Dallas

For a Change, Cowboys Have a Healthy Salary Cap

In recent years this time of the year has been ominous for the Cowboys.

Bad financial decisions led to the release of DeMarcus Ware, the seemingly annual restructuring Tony Romo’s deal, little or no play in free agency and last Winter, of course, was the prolonged franchise tag negotiations with Dez Bryant that – in retrospect – helped derail the momentum from a 12-4 season.

In 2016? The Cowboys have 99 problems, but the salary cap ain’t one. They are approximately $12 million under the NFL cap of $153 million.

While the Eagles (Riley Cooper) and Giants (Will Beatty) released players this week to free up cap money, the Cowboys have been calm, cool and cohesive. That’s the luxury of finally rising above salary cap hell.

While their success on the field is still lagging, their financial housekeeping has been spot on. Not long ago with as much as $20 million in dead money, the Cowboys today have only approximately $900,000 in salaries paid out to players no longer on the roster. The only way that negative number rises is if they decide to cut underperforming cornerback Brandon Carr.

Otherwise, the Cowboys are under the cap as free agency approaches March 9. They can add even more space by restructuring the deals of Tyron Smith and/or Tyrone Crawford.

The Cowboys have high draft picks and the money to sign free agents. In other words, their excuses for personnel failings have vanished. Finally.
 

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A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.

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