The Dallas Cowboys used to be one of the biggest spending teams when it came to Free Agents in the NFL. However, the big spending never led to a return to the Super Bowl, and the Cowboys have started to focus on building their team through the draft with smaller free agents signed. However, ESPN reported that the Cowboys have restructured Sean Lee's contract, the third player to do so, and might be ready to spend some money on their defense.
Sean Lee and his new Dallas Cowboys deal
What the Dallas Cowboys did was take some of the money that they owe Sean Lee and move it to the end of his current contract.
His base salary for 2017 was $9 million, and the Cowboys turned $7.7 million of that money into a signing bonus. This move adds $2.58 million to the 2018 and 2019 cap figures for Lee. It is basically borrowing money to make free agent moves this year and then paying it back down the line. This opened up just over $5 million in salary cap room, which is almost $9 million before the Cowboys make their decision on Tony Romo. Dallas also freed up some of this room by restructuring the contracts of Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick.
The most important Dallas Cowboys move
What fans have to understand is that there is money that the Dallas Cowboys need to save for their rookie class. There are also some in-house free agents that the Cowboys need to re-sign.
When Dallas restructured the deals for Smith and Frederick, the line of thought was that they were freeing up room to sign Zack Martin to a new deal to make sure their three Pro Bowl offensive linemen remained together for the near future. The Sean Lee deal really opens up the chance that they can get that deal done with Martin sooner rather than later.
Dallas Cowboys free agent needs
The Sean Lee deal is also important for the Dallas Cowboys when it comes to rebuilding their defense. The Cowboys know that they need pass rushers, something they have lacked for three years now. However, it is more important to fill in the holes in the defensive backfield since both safeties, and two of their cornerbacks are all free agents. Dallas needs to resign one or two of their players and then find replacements for the others, and that will cost money.
