This summer, the Jets signed Tyron Smith, a former Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle, to a one-year contract worth $6.5 million.Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Tyron Smith was an exciting — and necessary — addition to the Jets’ offense this offseason, but while the tackle continues his career in East Rutherford, the Dallas Cowboys will miss their 13-year veteran.
The Jets signed Smith to a one-year, $6.5 million contract last month as part of their offseason effort to repair a decimated offensive line. It’s a respectable deal for New York, but it comes with a big incentive package: $12 million in playing time, $250,000 every playoff win, and $500,000 for the Pro Bowl. Dallas couldn’t commit to giving the 33-year-old almost $20 million.
“You know how highly he is thought of by us,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. “We cannot afford that. We cannot afford that.
“If he makes all of these incentives and things like that, we would be really wrecked.”
In an offseason dominated by payroll-based personnel decisions, the Cowboys’ parting with Smith wounded the most. It was reminiscent of Dallas’s release of linebacker DeMarcus Ware in 2014.
“You can imagine the relationship we’ve got with Tyron and how much both of us hated to do,” Jones stated to Moore. “It was just like it was with DeMarcus Ware. We both despised it. But it simply wasn’t there.”
Smith’s injury history adds to the intrigue in the incentives package; he has only played 30 games in the last four seasons. However, the eight-time Pro Bowler played 71.5% of offensive snaps last season, and if he can repeat that for the Jets this year, he will earn a $5.75 million bonus.
