The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff and players loved everything about Gerald McCoy. Everyone was disheartened when he was injured in what seemed to be an inocuous one-on-one drill against fellow defensive lineman Antwaun Woods. But there he was, with a ruptured right quad and pending surgery, his 2020 season done before it started.
This morning, McCoy tweeted out an upbeat, pre-surgery video to assure Cowboys Nation he would be back. Head coach Mike McCarthy spoke glowingly about conversations the two had about how he could help youngsters Trysten Hill and Neville Gallimore step up in 2020. Now it appears a possibility his career as a Dallas Cowboy may never happen because in a surprise move, he’s been waived from the team.
Gerald McCoy has an injury waiver on his quad in his contract; if he hurts quad, which he did, they can cut him, per source. And they did. He can keep his $3 million bonus but Cowboys appear not to owe him any more. https://t.co/qcRkUP87wj
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 18, 2020
Here’s what this means. The Cowboys, knowing McCoy had a standing quad injury, protected themselves when they were negotiating and writing the three-year, $18.3 million contract. The deal had $3 million in signing bonus. The deal had a fully guaranteed $2.5 million base salary for 2020 and $1.5 million of his $5 million, 2021 salary was fully guaranteed as well. His remaining 2021 base salary, $3.5 million, was guaranteed for injury. He also had three consecutive, $750,000 game-day roster bonuses tied in.
If any other body part had been injured, McCoy would’ve seen at least $7 million in total payment, and possibly $10.5 million if the injury kept him from ever playing again. But the Cowboys had McCoy sign a waiver on his quad, and as such, they had the ability to release the player and nullify every other aspect of the contract other than the signing bonus.
The full section on the quad in Gerald McCoy’s #Cowboys contract if you really want to geek out. pic.twitter.com/DTyJK0chny
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 18, 2020
The move saves the Cowboys $3.25 million in cash and cap space, but does put $2 million of dead money on next year’s cap.
That’s because of the $3 million signing bonus’ proration. McCoy’s cap hit was his base salary ($2.5 million), his roster bonuses (he played all 16 games in 2019, so all bonuses are likely-to-be-earned and count on the cap – $750,000) and one-third of his signing bonus ($3 million spread evenly across three years).
His base salary and roster bonuses are off the books, his signing bonus proration stays and the two remaining years of proration, $2 million, now sit as dead money on the 2021 books.
The club has let it be known they hope to resign McCoy next season when healthy, but that seems like kumbaya rhetoric considering how much unknown there is. The team in the same breath hope Neville Gallimore and Trysten Hill emerge enough in 2020 to replace the production they were hoping for from McCoy.
It has not been stated whether or not the Cowboys are considering hiring McCoy as a coach for the season, which would allow him to recoup some or all of the lost salary and still continue his role in the development of the young defensive tackles.
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