Getty ImagesThe Cowboys’ annual game of kick the can has begun in earnest.
According to Todd Archer of ESPN.com, the Cowboys have freed up $17.3 million in short-term cap space by restructuring the contracts of left tackle Tyron Smith and center Travis Frederick.
Such moves are standard operating procedure in Dallas, where they’re always pushing money into future years for present relief. They do it by turning base salary into bonuses, allowing them to prorate the hit over future years.
The moves would have them under the suggested salary cap of $168 million.
Of course, they have a lot more accounting to do, as they try to figure how and when to allocate the coming hit for quarterback Tony Romo, when they eventually move on from him.
Got it, nobody else in the NFL moves money around for cap reasons.
And there’s talk of adding Adrian Peterson and DeMarcus Ware? Not sure how I see that happening. If you cut Romo, you take a hit. If you keep him, you have to pay him. Eventually the bill comes due.
@DMCA12, really you couldnt be more off and wrong. but hey its the internet, everyone gets an opinion, right?
You dont understand the simple salary cap. If they trade or cut Romo, they pick up $5.1M in cap space, if they designated him as a post june-1 cut then its around $14M in additoinal cap room. there is no “bill” that comes due
@daninyogurt
Yea, they save money from the base salary if they trade or cut Romo. But, either way there will be dead money that the Cowboys will be on the hook for. The Cowboys owe Romo $19.6 as part of his signing bonus. Base salaries go away in trades/cuts. Prorated signing bonuses do not.
So while they technically will save money by trading or releasing Romo… they will still have to pay $19.6 million dollars in some form or fashion over the next 2 years and that dead money will go against the salary cap. Basically, they would have a ton of cap space had they not signed Romo to his current contract or prorated such a large signing bonus.
There’s a salary cap?
Jerrah is an Al Davis disciple and boy oh boy when those salary cap roosters come home to roost(and they will)…it’s not pretty. Took us years to get out of that hell hole…..
Sadly these balloon contract years for Smith and Frederick will likely come when Dak is primed to be the first $200M QB.
Romo will probably get traded – he is still good enough to give Dallas some negotiating bait, and he will be hungry to lead a team. The Cowboys may still have to eat some dead cap $ as a result, but I think it will be at least a fair deal for Dallas when they trade him. Of course he could still be cut, but I think it is less likely.
Romo will be missed by me and many other Dallas fans, but Dak is now the main guy – it is his team now. With that said, I wish Romo all the best. I tip my hat to the guy for being a very good QB in Dallas, and a tough, competitive player. He is also a god community and family man. I had hopes he would get to the elite status, and I would love to see him somehow get a SB ring before it is all said and done.
The Cowboys can go out and sign a couple low to mid tier FA’s as their cap currently stands, and they go ahead and draft the rest of the way. The team has a good chance to be in the playoffs again, and could be in it for SB contention if Dak and Zeke improve as well as the D finding a way to play as a top 5 D.
The team looks promising, and the Cowboys will continue to work on the cap (like many other teams). They already restructured contracts to get the space they need, and will likely impact the cap even more in the Romo trade. Time will tell, but they should be good when it comes to having the cap space they will need (and use) before the new season.