End of the run: Cowboys to cut Emmitt Smith

Dallas Morning News ^ | 02/27/02 | RICHARD DURRETT/ Dallas Web Staff

[stupid1]

The NFL’s all-time leading rusher will no longer be a Cowboy.

Running back Emmitt Smith will be released Thursday, ending his 13-year career in Dallas, two sources said. Smith, who turns 34 in May, has said he wants to remain a starter and would consider playing for other teams.

The team has called a 2 p.m. news conference to make the announcement. Smith, dressed in a suit, arrived at the team's Valley Ranch headquarters at noon.

Smith was scheduled to earn a base salary of $7 million in 2003 and count $9.8 million against the salary cap. Because Smith will be cut prior to June 1, the Cowboys will take a $4.9 million hit against the cap this season, but the team has an additional $4.9 million of salary cap room. If the Cowboys had kept Smith past June 1, they would have spread the $4.9 million over two years, $2.8 million this year and $2.1 million in 2004.

But by cutting Smith now, the Cowboys answer their biggest off-season question before free agency begins and know how much money they have to spend to available players. The free agency period begins Friday. The Cowboys also give the future Hall of Famer a chance to explore options with other teams now rather than wait until June when many teams have already spent most of their money on free agents.

The Dallas Morning News reported in January that Smith could return to the Cowboys only in a backup role and probably for the 14-year veteran minimum of $755,000. But Smith never wavered from the fact that he wanted to start in the NFL. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Smith met last week, but details of the meeting were not released. Jones said that he would address Smith’s future with the Cowboys this week.

Cowboys coach Bill Parcells has stayed away from the Smith question, saying at his news conference last month that the subject was between “Jerry and Emmitt first.”

While Smith broke Walter Payton’s record for rushing yards in a career, the 2002 season was not a great year by Smith’s lofty standards. He rushed for 975 yards, his lowest output since his rookie season, and had only two 100-yard games. He averaged 3.8 yards per carry, putting him near the bottom of the league in that category and Smith’s yardage total and average per carry declined the past three seasons. He finishes his Cowboys career with 17,162 yards rushing.

The fact Smith nearly rushed for 1,000 yards for the 12th season behind an offensive line that rarely had the same starters in consecutive weeks gives Smith, and maybe a few teams looking for a running back, hope that he can still be a solid back.

The Cowboys must now decide if they look to the free-agent market for available running backs or draft one. The Cowboys hold the fifth pick in the first round the NFL draft on April 26.

[stupid1]

Thanks for the memories!

[justshutupandtakeit]

No other team will pay him 10 million starter or not.

[sinkspur]

Randy Galloway, lead writer for the Star-Telegram, wrote last week that there is absolutely no interest around the NFL in Emmitt Smith. His career is in its twilight; nobody wants to carry his big fat salary for a back-up running back; and Emmitt has, unfortunately, made everything about Emmitt in the last couple of years. He charges a "personal appearance fee" of $25,000-$50,000 now, is no longer the "regular guy" around the fans, and will not likely want to spend a lot of time on somebody's bench.

The fact that Parcells was willing to cut him loose speaks loud and clear.

Like Pudge Rodriguez, Emmitt Smith's glory days are over, and he ought to just retire.

Please, Emmitt. Don't become another Willie Mays.

[Zack Nguyen]

This had to happen. Emmett is still a fine runner, but no one in the NFL, not even Michael Vick, is worth $10 million dollars for one season.

To be fair, Emmett's evident decline was helped along by one of the worst offensive lines that has ever been fielded by an NFL team. I cannot off-hand name a worse one. That Chad Hutchison survived last season says quite a bit.

Emmett can still play. I doubt that he is a 1300 yard per year back, as he claimed. But maybe he'll surprise us all, if the team he lands is good.

[Cagey]

Cowboys coach Bill Parcells has stayed away from the Smith question, saying at his news conference last month that the subject was between “Jerry and Emmitt first.”

Yea, right. That is not Parcells' style at all and I'd bet the Dallas coach was involved and instrumental in this decision.

Smith has had a great career and I think he can still add some numbers to his record. I wish him well.

[Dominic Harr]

Damn.

He's still a top-10 back, in my opinion, easily a 1300 yard back on a competent team.

Look how he did last year, with *no* passing game to speak of to take the heat off the running game.

Damn.

It's a sad, sad day for Cowboy's fans. Emmitt is, by far, my favorite player on the Cowboys.

Or 'was', I suppose I should say.

[discostu]

YES! And the Cowboys will continue to SUCK! Yippee.

