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3 difficult decisions Dallas Cowboys must make due to salary cap issues

By Sayre Bedinger

TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 16: Tony Pollard #20 of the Dallas Cowboys carries the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the third quarter in the NFC Wild Card playoff game at Raymond James Stadium on January 16, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 16: Tony Pollard #20 of the Dallas Cowboys carries the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the third quarter in the NFC Wild Card playoff game at Raymond James Stadium on January 16, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The Dallas Cowboys will need to make some difficult roster decisions in the coming weeks to make sure they are able to keep pressing forward as a team after winning a postseason game in January. There have already been some big changes made from the Cowboys so far in the 2023 offseason. The team decided to let offensive coordinator Kellen Moore walk and he joined the Los Angeles Chargers. Mike McCarthy effectively replaced Kellen Moore with himself and promoted Brian Schottenheimer to the position of offensive coordinator.

This is a Dallas Cowboys team that won 12 games this past season, and 12 the year before that. That kind of regular season success understandably comes with higher expectations when the playoffs roll around, and Dallas can’t miss this window they are in right now. How does this team get better in the 2023 offseason considering they are more than $7 million over the salary cap?

With NFL free agency rapidly approaching, let’s take a look at three difficult decisions the Cowboys may have to make in the very near future.

3 difficult decisions the Dallas Cowboys must make because of the salary cap

Dallas Cowboys
ARLINGTON, TX – DECEMBER 24: Tyron Smith #77 of the Dallas Cowboys gets set against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on December 24, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

1. Moving on from offensive tackle Tyron Smith

For years, left tackle Tyron Smith was the anchor of what many believed to be the best offensive line in all of football. The Dallas Cowboys had a tremendous stretch of play from the former first-round pick out of USC, and there were times when he was considered arguably the best left tackle in the league.

Over the last three seasons, however, Smith has played in just 17 games total. He hasn’t played a full season since 2015. Dallas now faces the tough decision with Smith of whether or not to make him a salary cap casualty at the age of 32. They would save over $9.5 million by letting Smith go. He currently counts over $17 million against the salary cap for Dallas and the team used a first-round pick on Tyler Smith in last year’s draft.

It seems like Dallas has been planning for this kind of a decision but they might soon have to officially make the tough call to let Smith go.

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