Zack Martin joins Prescott in restructuring contract to help Cowboys

The offseason moves for the Dallas Cowboys have officially begun. As of the morning of March 8, Dallas put tight end Dalton Schultz on the franchise tag and signed wide receiver Noah Brown to a one-year extension. The $10.9 million tag put on Schultz certainly does not help the Cowboys’ salary cap struggles. At the time of writing, Dallas has dipped even further to the second-worst in the league sitting at negative $31 million. All 32 NFL teams must be under the $208.2 million salary cap limit by Wednesday, March 16.

But monetary decisions are already being made to help get the Cowboys back to even in the form of restructures. Restructuring essentially converts a portion of a player’s base salary for the upcoming year into a signing bonus. This process allows teams to get under the cap and create more financial space for free agents and draft signings.

The team revealed that they will be restructuring both Dak Prescott and Zack Martin’s contracts to free up cap space. As we reported a month ago, the Prescott contract restructure was expected, but the Martin situation is a newer report. The two maneuvers will save the Cowboys roughly $22 million.

Zack Martin and Dak Prescott’s contracts are being restructured to save the Cowboys about $22 million towards cap space

The move for the quarterback was already planned when Prescott signed his massive four-year deal ahead of 2021. The final two years of his deal are voidable which allows Dallas to spread the agreed-upon money out over a longer period. The front office was able to move $15 million of Prescott’s contract to a later time.

Martin’s deal is similar. The guard signed an extension in 2018 and his contract has already been restructured multiple times. It was announced that the Cowboys would be adding two voidable years to Martin’s contract which saves the team $7 million in 2022. These monetary figures are a huge improvement. Prescott’s salary cap hit was set to be $34 million and Martin’s was set to be $20 million.

However, more decisions have to be made. More space has to be freed up to get the Cowboys under and give them enough money to make signings for 2022. The options are releasing players, restructuring more contracts, or asking players to take pay cuts. The Cowboys tried to ask DeMarcus Lawrence for a pay cut, but he declined.

ESPN’s Todd Archer said that the team is waiting to hear if injured tight end Blake Jarwin is willing to take a pay cut as well. Aside from that, the possibility of cutting WR Amari Cooper still feels inevitable. If the Cowboys cut Cooper before March 20, the move would free up an additional $16 million in cap space. The trajectory of this team is likely to change a lot over the next two weeks.