By Rainer Sabin
rsabin@dallasnews.com
7:08 pm on March 4, 2014 | Permalink
The Cowboys want to keep their all-time sacks leader but not at his current salary.
That’s what the team told defensive end DeMarcus Ware, according to a league source.
The fact that the Cowboys have delivered this news to Ware, their seven-time Pro Bowler, is not a surprise. Last month, the club’s executive vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys couldn’t afford to keep Ware if the financial figures in his contract weren’t adjusted. Ware carries a $16.003 million cap number and a $12.25 million base salary.
“Can he count $16 million? No,” Jones said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “We would have to restructure, or … there is a bunch of options. You can restructure, you can take a pay cut, and obviously not have the player.”
Ware expressed after the end of last season he was unwilling to play for a reduced salary. In 2013, Ware collected a career-low six sacks as he battled through a series of injuries. This off-season, he underwent an operation on his right elbow to repair nerve damage. The toll his body has taken has weighed on Cowboys executives’ minds as they have discussed the 31-year-old’s future with the club.
“DeMarcus is paid like the best player on defense,” owner Jerry Jones said in February. “You’ve got to look if you have your legs. Legs are the first thing to go. Do you have your legs? You got to look at a lot of things here. As we evaluate either or — in other words this is not a question of not having players out there playing playing, it’s a question of, if not DeMarcus, [then] who. No one, no one has been a better and is a better Dallas Cowboy than DeMarcus Ware.”
Although the Cowboys are now roughly $1 million over the payroll ceiling mandated by the NFL after restructuring the contracts of quarterback Tony Romo, linebacker Sean Lee and cornerback Orlando Scandrick, the scope of their plans in free agency will be directly affected by how the Ware situation is resolved.
Now the ball is rolling in the process toward figuring out what to do with Ware.
rsabin@dallasnews.com
7:08 pm on March 4, 2014 | Permalink
The Cowboys want to keep their all-time sacks leader but not at his current salary.
That’s what the team told defensive end DeMarcus Ware, according to a league source.
The fact that the Cowboys have delivered this news to Ware, their seven-time Pro Bowler, is not a surprise. Last month, the club’s executive vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys couldn’t afford to keep Ware if the financial figures in his contract weren’t adjusted. Ware carries a $16.003 million cap number and a $12.25 million base salary.
“Can he count $16 million? No,” Jones said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “We would have to restructure, or … there is a bunch of options. You can restructure, you can take a pay cut, and obviously not have the player.”
Ware expressed after the end of last season he was unwilling to play for a reduced salary. In 2013, Ware collected a career-low six sacks as he battled through a series of injuries. This off-season, he underwent an operation on his right elbow to repair nerve damage. The toll his body has taken has weighed on Cowboys executives’ minds as they have discussed the 31-year-old’s future with the club.
“DeMarcus is paid like the best player on defense,” owner Jerry Jones said in February. “You’ve got to look if you have your legs. Legs are the first thing to go. Do you have your legs? You got to look at a lot of things here. As we evaluate either or — in other words this is not a question of not having players out there playing playing, it’s a question of, if not DeMarcus, [then] who. No one, no one has been a better and is a better Dallas Cowboy than DeMarcus Ware.”
Although the Cowboys are now roughly $1 million over the payroll ceiling mandated by the NFL after restructuring the contracts of quarterback Tony Romo, linebacker Sean Lee and cornerback Orlando Scandrick, the scope of their plans in free agency will be directly affected by how the Ware situation is resolved.
Now the ball is rolling in the process toward figuring out what to do with Ware.
