Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stands on the field during pregame warmups against the Los Angeles Chargers. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Dallas Cowboys Salary Cap Tracker: 2026 Cap Space, Dead Money & New Contracts

Originally posted on Dallas Cowboys on SI
By Randy Gurzi | Last updated Mar 9, 2026 9:12 AM ET

With 2026 NFL free agency upon us, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to be big players for the first time in many years.

Jerry Jones said he will approach things differently this offseason, going as far as to say he will "bust the budget." Offensively, the Cowboys were impressive in 2025, and Jones believes they can be a Super Bowl contender if they get their defense figured out.

The question is, how much can the Cowboys afford? While they entered the offseason with a salary that far exceeded the cap, they've put in the work to shore things up. Restructures for Dak Prescott, Tyler Smith, and CeeDee Lamb have freed up space, but there's more to be done.

That said, let's look at the current salary cap situation for the Cowboys with free agency kicking off.

How much cap space do the Dallas Cowboys have?

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On Monday morning, the Cowboys entered the legal tampering period with no wiggle room. According to OverTheCap.com, they were under the cap by roughly $200,000.

That changed quickly, as they opened up $13 million by restructuring the contract of right tackle Terence Steele. $13 million isn’t a lot of space for free agency, but the Cowboys aren’t done.

They could open up more room by working out a new deal for Kenny Clark, who has a cap hit of $21.5 million. With no guaranteed money left on his contract, he should be open to an extension. They can also restructure Osa Odighizuwa to lower his hit and an extension for George Pickens would spread his salary out, thus lowering his cap number as well.

Dead cap space for the Dallas Cowboys

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The one concern with restructuring deals is that the players end up with void years on their contracts. That means they will be on the payroll, even though they’re not on the team.

One example is Zack Martin. Dallas is entering their second season without Martin, but he still has the highest dead cap hit at $16.46 million. The next highest dead cap hit is Trevon Diggs, who is counting $5.88 million against the cap.

In all, the Cowboys have $25.99 million in dead money.