Factor #1 - His suspended games will not count against the salary cap.
The Cowboys only are on the hook for the games he’s eligible to play. So basically, the Cowboys are only renting his services for the last part of the season at a pro-rated cost. Before the suspension, he was going to be a 2016 cap hit of about $3.5 million. After the suspension, his cost is roughly $1.9 million. If the Cowboys cut him, he’d be a $750,000 dead money hit. Financially speaking, it doesn’t cost the team very much more to just keep him for the final six games.
Players on the reserve/did not report list are subject to daily fines, but Stephen Jones would not divulge whether the team would actually fine either player. According to the collective bargaining agreement players can be fined up to $30,000 per day.
"There's some details that go into their situations that we're not going to discuss," Stephen Jones said.
Jones would not discuss when the last time members of the organization spoke to McClain, but they have been in contact with the player's agent, Pat Dye.
