4 easy cuts Cowboys can make to save $17 million in cap space

The Dallas Cowboys have to juggle the salary cap every offseason, but this year is different. According to Over The Cap, the Cowboys will be $25 million over the cap at the start of the new league year in mid-March.

Signing Dak Prescott to a contract extension will allow them to get under the cap, but they'd still have some uphill climbing to make other moves. Restructuring contracts is always a possibility and an extension for CeeDee Lamb will help in the form of $13.492 million in cap relief.

Just like that, Dallas would be $15 million under the cap with those two moves. That's a great jumping off point, but it's going to take a lot more than $15 million to make enough moves to make this roster a Super Bowl contender.

With that in mind, let's highlight four easy cuts the Cowboys can make to free up a chunk of cap room.

3. Bryan Anger, P

Believe it or not, the Cowboys can save $3 million if they cut Bryan Anger. It might not seem like much, but $3 million can prove crucial in signing an internal or outside free agent or getting a contract extension over the line.

Anger has a big leg, as his 51.4 yards per punt ranked third among punters this season. He only logged two touchbacks in 44 punts, but he wasn't exactly a marksman in terms of pinning teams inside their own 20-yard line. In fact, he ranked outside the top 25 at the position in that category, per NFL stats.

That's not to dismiss Anger's accomplishments in Dallas. He set the Cowboys single-season franchise record for net punting average in 2021 and in 2022 he set the franchise record for gross punting average. He made two Pro Bowls and two second-team All-Pros in three years as the team's punter.

Having said that, punter is a position the Cowboys can afford to cheap out on. They can either bring in a rookie or sign a veteran for half the cost. The offense doesn't punt enough and the cap situation is too tire to justify giving Anger another year.