Cowboys New $40 Million Cap Room Number And 3 Ways To Spend It

FRISCO - To be very, very precise, the Dallas Cowboys - after an early flurry of free-agency window roster moves totaling 20 news contracts - presently have exactly $38,505,804 of cap room.

For the sake of simplicity's sake, when we're hanging around the water cooler, let's call it $40 million.

Now, what are they to do with all of that room - and with the additional $10 million plus that will come with Micah Parsons' new extension?

There are 3 "mouths to feed,'' so to speak.

No. 1, there is the locked-in and unavoidable expense of the salaries for the prospects taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. Dallas' picks look like this ...

Round 1: 12th

Round 2: 44th

Round 3: 76th

Round 5: 149th

Round 5: 171st (comp)

Round 5: 174th (comp)

Round 6: 204th (via Bills in Elam trade)

Round 6: 211th (comp)

Round 7: 239th (via Titans in Murray trade)

Round 7: 247th

Those 10 selections will get predetermined contracts that will total $12,538,269. But that's not the "rookie pool'' number - that is, the number already earmarked to be spend after the April selection process.

Because those contracts will usurp some of the vet contracts in cap calculations, Dallas' actual rookie-pool number is $4,138,269. (Thanks, OvertheCap.)

So that's about $40 million minus about $4 million.

Dallas will therefore project to have $36 million in cap room as April turns to May.

No. 2, there is the camp and in-season slush fund. What if a costly injury occurs? Or a player counted upon is a bust? Or a great trade/signing opportunity pops up?

Teams need to keep some money in reserve. Let's call that figure $10 million. But ...

Does Dallas have to keep that in its pocket now? No - because as it happens, that's the number that the Cowboys will reward themselves with come a Micah signing.

So we're still at $36 million.

No. 3, and this is the most exciting but most confounding "mouth to feed'': A big buy in free agency. The Cowboys have put down a tremendous amount of groundwork to get to what we've long called their $100 Million Blow It Up.''

What is the purpose of flipping those Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb contractual switches only to leave the created cap room unused?

Does that mean Dallas chases, say, Keenan Allen or Stefon Diggs right now? Cowboys Nation would like that.

Does it mean waiting until after the draft dust settles? Maybe, but that would defy COO Stephen Jones' "selectively aggressive'' promise.