Dallas Cowboys 2023 free agency primer: Main targets, internal free agents
By Randy Gurzi
The NFL legal tampering period is here which means the Dallas Cowboys and the rest of the league can begin negotiating with free agents but cannot actually sign them until 4:00 pm EST on Wednesday, March 15.
While this is often an exciting time for most fans, it can be painstaking for those that follow America’s Team. For whatever reason, the Jones family has become very frugal in free agency but they might not be able to sit on their hands in 2023 considering all the roster holes they need to fill.
Dallas Cowboys created cap space just in time for free agency
Dallas Cowboys available cap space
With free agency looming, the Cowboys found a way to create plenty of cap space when they restructured Dak Prescott and Zack Martin’s contracts. This freed up roughly $30 million which means they went from being in the red to having just under $15 million to spend according to OverTheCap.com.
Cowboys restructure contracts of QB Dak Prescott, guard Zack Martin to clear roughly $30 million in cap spacehttps://t.co/V6cfkdqEMd pic.twitter.com/VUtSEW9Qy8
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 10, 2023
This helped them afford the recent franchise tag placed on Tony Pollard, who was easily their most important pending free agent. Pollard will make just over $10 million on the tag which means there’s $26 million tied to running backs right now.
Of course, that won’t be the case as the Cowboys will be trying to lower the $16 million hit that Ezekiel Elliott has. In the end, he’s likely to be released which will create another $10.9 million in space.
Dallas can also restructure deals with DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyron Smith, and Michael Gallup if needed. In short, they can do whatever they need to in order to make moves, should they choose.
Having said that, chances are any money saved will be spent on some internal free agents.