Cowboys Free Up $10M In Cap Space By Reworking Tony Romo’s Contract

Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas reports that the Cowboys have restructured QB Tony Romo‘s contract in an attempt to get under the 2014 salary cap.

According to Archer, Dallas has converted $12.5 million of Romo’s $13.5 million base salary into a signing bonus, which in turn drops his 2014 cap figure from $21.773 million to $11.773 million.

This move alone will create $10 million in salary cap space, which means that the Cowboys are now less than $1 million over the salary cap.

Last night, Mike Garafolo reported that the Cowboys restructured the contracts of ILB Sean Lee and CB Orlando Scandrick.

By making these three moves, Dallas has freed up $16.8 million of cap space, but also increased future cap figures in the process.

Joel Corry mentions that Romo’s 2015 cap figure will now be a staggering $27.773 million, which would be the highest number in the entire league.

According to Archer, the Cowboys do not plan to restructure anymore contracts as of now. However, they may need to make a decision regarding DE DeMarcus Ware and WR Miles Austin if they intend to sign players in free agency.

Ware has a cap figure of $16.003 million, and the Cowboys stand to gain $7.4 million by releasing him this offseason.

Austin will count $8.249 million against the cap salary, but his case is a little different given that the Cowboys would likely have to designate him as a post-June 1 release in order to create $5.5 million in cap space.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more regarding the Cowboys and cap moves in the coming weeks.