And while Jerry is an awful owner, I don't have much issue with any of his recent money moves. I think he was right to go all in last year. With a healthy Spencer, Ware, Ratliff, Lee, Austin...who knows what happens. The only major mistake, aside from Austin (injury), appeared to be Free, but he bounced back very nicely this year. Jerry should actually get credit for not cutting him, when it seemed like a no-brainer thing to do.
I'd bet my favorite finger that Austin is cut.
Perhaps -- and I'm not a Cowboys fan, just hear lots about how great they are since I moved to TX.
His constant mettling would drive me nuts as a fan. His coaching staff is a joke -- Garrett has no power, Ryan was a fall guy last year, replaced by Kiffin who may or may not still be a good coordinator. The excuse for the defense not having the right personnel is built in, given the scheme change. And they're razor thin on defense due to cap considerations elsewhere. But Ryan wasn't the problem… I'm not sure you can say whether Kiffen was the problem. Was Callahan really the problem this year? Now he's pissed off and we throw another cook in the kitchen in Linehan.
There's one constant in all of it… and considering the peek we got at their draft board and how they maneuvered the last draft, I think it's fair to question the decisions of that franchise until they prove us wrong. And believe me, I hope I am 1000000000% dead wrong about Miles Austin being retained.
This
review of the Cowboys financial situation from overthecap.com mentions Austin as a likely cut, but also talks of the possibility that the Cowboys view their situation as only $2-4MM over the cap given built in restructures so evident in current contracts. Given the structure of Austin's deal, cutting him only saves the team $300K+ in immediate cap relief (a net negative impact considering the minimum contract to replace Austin). Designating him as a June 1 cut saves $5.5MM, but doesn't give the team any cap relief until June. So the article mentions the team approaching Austin with a restructure involving a pay cut, thereby giving the team immediate relief while offering Austin a chance to maintain his roster spot and play for a new contract in 2015. It certainly seems plausible, and scares me to death as a Terrance Williams owner.