By Todd Archer
IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys will have to do some maneuvering to get under the salary cap, but the new rules of the collective bargaining agreement might make that a little easier than expected.
Whenever teams have the ability to cut players, those moves will be viewed as post-June 1 decisions, meaning the salary-cap hit will be spread out over two seasons.
The good news? The Cowboys will have plenty of space to do whatever they want to do in 2011, and that could mean make a run at the best free agent cornerback in free agency, Nnamdi Asomugha. The Cowboys have been linked to Asomugha through the off-season, however teams like Tampa Bay and Houston, with better cap situations, have also been tied to the Pro Bowler. A potential deal-maker in the Asomugha talks could be his relationship with new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
Now the bad news? Teams will have to carry a lot of dead money into a 2012 salary cap that is not expected to jump a lot over the 2011 cap.
We’ve talked a ton about how the Cowboys can restructure the contracts of Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware and Miles Austin and create $17.5 million in cap space. Add in the $3 million exception and the Cowboys would be about $2 million under the cap.
Here comes the twist: By cutting Marion Barber, Terence Newman, Leonard Davis and Marc Colombo they could create another $21.2 million in cap space this year. Newman would bring an $8 million savings, Davis $6 million and Barber $4.75 million.
But there’s a downside to this seemingly good news. Those players would chew up about $23 million in dead money in 2012, which would greatly limit the Cowboys.
IRVING, Texas -- The Cowboys will have to do some maneuvering to get under the salary cap, but the new rules of the collective bargaining agreement might make that a little easier than expected.
Whenever teams have the ability to cut players, those moves will be viewed as post-June 1 decisions, meaning the salary-cap hit will be spread out over two seasons.
The good news? The Cowboys will have plenty of space to do whatever they want to do in 2011, and that could mean make a run at the best free agent cornerback in free agency, Nnamdi Asomugha. The Cowboys have been linked to Asomugha through the off-season, however teams like Tampa Bay and Houston, with better cap situations, have also been tied to the Pro Bowler. A potential deal-maker in the Asomugha talks could be his relationship with new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
Now the bad news? Teams will have to carry a lot of dead money into a 2012 salary cap that is not expected to jump a lot over the 2011 cap.
We’ve talked a ton about how the Cowboys can restructure the contracts of Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware and Miles Austin and create $17.5 million in cap space. Add in the $3 million exception and the Cowboys would be about $2 million under the cap.
Here comes the twist: By cutting Marion Barber, Terence Newman, Leonard Davis and Marc Colombo they could create another $21.2 million in cap space this year. Newman would bring an $8 million savings, Davis $6 million and Barber $4.75 million.
But there’s a downside to this seemingly good news. Those players would chew up about $23 million in dead money in 2012, which would greatly limit the Cowboys.
