Todd Archer of ESPN writes that Cowboys CB Brandon Carr is the “big winner” after the team was unable to sign either Nolan Carroll or Patrick Robinson after bringing them in for visits.
According to Archer, Dallas will wants Carr to take a pay cut and agree to reduce his $9.1 million salary for the 2016, and have spoken to his agent. However, determining his worth has been a bit of an issue.
Archer mentions that Carr could end up in the $5 – $6 million per year range if he were to be available on the open market. Beyond that, the Cowboys are well aware that some team would sign him to a contract, which explains why they didn’t make this move last year.
Another issue is that they currently do not have an obvious replacement for him on their roster.
Cowboys HC Jason Garrett mentioned that while they would like Carr to be “more impactful,” they still believe he’s been a consistent player for them.
“He, like everyone on our defense, we would like them to be more impactful, more productive,” Garrett said. “We need to take the ball away more. Two years we were among the best teams in the NFL doing that. Last year we took a big step back. So as an organization you have to look at ways to improve in that area. Brandon has to improve but everybody across our defense has to improve. He has been a steady player for us. He has been a productive player for us at times. It’s a valuable position. And he has done a good job covering guys at very challenging spot throughout his time with the Cowboys. Last year he dealt with an injury, a shoulder. He dealt with it throughout the year. So at times, he probably wasn’t playing his best. But he was out there. He was a guy who showed up every day, who showed up every week.
“We feel good about what he is all about.”
A report from a few weeks ago said that the Cowboys were expected to release Carr. However, there has been no updates regarding this idea since then.
Carr, 29, is in the fourth year of his five-year, $50.1 million contract that included $25.5 million guaranteed. He stands to make a base salary of $9.1 million for the 2016 season and another $10 million in 2017.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Carr would free up $6,383,000 in available cap space while creating $7,434,000 in dead money. However, the Cowboys could designate him as a post-June 1 release, which would improve those figures to $9.1 million in available cap space and $4,717,000 in dead money.
In 2015, Carr appeared in all 16 games for the Cowboys and recorded 76 tackles, a fumble recovery and six pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 73 cornerback out of 111 qualifying players.
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