While we wait for the breaking news on who the new Dallas Cowboys head coach will be, which if you haven’t tune into social media, go ahead and go so, and you will see all about it.
I don’t even want to mention the name here until it is made official, because I am tired of the willingness to not do what it takes to want to win football games.
With that said, I was diving deep into what the Dallas Cowboys salary cap really looked like and with over 20 unrestricted free agents, they face a major problem.
Looks Ugly
As many of you probably already know, Dak Prescott has a 2025 cap number of $89.89 million via the four-year extension he signed in September. CeeDee Lamb has a cap number of $35.45 million for the next season on the extension he signed in August.
So they have the highest paid QB and second highest paid WR in football. The only good news coming from that is The Cowboys will restructure that deal and gain about $20 million in cap space.
The season-ending knee injury sustained by cornerback Trevon Diggs negates the possibility of him being released in the offseason. His 2025 base salary of $9 million was guaranteed for injury at the time of signing in 2023.
Right tackle Terence Steele is set to count $18.125 million against the cap next season. If the Cowboys designate him for a post-June 1 release, they would save $14 million, but he would count about $6.4 million against the cap in 2026.
What Might Happen
The Cowboys have void years coming up on guard Zack Martin, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
Whether they are on the 2025 roster or not, they will total a little more than $20 million against the salary cap. Retirement was a possibility for Martin before he had season-ending ankle surgery months ago.
The Cowboys reworked his contract last year to be in a position to designate him as a post-June 1 release in 2025 if he opted to stop playing.
Both Lawrence and Cooks have said they want to continue playing, but will it be for the Dallas Cowboys? I doubt it.
Oh did I mention that Micah Parsons needs to be paid. Let me be very clear here, the Dallas Cowboys have more space than people think.
If they re-sign with the Cowboys after the start of the 2025 league, their cap numbers would already have $7.445 million combined.
Jerry will try and go cheap, might a new 6th round wide receiver who he thinks will be the next Randy Moss, and will draft some other overrated defensive line player from Michigan like he always does in attempt to replace both for as cheap as possible.
At the end of the day, I am not an expert on this, and from what it sounds like and looks like right in front of us this team will have some money to spend, but will continue to lie to all of us and say they can’t afford anyone.
This team will have major issues if they don’t resign anyone, add some vets, or hit this draft somehow out of the park.
Look for Jerry Jones to make the news this weekend, maybe even today, dropping the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys right before the NFL conference title games.
He will do whatever it takes to stay in the news. More time about him and less time about the teams who are ARCUALLY playing for something.
I just wish he would just get out of the way for once in his life, but here we go again.