoppage
to a halt by reaching (further) into his vault to break the salary
standoff spell?
We shall see. We always do.
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