Jerry Jones can turn the Dallas Cowboys into the scariest team of the NFL offseason, but only if he wants to

Let's get specific about what Jerry Jones' new catchphrase means, and why the numbers show it really matters ahead of the 2026 NFL offseason. The Dallas Cowboys owner has told the media multiple times the team is incentivized to "bust the budget," and if he genuinely wants to, he can.

Whereas in past years the Cowboys have talked about the salary cap being a constraint, talking about free agency in budget terms should mean spending cash over cap. And when compared to other NFL teams, they're in the best position do so.

Cowboys have the highest restructure potential

Though the Cowboys are currently $29.1 million over the cap, their financial reality is very different. Due to the way contracts are set up for several of their recently-extendeded players, the Cowboys can restructure their way to having over $100 million in cap space.

Through simple restructures, the Cowboys can free up $131 million in cap space, according to data from Over the Cap compiled by SFdata9ers on social media. That's the highest for any NFL team this offseason. And it gets better.

If every NFL team decided to do maximum restructures (defined as extensions or renegotiations), the Cowboys would have the third-highest cap space in the league. For Dallas, this means they can truly bust the budget, as restructures would allow them to postpone cap hits into the future in an effort to spend "cash over cap" this offseason.

In other words, they can go all in this season despite the cap's constraints and worry about cap hell in future years.

This is what the most aggressive front offices in the league—such as the Philadelphia Eagles—consistently do. Philly is also a good example of why the strategy works, as it has been to the Super Bowl three times since 2017 (and won two), with very different teams each time.

This gives the Cowboys scary potential

If Jones decides to get wild this offseason, his team could turn into the scariest of the offseason. We just saw the Cowboys have a Top 5 scoring offense while Dak Prescott played top-tier football alongside CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. After the season, Prescott accurately said Dallas' win-loss record didn't match his play.

Instead, the Cowboys lost games because of a terrible defense. But having as much cap space as the Cowboys could (through restructures) should solve that. That's enough cap space to bring in veteran starters who can be upgrades at linebacker (i.e. Nakobe Dean), edge rusher (Odafe Oweh), cornerback (Jaylen Watson). Those are just examples, but you see what I mean.

Give the Cowboys a competitive defense and they're Super Bowl contenders. But with a roster full of holes, spending is needed. Draft picks are cute, but they won't be enough. Dallas needs Jerry to show he's serious about busting the budget.

Fortunately, he's in a position to do so.