Dallas Cowboys Smart To Void Doug Free’s Contract

According to a report from CBSsports.com Sean d’Oliveria, the Dallas Cowboys have voided the remainder of right tackle Doug Free’s contract, essentially making him a free agent for next year. The move will cost them almost $4 million dollars against the cap, but considering that they were facing about an $8 million dollar hit to keep Free on the team, it will save them roughly $4 million.

The move comes a few weeks before free agency in the NFL begins, and is one of a few moves the Cowboys will make to have a chance at re-signing some of their big name free agents. Both Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray will be targets of the Cowboys and many other teams, and unless Dallas figures out some ways to clear cap space, they will struggle to bring them back in 2015.

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The good news for the Cowboys when it comes to Free is that they still have a decent chance of reaching a new deal with him, but for a lot less per year than they had him for under the voided deal. Free has played at a fairly high level the last year and a half, and if the Cowboys were able to sign him for under three million a year long term they’d probably be happy.

The truth of the matter is that both Dallas and Free likely knew this was the probable outcome when he signed a few years ago. In addition to the $8 million dollars in base salary he was scheduled to make in 2015, the voided deal had him getting another $8 million in 2016. There was just no way that Dallas could afford to keep him at that high of a cost.

One complication for a possible reunion for Free and the Cowboys is that Dallas is also interested in bringing back the guy who stepped in while Free was injured in 2014, Jermey Parnell. Parnell can also become a free agent in 2015, and it is highly unlikely that Dallas can sign them both. However Jerry Jones is a shrewd businessman and it’s always possible a restructuring here or there opens the door for that to happen.

This can be the cost of success sometimes. When you are near the top of every statistical category involving rushing, the guys up front that made it possible will be highly desirable once they hit the free agent market. As the NFL is widely known to be a copycat league, teams might want to overpay one these guys with the hope that Free or Parnell will bring that success to them.

The Cowboys will continue to make moves that give them some maneuvering room before free agency begins. They already declined the option on defensive tackle Henry Melton’s contract a few days ago. If they had kept Melton it would have cost them about $9 million in 2015. Will they cut cornerback Brandon Carr or at least restructure his deal? Time will tell, but it’s clear they know that sitting still and doing nothing was not an option. With Free gone, they have begun to clear space for Bryant…and possibly Murray.

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