Cowboys get under salary cap by converting guard Zack Martin’s contract, clearing $13M in space
As of Friday morning the fine folks at Over The Cap had the Dallas Cowboys just over $10M in the red as far as the salary cap is concerned. That changed rather quickly. It was reported bright and early by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that the Cowboys converted part of guard Zack Martin’s salary and in the process created $13M in salary cap space. Dallas is now in the black.
Salary cap-clearing as free agency approaches …
The #Cowboys converted guard Zack Martin’s salary, clearing $13M
The #Browns converted tackle Jedrick Willis’ fifth-year option, clearing $10.44M
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 8, 2024
The #Cowboys converted $16.25M of G Zack Martin’s 2024 salary into signing bonus, adding 1 additional void year to free up $13M of cap space.
Dallas now holds around $9M of Top 51 cap space, with Dak Prescott’s hefty $59.4M figure still on the books.https://t.co/hUUecut2RO
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 8, 2024
With the Cowboys now officially under the cap they do not technically have to do anything else although there are obviously a lot of lingering questions. There is the matter of Dak Prescott’s contract and whether or not he is going to receive an extension with the team (current reports are that this might take until August). Doing so could provide additional cap space, as could a restructure, and obviously the more available space that the team can create can allow for more opportunities to re-sign players or bring in free agents.
The legal tampering period opens on Monday at 12pm ET while the new league year officially begins on Wednesday at 4pm ET. Needless to say the Cowboys have a lot of work to do over the weekend to prepare themselves accordingly.
Update: 10:56am ET
As is to be expected around this time of year, prepare for more extensions in short order.
A source also said restructures for Trevon Diggs and Terence Steele might occur as well but not at this stage. The main objective was to get under the cap for 2024. Cowboys have big contracts looming for Prescott and Lamb and signing other free agents.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) March 8, 2024
With the “main objective” now accomplished we will see what else the Cowboys take care of.
Update: 12:00pm ET
Some more clarity on the Martin restructure by way of The Dallas Morning News.
Martin’s new deal not only saved the club $13 million in cap space for the 2024 league year, which begins Wednesday. It allowed the team an opportunity to create more than $7 million in 2025 cap room by releasing Martin next March with a post-June 1 designation, a person familiar with the deal told The Dallas Morning News.
Carry on.