The Cowboys have moved under the $301.2 million salary cap for the 2026 season by completing three contract restructures.
Shortly after word came that they restructured the deals of quarterback Dak Prescott and left tackle Tyler Smith, Todd Archer of ESPN.com reported that they have also restructured wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s deal.
The three moves created around $66 million of cap space for the team without altering the overall compensation for any of the players. The remaining cap hits have moved into future seasons, which will likely leave the Cowboys with more cap maneuvering to do in the future.
Lamb is signed through the 2028 season with void years pushing the remaining cap hits beyond that point. He had 75 catches for 1,077 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games last season.
The Cowboys have created some cap room in advance of the new league year beginning next week.
Per a report from ESPN, Dallas has restructured the contracts of quarterback Dak Prescott and left tackle Tyler Smith.
By doing so, the Cowboys have freed up about $48 million in cap space.
Prescott’s restructure created roughly $31 million in cap space while Smith’s created roughly $17.6 million.
Prescott is currently under contract with Dallas through 2028 with several void years on the backend of his deal. Smith is signed through 2030.
Cooper Witten, the top-rated linebacker in the Class of 2027, will join his father, Jason Witten, at the University of Oklahoma.
Cooper announced his commitment to the Sooners on Tuesday, choosing OU over Texas A&M, Tennessee and Georgia.
Jason, an 11-time Pro Bowler and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist in 2026, joined OU as tight ends coach in January.
Cooper played for his father at Liberty Christian High School in Argyle, Texas, the past three seasons.
“Coach [Brent] Venables was the first coach to believe in me and offer me, so that really meant a lot from the start of the whole recruiting process,” Witten told 247Sports. “His defenses have been elite his whole career, and I believe that the coaching staff can develop me to be the best linebacker in the country one day.”
The 6-1, 220-pound Witten is a five-star linebacker and a three-sport star. He led his team to back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2024, with Liberty Christian going unbeaten for the first time in school history during his freshman season. Witten’s older brother, C.J., signed with Rice in 2025.
From 2015-24, the NFL saw five or more franchise tags placed on players each of those offseasons. A total of five tags were used the past two years.
The deadline to tag players in 2026 passed Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Only three teams used a franchise tag, with Jets running back Breece Hall, Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens and Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts tagged as non-exclusive franchise players. In 2025, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and Chiefs offensive guard Trey Smith were the only players tagged.
The only other time two or fewer players were tagged was 1994, the first year of the franchise tag, when Pittsburgh tight end Eric Green and Vikings defensive tackle Henry Thomas received their team’s franchise tag.
The Colts placed the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones on Tuesday.
Teams will have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with tagged players, or the players will play on the tag for 2026.
The NFL is a deadline-driven business. And an important annual deadline arrives today.
The two-week window for applying the franchise or transition tag closes at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
There’s really no reason for a two-week period. All that matters is the end, not the beginning. And while there’s some value in applying the tag before the Scouting Combine as a way to short-circuit tampering efforts, only two teams put the word out before things got rolling in Indianapolis that key players would be off-limits — Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. and Cowboys receiver George Pickens.
Will there be more? Obviously, if any will happen, it will happen today.
The players to watch are Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (and, if they work out a deal with him today, Colts receiver Alec Pierce), Jets running back Breece Hall, and Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
If no additional tags are applied, it will be the second straight year with only two. And the two applied in 2025 were the fewest since 2006.
Time will tell. And the clock is ticking. We’ll know at 4:00 p.m. ET who is, and isn’t, blocked from the open market by the franchise or transition tag.
