No extension for Pickens please

[Robster8989]

The Dallas Cowboys can easily create 2026 salary cap space primarily through contract restructures (Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Tyler Smith) to convert salary to bonuses, spreading costs, plus potential cuts/trades (Trevon Diggs, Terence Steele, Zack Martin) and extensions (Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams) for key players, aiming to generate over $100 million by shifting big cap hits into the future, allowing for immediate spending and flexibility.
Here's a breakdown of their key strategies:
1. Contract Restructures (Most Impactful)

• Dak Prescott: A massive $74M cap hit in 2026 can be slashed by converting much of his salary to bonus, saving over $24M-$30M immediately, though pushing money forward.
• CeeDee Lamb: Restructuring his deal can free up around $18M-$19M, a popular move given his youth and importance.
• Tyler Smith: Similar to Lamb, restructuring his new extension offers significant immediate savings (around $17.5M).
• Other Potential Restructures: Osa Odighizuwa and Jake Ferguson also offer potential savings through restructures.

2. Potential Cuts/Trades

• Trevon Diggs: With $57M left on his non-guaranteed deal, cutting him could save $12M-$15.5M, creating cap relief and addressing potential team/player friction.
• Terence Steele: A potential cut candidate to save nearly $9M, though at the risk of weakening the offensive line.
• Zack Martin: Void years added to his deal are creating a significant future cap hit, which the team is managing but could involve future decisions.

3. Extensions & New Deals

• Kenny Clark & Quinnen Williams: Extending these defensive linemen could lower their 2026 cap hits and add future flexibility, saving $16M and $14M respectively.

By combining these methods, the Cowboys can navigate their projected deficit and create substantial room to operate in 2026, a common strategy for teams with high-priced stars. So, there you go.

Great post, thank you for posting this.

By my reckoning, we can easily open 105 mil.

We are 48 in the red as of now next season per OTC.
We have 22 mil currently in carryover from this season.
That likely gets reduced a bit by bonuses, but say we carry over 18.
That puts us -30 next season.

Cutting Diggs (15.5), Steele (14), Hooker (7) and Wilson (6.5) gets us to +14.

Restructure Dak (31), CD (19), Smith (17), Quinnen (15), Clark (10), gets us to 105 in cap space. That is without getting into Osa, Fergy or Blands deals, which would be advisable not to touch as they have easy outs for the team.

I'd consider not releasing Hooker and Wilson, depending on what's out there in FA and the draft at S and LB. (I'd like to get a good look at Wilson in these final games to determine if he's worth keeping).

Plenty of room to keep Pick and Williams, add another piece to the Oline, and build out a great Defense.
This is also without going "full Eagles". We don't even need to restructure every player and push everything into the future the way the Eagles have.
The cap is exploding, and will continue to. ST projects it at over 300 next year, and at current growth it could hit 400 in just 4 years.Signing young players now is actually good business.

 

[shabazz]

We've drafted one top shelf WR (Ceedee) since 2010 when we drafted Dez......two in 15 years

In that same time span we traded for Amari Cooper so they dont draft WRs well here. Keep Pickens the cheapest way possible.

 

[StarW]

Great post, thank you for posting this.

By my reckoning, we can easily open 105 mil.

We are 48 in the red as of now next season per OTC.
We have 22 mil currently in carryover from this season.
That likely gets reduced a bit by bonuses, but say we carry over 18.
That puts us -30 next season.

Cutting Diggs (15.5), Steele (14), Hooker (7) and Wilson (6.5) gets us to +14.

Restructure Dak (31), CD (19), Smith (17), Quinnen (15), Clark (10), gets us to 105 in cap space. That is without getting into Osa, Fergy or Blands deals, which would be advisable not to touch as they have easy outs for the team.

I'd consider not releasing Hooker and Wilson, depending on what's out there in FA and the draft at S and LB. (I'd like to get a good look at Wilson in these final games to determine if he's worth keeping).

Plenty of room to keep Pick and Williams, add another piece to the Oline, and build out a great Defense.
This is also without going "full Eagles". We don't even need to restructure every player and push everything into the future the way the Eagles have.
The cap is exploding, and will continue to. ST projects it at over 300 next year, and at current growth it could hit 400 in just 4 years.Signing young players now is actually good business.

Right? I didn't even spend much time on that. I was just showing how the cap is smoke and mirrors, because these NFL teams have had lots of time and money to figure out how to manipulate it. Also, it's easy to forget about Martins and Smith's old contract counting as dead cap money. It's about to be off the books, plus we can make some "safe" extensions (signing bonus cap trick), plus we can restructure our high-paid stars that we plan on keeping.

I think you're right that we might have to keep Hooker. We just have too many holes to fill, and he'll be fine once you get some new players around him.

Not to mention... This absurd defensive scheme handicaps our players. How can you even evaluate these guys in this trash scheme?

 

[amame25]

Can’t trade him. He has no contract

you can if you tag him

 

[Chasing6]

Not a chance. Once Dallas tags him every interested team in Pickens will walk and let Dallas eat the straight 30 million dollar hit because they know Dallas can’t afford that.

