Current Cowboys cap space 2025

[jterrell]

i wonder the same thing, why would any player sign here that is serious about winning.

That is a nice plot of land in Prosper. Has a beautiful wife and darling baby girl....

 

[jterrell]

His contract is more tradable? I hate to say this but let's say over the next couple of years we don't see from Dak what we had hoped and they wanna move on after the 2026 season.

He has a full no trade clause.
But yes,, if a team wanted to eat his guarantees he could be traded with massive dead money.

This is all on Dallas FO. Had they extended him earlier it would have been cheaper and a lot easier to move on.
Every move Dallas FO has made from his 2nd season onwards has caused Dak's salary to rise.
It is criminal mismanagement.

 

[CowboyFrog]

He has a full no trade clause.
But yes,, if a team wanted to eat his guarantees he could be traded with massive dead money.

This is all on Dallas FO. Had they extended him earlier it would have been cheaper and a lot easier to move on.
Every move Dallas FO has made from his 2nd season onwards has caused Dak's salary to rise.
It is criminal mismanagement.

Jerry basically said he wanted to "Write the biggest check ever" I mean you cant make this stuff up, he purposely submarined his own roster,,,

 

[Hawkeye0202]

But Dak signed the deal knowing all that so that's on him.

This^^^^

 

[thunderpimp91]

102M. He'd get 40M for the 2026 season. If kept past Mid-March....

• $45M 2027 salary fully guarantees the 5th league day of 2026 (injury guaranteed at signing.

The deal was always signed to favor Dak much like the Zeke deal was signed to favor Zeke.
There are no easy outs 'til 2027.

I'm not saying you're wrong, once you get into 3rd contracts and deferred money already I struggle with the contract math. What I will say is it seems odd that Spotrac wouldn't factor this into their equations they are sharing with the world.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Jerry basically said he wanted to "Write the biggest check ever" I mean you cant make this stuff up, he purposely submarined his own roster,,,

I call it too lazy to fight Dak and find a suitable replacement........much easier to give Dak what he wanted. He could have made Dak an offer of the highest paid with $56M per or let him play the final year and test the market if he thought he could get more. But he took the easy way out and gave Dak a blank check.

 

[jterrell]

I'm not saying you're wrong, once you get into 3rd contracts and deferred money already I struggle with the contract math. What I will say is it seems odd that Spotrac wouldn't factor this into their equations they are sharing with the world.

Its time-based stuff which I miss a decent amount to.
Dak's deal flips guarantee yearly.
Early to mid-march guarantees the entire NEXT season base.
In a sense they do account for it as they tell you he has 231M in guaranteed money and they give you the suggested out of 2028.
POTENTIAL OUT: 2028, 4 YR, $236,008,820; $34,000,000 DEAD CAP

They also have the little scissors to the right per year.

2026 Release/Trade​

PRE-6/1 RELEASE​

Today → 03/16/2025
2026 Dead Cap: $62,005,000
2026 Cap Savings: $5,691,666
03/16/2025 → 06/01/2026
2026 Dead Cap: $102,005,000
2026 Cap Savings: $-34,308,334

PRE-6/1 TRADE​

2026 Dead Cap: $62,005,000
2026 Savings: $5,691,666
What is a Pre-6/1 Release or Trade?
When a player is released or traded before June 1st, all of the dead cap remaining on his contract (including any guaranteed salary) accelerates into the current year.

POST-6/1 RELEASE​

2026 Dead Cap: $28,005,000
2027 Dead Cap: $34,000,000
2026 Savings: $39,691,666

POST-6/1 TRADE​

2026 Dead Cap: $28,005,000
2027 Dead Cap: $34,000,000
2026 Savings: $39,691,666

 

[CowboyFrog]

I call it too lazy to fight Dak and find a suitable replacement........much easier to give Dak what he wanted. He could have made Dak an offer of the highest paid with $56M per or let him play the final year and test the market if he thought he could get more. But he took the easy way out and gave Dak a blank check.

ooh for sure its lack of being prepared...again its not like it was a secret Dak's contract was comming up...to have no plan B was criminal.

 

[starfan1]

Dak and CeeDee will restructure to get Parsons signed. Fans are the only ones that that think its dumb for the most part. I think if they get 1 or 2 good FA and have a solid draft they'll be ok. They need to get tougher on OL and the Dline and they need a RB in first 3 rounds.Probably the second at the latest because if you dont the best ones will be gone.

depends on how much faith they have in Flournay and Tolbert or Mingo. I happen to think they need to upgrade at WR. The only ones that can get any separation are Lamb and Turpin. If we can trade down in the early 20s and pick up an extra pick and then be aggressive in FA but this the cowboys Im not holding my breath

 

[jterrell]

ooh for sure its lack of being prepared...again its not like it was a secret Dak's contract was comming up...to have no plan B was criminal.

Its feels maximally dysfunctional.

A potential scenario I could very much see being real.
Stephen doesn't trust Dak so hedges bets and delays any payments.
Jerry says find me a replacement because until then I am resigning him.
Follow this pattern through a Trey Lance saga and here we are.

