FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have reworked the contract for All-Pro right guard Zack Martin to open up salary cap space this year and potentially allow them to spread a cap hit over the 2025 and 2026 seasons should 2024 be his final year with the organization, according to multiple sources.
Martin's contract was set to expire after this season, but he had three voidable years through 2027. The Cowboys gained about $13 million in space for 2024 by reworking his deal, which gets them under the $255 million cap before the start of the league year next week.
Without the additional nonvoidable years on the contract, the dead money in his deal should he not play for the Cowboys after this season would have been close to $25 million. Before redoing Martin's contract, the Cowboys were looking at about $60 million in dead money against the 2025 cap with the expiring contracts of Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, Brandin Cooks and Dak Prescott. A potential release of Michael Gallup could add more than $8 million in dead money against the cap next year.
From 2017 to 2023, dead money accounted for anywhere from 8% to 18.2% of the Cowboys' cap, per Roster Management System data. On a projected 2025 cap of $270 million, that dead money figure could be between 22% and 37%, making it difficult for them to retain or add players.
Last summer, the Cowboys gave Martin an $8.5 million raise in 2023 and 2024 after he held out for a portion of training camp, going from $27.5 million to $36 million guaranteed. The deal made Martin the third-highest-paid guard in the NFL behind Atlanta's Chris Lindstrom and Indianapolis' Quenton Nelson, who reset the market at $20.5 million and $20 million, respectively.
In 2023, Martin started 15 games, missing one game with an ankle injury and another with an illness, and was named to the Pro Bowl for the ninth time in 10 years and an All-Pro for the seventh time. Martin turns 34 in November. Only Hall of Famers Bob Lilly (11), Larry Allen (10) and Mel Renfro (10), plus 11-timer Jason Witten, who is not eligible for the Hall of Fame yet, have been selected to more Pro Bowls than Martin in Dallas history.
The Cowboys have other moves they can make to create 2024 salary cap space, such as restructuring the deals for cornerback Trevon Diggs, right tackle Terence Steele and Prescott. At last week's scouting combine, owner and general manager Jerry Jones said the Cowboys would begin looking at an extension for Prescott, which would also create cap room in 2024.