https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js
The Dallas Cowboys can always move money around. There was a time at the beginning of last decade when the general football public had a poor understanding of the salary cap and contracts. The idea a team was up against the salary cap in a given year was met with hand wringing and flower bringing. Yet those who studied the cap carefully during the early 2010s saw that teams routinely were able to avoid the fictitious hell and someone get under the cap.
Only the most dire of situations really caused a team to implode their rosters, but most teams used several NFL-allowed accounting methods to circumnavigate one year’s cap. That was likely going to be the plan for the Dallas Cowboys in 2024 when the cap was projected to be around $242.5 million. But now that the number has skyrocketed to $255.4 million, the Cowboys are in a much better position.
Dallas has just under $254 million in cap hits from their top 51 players; the accounting measure the league uses during the offseason when rosters can be up to 90 players. They also have around $14.8 million in dead money hit from players no longer on the roster, such as Ezekiel Elliott. After factoring in the remaining unused space from the 2023 season, Over the Cap estimates the Cowboys are now just $8.3 million above the cap.
They will easily be able to create additional cap space through a variety of moves, and the additional $12 million means they gain some flexibility.
The $30 million-plus increase is by far the biggest jump in cap space of league history, save for the bump after the 2021 cap was lowered after the pandemic season of 2020. The cap dropped $16 million then bounced back $36 million in 2022.
The added revenue from a 17th game and the league getting in bed with legalized gambling is now hitting the bottom line and teams are more profitable than ever.
The salary cap is a percentage of certain aspects of league revenue as outlined in the CBA between the league and the NFL Players Association.