Just when you think the Cowboys are going to make a smart personnel decision, Kellen Moore is the front runner for the OC position.
Does Dak have to sign with the Cowboys or can he test the Free Agent market?
He can absolutely test the market, and he should. No way in hell should he feel obligated to sign an extension before / during the 2019 season, especially if they make a ****** OC hire like Kellen Moore.
Yes. Career stats: 4 TDs and 6 Ints.
He doesn’t have to sign an extension but the Cowboys could put the franchise tag on him and force him to stay.
He doesn’t have to sign an extension but the Cowboys could put the franchise tag on him and force him to stay.
This is silly for alot of reasons. Mainly, Dak has a chance to sign a long term deal worth over $100 million with his favorite team.. His childhood dream came true, you don't walk away from that. Not to mention, it's the Dallas Cowboys... Derek Jeter didn't run off to play for the Twins.
Dallas is the youngest team in the NFL and has a ton of cap space. What opportunities are better?
Also, how do you know Kellen Moore is a ****** OC hire? Do you think some tired *** retread like Todd Haley would be better? A college OC that has little experience breaking down NFL defenses?
Kellen Moore is 30 years old. Six years in the NFL breaking down NFL defenses as a backup QB. 1 year as a QB coach. He ran one of the most exotic offenses in college football and was 50-3 as a QB at Boise, with the athletic ability of a mediocre D3 QB. His father was a legendary HS coach with 20 league titles and 4 state champs and of course Kellen was there from the time he could walk. Moore called the plays his JR and SR year in high school from the line of scrimmage. By all accounts he was born to be a coach and for what it's worth, Gruden agreed.
https://streamable.com/9e4zq
McVay had 3 years experience as a tight end's coach and a couple of years as an assistant position coach before becoming an OC at age 28.
Josh McDaniels was the son of a legendary high school coach. He was a high school quarterback for his father. He served 1 year as a grad assistant under Saban at Sparty. Then he sold plastic for a few years in Cleveland. In 2001 he worked in the personnel office for New England. In 2002 he was an assistant DB coach. In 2003 the DB coach. 2004 he became the QB coach. In 2005, at age 29 he was named Patriots OC.
I am guessing according to your logic McVay and McDaniels were ****** hires too, because they were younger with as little or less experience than Kellen Moore. You can't hire the next new innovative mind in football without taking a little risk. I would much rather give Moore a shot than the other names floating out there.
Everything you said about Dak playing for his favorite team, childhood dream, etc. will still be there if he tests free agency. Testing free agency makes the Cowboys pay him his market value if they want to keep him. What else are they going to do....tell Dak to 17 off and go pick up Ryan Fitzpatrick or Teddy Bridgewater? They damn sure aren’t in an ideal spot to draft another QB either without that first round pick they gave up for Cooper.
Whatever the Cowboys try to offer him before his deal expires is gonna be lowball in some form or another. Between the annual salary, guaranteed money, and contract duration, some or all will be more favorable to Dallas than for Dak with anything he signs before he hits FA. That’s Jerry’s MO. Look up Tyron Smith’s deal and read up on how he and others have gotten royally screwed by signing deals before testing free agency. Dak may not care. If he’s dedicated to Dallas and doesn’t care about the money that much, he can take less money or give Dallas more wiggle room to move on later. If so then that’s fine and that’s his move. But he has way more options than that, and if his goal is to get what he’s worth then he should test the market.
As far as everything you said about Moore, maybe he turns out great. Who knows. But Dak doesn’t need the next “innovative football mind”. He just needs a guy who knows how to handle dual threat QB’s (neither McVay nor McDaniel fit the bill there either, by the way). There’s no evidence at all that Moore is that guy. He had an awesome negative 133 rushing yards for his career in that “exotic offense” at Boise. So, I’d say you can throw out that qualification right off the bat. Andy Reid and others have had success with dual threat QB’s, and there are an extensive number of assistants who have worked with those guys. I’d even give Brian Daboll a look after what he was able to get out of Josh Allen late in the year at Buffalo.
Andy Reid was a walrus that fended off hungry polar bears before coaching, yet you admit he has had success with dual threat quarterbacks.... There is no correlation between a coaches playing stats and their ability to coach something. It's about their football IQ, their philosophy, their exposures to what they believe works... I am not saying Moore is or isn't going to be great, he is just by all accounts a great football mind that Dak is 100% behind and has a history with the NFL, Dak and the rest of the Cowboys personnel, creative offense, and an exposure to coaching the game well beyond his years.
Compared to the names being floated (Nussmeir, Haley, and James Cooley) I like Moore because I have seen what the other 3 can do as coordinators (Nussmeir at Florida, Haley everywhere, and Cooley at UGA, who by college standards was boring.)
As for the getting paid some of the comments are of college fans that no nothing of NFL. Franchise tags are horrible for most players if they get tagged. Maybe it's a decent salary bump for a single season, but it eats up a valuable year of a players prime and one crappy year or an injury could be the end of it all. Long-term deals, with big guaranteed money is the goal, with a player opt out clause 4-5 years down the road when salary caps are up and pay scales are skewed.
Dak should look for $22-30 million per for 5+ years with $90+ million guaranteed. Don't forget that cost of living and state taxes matter, $25 million in Dallas is equal to $30 million in LA or New York. Personally, I think Dak should go for a lower salary with more guaranteed and a player opt out. Brady does this to free up money for other players to make the team better thus extending his career and long term wealth. Dak is already killing it with advertising money, cause let's face it, Campbell's, Pepsi, 7-11, and Beats place alot more value on the franchise QB of Dallas than the one in Buffalo.
A hometown discount in Dallas that leads to a Super Bowl win in Dak's career, will make him an extra $100 million dollars potentially (by extending career value, endorsements, and life after football.) Whether it's in broadcasting (Romo, Aikman, Witten, Irvin, Moose, Deon) or real estate (Emmit, Staubach, and Aikman) life after football is highly lucrative for Cowboy legends. Don't test free agency, sign the deal this off-season at a slight discount and go enjoy your $100+ million while winning on the biggest stage. For all his faults, does Jerry Jones have a reputation for underpaying his players? No, it's quite the opposite in fact.
I know Moore’s playing stats don’t really mean anything. I was posting a counterpoint to the OP who said Moore was qualified because of the exotic offense he ran at Boise State. My point was that the Boise offense Moore ran is in no way the type of offense that Dallas needs to run to be successful. So whether or not Moore would be a good hire is totally unrelated to his playing career in college.
Don’t really disagree with anything you said about the franchise tag or the dollar figures Dak should try to get. But unfortunately, Dak has no control over whether or not he gets tagged (unless he decides to pull a LeVeon Bell). I still don’t see the tag happening though, so its probably moot. I’m also not sure he gets that $22-$30 million either unless he actually tests the waters.
The thing about free agency is he can still take less in Dallas and get more guaranteed money, or take the same offer he gets before he hits free agency if he wants the team to be able to build around him. No doors are closed by testing the waters. The only way I wouldn’t do it if I were him is if he suffers a major injury during the 2019 season that jeopardizes his future prospects.
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