5 high-priced defenders the Cowboys might move on from

There is a lot of talk about the Dallas Cowboys rebuilding their defense but which high-priced veterans can they realistically move on from?

The Dallas Cowboys defense looks to be the Achilles heel of this team and it doesn’t look like reinforcements will be available week five. If the Dallas Cowboys were to take a look at rebuilding this defense, who can realistically be released to help this team moving forward?

I took a look at age and injury history but the single most important factor whenever dealing with the release of a player is their salary. The Dallas Cowboys front office has to weigh whether a player is worth the dead money associated with their release.

DeMarcus Lawrence, DE

The first player I want to highlight is defensive end, DeMarcus Lawrence. He has been fighting through a knee injury this season but has shown he can still be a decent run defender at times. His pass rush has basically been nonexistent as he has only registered half a sack this year.

If the Cowboys decided to cut him today, the Dallas Cowboys would instantly have $26.9 million dollars worth of dead money on their books today but it would also net them $17 million in cap savings. That is a ton of dead money but the savings could be a way of bringing in a defender that better suits this defense.

Since the Dallas Cowboys wouldn’t outright release “tank” trading him could be an option for those looking to dump the former Pro-Bowl player. Trading Tank raises his dead money hit to $35 million dollars so I think that is just too much for an NFL franchise to stomach.

The Bottom line is Lawrence isn’t going anywhere until the 2022 season where his dead money cap hit is only $8 million dollars if he is released before June 1st. If you are one of those fans calling for his release, it simply isn’t going to happen.