Cowboys Salary Room: Stephen Jones - 'Cap Boy'? - Gives Dallas Top Spot in NFC East

The Dallas Cowboys appear to be in the best cap position of any NFC East team entering the 2023 season.

While Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is often credited as being a genius at manipulating the salary cap, it's the Dallas Cowboys who appear to be in the best position cap wise as training camp approaches. 

According to Over The Cap, owner/general manager Jerry Jones and the Cowboys currently have $20.45 million in cap space to work with. That's the seventh-highest total among all NFL teams, and tops among those in the NFC East. It's quite a bit more than the Eagles ($13.85 million), Washington Commanders ($11.57 million) and New York Giants ($3.82 million) have at their disposal. 

With that amount of room under the cap, the Cowboys remain in position to make a notable addition to their team before the regular season begins and/or at the trade deadline in-season. Dallas doesn't seem to be a player for three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, but that doesn't mean they couldn't still make a major skill-position addition to bolster the weaponry that quarterback Dak Prescott has in his huddle.

The door hasn't officially been closed on a return for running back Ezekiel Elliott, who was released by the Cowboys in March. While Tony Pollard will likely be the top option out of the backfield in 2023, the recently-released Dalvin Cook is also at least financially plausible, if the Cowboys are interested. 

CowboysSI.com has reported that Elliott is not presently in Dallas' plans, and that Cook is not on the radar.

All of these numbers, plus Dallas' 24 regular-season wins in the last two years with a roster that figures to be able to do that again, could quiet the critics of COO Stephen Jones, derisively labeled "Cap Boy'' by his detractors.

What else is noteworthy is the the Cowboys have $14.85 million in dead cap space on the books in 2023, the lowest amount among NFC East teams. The aforementioned Elliott, offensive tackle La'el Collins, tight end Blake Jarwin, defensive tackle John Ridgeway and defensive end Takk McKinley combine for what is a manageable amount of dead cap space. The Eagles are among the league-leaders in 2023 dead cap space at $54.73 million 

Things will get dicier for the Cowboys in 2024, with Pollard and cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Stephon Gilmore slated to become free agents following the season. As is, the Cowboys are projected to have $24.38 million in cap space to work with next offseason, by which time they'll also likely be looking to lock up receiver CeeDee Lamb and Diggs long-term. With so many key decisions to make after 2023, it feels unlikely that Prescott plays on his $59.46 cap number next year, so the quarterback could be looking at a new long-term deal to help open up more cap space now, and in 2024. 

You can follow Tim Kelly @TimKellySports on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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