As for Emmitt's "bad" stats this year. The fact that he averaged 3.8 a carry with no offensive line is a compliment. And as for only 975 on the season, hard to stack up a lot of yards when your coach is too stupid to have you out there on 3rd and short all season long (I lost track of how often Emmitt was on the bench for 3rd and short, no matter what his performance was like that game). And now Parcells agreeing to let Emmitt go just helps my arguement that he's an overrated coach. Only question is which team is smart enough to pick him up. Emmitt's got at least 2 more solid years in him. And yesterday my Steelers dumped the interception machine. This is turning into a great week.

[dfwgator]

So long to the ultimate "dfwgator." I hope he ends up in Tampa Bay, where he can finish out as a champion.

[discostu]

YES! And the Cowboys will continue to SUCK! Yippee.

As for Emmitt's "bad" stats this year. The fact that he averaged 3.8 a carry with no offensive line is a compliment. And as for only 975 on the season, hard to stack up a lot of yards when your coach is too stupid to have you out there on 3rd and short all season long (I lost track of how often Emmitt was on the bench for 3rd and short, no matter what his performance was like that game). And now Parcells agreeing to let Emmitt go just helps my arguement that he's an overrated coach. Only question is which team is smart enough to pick him up. Emmitt's got at least 2 more solid years in him. And yesterday my Steelers dumped the interception machine. This is turning into a great week.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I dunno...The Vikings could use another prima donna up in Minneapolis.

[Zack Nguyen]

That is not Parcells' style at all and I'd bet the Dallas coach was involved and instrumental in this decision.

You can bet he was. I think Parcells kept away from this for political purposes. He did not want to begin his career here by tossing the most popular Cowboy overboard. He let Jerry know what he wanted, and Jerry took care of the rest.

[Doomonyou]

Please, Emmitt. Don't become another Willie Mays.

Or worse, another OJ.

[Delbert]

Emmitt was a class act. He has a lot of fans here in Dallas and he will be missed big time. I hope he finds a good team, one with a good offensive line and that he comes back to Dallas and runs all over the Cowboys.

[KC_Conspirator]

Emmitt was still the best player on that awful team. How he got 975 yards out of them is amazing. However, justifying his salary is a problem.

[J. Semper Paratus]

EMMITT!

Sign with the RAIDERS!

(They like old guys, and have a good "O" line.)

[leilani]

HEY! I'm not a native Texan, but I am of the naturalized Texan persuasion. Being a female, I'm not even a hard-core football fan, but my heart is breaking that time has to march on for the Cowboys like this. The C'Boys without Emmitt is like toast without butter. WOW! Mr. Smith is leaving with such supreme grace (way more dignified than Troy, I think). But the Lone Star on my flag will ALWAYS have Emmitt Smith's gorgeous smile smack dab in the middle of it and nothing can ever change that, not even two decades and new NFL contracts. Thanks, Emmitt. You made us proud. Even if ol' Sinky thinks you stink. (And let's not even get on the subject of Pudge, Sinkspur.)

[Zack Nguyen]

If it is possible for three straight 5-11 teams to actually show improvement, the Cowboys did. There were times in 2001 when I believed they were worse than at any time since the 1960 expansion year. They were a disgrace to professional football.

The 2002 team was an improvement, though the record was just as bad. But the line actually regressed.

The line notwithstanding, it is clear that Emmett is not the back he was six or seven years ago. Even at the best of situations, with 300 carries in a season, he'll have a hard time getting to 1200 yards.

[Night Hides Not]

How he got 975 yards out of them is amazing.

Not trying to pick a fight with anybody, but gaining 1000 yards in a season is not as meaningful as in the past. Over a 16 game season, that works out to 63 measly yards per game. In today's parity/mediocrity laden NFL, I submit that the elite backs should be gaining closer to 1300 yards.

The last few years for Emmitt has been all about personal goals, and continues today. When I hear him speak, he focuses on 20,000 yards, not another ring.

[kesg]

Emmitt Smith is arguably the greatest Cowboy player ever, but the plain truth is that he isn't anything near the player he was five or six years ago, either mentally or physically. Even with Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys were a combined 15-33 over the last three seasons. And to be brutally honest (I'm speaking as a long-time season ticket holder) he was as much a part of the decline as he was their three Super Bowl championships.

The Cowboys -- a team that needs to rebuild from top to bottom -- did themselves a huge favor by releasing him and freeing up over $7 million of salary cap money to pay for younger and more productive players who will help the team as a whole win more games.

[KC_Conspirator]

Take a look at the 1,000 yard rushers. I would that there are maybe like 20 in the NFL during a good year. Teams also pass the ball more these days since players are bigger and team tushing yards are down.