2026 salary cap projected to be in range of 301.2 - 305.7 million

Fla Cowpoke said:
Third youngest but were in the bottom half of the league.

Seattle is in the Super Bowl. They are currently $65m under the cap and can easily make another 60 more. That is more than we have and they are a Super Bowl team. Sure, they have to resign some of their own, but then again so do we....or at least guys to replace them if we don't resign them. Hard to say we are in a better spot than Seattle.

Commanders have 65m in space and can make 75m more easily. Sure, they tanked this year after a good year in 2024. They are only losing a few free agents of any note and can buy a lot of talent with their money and have a young QB still a couple years away from a huge deal. They are in a better spot than we are.

Bucs have $20m in space and can easily make another $100m. Their biggest FA is Evans who has been hurt a lot and is at the point where they likely would be better off targeting a younger FA to take his place. Hard to say we are any better off than them.

Lions have had better teams than us and can make the same amount of money as we can with simple restructures. Only a few spots to fill.

And this ignores the AFC teams that have lots of room and will be competing for free agents. We are not in bad position, but it isn't like we have some great advantage over the rest of the league. We are definitely better off than a handful of teams, namely the Saints and Eagles and Browns.
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We're talking 2026 ....Seattle has to re-sign most of their defense and Sam Darnold is gonna want a new contract for what, 40-50M, then JSN will be next up in 2027 for what 40M a year? I already said the other NFC teams Wash, TB, Detroit are in great shape, Detroit has the best roster and cap situation

This is the best cap situation the Cowboys have had. We have enough cap to re-sign all of our own (including J Williams and G Pickens) and a few major FA's.

If we're not major players in FA, Jerry packed it in at 84 years old. There is zero excuse not to put together a top 10 defense between FA and the draft to make a playoff run.

If we don't do it, nobody can say it was because of the Salary Cap.
 
Brooksey said:
We're talking 2026 ....Seattle has to re-sign most of their defense and Sam Darnold is gonna want a new contract for what, 40-50M, then JSN will be next up in 2027 for what 40M a year? I already said the other NFC teams Wash, TB, Detroit are in great shape, Detroit has the best roster and cap situation

This is the best cap situation the Cowboys have had. We have enough cap to re-sign all of our own (including J Williams and G Pickens) and a few major FA's.

If we're not major players in FA, Jerry packed it in at 84 years old. There is zero excuse not to put together a top 10 defense between FA and the draft to make a playoff run.

If we don't do it, nobody can say it was because of the Salary Cap.
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That is kind of changing your tune....yes, we do have money to make an impact. However, we could have last year....and the year before. Not sure why this year should be any different. Dallas has been really adverse to spending money on outside free agents. Will be interesting to see if change their m.o.
 
Fla Cowpoke said:
That is kind of changing your tune....yes, we do have money to make an impact. However, we could have last year....and the year before. Not sure why this year should be any different. Dallas has been really adverse to spending money on outside free agents. Will be interesting to see if change their m.o.
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Exactly. Every year this same conversation happens and it’s the same result. Most of the league can open up $100m in cap space if they want to. They have to want to and they also have to overcome the drawbacks of doing so.
 
Fla Cowpoke said:
That is kind of changing your tune....yes, we do have money to make an impact. However, we could have last year....and the year before. Not sure why this year should be any different. Dallas has been really adverse to spending money on outside free agents. Will be interesting to see if change their m.o.
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I'm not changing my tune at all, I'm just having a conversation and trying to discuss your points, I don't come here to argue. We have one of the best cap situations in the league. I think with Dak and Lamb being accounted for, a good young o-line, a top offense in the league, we are in a great spot financially to make a move in FA to improve the defense. People running around the board saying we're in cap trouble don't know what they're talking about
 
thunderpimp91 said:
Exactly. Every year this same conversation happens and it’s the same result. Most of the league can open up $100m in cap space if they want to. They have to want to and they also have to overcome the drawbacks of doing so.
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You mean when Philadelphia went all in and won a SB last year? Now they can only open up 13M and have to sign their draft picks. I thought Howie Grossman was the GM of the year, which one is it, a Super bowl run or a drawback? Are we going for it or not?

