Cowboys Slide Under Salary Cap

On Friday, Dallas released C Phil Costa and reworked the contract of G Mackenzy Bernadeau

After a their latest round of maneuvers, the Dallas Cowboys are officially under the salary cap.

The Cowboys made the release of backup center Phil Costa official on Friday morning and then restructured the contract of guard Mackenzy Bernadeau--who was scheduled to count over $4 million against the cap in 2014--to slide under the NFL’s salary ceiling with a few days to spare. The release of Costa alone would’ve saved the Cowboys $1.5 million against the cap, which is set at $133 million for the 2014 league year.

Earlier this week, the Cowboys restructured the contracts of Tony Romo, Sean Lee and Orlando Scandrick. A week ago, they released defensive end Everette Brown, defensive tackle Corey Irvin, and guards Ray Dominguez and Jeff Olson.

Costa came to the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2010 out of Maryland and started for Dallas in 2011, following the release of Andre Gurode. The past two seasons though, Costa started just six games, and the team’s selection of Travis Frederick in the first round of the draft (combined with continued health issues) more or less put the writing on the wall for today’s move.

According to a statement from Costa’s agent, George Mavrikes, his client will look for a starting job elsewhere.

Under the cap for now, Dallas will continue to explore their options. Discussions with veteran defensive end DeMarcus Ware, for instance, have yet to commence.

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