PFR’s Cowboys Offseason Outlook indicated the team exited last week with the league’s worst cap situation. Dallas came into today more than $56MM over the $301.2MM salary ceiling. They are moving back toward cap compliance with some expected adjustments.
The Cowboys restructured Dak Prescott and Tyler Smith‘s contracts Wednesday, ESPN’s Field Yates and Adam Schefter tweet. These moves will create $47MM in cap space, bringing Dallas within $10MM of the 2026 cap. The team also restructured CeeDee Lamb‘s deal to clear more room, per ESPN.com’s Todd Archer. Other possible conversions are available as well. The Lamb move, expected to clear $19MM more in space, slides the Cowboys under the cap.
Dallas used a $28.29MM franchise tag to keep George Pickens off the free agent market. That sank the team deeper into the red. But Pickens is firmly in the Cowboys’ 2026 plans. As a result, contract updates are coming to make it affordable. Quinnen Williams and Osa Odighizuwa‘s deals are also on that list, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Nick Harris, and a rumored Kenny Clark extension effort would reduce the 2025 trade pickup’s cap hit.
Prescott, 32, is tied to the NFL’s richest contract — a four-year, $240MM extension agreed to hours before Week 1 of the 2024 season. This move will reduce the 11th-year quarterback’s $50.52MM 2026 cap number while inflating future numbers on the through-2028 contract. Before this restructure, Prescott was already due to count more than $74MM against Dallas’ 2027 cap. Another restructure would be on tap before that point.
The Cowboys backed themselves into a corner with Prescott based on previous restructures. His no-tag clause and the void year-driven penalties that would have come in 2025 absent an extension armed the upper-crust QB with extraordinary leverage. He used it to score the $60MM-per-year extension — which still hovers well above the QB market 18 months later.
Lamb is signed through 2028 on a $34MM-AAV extension. The Cowboys have now restructured his deal twice as well. Lamb was due to count $38.24MM on Dallas’ 2026 cap and more than $41MM next year. While Lamb’s 2027 number will balloon, his 2026 figure will drop to create spending space. Smith, who signed the NFL’s most lucrative guard deal last fall ($24MM AAV), is signed through 2030. His cap number will drop from $27.5MM.
The NFL really needs to move to fully guaranteed deals. Your cap hit should be the total guarantee divided by the length of the deal.
It is really that simple. There is no need for void years, roster bonus, workout bonus, restructures, front load, back load, and all this nonsense.
I’ve wondered about that for some time. Of course the owners would push back on that. Could the NFL and NFLPA find a middle ground (like guarantee all salaries but eliminate signing bonuses) to create cost certainty for both sides?
Only real leverage the players have is adding the 18th game imo.
They could demand guarantees, if not full guarantees more solid and less partial guarantees on their non bonus salary in exchange for playing 1 more week, with an additional bye week.
But the NFLPA is so weak, and their leadership corrupt for big business, and non-player interest acting; it’s more likely they’ll fold without much actual collective bargaining for the league and owners whims like they have before for comparative cookies. NFLPA is notoriously star player oriented, and leaves most of the practice squad guys, and jobbers in the dust so who knows their priorities under new (but similar) executive leadership. Again, like Tretter is a candidate, for some reason.
Legit, full guarantees would be more of a boon for the guys who maybe spend 1-3 years in the NFL, not the big guys with the voice to make actual change so, it remains to be seen.
More guarantees is one thing, but having cap hits automatically be an average of the contract every year doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t help either party and it doesn’t account for the fact that the cap goes up year over year.
Ahh Jerry the GM getting outflanked yet again.
How?
Jerry has to do this ever year since he continually restructures and backloads more than anyone