Dallas Cowboys receive a delayed gift from Zack Martin's retirement but it comes with a catch

It is June 2 and in the NFL world, that's a holiday for front offices around the league. That's because teams that make "Post-June 1" cuts earlier in the offseason finally get the salary cap benefits from them and because more team-building options become available as teams can defer dead money until the following year if they cut or trade for a player.

The Dallas Cowboys exploited the Post-June 1 the last few years with the releases of Ezekiel Elliott and Michael Gallup. This year, however, they had a more specific situation come up. When Zack Martin decided to retire, the Cowboys essentially had to cut him "to comply with certain terms in his contract," per Over the Cap.

On Monday, the move opened up $1.25 million on the Cowboys' salary cap.

While that sounds good, albeit minimal, the truth is those gains will quickly be negated because of injury guarantees, as Over the Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald explained in a recent article. 

Cowboys Gain $1.25M with Release of Zack Martin

While Martin announced his retirement from the NFL, the Cowboys had to process this as a cut to comply with certain terms in his contract. His cap drops from $10 million to $8.8 million in 2025, but he should also receive an injury payment of $1.255 million that negates the small savings. Martin will have a $15.46 million cap charge next year due to all of the prior restructures of his contract.

- Jason Fitzgerald, Over the Cap

The news is a reminder of how complicated salary cap management is in the NFL and a bit of fun trivia about Martin's retirement. 

Ultimately, things will stay the same for the Cowboys but for now, they've got some savings in June 2 and were not quite left out of the party. I wouldn't expect the news to translate to any roster move at all as the team heads into another week of OTAs.