We don't have a QB on a rookie deal or no franchise QB at all. There's about 5 teams in the league who can open up above 50M without a rookie QB deal.

We haven't been in this position, we've had huge obligations ahead of us like Dak, Lamb and Micah to keep us from being players in FA. We don't anymore, we can move without the drawback being the Philly range bottom low. If we don't play in FA, then we don't deserve it and we'll be sitting home again come playoff time.
 
Brooksey said:
You mean when Philadelphia went all in and won a SB last year? Now they can only open up 13M and have to sign their draft picks. I thought Howie Grossman was the GM of the year, which one is it, a Super bowl run or a drawback? Are we going for it or not?

We don't have a QB on a rookie deal or no franchise QB at all. There's about 5 teams in the league who can open up above 50M without a rookie QB deal.

We haven't been in this position, we've had huge obligations ahead of us like Dak, Lamb and Micah to keep us from being players in FA. We don't anymore, we can move without the drawback being the Philly range bottom low. If we don't play in FA, then we don't deserve it and we'll be sitting home again come playoff time.
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Philly has 2 super bowl wins this decade, a 3rd appearance, and back to back division championships. I imagine their fan base is OK if they have a less active offseason for once haha.

The QB contract is the biggest issue for the Cowboys cap issues IMO...not the QB himself, but the contract pretty much is a net negative unless he plays at an MVP level next year. The bulk of teams making big runs do not have high priced QBs...Only 5 of the top 15 QBs paid by annual average made the playoffs this season. Zero of those were playing in conference championship games.

We have been in this position though....just last season the Dak and Lamb restructures alone freed up $57M. They had the ability to do more if they wanted to, but didn't. This isnt a new situation for the Cowboys whatsoever.

Personally I would expect the Cowboys to open up slightly more than that, maybe in the $80m range (Dak $31m, Lamb $19m, Smith $17m, Q $14m, Steel $8m), a slight reduction in pay to Clark ($5m), cut hooker $6m, Wilson $6m. That totals about $106m saved

....subract $31m they are already over the cap = $75m
....Hit Pickens with the franchise tag ($28m) = $47m
....They typically keep around $20m for carryover = $27m

So you probably have roughly $27m to play on a team where you possibly need to give Javonte Williams a sizeable contract, A kicker who may set a record at the position, and will need to likely backfill starters at least 1 edge player (Clowney), 2 LBs (Murray, Sanborn), 3 DBs (Wilson, Hooker (if cut), along with at least 1 CB)....then you have to ask if they are serious about wanting to upgrade a tackle spot on offense? Its possible they get extra aggressive and start restructuring guy slike Bland, Ferg, OSA as well but I'm a little skeptical as the Cowboys may want to keep the outs in their deals alive after some years where the general consensus was they didnt live up to their new money. I'd love to be wrong on this, but I'm just not seeing the money available for the big FA acquisitions given the number of needs the Cowboys have.
 
Coogiguy03 said:
Same way we have extra money, is the same way other teams will have money, let's not be in a rush to say we're going to do this and that until it happens!!!
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That is part of the problem that the Joneses have with high-priced free agency. When the cap goes up, the cost of free agents goes up. Bidding will go higher for players who already weren't worth how much they were costing.

Now, that's the market that every team has to deal with, so it's the cost of doing business, but it does make it to where if you miss badly on the high-cost players, you pay for it.
 
big dog cowboy said:
NO excuses. Between this and the moves the Cowboys can make they have a lot of cap space this year
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We will still be over. Stephen has said they are not pushing anymore money down the line. They are determined to take the hits
 
Anybody who thinks Jerry is going to be allowed to open the check book. Has not followed this team. Jerry is locked up on the yacht until draft day
 
Beast_from_East said:
Cap Boy will still make excuses, they are not going to spend jack on free agents, just like usual.

Our last tier 1 free agent was Brandon Carr like over a decade ago.
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They spend 90+ percent of the cap, which they are required to do.

They always keep 20M+ for cap rollover.

They need to find cap $$$
 
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