Tonight’s look at the Cowboys..
- Recently there has been a lot of talk about the Cowboys restructuring the contract of Tony Romo for salary cap flexibility, and Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap runs down the team’s options. Romo has the highest cap charge in the NFL in 2015 at $27.77MM and bringing that figure down would make it easier for the Cowboys to re-sign Dez Bryant, one of their lineman, and either re-sign DeMarco Murray or acquire Adrian Peterson. The Cowboys could turn to a few different variations, including a max restructure ( reducing Romo’s base salary to the absolute minimum and converting the ~$16MM balance to a signing bonus) and moving a portion of Romo’s 2015 base salary to 2016.
- The two-year futures contract that the Cowboys gave to Ryan Williams could have an impact on their offseason plans at running back, as Clarence E. Hill Jr of the Star-Telegram writes. Williams spent all season on the taxi squad in 2014, but his $240K signing bonus is probably a sign that he’ll be in the mix at tailback in 2015. He won’t be a DeMarco Murray replacement if the star leaves in free agency, but he could be part of the equation at the position that right now includes 2014 backups Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar. There is a real good chance the Cowboys might not tender Dunbar a restricted free-agent contract offer because it comes with a $1.575MM price tag – a steep price for someone who had 99 yards on 29 carries and no touchdowns in 2014.
- Murray bet on himself before the season began and turned down the Cowboys offer of an extension. His gamble paid off, as David Moore of The Dallas Morning News writes. Now, he says that he’s not stressing too much about his future and whether or not it’ll be in Dallas. “I’ll let my agent handle all that,’’ Murray said. “It’s only been two or three weeks since the season ended. I’m still relaxing and whatnot.’’