Stephen thinking Jerry will eventually give up reigns so stalling on big deals makes sense.
Jerry thinks agents will cave to his monster brand.
Agents just tell the players to stay patient and shows the clips of the last 10 big deals the Cowboys have signed and how those players are set for life.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

so we can have about 90+ million if we touch it, but if we DON"T touch it, we can still take the hit and add players to this team??

Well, I'm not sure how much we'd get if we cut Dak next year after restructuring. But I'd imagine we'd lose some relief if we restructure him.

 

[jgboys1]

This is with Dak counting 90M against the cap. In order for Dallas to do anything the off-season, they have to give Dak a huge bonus so they can spread out his cap hit over 5 years.

 

[Creeper]

if we don't bother dak's contract, and take the big hit this season (what will the hit be?), what will the hit THEN be for the next season? ()

It's going to be $89.9 million this year if they do nothing. But Next year it drops to about $67 million. If they take the $37 million save this year, it will raise his 2026 CAP number to about $75 million. But almost $80 million the last year of his contract.

 

[Creeper]

Well, if we don't restructure Dak, we can be out of the contract with a June 1 cut next year if that is necessary for the year after for $40+ mil in cap space. So, we can both free up a lot of cap space and position ourselves for a new QB if needed. More importantly, we can begin preparing the team for the next QB. Problem is, like you said, he probably won't do any of the smart things. If we had a GM like Roseman or Veech, we'd have the $50+ mil in cap space and we could really put our team in position to compete.

Dak's 2026 salary of $40 million guarantees in March of this year. There is little to no value cutting him before then. They can trade him if his new team will pick up his salary. In that case his new team get him for $40 million.

From what I can see they can waive him after the end of the 2026 season and get about a $30 million CAP save.

 

[Creeper]

We could have made some wiggle room. But this is potentially the most cap I have seen this team have for in probably ever.

$100 million can give you 1-2 elite studs, 2-3 solid starters.

They can 180 this roster with a few signings.

But we will get to listen to Jerry and cap boy talk about not hurting to future and focusing on resigning our first round pick in 2027

The problem with this logic is that you have to pay for the money you save at some point. If you sign 5 players, their contracts get added to the contracts and the money you pushed into the next 5 years with restructures. save $100 million adds $20 million per year to you CAP commitments. You can assume the CAP will increase but you also have new contracts coming up like Bland and Tyler Smith. Being able to create $100 million ins CAP space and doing things responsibly are not the same.

 

[Coogiguy03]

It's going to be $89.9 million this year if they do nothing. But Next year it drops to about $67 million. If they take the $37 million save this year, it will raise his 2026 CAP number to about $75 million. But almost $80 million the last year of his contract.

gee whiz!!!!

 

[CCBoy]

Its feels maximally dysfunctional.

A potential scenario I could very much see being real.
Stephen doesn't trust Dak so hedges bets and delays any payments.
Jerry says find me a replacement because until then I am resigning him.
Follow this pattern through a Trey Lance saga and here we are.

Stephen thinking Jerry will eventually give up reigns so stalling on big deals makes sense.
Jerry thinks agents will cave to his monster brand.
Agents just tell the players to stay patient and shows the clips of the last 10 big deals the Cowboys have signed and how those players are set for life.

Now set me straight, winning depends on building on forward with the potential in cap space here with the opportunity. That or a new quarterback on a 5 year contract that will swallow the departed money along with Prescott.

 

[fivetwos]

Well, I'm not sure how much we'd get if we cut Dak next year after restructuring. But I'd imagine we'd lose some relief if we restructure him.

He signed a 240 million dollar deal. 231 of it is GUARANTEED.

It hasn’t even started yet lol…..they aren’t cutting him anytime soon, if ever.

Yes, they can get some cap relief by cutting him, but they would still have to pay his bloated salary almost in its entirety. Jerry wouldn’t eat 5m to fire MM.

Dak is your QB for the next four years. Why? Because Jerry chose to keep his celebrity career alive by remaining relevant. I think it blows up in his face, but let’s see.

As far as restructure type of relief, yes I’d expect that. The part they don’t get that is if you’re going to mortgage the future at all, at least put yourself in a position to win. They take half measures….and end up short on the field, but also still have cap problems.

 

[john van brocklin]

So, even with Dak's contract, we are under the cap. If we can get Parsons' contract done, Lamb restructured, Diggs restricted, and Steele restructured to add to our $2.47 mil, that should be about $55.97 mil in cap space. We can do a lot with that and not even restructure Dak.

Sounds nice, but our front office is cheap and Risk Adverse.
Status Quo incoming.

 

[Creeper]

He signed a 240 million dollar deal. 231 of it is GUARANTEED.

It hasn’t even started yet lol…..they aren’t cutting him anytime soon, if ever.

Yes, they can get some cap relief by cutting him, but they would still have to pay his bloated salary almost in its entirety. Jerry wouldn’t eat 5m to fire MM.

Dak is your QB for the next four years. Why? Because Jerry chose to keep his celebrity career alive by remaining relevant. I think it blows up in his face, but let’s see.

As far as restructure type of relief, yes I’d expect that. The part they don’t get that is if you’re going to mortgage the future at all, at least put yourself in a position to win. They take half measures….and end up short on the field, but also still have cap problems.

The worst contract ever!