Cowboys news: Opinions and reason about Dez Bryant, and hope the “catch rule” will actually get fixed

Dallas Cowboys: Jermichael Finley is chirping about Dez Bryant again, calling WR's fat contract with Cowboys 'armed robbery' | SportsDay staff
His opinion is basically meaningless to the Cowboys' management, but that hasn't stopped Jermichael Finley from throwing some huge shade at Dez Bryant.

"I think the $14 million [average annual salary], I call that armed robbery," Finley said Wednesday on 105.3 The Fan's Ben and Skin Show. "That's stealing.

"I'm not doubling down [on Bryant comments from earlier in the week]. I say $14 million is way too much money to be giving Dez Bryant at this time in career. I'm close to Dez. He's a good friend, but once again, all I know is honesty and what I see, and I see Dez not making plays for the Dallas Cowboys. And once that happens - you get paid off your performance, right? I think at $14 million, Jerry Jones is donating that. It's a donation."

Dallas Cowboys: Drew Pearson: Why Dez Bryant might as well 'put his ego aside a little bit' and take pay cut to stay with Cowboys | SportsDay staff
Drew Pearson, the original 88 for the Dallas Cowboys, went on KTCK the Ticket, and had this opinion to contribute on the Dez Bryant contract situation.

"I hope they work it out. I hope the Cowboys aren't forced into a situation where they have to release him. I don't think it has come to that at this point. I think they'll work something out. But at the same time, I don't think they're going to be willing to pay him the full salary that he's due.

Here's what's the key to his contract: He shouldn't be worrying about a pay cut because the key to his contract is the $45 million guaranteed bonus that he got. When you sign a contract, that is what you're negotiating mostly in a contract like that, how much can I get in that signing bonus. You're trying to get as much as you can in that signing bonus because you know in the NFL if you sign four-, five-, six-year contracts, there's a chance you might not be around at the end of those contract. So the key is the signing bonus. If he can just put his ego aside a little bit and realize that and play at what, $8 million? Psh, I'll take it. And he'll still be effective and still up there as far as salaries are concerned for wide receivers."

Dez Bryant, The Salary Cap, And Your Chance To Be The Smartest Cowboys Fan On Your Block « Mike Fisher, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
The whole Dez mess makes for some heated opinions, but as Fish points out, all the talk about cutting him outright or demanding a pay cut is really uneccessary.

So what to do? Enlist the help of pal KD Drummond. Crunch some more numbers. Take out your No. 2 pencils. And run it all by two NFL team cap experts.

Bryant’s current cap hit is $16.5 million for 2018, and he has an identical hit for 2019 as well. In each year, $12.5 million is base salary and the remaining $4 million is the allocation from his original $20-million signing bonus, split evenly across his five-year extension signed heading into 2015.

Dallas can simply add a voidable year to his deal, and then restructure his 2018 base salary. The club could reduce Bryant’s base salary down to the vet minimum for his tenure, $915,000. They then spread that $11.585-million restructure across 2018, 2019 and what we will call “the phantom year” of 2020 at the hit of $3.86 million.

And his 2018 salary would be exactly as it is now, $12.5 mil. It provides Dallas with cap relief now, and provides Bryant with more leverage in 2019 thanks to increasing the amount of dead money on the card were they to release him. … so they likely would not … and he makes $12.5 mil again in 2019.

Dallas Cowboys: Cowboys VP Stephen Jones: 'If we don't feel good about this (catch) rule, then it's not good for the game' | David Moore SportsDay
Well, the NFL is once again going to address the catch rule after a season where things just got murkier. Stephen Jones addressed the fact the NFL's Competition Committee is delving back into things, and it leads to the question CAN WE GET AN AMEN???

"We've got to decide at some point if we don't feel good about this rule then it's not good for the game,'' Jones said. "If that's the case, we've got to start calling what happened with Dez Bryant (Green Bay playoff game) and Calvin Johnson catches.''

Dallas Cowboys: Three seasons after the #DezCaughtIt firestorm, Roger Goodell wants to 'start over' on defining an NFL catch | Kate Hariopoulos, SportsDay
What is truly amazing about the latest moves to try and fix the catch rule is that the commish is finally saying some sensible things about what needs to be done.

Commissioner Roger Goodell offered a possible solution Wednesday - calling for the competition committee to start from scratch when it comes to defining a catch in the rule book.

"From our standpoint, I would like to start back, instead of adding to the rule, subtracting to the rule, to start over again and look at the rule fundamentally from the start," Goodell said from Minneapolis during his annual Super Bowl news conference, "because I think when you add or subtract things you can still lead to confusion."

NFC East Beat: Does Alex Smith make division tougher for Cowboys? | K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire
Washington is taking a lot of heat for the cost involved in trading for Alex Smith, as well as the simply baffling way they handled Kirk Cousins to get to this point. But in the short run at least, the new QB for the Cowboys' division rival may make the NFC East a tougher place.

Cousins has thrown 36 interceptions over the last three seasons. Smith has tossed just 20, including only 5 last season. Perhaps even more importantly, Smith has fumbled just 13 times over the last three seasons over all of those dropbacks and 192 rushing attempts. Cousins has fumbled 31 times on 109 rushing attempts.

The quarterback sabotaging his own team is no longer on the table for Washington opponents, and that alone makes the NFC a far more difficult division to navigate for the Cowboys.

Mailbag: Did Cousins-Smith Swap Help Redskins? Any TE Worthy of 19th Pick? | Dallas Cowboys staff
Over at the mothership, Nick Eatman and Bryan Broaddus don't seem too concerned about the QB change in Washington.

Nick: I think Cousins is a better pure passer and has been able to keep the Redskins offense on the move, despite being rather one-dimensional. Alex Smith seems to be better when you can give him some balance and right now, the Redskins don’t really have that. So I guess I’d rather face Cousins, even though his record against the Cowboys is just 1-6. Either way, it doesn’t change my opinion much about the Redskins. I would still rank them third in the NFC East among teams the Cowboys should worry about.

Bryan: I have always hated facing Cousins. I don’t think you can pin his 1-6 record against Dallas solely on him. With that being said, I am glad he’s off the Redskins. Smith is a similar quarterback but with better running skills. Steady without being spectacular. I’ll take my chances playing against him.

Redskins trade for Alex Smith is perfect example of “how not to build your roster” - Michael Sisemore, Blogging The Boys
Our own @MrSisemore points out the real problem with the way the Cousins/Smith situation was handled.

This move to add Alex Smith is much less about the quarterback and more about how desperate the Redskins’ front office looks in executing the trade. Kirk Cousins was treated terribly but don’t feel bad for him as he’s about to become the highest-paid free agent of 2018.

If Kirk Cousins isn’t “special” than neither is Alex Smith. So, in essence, the Redskins just dumped Cousins to the street for the right to grossly overpay another non-special quarterback who is four years older. The Chiefs, Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, and the rest of the NFC East came out winners in this deal but the Redskins most certainly lost. In the rules of roster building, this was a perfect example of what “not” to do.