Dak Prescott’s $55.5 million salary cap hit is a key issue for the Dallas Cowboys’ offseason. It’s among the reasons they’ve been quiet so far in free agency, having the least amount of cap space among all NFL teams. They could open up salary cap from other restructures, but so far they have eschewed that option. How did we get here, and what hope can we reasonably have for the future?
This is the final year of the four-year, $160 million extension Prescott signed following the 2020 season. The current cap hit has swelled due to past restructuring; converting base salary into signing bonus money and creating more cap space while increasing the cap hits in future years.