Cowboys Plan Dak-Related Cap Move With DeMarcus Lawrence - Source

A crunch is coming due to the plan to retain, in some form, Dak Prescott. And so, a source tells CowboysSI.com, such a trigger-flip could be coming with DeMarcus Lawrence.

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys purposely build "triggers'' into their big deals with big players with the intent on flipping those triggers if they are ever in a salary-cap crunch. 

Such a crunch is coming due to the plan to retain, in some form Dak Prescott. And so, a source tells CowboysSI.com, such a trigger-flip is coming with DeMarcus Lawrence.

Regardless of whether Dallas beats the March 9 deadline to franchise-tag Prescott, the Cowboys need room. They presently have about $15 million in space. If they can work a long-term deal (worth, say, $40 million per year) with the QB, depending on the length of the deal, they could have Dak's cap impact in 2021 be around $20 million ... meaning they'd still need room. If he plays in 2021 on the fully-guaranteed $37.7 million franchise tag - and even if he is designated that way and then later gets a deal - Dallas will be mid-March need to be cap-compliant ... meaning room is also needed.

READ MORE: Dak & The Cap: Drastic Dallas Cowboys Contract Moves To Create $42 Million In Room

We've been told a primary target for a "trigger-flip'' is receiver Amari Cooper. (We've written before about Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, Ezekiel Elliott and Jaylon Smith also in this conversation.) But also very much in play is defensive end Lawrence.

READ MORE: Jaylon Smith EXCLUSIVE: Cowboys Contract & Cap Move Scoop

The trigger doesn't change the player's salary; it just changes, in a sense, which pocket his money comes from and which pocket it goes into. A move with Cooper would, however, essentially lock him onto the roster, as a practical matter, for this season and for 2022. (Without the trigger, his $20 million APY deal has an "escape clause'' following this season.

A Cooper move can create about $12 million of room.

A restructure of Lawrence, the former second-round draft pick who signed a five-year, $105 million extension with the Cowboys in April 2019, could account for another $12 million in room, a source said. That would slice his $25 million cap figure in half, a bonanza of room.

The downside? The moving of his money will make it virtually impossible to release him until after the 2024 season, whereas presently, the contract's escape clause comes after 2023. Lawrence is 29 and has a history of playing through injuries. The risk is that Dallas might, down the line, be stuck paying a battered 32-year-old.

By the way, this has nothing to do with the player - Lawrence or any of the others - being "amenable'' to the trigger-flip. It's a built-in option for the team to use. The player is not taking a risk. The team is taking the risk - and due to it's Prescott cap clog, is about to need to.

CONTINUE READING: Dak & Cowboys Contract Status: 'Good Talks'