Just looking over the roster again, it's very possible that Mike Jenkins is the only secondary player that returns next year. Scandrick, Ball, and the two starting S's expire and Newman won't be back. They're saying 4-6 weeks with Newman's injury. I wonder if they'll rethink keeping him this year?
Figuring out Newman's cap numbers are tricky. He has 4 years left on a 6-year extension that had a $12 signing bonus. According to the news of the original contract the first 3 years were guaranteed - but not sure if that started in 2008 when he signed the extension or in 2009 when it kicked in. I'm assuming 2008 since his 2011 isn't guaranteed according to reports.
If
cut today it would mean $8m in dead money, split 50/50 between this and next year's cap space. $4m in dead money each. It would also free $4m up for this year since you're not paying his $8m salary. You'd have to spend that money on whatever meh CB is still on the market this year.
If
cut after the season, but before June 1, there would be $6m in dead cap money in 2012. Normally that's not a big deal, but this could bring the dead-money figure to $30m, against a cap they think will be about $120m next year.
If
cut next season June 1 or after, you split that $6m cap hit between 2012 and 2013. For the same money you could also pay him to just play in 2012 and eat a small amount of dead space in '13.
Meh. Shame because I like Newman as a player. I just hope Jerry is starting to learn why back-loading every single contract and giving 6-year deals to aging or unproven players always has the team some kind of debt.
PS - this site has contract situations, doesn't include contract details (Rotoworld has that), but gives and idea who we're losing and what we're paying in cap terms. You can increase Romo, Ware and Austin's future cap hits since they'll have to be renegotiated to get the cap down this year.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/yearly/