Are the Dallas Cowboys quickly running out of salary cap space?

Amari Cooper has a strong leverage to begin his contract negotiations. The Cowboys had a three win and four loss record when he arrived and the team finished with a ten win season making the playoffs. You would think Cooper’s representatives have Sammy Watkins 2019 cap hit of $19.2 million penciled in as their floor.

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Ezekiel Elliott, according to Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones, is the straw that stirs the Cowboys drink. It is easy to understand why, he has won two league rushing titles in his three years and would have won a third were it not for a six-game suspension in the 2017 season. Elliott’s representatives will be eyeballing Todd Gurley’s four-year $57.5 million deal.

So in my perfect world, Dak Prescott signs for $25 million average per year (APY), DeMarcus Lawrence for $18 million APY, Amari Cooper for $15 million APY and Ezekiel Elliott for $12 million APY. We can’t forget the Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin contracts.

During the current Collective Bargaining Agreement time period, no team has had more than three players with a cap hit greater than seven percent win the Super Bowl. The Cowboys will have six by the time the 2020 season starts.

And this doesn’t reflect that there will be very good football players like La’el Collins, Byron Jones, and defensive lineman Robert Quinn who will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2019 season and two stud linebackers eligible for new contracts. Still think the Cowboys have lots of cap space?

We have grown accustomed to the cap rising each year. In fact, the cap has risen by more than $10 million six years in a row. But this is not guaranteed, I have predicted trouble brewing when the current television deals expire in 2021 and 2022, in particular the Monday Night Football deal, and the bubble could burst as streaming replaces the current distribution model.

It is imperative that the Cowboys reset expectations and sign Prescott to a team friendly deal. Any give back by Prescott will set the tone for the others. The Cowboys still have time to correct the Lawrence contract mistake but time is running out.