By Matthew Postins
The salary cap has been a part of the NFL for more than 20 years and every offseason each NFL team must, to some degree, do the dance that is getting under the cap.
This year the Cowboys will have to be Lord of the Dance, if the numbers below are any indication.
After hours of research RattleandHumSports.com has put together as comprehensive a list as possible of Cowboys player salaries as they stand right now. This list includes active players, players on injured reserve and players that were recently signed to futures contracts. During the offseason the salary cap rules change just a bit. During the regular season all active players count against the salary cap. In the offseason, it’s just the Top 51 players. So, for the purpose of this exercise, our salary cap estimations stop at Danny Coale, the 51st player listed below.
So just how bad is it?
By our calculations the Cowboys are approximately $22.6 million over the projected $121 million salary cap for 2013. There are some reports that put that figure at $20 million. You can quibble about the math all you want, but $20-$22 million is a good range. Salary math in the NFL is not an exact science.
Right now the Cowboys carry $138.7 million in cap money. Now if you subtract the $138.7 million from the $121 million you don’t get $22.6 million, do you? Well that’s because you have to figure in the Cowboys’ $5 million cap penalty for 2013, in addition to the cap figures. This is the penalty the NFL imposed on the Cowboys before the 2012 season for writing contracts the NFL felt weren’t in the “spirit” of league rules during the uncapped year of 2010. So actually the Cowboys have approximately $116 million in cap space for 2013. Hence the approximate $22.6 million.
The grid below shows three categories. The first is each player’s base salary. That’s what they’ll get if they play in 2013. The second column is their bonus. In most cases, the bonuses are signing bonuses that were paid to the player when they signed the contract. It’s up-front guaranteed money, but teams can pro-rate that money over the length of the contract. The third is the total salary cap figure for 2013.
The most important person in the Cowboys organization the coming months may be Executive Vice President Stephen Jones. Why? He negotiates contracts and manages the cap. He’ll be a very busy man leading up to early March when free agency begins.
Soon we’ll examine what the Cowboys can do to get under the cap. But for now consider the following:
The Cowboys are a top-heavy salary team. More than $92.1 million in cap space is wrapped up in 10 players.
Four players – quarterback Tony Romo, cornerback Brandon Carr, linebacker DeMarcus Ware and offensive lineman Doug Free – each count at least $10 million against the cap.
Twenty-one players are slated to make a base salary of at least $1 million in 2013.
2013 Dallas Cowboys salaries, bonuses and cap figures
Name Salary Bonus Cap Hit
Romo, Tony 11,500,000 5,728,000 17,228,000
Carr, Brandon 14,300,000 2,000,000 16,300,000
Ware, DeMarcus 5,500,000 6,721,750 12,221,750
Free, Doug 7,000,000 4,175,000 11,175,000
Austin, Miles 6,372,000 1,570,000 8,300,000
Witten, Jason 5,500,000 2,500,000 8,000,000
Ratliff, Jay 5,000,000 2,000,000 7,000,000
Connor, Dan 3,000,000 1,350,000 4,350,000
Scandrick, Orlando 2,000,000 1,800,000 3,800,000
Sensabaugh, Gerald 3,000,000 750,000 3,750,000
Claiborne, Morris 1,129,296 2,567,128 3,696,478
Bryant, Dez 1,557,500 2,325,000 3,660,000
Orton, Kyle 1,350,000 1,666,667 3,016,667
Smith, Tyron 1,511,009 1,897,018 3,408,027
Hatcher, Jason 2,000,000 833,333 2,833,333
Spears, Marcus 2,000,000 700,000 2,700,000
Bernadeau, Mackenzy 1,750,000 812,500 2,562,000
Livings, Nate 1,700,000 700,000 2,400,000
Parnell, Jermey 1,023,088 333,333 1,356,421
Church, Barry 823,000 500,000 1,323,000
Vickers, Lawrence 1,200,000 100,000 1,300,000
Carter, Bruce 766,327 507,500 1,273,827
Cook, Ryan 1,100,000 150,000 1,250,000
Lissemore, Sean 630,000 412,150 1,042,150
Lee, Sean 575,000 300,000 875,000
Murray, DeMarco 620,313 165,500 810,813
Arkin, David 555,000 125,000 680,000
Crawford, Tyrone 490,000 143,813 623,813
Wilber, Kyle 480,000 109,800 589,800
Brent, Josh 575,000 11,875 586,875
Johnson, Matt 480,000 75,146 555,146
Bailey, Dan 555,000 None 555,000
Albright, Alex 555,000 None 555,000
Jones, Chris 555,000 None 555,000
Price, Brian 555,000 None 555,000
Kowalski, Kevin 555,000 None 555,000
Harris, Dwayne 555,000 None 555,000
Moore, Sterling 555,000 None 555,000
Tanner, Phillip 555,000 None 555,000
Hanna, James 480,000 26,213 506,213
Beasley, Cole 480,000 None 480,000
Leary, Ronald 480,000 None 480,000
Dunbar, Lance 480,000 None 480,000
Callaway, Rob 480,000 None 480,000
Weems, Darrion 480,000 None 480,000
Bass, Ben 480,000 None 480,000
Agnew, Vince 480,000 None 480,000
Smith, Andre 480,000 None 480,000
McSurdy, Caleb 405,000 14,850 419,850
Benford, Tim 405,000 None 405,000
Coale, Danny 405,000 None 405,000
Top 51 Salary Cap Hit 138,684,163
2013 Salary Cap 121,000,000
2013 Salary Cap penalty 5,000,000
Actual 2013 Cowboys Salary Cap 116,000,000
Cowboys over projected 2013 Salary Cap By 22,684,163
Other Cowboys Players Under Salary
Name Salary Bonus Cap Hit
Igbinosun, Ikponmwosa 405,000 None 405,000
Pellerin, Micah 405,000 None 405,000
Kemp, Donavon 405,000 None 405,000
Satele, Brashton 405,000 None 405,000
Stephens, Nick 405,000 None 405,000
Taylor, Monte 405,000 None 405,000
Note: All totals are approximate and as accurate as possible up to Jan. 9, 2013.
Sources: Spotrac.com, Rotoworld.com, The Dallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, ESPNDallas.com
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