FRISCO, Texas -- When Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones spoke about the 2025 salary cap last week at the NFL's winter meetings at the Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, fans were sent into a panic.
"I think we knew we were going to have a challenge this year and next year," Jones said. "That [the salary cap] was going to be really tight. Because we still have some money left over from some guys who aren't here today, and you're going to have some other guys that won't be here in the future that you still got a cap count [on]."
For fans, the fear is that 2025 free agency will be approached the same way as last offseason, when the Cowboys opted against adding key players to a roster in need of help.
Will it be another offseason like 2024, when they didn't consider adding star free agent running back Derrick Henry, opting to bring back an aging veteran Ezekiel Elliott instead? Will they wait to get their highest-priced extension done with Micah Parsons, the way they did with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb last offseason? Will it be another spring of letting key free agents, such as Osa Odighizuwa and Chauncey Golston walk, the way Tony Pollard, Dorance Armstrong and Tyler Biadasz did last offseason?
The Cowboys' offseason plan -- whom to keep, whom to extend, whom to let walk -- is not finalized by any stretch. The focus remains on the final three regular-season games, but it's not as if the Cowboys can't multitask.
"We're always working behind the curtain, thinking about those type of things -- everything we're doing right now, how it affects next year," Jones said.
Some projections expect the 2025 salary cap to be approximately $275 million. Teams aren't planning for the $30 million jump it took in 2024, but it will still go up. According to Roster Management System, the Cowboys have 40 players signed for 2025 at a cost of $263 million.
Cap space is -- to steal a term from owner and general manager Jerry Jones -- fungible.
Prescott has a 2025 cap number of $89.89 million via the four-year extension he signed in September that made him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. The Cowboys will restructure that deal and gain about $36 million in cap room.
Lamb has a cap number of $35.45 million for next season on the extension he signed in August, which made him the second-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. The Cowboys will restructure that deal and gain about $20 million in cap space.
That $56 million or so is a huge boost, and it would be more money if they extend Parsons. He is set to count $21.4 million on his fifth-year option, but a multiyear extension would lower that figure. But last offseason, the Cowboys did not sign Lamb until August and Prescott until September, so it's difficult to imagine the Cowboys will get a Parsons deal done by the time free agency opens in the middle of March.
The season-ending knee injury sustained by cornerback Trevon Diggs negates the possibility of him being released in the offseason. His 2025 base salary of $9 million was guaranteed for injury at the time of signing in 2023. If he had not been injured, the Cowboys had until the fifth day of the 2025 league year, when the money would have been fully guaranteed, to release him and gain as much as $10 million in cap space.
Right tackle Terence Steele is set to count $18.125 million against the cap next season. If the Cowboys designate him a post-June 1 release, they would save $14 million, but he would count about $6.4 million against the cap in 2026.
They also would not have a right tackle, unless they move 2024 first-rounder Tyler Guyton there after he played his rookie season at left tackle. And if they do that, they would have to find an option at left tackle.
And what about the $19.7 million the Cowboys currently have in salary cap room (per the NFLPA) that will carry over to the 2025 cap? Like a lot of things with the salary cap, it's not as it seems.
The Cowboys have void years coming up on guard Zack Martin, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
Whether they are on the 2025 roster or not, they will total a little more than $20 million against the salary cap. Retirement was a possibility for Martin before he had season-ending ankle surgery last week. The Cowboys reworked his contract last year to be in a position to designate him as a post-June 1 release in 2025 if he opted to stop playing.
Lawrence and Cooks have said they want to continue playing. If they re-sign with the Cowboys after the start of the 2025 league, their cap numbers would already have $7.445 million (Lawrence) and $4 million (Cooks) attached to it.
Other players under contract will also see pay raises through the proven-performance escalator in the collective bargaining agreement.
Cornerback DaRon Bland will see his salary increase from $1.1 million to the cost of the second-round restricted free agent tender, which projects to be about $5.2 million, because he was selected to one Pro Bowl. Tight end Jake Ferguson will not get the same Pro Bowl boost because he was not on the initial roster in 2023, but his base salary will jump from $1.1 million to the right-of-first-refusal tender, which projects to be about $3.2 million. Wide receiver Jalen Tolbert will also have a base salary of $3.2 million, a jump of $1.8 million on his initial deal.
The Cowboys have two players set to become restricted free agents in receiver KaVontae Turpin and safety Markquese Bell. Turpin is likely to earn a Pro Bowl bid for the second time in three seasons. Since he was undrafted, the Cowboys would have to put the second-round tender on him ($5.2 million) or risk losing him for nothing if another team signs him to an offer sheet. The Cowboys could pass on tendering Bell and attempt to re-sign him to a lower deal.
That's at least another $13 million in cap space that goes away, and it could be more if Bell is tendered.
Add to that the 2025 rookie pool, the money the Cowboys keep for injury settlements and practice squad contracts, and the cap space continues to lessen.
But it will remain true that if the Cowboys want to be active in free agency -- if not at the top of the market -- they can be.
So the major question of their approach to the 2025 offseason is: Will they?