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Friday, December 19, 1997

Money no object for Jones' shopping spree

By MIKE BALDWIN / The Daily Oklahoman

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys plan to be aggressive this off-season. But how much money will they have to spend?

Squeezed by salary-cap restrictions, it's been suggested the Cowboys won't have the millions needed to make significant personnel changes. Dallas owner Jerry Jones and vice president Stephen Jones disagree. They claim they will have ample money to retool a team that didn't make the playoffs this season.

"In anticipation of how much money we would have to spend when we were looking at this two and three years ago, we anticipated the cap going up higher than most people," said Jerry Jones. "We won't be disappointed in what we can do."

According to statistics provided by the NFL Players Association, the Cowboys have $47 million committed to 35 players under contract next season. The salary cap is $41.4 this season, but it's expected to increase $4 to $8 million once the new television contract is completed in January.

"I really don't like people around the league to know exactly how much we have to spend, but that number ($47 million) is not right," said Stephen Jones. "We have a lot of flexibility in many of our contracts, and they were written accordingly. And we plan to restructure some contracts."

Stephen Jones, the Cowboys' "capologist," believes the Cowboys will have enough money to re-sign Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen, pursue several free agents and sign the 1988 rookie class after the NFL draft April 18-19. He claims the organization simply needs to be shrewd shoppers.

Dallas could select 12th or higher. The Cowboys often have traded out of the first round to obtain more draft picks and avoid paying first- round money. Interestingly, there are rumors Dallas may attempt to trade up to obtain the No. 4 or 5 pick and grab Florida State defensive end Andre Wadsworth.

"In the past, we felt the value was better to move down in the draft because we're always looking at what value we're getting for where we're picking a player," said Stephen Jones. "One year we tried to move up into the top 10. We always look at the value, not necessarily moving down to save money."

In addition to restructuring contracts, one way the Cowboys can save money is to release a player under contract, i.e. a less-productive veteran to save between $300,000 and $1.5 million depending upon that player's 1998 base salary.

Fifty percent of a player's signing bonus still counts against the cap if he's released after June 1. The only certainty is players who received hefty signing bonuses -- Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, Leon Lett, Erik Williams, Emmitt Smith, Tony Tolbert, Michael Irvin, Darren Woodson, Chad Hennings and Kevin Smith -- won't be among those who are cut.

Outside of those dozen players, everyone else will be evaluated based on salary compared to production. In addition to a few young players, several veterans -- Bill Bates, Tony Casillas, Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei, Vinson Smith, Herschel Walker and Wade Wilson -- could be playing their final game with the Cowboys on Sunday at Texas Stadium.

"It makes it even more difficult when a guy's been around here a lot and has helped us win three Super Bowls," said Stephen Jones. "At the same time, it's a business, and we have to look at what's best for this team."

Brock Marion, Broderick Thomas and Anthony Miller will be free agents. Stephen and Jerry Jones, scouting director Larry Lacewell and the entire coaching staff met Monday for more than two hours to discuss the Cowboys' personnel.

"It was successful, but that was just a starting point," said Stephen Jones. "We wanted evaluation from our coaches, and we also want our scouts to do an extensive evaluation. Those are things we'll be constantly looking at over the next two months."

The Cowboys have received criticism for signing players to long-term deals laced with signing bonuses only to have those players retire or become less effective before the contract ends.

But Stephen Jones claims the Cowboys paid only $2.5 million, one of the lowest figures in the league, to players no longer on the roster. He projects the figure will be approximately $2.5 million again next year, $1 mil lion to Charles Haley, $250,000 to Jay Novacek and more than $1 million to players with incentive clauses or smaller signing bonuses.

"Injuries play a factor, but we knew when we re-signed all those guys they wouldn't all live out the life of their con tracts," said Stephen Jones. "We'd be more than happy to give Larry Allen a long-term contract. It all comes down to the player you're talking about signing."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)