Dallas Cowboys Restructure Contracts Of Dak Prescott and Tyler Smith To Free Up $47 Million In Cap Space
The Dallas Cowboys have been playing financial Jenga for a while now. Stack a contract here, defer some money there, hope nothing collapses before the season starts. Today, the front office made a big move: restructuring the contracts of Quarterback Dak Prescott and All-Pro Guard Tyler Smith to create roughly $47 million in cap space ahead of the new league year. That is the kind of money that can actually change a football team.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Field Yates, Prescott’s restructure alone generated approximately $31 million in cap relief, while Smith’s deal added another $17.6 million to the pot. For context, Dallas was sitting dead last in available cap space at -$56.6 million, according to Over The Cap. How will the Cowboys use this newfound financial flexibility?
How the Cowboys Contract Restructures Actually Work
A contract restructure typically converts base salary into signing bonus money. That signing bonus then gets prorated across the remaining years of the deal, which spreads the cap hit out over time instead of taking the full punch in one season.
Think of it like refinancing your mortgage, except instead of a house, it’s a quarterback who threw for 4,552 yards and 30 touchdowns last season.
Prescott remains under contract through 2028, and Smith is locked in through 2030. Both players stay in Dallas. The Cowboys just found a way to breathe a little easier this offseason.
The Cowboys’ Defense Was a Dumpster Fire In 2025
Here’s the hard truth: all the cap gymnastics in the world don’t mean much unless Dallas uses this money wisely. The Cowboys finished 7-9-1 last season and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The offense wasn’t the problem. Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and newcomer George Pickens gave Dallas one of the more dangerous receiving corps in the NFC. The offense ranked second in the league in yardage and seventh in scoring.
The defense, though? Dead last in points allowed. 30th in yards allowed. That’s not a slump. That’s a full-on structural failure. Much of that pain traces back to the trade of Micah Parsons before the 2025 season. Parsons was the kind of player who made an entire defense better just by showing up. Without him, Dallas never found a way to consistently stop anyone.
What the Cowboys Need To Do With the Cap Space
Owner Jerry Jones told reporters before the restructures that he expected Dallas to “spend more money in free agency than we have.” That’s a notable shift for a franchise that’s traditionally preferred the draft-and-develop approach to building a roster.
The Cowboys have already made one significant offseason move, hiring Christian Parker as the new defensive coordinator. But Parker is going to need real players to work with if this defense is going to take any kind of meaningful step forward in 2026.
Beyond the Prescott and Smith restructures, Dallas is also expected to rework Lamb’s contract to get fully cap-compliant. That move would give the Cowboys even more flexibility as the legal tampering period opens March 9 and free agency officially begins March 11.
Cowboys Free Agency: What To Watch
With roughly $47 million now available, and potentially more after the Lamb restructuring, Dallas has real options. Edge rushers should be the top priority. The Cowboys need pass rush help badly, and the free agent market typically offers a few quality options for teams willing to spend.
Linebacker depth, cornerback upgrades, and possibly a veteran safety could also be on the shopping list for a defense that needs almost everything. The Cowboys have the quarterback. They have elite skill position players. They have a new defensive coordinator with something to prove. What they needed was money to work with. Now they have it.
Whether Jerry Jones and the front office actually spend it the right way? Well, that’s a whole other story. Cowboys fans have learned the hard way not to count their chickens too early.
