Cowboys about to get $9.5 million in additional cap space
The Cowboys are about to finally receive cap relief from releasing WR Michael Gallup.
This Sunday, June 2nd, the Dallas Cowboys will be among several teams to get a chunk of additional salary cap space. Where’s it coming from, and what might the team do with this sudden influx of spending room?
When Dallas released receiver Michael Gallup in March, he was given a June 1st designation under what’s now been a longstanding provision in the NFL collective bargaining agreement. A player-friendly maneuver, it allows teams to release players at any point in the offseason so that they can join the free agency market while there are still plenty of openings and teams with cap space to use. Their former team still gets the benefit of deferring a portion of their dead money hit to the following offseason, which had previously only come from holding the player on the roster until after June 1st.
What folks don’t always realize is that by using this provision, teams are still carrying the player’s full salary cap hit against their books through June 1st even after he’s off their roster and perhaps signed somewhere else. In Gallup’s case, despite being cut on March 15th and signing with the Las Vegas Raiders on April 30th, he’s still counted a full $13.85 million against the Cowboys’ cap. That’s currently the sixth-highest amount for a single player in Dallas behind Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence, CeeDee Lamb, Zack Martin, and Trevon Diggs.
But this Sunday, $9.5 million in cap relief is coming. Gallup will still account for $4.35 million in dead money against the 2024 cap and $8.7 million in 2025, but it made sense to part ways given his declining performance and offensive role. Spreading the dead money over two years also made sense given Dallas’ current situation, only about $2-3 million cap space before June 2nd, and more flexibility to absorb and manage the bigger hit next year.
So what might the Cowboys do with this $9.5 million? We’d love to see them add some more pieces to help in 2024 and this could help open up their wallets. Perhaps they finally move on veterans like the much-discussed DT Linval Joseph or WR Hunter Renfrow. Or perhaps, if it’s even still on the table, it could move Dallas closer to re-signing CB Stephon Gilmore. They may also try to get ahead of the market by extending LB Micah Parsons or DT Osa Odighizuwa now rather than later, which would require additional cap dollars.
Two guys it doesn’t affect are QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb. Both contracts are hot topics right now, with Lamb even staying away from the team currently while he seeks a long-term deal. In either case, though, any contract extension will actually bring the players’ cap hits down from where they currently sit; $55 million for Prescott and about $18 million for Lamb. The Cowboys don’t need cap space to get those deals done, just to come to terms on the right price.
After a frustratingly quiet offseason so far, many of you are probably dubious that the Cowboys will do anything significant with this incoming cap space. But this money finally coming open from Gallup’s release does give Dallas some breathing room it hasn’t had previously in 2024. With several intriguing veterans still looking for work, and perhaps more coming if other players get released this week, the Cowboys just might give us something new to talk about in the days ahead.
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