Cowboys have salary cap issues for 2017, but they’re fixable
The Dallas Cowboys begin the off-season with 17 of 22 regular starters signed for next season, including guard La’el Collins, who missed most of the season recovering from surgery on his big toe.
They currently have $179.3 million committed to the 2017 salary cap, the most in the NFL, for 47 players. That includes $3.1 million in dead money, per spotrac.com.
The 2017 salary cap is projected to be around $170 million. The Cowboys will carry over $2.4 million they didn’t use this season, meaning they’ll have to trim around $7.6 million of player costs before the new league year, which starts March 9.
They can do that by restructuring contracts of players such as Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Dez Bryant.
Key players’ contracts
Offense
Position | Player | Age | Contract status | Base salary in 2017 | Cap hit |
QB | Tony Romo | 36 | Signed through 2019 | $14 million | $24.7 million |
QB | Dak Prescott | 23 | Signed through 2019 | $540,000 | $635,848 |
WR | Dez Bryant | 28 | Signed through 2019 | $13 million | $17 million |
WR | Cole Beasley | 27 | Signed through 2018 | $3 million | $4 million |
LT | Tyron Smith | 26 | Signed through 2023 | $10 million | $15.8 million |
LG | La’el Collins | 23 | Signed through 2017 | $616,750 | $623,750 |
C | Travis Frederick | 25 | Signed through 2023 | $14.2 million | $14.9 million |
RG | Zack Martin | 26 | Signed through 2018 | $1.6 million | $2.9 million |
RT | Doug Free | 33 | Signed through 2017 | $5 million | $7.5 million |
TE | Jason Witten | 34 | Signed through 2017 | $7.4 million | $12.3 million |
RB | Ezekiel Elliott | 21 | Signed through 2019 | $1.6 million | $5.7 million |
FB | Keith Smith | 24 | Signed through 2017 | $690,000 | $690,000 |
Defense
Position | Player | Age | Contract status | Base salary in 2017 | Cap hit |
LDE | DeMarcus Lawrence | 24 | Signed through 2017 | $1.2 million | $1.8 million |
RDE | Tyrone Crawford | 27 | Signed through 2020 | $7.25 million | $10.4 million |
T | Maliek Collins | 21 | Signed through 2019 | $612,500 | $832,788 |
NT | Cedric Thornton | 28 | Signed through 2019 | $3 million | $4.3 million |
DE | Benson Mayowa | 25 | Signed through 2018 | $1.5 million | $2.6 million |
WLB | Sean Lee | 30 | Signed through 2019 | $9 million | $12.5 million |
MLB | Anthony Hitchens | 24 | Signed through 2017 | $690,000 | $798,716 |
SLB | Damien Wilson | 23 | Signed through 2018 | $615,000 | $731,578 |
RCB | Orlando Scandrick | 29 | Signed through 2019 | $3 million | $5.3 million |
LB | Jaylon Smith | 21 | Signed through 2019 | $745,226 | $1.5 million |
CB | Anthony Brown | 23 | Signed through 2019 | $540,000 | $573,736 |
FS | Byron Jones | 24 | Signed through 2018 | $1.2 million | $2.3 million |
S | Jeff Heath | 25 | Signed through 2019 | $1.5 million | $1.9 million |
Special teams
Position | Player | Age | Contract status | Base salary in 2017 | Cap hit |
K | Dan Bailey | 28 | Signed through 2020 | $3.2 million | $4 million |
P | Chris Jones | 27 | Signed through 2017 | $1.5 million | $1.75 million |
LS | L.P. Ladouceur | 35 | Signed through 2017 | $1.1 million | $1.2 million |
This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Cowboys have salary cap issues for 2017, but they’re fixable."