Dallas Cowboys: Breaking Bad (Contracts) in 2016
By Reid Hanson
Dallas Cowboys Players Most Likely to be Cut: #1 Brandon Carr
The Dallas Cowboys have plenty of under-performing/overpaid players on their 4-12 roster who are worthy of being cut. Headlining the group, for what seems like the millionth time, is cornerback Brandon Carr.
According to overthecap.com, Brandon Carr will count $13.817M against the cap in 2016. Few will argue that the team’s third highest paid player has not lived up to the lofty 5yr/$50M contract he signed four years ago. Cutting Carr before March would cost the Cowboys $7.434M and save the team $6.383M. But making him a “post June 1st cut” would spread the dead money, freeing $9.1M this season and only costing $4.717M this year and $2.717M next season in dead money.
With an ever-inflating CB market, it’s tough to say the Cowboys could definitively upgrade at the position for what they would save in cutting Carr. That will be a decision Jason Garrett, Rod Marinelli, and the front office will have to weigh when deciding Carr’s future.
Check out this (still-applicable) piece on Brandon Carr: Carr Deserves the Money AND the Blame
As much as it pains some Carr-haters to hear (myself included), there is a small chance the Dallas Cowboys EXTEND Brandon Carr this offseason in the same way they extended Doug Free a few years back. They could add a season to the 29-year old’s contract, convert non-guaranteed dollars into guaranteed dollars, and spread it out so he would cost the Cowboys less per season than he would have cost otherwise.
That way Carr nets more total financial guarantees but ultimately plays for less on a per-season basis. He would only do this if he believes the Cowboys would otherwise cut him and he would not be able to make up the difference on the open market.
2016 Salary: $13.817M
Savings if cut: $9.1M
Chances of being cut: 70%
Next: More turnover in the secondary...