Other teams do this. There is a way.
You can manipulate the cap. The cowboys have just decided not to all of a sudden
I am not saying yes or no to this point, but I am curious. Do they really do it? I took a look at a few teams to see what their CAP situations are and the teams with the least CAP space do have a couple of high CAP players. But to really understand this question we would have to look at the details of the top contracts for every team.
Let's start with the Chiefs. They have Mahomes, Kelce, and Chris Jones. Mahomes CAP number this year is $37 million. Next year it is $66 million. But his contract goes out to 2031 so they have years to spread his CAP impact out. The Chiefs next to highest CAP players are Joe Thuney and Jawaan Taylor at $26 and $24 million respectively. Next year their CAP numbers are about the same. It will be interesting to see what the Chiefs do with them. Both can be cut for a pretty sizable CAP save. Again, their contracts allow this and the Chiefs avoided pushing CAP money on their contracts into the future so cutting them is easier. Remember, Chris Jones is in the first your of his deal where his CAP number is about $7 million. Next year his CAP number goes up to $35 million. Something has to give in 2025 and my guess is one or both offensive linemen will be cut to make room for the Chiefs other players, Like Creed Humphrey who is in the last year of his rookie deal.
I think what the best teams do to manage their CAPs is to avoid restructuring too many contracts pushing CAP money into the future. The Cowboys got into a CAP issue and restructured a bunch of contracts, some multiple times, which they are now dealing with - and will deal with in 2025. No doubt if they give new deals to CeeDee and Dak, they will make them as CAP friendly in 2025 as they can but creating a CAP problem a couple of years down the road again. Any new contract with Dak starts with $26 million they pushed into 2025. If Dak insists on another 4 year deal it really makes dealing with his CAP number a lot more difficult. If they push money from his first your into the rest of the deal, then they are just creating another problem in 2026 and 2027. If they don't do it that way, the won't get much CAP relief in 2025. I have said it before and I will say it again, Giving Dak a 4 year deal was a mistake. They should have insisted on 6 or even 8 years for $40 million.
But the Saints were $60 million to $80 million over the CAP the last two years and managed to get under each each. Right now they have more CAP room than Dallas. One thing that a lot of teams are willing to do is cut guys to make CAP room. The Cowboys could make CAP room now buy giving CeeDee a new deal. They are choosing not to.
