Tag: new contract

Sean Lee returning to Cowboys for one more year

The Cowboys are bringing back one of their veteran staples on a one year deal.

The Dallas Cowboys have seen a rash of defections on Tuesday, but they have been able to stop the bleeding. It’s fitting that the player being brought back did similar when it came to the defense last season. Sean Lee, a star-crossed star of the defense since being drafted in 2010, lost his starting job in 2018 to upstart rookie Leighton Vander Esch. But when the 2018 first-round pick was lost to a serious neck injury, Lee returned to the lineup and did his best to plug a leaky defense.

Now, with Vander Esch’s future still very much in question, Lee has decided to not only return to football for am 11th season, but he’s agreed to do so in the only place he knows, Dallas.

Drafted in the second round in 2010, Lee has endured his share, and several other player’s worth of injuries, but he turned in his first 16-game season of his career in 2019. In 13 starts, he finished with 86 tackles, a sack and an interception as he manned the weak-side linebacker spot next to Jaylon Smith.

On his career Lee has 14 interceptions. He’s also missed 51 of a possible 160 games.

He played 2019 under an incentive-laden contract, restructuring the final year of his deal to reflect his status as a backup and an injury risk. He ended up making over $6 million on the season from a base salary of $3.5 million which was half what he originally was scheduled to get.

Bringing Lee back is essential for the Cowboys. Although Smith is a much better weakside linebacker than Mike, he will likely play in the middle if Vander Esch can’t go.

Dallas has unofficially declared this an area of concern when they recently met with Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray, a projected first-round pick. If they had faith Vander Esch was certainly returning to play, then there’s no way they’d consider linebacker that early in the draft.

Getting Lee back helps depth wise, but as a one-year solution he certainly won’t stand in the way if the club wants to pour more high-pedigree draft capital into the least important of the defense’s three units.

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Tony Romo re-ups with CBS Sports, to make $17M a year

CBS is making their leading man very happy for the coming broadcast wars.

The NFL landscape is about to undergo major change in these next rounds of rights allocations. After the CBA is cleared up, the league is going to open bidding for the right to broadcast their multitude of packages. The NFC, AFC, Sunday, Monday and Thursday night broadcasts will now also include a third wild-card game in each conference and the fact live sports seems to be the only thing tethering people to the corded conglomerates, the bidding is expected to bring a windfall of new revenue to the league.

CBS, wanting to make sure they don’t lose their seat at the table, went about securing the one thing separating them from their competitors; the world’s best color analyst. They have worked out a deal to retain pending free agent Tony Romo at a record number of $17 million a season.

The former record was held by the incomparable John Madden, who earned $8 million a season a couple decades ago. According to the New York Post that would be around $14 million in today’s dollars.

Romo had the opportunity to name his price, as his first contract was for three years and $10 million, but allowed CBS the right of first refusal before Romo could negotiate with another network.

It was believed ESPN was going to put together a lucrative package in order to bring Romo to their stable. There are rumors ESPN would like to broadcast Super Bowls as well, as they look to improve over the combo of Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland.

Romo began broadcasting immediately after retiring from the Dallas Cowboys as a player and the franchise leader in most every statistical category. He’s been widely accepted as the gold standard of his profession, giving insights into what pre-snap reads and formations offenses are making and taking the viewer on a more significant journey than other broadcasts.

He had instant chemistry with Jim Nantz, CBS’ star announcer who covers a wide range of sports. There have been rumors a new contract for Romo could include joining Nantz on other broadcasts, specifically golf, which Romo has a penchant for playing at competitive levels already.

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