The Dallas Cowboys are getting busy in the final days before free agency.
On Tuesday, they signed defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to a four-year, $80 million contract that brought him back into the fold before he was allowed to hit free agency — and without having to use the franchise tag to do it. Later in the day, they restructured the contract of star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, according to ESPN, a move that creates approximately $20.5 million in cap room.
Lamb signed a four-year, $136 million contract extension with the Cowboys last offseason, checking in $1 million per year behind Justin Jefferson at the top of the wide receiver market. The Cowboys kept his cap number artificially low in Year 1 of the deal and built in future restructures with larger base salaries in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Most of Lamb’s $26.85 million base salary for 2025 will be converted into a signing bonus, which then gets spread out over the remaining length of the deal and the first of the four void years attached to his contract. That drops his cap number for the 2025 season from approximately $35.3 million to around $14.8 million.
Lamb told a Twitter follower that he agreed to the restructure because he wants to win, and knows that it will take more than himself to do it. The fact that a restructured deal gives him the money up front rather than in bimonthly installments during the season probably doesn’t hurt, but that was, at least, his public reasoning.
The move gives the Cowboys enough room to sign Odighizuwa’s new deal, which will see him count for around $6.25 million against the cap, again per ESPN. A restructuring of Dak Prescott’s contract is surely in the offing soon, as his current $89.57 million cap number is totally untenable if the Cowboys want to field a full team. Restructuring that deal would create an additional $37.2 million in room, allowing for Dallas to figure out the rest of its free-agent plan.
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The Cowboys still have a few important free agents whose statuses are up in the air, such as cornerback Jourdan Lewis, running back Rico Dowdle and defensive end Demarcus Lawrence. They also have still have areas of the roster that need shoring up, including the offensive and defensive lines, linebacker and wide receiver. In order to come close to having the financial capability to fill those holes, Lamb’s contract restructure was a necessary first step.
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