The Dallas Cowboys had to start doing something about their salary cap situation or the only player they would be left with was Tony Romo. The team was well over the salary cap number and was going to be forced to start releasing players in order to save money. However, instead Jerry Jones is getting creative and the first to see that is Romo.
ESPN.com reports that the Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Romo have agreed on a contract restructure that officially puts the team less than $1 million over the salary cap. Romo signed a six-year contract worth $108 million last year with $55 million in guaranteed money. The team re-worked the quarterback's deal to make $12.5 million of his $13.5 million base salary into a signing bonus. It drops the quarterback's cap hit from $21 million to $11 million.
Along with Romo's new deal, both Sean Lee and Orlando Scandrick had their contracts re-worked with the team which created another $6.8 million in space. Altogether, the three new contracts create $16.8 million in space which is a big improvement from where the team was originally.
With the added space, the Cowboys have some decisions to make regarding other players. Both DeMarcus Ware and Miles Austin were considered good as gone just a few weeks ago, but the newly created salary cap, could change all of that. Ware will be a $16 million salary cap hit and would save the team $7.4 million if released. Austin will count $8.2 million against the cap, but would save the Cowboys $5.5 million if designated a post-June 1 cut.
Jones has remained relatively quiet on what his intentions are with both Ware and Austin. He has stressed that defense was a big issue for the team last year and they needed to get more physical on that side of the ball. Jones has previously called out Ware for not playing to the best of his ability in 2013 despite the various injuries he suffered.
While it remains to be seen if Ware or Austin will return, the saved space could help the Cowboys get wide receiver Dez Bryant to a new contract. As of now, the two sides have not discussed a potential deal. Bryant will be entering the final year of his contract and while Dallas can franchise him in both 2015 and 2016, the team and the receiver prefer a contract.
