The Cowboys have two of the requisites for being involved in deadline trades — immediate needs, and the willingness to make a move.
What they lack is salary cap room to pay the guy they’re bringing in, and that could quell their best intentions of adding some pop to Tuesday’s deadline.
“We’re certainly open to it,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said, via Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I know our guys are working back there. I’m working. If the right situation presented itself, we would certainly do something. I mean, it’s no secret we’re moving a lot of guys in and out in our defensive line and that will probably continue to be the case. I think we already have some workouts scheduled for Monday. We’re just taking a look at guys. . . .
“But we certainly would look at any type of situation there if the right deal was there, but we also can’t, for a quick fix, do something that would hurt long term.”
Already limited in the moves they could make this offseason because of salary cap penalties, they’re staring at about $2 million in cap space now, and are projected to be more than $30 million over next year’s cap, so big-ticket additions are going to be hard to pull off.
“At the end of the day it’s got to fit our cap, and that’s another thing,” Jones said. “It would have to really just fit right to sacrifice our cap some, because it will be an issue for us next year, and we certainly manage our salary cap hand in hand with ’13, ’14 and ’15 all side by side as we manage and we see how that affects each year.”
Finding space next offseason will require some cuts and many restructurings, but it’s the kind of space that can be found. The trickier part would be finding someone who could contribute immediately, who another team is willing to part with, who fits into a tight budget slot.