The Dallas Cowboys are getting a big boost to their cap room situation. This extra cap space will help the Cowboys cross some things off their list of must-dos.
As every Dallas Cowboys fan makes abundantly clear, the team has no cap space.
It’s like a broken record on social media; pundits need to understand that, as Dallas Cowboys fans, we are used to living on the edge of the cap. I cannot remember many seasons where the cap situation was good.
The team always finds a way to sign their players but always fails to sign outside free agents, and fans are not happy about this but know this is the life of a Cowboy fan.
The Cap Space Will Increase in 2025
The NFL announced that the salary cap is projected to increase to a minimum of $277.5 million or a maximum of $281.5 million.
This is great news for the Dallas Cowboys, as the team is currently over the cap of more than $2 million.
On the low end of the cap increase, the Cowboys would break even, and on the high end, they could have around $4 million in cap space.
That is only with the increased NFL cap.
The Cowboys will monitor the salary cap increase, which should become official in the coming weeks.
To see a more in-depth analysis of what this cap increase can do for the Cowboys, let’s look at both projected salary cap numbers aligned with restructures and see where the Cowboys would be in cap space.
A 2025 Salary Cap Increase to $277.5 Million
A salary cap increase to $277.5 million would be a $22.1 million increase from 2024, when the salary cap was $255.4 million.
This salary cap increase would give the Cowboys slightly more than $2 million in cap space.
That’s some positive news for Cowboys fans, but more good news could be on the way because restructuring contracts will increase this number exponentially.
A Salary Cap Increase to $281.5 Million
What’s better than increasing the salary cap to $277.5 million? It would be an increase to $281.5 million.
An increase to $281.5 would give the Cowboys around $6 million in cap space.
Although an increase to this number could be a pipe dream, the revenue generated by the NFL last season could easily reach a salary cap this high.
This cap increase would significantly help the Dallas Cowboys, who must sign the 2025 draft class, and Micah Parsons to an extension.
The Micah Parsons extension will actually increase the Cowboys’ cap space. Add this to the restructures and cuts that could take place, and the Cowboys could be sitting pretty for a big push for talent.
Restructures and Re-Signing Players Will Add Cap Space
In the coming weeks, the Dallas Cowboys front office will begin the financial gymnastics to create cap room.
The Cowboys who would give the team the most cap space with a restructure are Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb.
Timely cuts and re-signings could add to this cap space, as well.
Here is what the cap room would look like for the Cowboys under the current salary cap with restructures, re-signings, and cuts:
Dak Prescott:
- 2025 Cap Hit-$89,896,666
- Restructured Using One Void Year-$52, 700, 666
- Cap Savings-$37,196,000
CeeDee Lamb:
- 2025 Cap Hit- $35,450,000
- Restructured No Void Years-$13,906,000
- Cap Savings- $21,544,000
Micah Parson:
- 2025 Cap Hit- $24,007,000
- 5 year $170,000,000 (Nick Bosa Contract)- $8,333,333
- Cap Savings- $15,673,667
Terence Steele:
- 2025 Cap Hit- $18,125,000
- Released
- Cap Savings- $4,625,000
These four moves alone create $79,038,667 million in cap space. Micah Parsons’s contract could be larger, but I based his new contract on the Nick Bosa extension.
So, these moves and the new cap space would create upwards of $80 million in cap space.
This year, the $80 million in cap space subtracted by the draft class that would be signed (6,038,476 cap hit) would be $73,961,524.
These are the types of moves a win-now team would make, and using this cap space to sign top free agents, not bargain bin, would get this team deep into the playoffs.
Restructuring is a dirty word to Stephen Jones. He dislikes the idea of “kicking the can down the road”, even if it improves the team in the long-term.
And he also doesn’t like to take chances on high-priced, highly talented outside players. Draft and promote from within, Stephen says. It’ll be fun, he says.
Baloney and horse hockey. Or whatever expletives you care to insert.
Stephen thinks that signing expensive free agents is a big risk, and we all know how risk averse both he and his father are. No, they’ll forgo that risk and build through the draft.
But doesn’t a drafted player represent a huge risk as well? Look back on some of the draft picks they’ve made over the past several years, that either never panned out or are taking a bit more time than originally thought to develop.
Taco Charlton
Trysten Hill
Morris Claiborne
Jaylon Smith
Mazi Smith(?)
Luke Schoonmaker(?)
And the list goes on.
My point is that getting a player both through the draft and free agency is going to be a risk.
Maybe they’ll be good enough to help make the team a playoff contender; or maybe they’ll totally suck and help the team become a playoff pretender. We just don’t know how things will play out.
Thrown caution to the winds. Take chances and see what happens. Jerry and Stephen can’t be fired, so why should they be so obsessed about the salary cap?
The Rams went “all-in”, and they won a SB.
The Eagles did the same, and now they have two trophies to hoist, whereas the overly cautious Dallas front office can only look on with envy.
Nearly three-decades and counting.
TL;DR: Finagle the danged cap and make it work!
larger cap only means something if you have a front office that knows howto manage and get the most out of it. It also requires some risk in free agency with not low level players but aggressive high level players that can put you over the top like a Deon or a Haley type. Jerry doesn’t take those risks anymore, at least not on that level. In football jerry only glory holes are championships. Of course in marketing companies it is something different entirely. Wish you knew the difference. But hey it is in fact your team. Once upon a time you were all in…..oh about 29 yrs ago or so. But all in now doesn’t seem to be anything more than bluster and catch phrases for camera. Sometimes the truth hurts (well only fans I guess not jones’s)but proof is in the puddin’ like they say.
This doesn’t matter for two reasons. First because every other organization got the same increase do they have they also have more to go after players. Second is because Stephen “cap boy” Jones won’t restructure anything significant and tell us all that we don’t have cap space.