Cowboys Sign Emmitt Smith

I know there are a few Cowboy fans here so I figured you'd like to know about Emmitt's return to Dallas.

Cowboys re-sign Smith, who will retire with Dallas

March 17, 2005
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Former Dallas running back Emmitt Smith signed a one-year contract with his old team Thursday so he can retire as a Cowboy.

The league's leading rusher spent the last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.

After Smith submits his official retirement notification to the NFL, he will be placed on the Cowboys' reserve retired list.

The 35-year-old Smith ran for 18,355 yards and 164 touchdowns in his career, both NFL records. He closed it out by running for 937 yards and nine touchdowns in Arizona last season.

Smith, who announced his retirement last month, was drafted by the Cowboys in 1990 and played 13 seasons with the club.

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Not too surprising, and it was a classy move by Jones.

Now for Jerry Rice to get the memo.

Thanks for the info, appreciate it!

Thanks. I saw the story on the Dallas Morning News online.

Nice gesture.

I think that is one of the most classy ways to retire. Retiring with the team who thought you had what it took to be succesful in the NFL and picked you in the draft. I hope Johnson Davis Robinson and Carr all end up retiring with us like Smith did wit the Boys.

I hope Mark Brunell retires as a Jag... of course he'll have to come back like Emmit did.

Good for Emmit. It's about time the Cowpies showed a little class. It's been in very short supply there for a few years.

That is awesome. I was hoping that Emmitt could do this.

I'd bet in hindsight Parcells and Jones wish they had signed him to play for Dallas the last two years--no public black eye and production at least as good Hambrick/George.

I was disappointed that salary issues wouldn't allow the Cowboys to afford Emmitt those last two years, and glad he had a chance to play with a team that could. As for Hambrick, I was never believed that he could contribute as a starter. He wanted his opportunity to shine at the expense of Emmitt's playing time, and he still couldn't get the job done in Dallas or Arizona.

infantrycak said:

I'd bet in hindsight Parcells and Jones wish they had signed him to play for Dallas the last two years--no public black eye and production at least as good Hambrick/George.

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Jerry I'm sure would have kept Emmitt if he could have.

Bill I'm not so sure about.

I thought they already did that, sometime around SB time. He was activated for a day so he could retire a Cowgirl.

WWJD said:

Jerry I'm sure would have kept Emmitt if he could have.

Bill I'm not so sure about.

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Don't know who made the decision but collectively Jerry/Bill wanted him gone. Emmitt said he would play for much less money than he had been. In response, they only offered Emmitt league minimum to come back. JMO but that was almost insulting and was only done so they could say they made him an offer. In contrast, just a year later they gave Eddie George (3.3, 3.4 and 3.0 ypc in the 3 years prior to Dallas signing him) who wasn't performing as well as Emmitt (3.8, 3.9 & 4.1 in the 3 yrs prior to leaving Dallas) a $1.5 mil signing bonus and contract which with incentives could have reached $4.5 mil total.

Cheese alert!

Sorry, but this little smoke screen and mirrors routine does not erase the embarassment of ES playing as a Cardinal for the past two years.

Who are they trying to fool, anyway?

Emmitt's last 4 years with Dallas:

1999 1397 yards, 4.2 avg, 11 TDs
2000 1203 yards, 4.1 avg, 9 TDs
2001 1021 yards, 3.9 avg, 3 TDs
2002 975 yards, 3.8 avg, 5 TDs

Anybody else see a trend? Can anybody explain how it would've made sense to bring him back for the amount of money he was looking for? And spare me the "he said he'd take a lot less to play in Dallas". This is what they always say after they get their fat contract with another team. It's called public relations...something Emmitt is very familiar with.

It was sad to see him go. It always is. But it was his time and everybody but Emmitt knew it. Just as it was Aikman's. He could've/should've retired a Cowboy 2 seasons ago. How this is the Cowboy's organization's fault is laughable.

Huge said:

Emmitt's last 4 years with Dallas:

1999 1397 yards, 4.2 avg, 11 TDs
2000 1203 yards, 4.1 avg, 9 TDs
2001 1021 yards, 3.9 avg, 3 TDs
2002 975 yards, 3.8 avg, 5 TDs

Anybody else see a trend? Can anybody explain how it would've made sense to bring him back for the amount of money he was looking for? And spare me the "he said he'd take a lot less to play in Dallas". This is what they always say after they get their fat contract with another team. It's called public relations...something Emmitt is very familiar with.

It was sad to see him go. It always is. But it was his time and everybody but Emmitt knew it. Just as it was Aikman's. He could've/should've retired a Cowboy 2 seasons ago. How this is the Cowboy's organization's fault is laughable.

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Or it is laughable that you feel you have to defend every single decision by the Cowboy's organization--obviously they have made a few bad ones over the past few years (and I wish they hadn't as I am one of the few Texans & Cowboys fans). And italics aside, Emmitt said he would take far less before they even made the minimum contract offer. By the way, how do you know how much money he was looking for?

3.7, 3.0, 3.4 & 3.3 ypc--see a trend? Maybe not, maybe it is a consistancy of performing horribly in comparison to the meager 3.8 ypc Emmitt was putting out. But obviously it justified a $4.5 mil contract.

