Miles Austin's bonus.
Don't think the Cowboys just woke up Friday morning and said, what the heck, let's cut these two guys. They knew what they were doing - going to do - and again, they aren't necessarily tipping their hand for the draft. Come on, safety and offensive line were going to be priorities anyway.
Plus, let's also be serious. When a lot of these contracts over the past couple of seasons were written, they were done so with a pretty good idea 2010 was going to be an uncapped season. I mean why else do you think Terence Newman has a $9 million base salary this year? Why else do you think they agreed to stuff a $9 million guaranteed roster bonus into Roy Williams' deal this year?
Also, this is just a continuation of making sure you don't let your roster grow old, just as they did last year when turning their backs on the likes of Greg Ellis, Roy Williams, Terrell Owens, Anthony Henry and Keith Davis. Better to release a guy a year too soon than a year too late, a lesson Jerry Jones painfully learned in the late '90s and earlier this past decade, and one Dave Campo paid dearly for as head coach in his three seasons.
Now sure Flo will be missed. He should be. As Jones said, "There are two other things that are very impressive about Flozell; two things that a lot of people might not know. First, he cares very much about the game and has tremendous dedication to his profession. He approached every day with the Cowboys with a deep sense of personal pride in himself and the job he did. He was always prepared. Second, he is simply one of the most intelligent players we have ever had with this organization in the past 21 years.
"We will always be grateful for his outstanding durability, dependability and contributions to this team. I don't know that you could ask for any more than what Flozell Adams gave to the Dallas Cowboys for 12 seasons."
You couldn't. As for Hamlin, I'm guessing the Cowboys are kicking themselves for giving in that summer of '08 when they had franchised him, but acquiesced to his holdout right before the start of training camp by signing him with great reservation to a six-year, $39 million deal laced with that $9 million signing bonus. He became not so much a liability ever since as just a non-entity at safety. Come on, the guy was the free safety. He played in 28 games over the past two seasons and totaled one interception and just seven passes defensed. Seven. Seriously.
That's a high price to get guys lined up.
So that price and the real price got Ken Hamlin.
Age (35 in May) and an uncapped year for sure got Flo.
Hopefully the NFLPA is paying attention. Two more guys are staring at losses of up to $11 million, nest eggs they may never recoup.
Nice Friday.
