Fresh cap space and a glaring injury at guard have Dallas on high alert, as the owner signals a potential defensive splash to bolster a Super Bowl-caliber roster.
Gone are the days of a "drama-free" offseason for the Dallas Cowboys.
To begin Dallas' first game week of the season - which ends with the "hot-ticket'' item of a visit to New York Giants on Sunday Night Football - head coach Brian Schottenheimer announced that Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith would miss at least four weeks due to thumb surgery that was scheduled for Tuesday morning.
It's a wrench in the plans of one of the best offenses in the NFL returning in its entirety from last season. Smith, however, will be back to fortify the Cowboys' offensive line for the second half of the season and more. It is T.J. Bass who fills in in the meantime, and Schottenheimer has spoke confidently in the reserve interior lineman whom Dallas made an effort to retain this offseason.
Jerry Jones added to the buzz of game week by speaking on his 105.3 The Fan radio show on Tuesday. After Dallas restructured several contracts last week to free up cap space, Jones said his team has the necessary resources to make a trade.
"The best way for me to answer that is not timing-wise, right on something this morning or this week, but if you look at it generally speaking, we're in play, and that's the best way to describe it," Jones said about potential plans to add to the roster.
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Jones said "defense would be the place" where a trade is made, even after the busy offseason that's already included hiring new defensive coordinator Christian Parker, drafting two defenders in the first round, and trading for or signing four more likely starters.
The Cowboys on Thursday made three alterations in the contracts of a trio of high-priced standouts and in doing so have created $19 million in salary-cap room. Defensive tackle Kenny Clark, cornerback DaRon Bland and tight end Jake Ferguson each had their contracts restructured.
"The changes, first reported by ESPN, don't change the salaries of the involved players; as is often the case, this is largely simply a bookkeeping move," our own Mike Fisher clarifies. "But it does push their money into future years, adding ballast to down-the-road salary caps."
Jones was noncommittal about sharing whether those moves were directly related to his idea about swinging a defensive trade before the mid-season deadline.
"The timing is conspicuously obvious. But yeah, we could use it for this year's team," Jones said of the newfound cap space.
"The cap is fungible, it laps over into multi-years, three or four on parts that you make available. That's hard to put your finger on. But that does show that we have really viable, serious room financially to make a trade if we wanted to right now."
Our fun idea?
Dallas now figures to have upwards of $33 million in 2026 cap space. If star Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby were to land back on the trade block, he'd cost a team approximately $31 million this season.
Fisher also jabs Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks, free agent backer Bobby Wagner, and Arizona Cardinals EDGE Josh Sweat as options that'd affordably benefit the Cowboys defense.
The space, as Jones suggests, could also roll over into next offseason, where All-Pro receiver George Pickens will be an unrestricted free agent after he plays this season on the franchise tag.
And Fisher notes that next year's receiver tag number will be right around $33 million.
Coicidence? Hmm.
Armed with dollars to spend, Jones looks at the cap as a more impactful way of strengthening the roster immediately, meaning draft capital in 2027 could be on the table in upcoming trade talks.
"A top pick is expendable this year for me to add to somebody that meaningfully would help us now," Jones said. "And we would have the right kind of spot on our team for it. So I'm not just looking for a player. We're looking for somebody that can add to the mix here."
"As always, it's key to remember that the players involved aren't 'sacrificing' anything; again, this is just a bookkeeping tool," Fisher reminds us.
You can argue that Jones' "open-for-business" press remarks are also a "tool" in their own right.