4.5, 4.2, 4.0 ypc--see a trend? Oops 4.6 ypc the next year. Maybe there is more than just being old that can account for decreased or increased production.

Back during the time of Emmitt's impending departure, I read that he had a meeting with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys offered him more than league minimum, but far below what he could have made with another team. IMHO, Emmitt was all about the business of getting the best contract possible under those circumstances, and he went for the best offer on the table. I'm happy that now that he has handled his business, he can now return and retire from the team for which he was so great.

LMBH said:

Back during the time of Emmitt's impending departure, I read that he had a meeting with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys offered him more than league minimum, but far below what he could have made with another team.

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Well I can't find anything about it anymore so I guess this is one where everyone's impressions will be colored by the quality or lack thereof of the reporting they saw. I read a report that the only offer was league minimum and I certainly thought not offering something extra was insulting. Of course if that isn't the way it went down then opinions could be different. It is odd to me they couldn't get a deal done along the lines of the Cardinals contract and then turn around a year later and throw stupid money at Eddie George.

Or it is laughable that you feel you have to defend every single decision by the Cowboy's organization--obviously they have made a few bad ones over the past few years (and I wish they hadn't as I am one of the few Texans & Cowboys fans). And italics aside, Emmitt said he would take far less before they even made the minimum contract offer. By the way, how do you know how much money he was looking for?

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If you're under the impression I feel the need to defend "every single decision", that would be laughbale. Or were you just using an exaggeration in a lame attempt to make another poster look bad? Those that have known me here the longest are fully aware of past contempt I've had over decisions that have been made (Vinny, Eddie George, Bledsoe, etc.).

3.7, 3.0, 3.4 & 3.3 ypc--see a trend? Maybe not, maybe it is a consistancy of performing horribly in comparison to the meager 3.8 ypc Emmitt was putting out. But obviously it justified a $4.5 mil contract.

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Are you referring to George's contract? A few points of interest concerning George's contract:

1. It wasn't $4.5 million. It was $660,000 (which BTW, was the league minimum for a veteran such as George).

2. George was signed the season after Emmitt left. It wasn't as if George replaced him. He was brought in after they realized Hambrick wasn't the answer. If you really wanted to make this point, you should've brought up how much Hambrick (the guy that was expected to replace Emmitt after averaging 4.6 ypc in 3 seasons) made.

3. The $4.5 million was entirely incentive based. Are you aware of what those incentives were (I'm not...just asking out of curiosity)? Do you believe Dallas had any concerns he was going to reach those incentives after drafting Julius Jones in the 2nd round? Even with Jones missing half the season George still didn't reach the incentives.

4.5, 4.2, 4.0 ypc--see a trend? Oops 4.6 ypc the next year. Maybe there is more than just being old that can account for decreased or increased production.

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Curtis Martin? And I agree about the increase/decrease in production. Like having a solid offensive line or a respectable passing game (like Martin has in New York). Was Emmitt going to find a similar situation in Dallas? If not, why would it make sense to devote a lot of money towards a position that wasn't going to produce much when you could find better value (slightly less than/equal production at lower cost) elsewhere?

And if "stupid money" was thrown at George (1 year, $1.5 million bonus, $660,000 base with incentive that could reach $4.5 million), do you think it would've been fair to offer Smith such a contract? Do you think Smith would've accepted such a contract?

Huge said:

A few points of interest concerning George's contract:

1. It wasn't $4.5 million. It was $660,000 (which BTW, was the league minimum for a veteran such as George).

3. The $4.5 million was entirely incentive based.

And if "stupid money" was thrown at George (1 year, $1.5 million bonus, $660,000 base with incentive that could reach $4.5 million), do you think it would've been fair to offer Smith such a contract? Do you think Smith would've accepted such a contract?

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OK the every single action was probably unfair. Don't recall you criticizing the Cowboys much around here, but hey you are pretty critical (attempted joke alert--well kind of) and probably do it elsewhere.

The $4.5 was not entirely incentive based. $1.5 was in guaranteed signing bonus. Another 660k was in salary (for which there is a date after which the year's salary becomes guaranteed). So $2.16 mil was in essentially guaranteed money. No I do not know what the incentives were--I can hazard guesses as can you on 1000yds rushing 4.0 ypc or similar deals that George may have felt he had a chance of reaching. If you have a Cowboys capologist up there maybe you have a source to figure out if the bonuses were considered likely or unlikely to be earned.

George signed a one-year deal that includes an immediate $1.5 million bonus, which was about what the Titans wanted to pay him for the entire season. Add in his base salary and easily reachable incentives and he could make upward of $4.5 million, more than he would have made under his previous deal with Tennessee.

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Like I said to LMBH, my thinking on this subject is definitely affected by the offer information I saw. As with anything, if the starting facts are wrong then the conclusion may be wrong. At this point, it is my impression Smith would have resigned with Dallas for even less than he did with Arizona--$3.75 mil per year--to stay a Cowboy and retire there. I think he wanted (a) to keep playing and (b) to get a decent, not elite, salary.