Yes, because that is what happened to Parsons.

 

[Flamma]

I'm glad you explained that for me. I don't even try to learn this cap stuff. Excellent job by you, my friend. So it sounds like if we want to have spending money....sign him to a deal or let him walk and we get what? A 3rd rounder back?

Yeah, either sign him and get the next two years of manageable cap hits, or let him walk and pray to get a 3rd round comp pick.

 

[diamonddelts]

We've drafted one top shelf WR (Ceedee) since 2010 when we drafted Dez......two in 15 years

In that same time span we traded for Amari Cooper so they dont draft WRs well here. Keep Pickens the cheapest way possible.

THIS

 

[NumOneQB]

The draft is not going to fix this defense.

You’re just trying to go from bad to average. I don’t think it will take much to do that. With the right moves of course.

 

[SuperBowlz]

Yes, because that is what happened to Parsons.

Parsons wasn’t tagged.

 

[Chasing6]

Parsons wasn’t tagged.

Parsons was paid significant more than being tagged. So the tag is irrelevant.

 

[SuperBowlz]

Parsons was paid significant more than being tagged. So the tag is irrelevant.

It isn’t irrelevant to what we are talking about. We are talking about supposedly tagging and trading Pickens but that rarely happens in the NFL.
The last time it happened was 7 years ago for a 2nd round pick.

 

[Chasing6]

It isn’t irrelevant to what we are talking about. We are talking about supposedly tagging and trading Pickens but that doesn’t happen in the NFL.

It doesn't happen if the team plans on keeping the player.

 

[acr731]

Great post, thank you for posting this.

By my reckoning, we can easily open 105 mil.

We are 48 in the red as of now next season per OTC.
We have 22 mil currently in carryover from this season.
That likely gets reduced a bit by bonuses, but say we carry over 18.
That puts us -30 next season.

Cutting Diggs (15.5), Steele (14), Hooker (7) and Wilson (6.5) gets us to +14.

Restructure Dak (31), CD (19), Smith (17), Quinnen (15), Clark (10), gets us to 105 in cap space. That is without getting into Osa, Fergy or Blands deals, which would be advisable not to touch as they have easy outs for the team.

I'd consider not releasing Hooker and Wilson, depending on what's out there in FA and the draft at S and LB. (I'd like to get a good look at Wilson in these final games to determine if he's worth keeping).

Plenty of room to keep Pick and Williams, add another piece to the Oline, and build out a great Defense.
This is also without going "full Eagles". We don't even need to restructure every player and push everything into the future the way the Eagles have.
The cap is exploding, and will continue to. ST projects it at over 300 next year, and at current growth it could hit 400 in just 4 years.Signing young players now is actually good business.

Would greedy Dak agree to a restructure?

 

[ElGatoGrande]

GP is a positive difference maker, I don't buy the shock-journalist's reasoning,,,, though paying GP just doubles down on the Cowboys' fatal flaw of not investing enough in the defense.

 

[Shannon1]

First thing Im doing is signing him no brainer not to

 

[speedkilz88]

 

[SuperBowlz]

It doesn't happen if the team plans on keeping the player.

Huhh? Of course it doesn’t happen if the team plans on keeping the player. That, again, has nothing to do with the point. The NFL has had hundreds and hundreds of GA’s over the last decade and it happened once, for a non superstar player 7 years ago. The whole point of this conversation is people saying “Dallas can tag Pickens then trade him”. All I’m saying is that really doesn’t happen in the NFL.

 

[SuperBowlz]

First thing Im doing is signing him no brainer not to

It’s really hard to let him walk for a 3rd round compensatory pick but he’s gonna want 150 million over 4 years and with Flournoy emerging I can totally see Jerry letting him walk. But he has been an absolute star and it would be tough to let him go.

 

[Chasing6]

Huhh? Of course it doesn’t happen if the team plans on keeping the player. That, again, has nothing to do with the point. The NFL has had hundreds and hundreds of GA’s over the last decade and it happened once, for a non superstar player 7 years ago. The whole point of this conversation is people saying “Dallas can tag Pickens then trade him”. All I’m saying is that really doesn’t happen in the NFL.

If Jerry want's it to happen, it will happen.

 

[pansophy]

Not his fault. He's a stud #1. But Dak can't have 2 of them on the team because he can't take advantage of both skill sets often enough.

The $ commitment went to Cee Dee.
Pickens with Lamb on the field is apparently invisible, & what happened vs Detroit is a red flag.

We should look to trade GP3 and recoup a pick.

Let's roll with Flournoy @ #2 in 2026. He has shown enough to warrant the promotion.

We need to prioritize this atrocious Defense if we are going to be a quality football team. A 2nd stud WR isn't the answer.

We have two WRs that have over 1000 yards this season and CeeDee missed a bunch of time. What does ‘taking advantage of their skill sets’ look like if not that?