Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas offers his take on what is likely to transpire with the Cowboys and their current roster this offseason.
As we’ve mentioned before, the Cowboys will be 25 million over the salary cap next year, so creating cap space is at the top of their offseason priorities list.
According to Archer, Dallas will restructure the contracts of QB Tony Romo and MLB Sean Lee, which should free up $13.4 million in cap space.
They could save another $8.6 million by reworking DE DeMarcus Ware‘s $12.25 million base salary for the 2014 season. Ware currently counts $16.003 million against the team’s salary cap, so reducing that figure is a top priority. There were was some speculation that Ware could actually be a release candidate a month ago, but it’s hard to imagine the Cowboys going this route unless there were no other options.
Brandon Carr signed a huge contract a few years ago, but is coming off of a poor season. Archer mentions that this situation in particular is one to watch given that Carr has a lot of money still remaining on his contract and reworking his deal will only push guarantees further into the future. Dallas could save another $4.7 million here.
That brings the total saving to $26.7 million.
Archer expects the Cowboys to designate WR Miles Austin as a post-June 1 release, which creates another $5.5 million in space, but also carries over $5 million in dead money for the 2015.
If the Cowboys elect to go this route, they would have a chance to keep some of their notable free agents like DE Anthony Spencer or DE Jason Hatcher. Even if those two prove to be too expensive, they could always shop around for better bargains to fill out their roster.
No team is in as bad of shape financially as the Cowboys are, so they should at least feel good that there are options available to them.
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I blame JJ four us being in this mess;with all this dead money floating around with players no longer on our team.And also over paying wash up players Jerry Jones does not care about our team all he cares is Burning Our Beloved Americas Team in Hell……
Saints and Steelers are also in a difficult situation it seems, no? Saints are likely going to have to allow a really solid C solidify a line somewhere I think.
Correct. Saints need to clear cap space, but can do that much easier than the Cowboys. Cutting Will Smith will go a long way for them. It will be interesting to see if they make other cuts like Jabari Greer or Mark Ingram.
The Steelers, on the other hand, are perpetually dealing with cap issues because their solution continues to be mortgaging their future. I think we’ll see veterans get cut this offseason as they transition to a much younger defense.