The 2025 NFL salary cap is bigger than expected, but the Cowboys will still have to restructure some contracts to benefit from it.

The Dallas Cowboys still have some salary cap problems to figure out, but their issues, which we’ll circle back to in just a moment, aren’t quite as bleak as initially expected.

While the NFL’s new League Year (yes, they capitalize it) doesn’t officially begin until March 12 at 4:00 p.m.

Eastern, which is the exact same date and time the Free Agency (yep, that one as well) signing period opens, the league has provided all 32 clubs of the projected salary cap range for the 2025 season.

And just as things have gone in each of the last three years, the figure has once again substantially increased.

In 2021, the cap number was $182.5 million, which was actually an 8% decrease from the previous season. The reasoning there, though, was understandable, as the massive drop in overall attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to reduced revenues in 2020.

Since then, however, the cap has risen considerably, bumping up to $208.2 million in 2022, $224.8 million in 2023, and $255.4 million this past season.

While the final 2025 figure has yet to be officially established, the NFL told teams that it will be somewhere between $277.5 million and $281.5 million, which is higher than expected.

So, how does this affect the Dallas Cowboys? Well, let’s have a look.

The NFL today informed teams that the 2025 per-team salary cap will fall in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million, way up from last year’s $255.4 million. Cap will have increased by more than $53 million over the last two years.

— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) February 19, 2025

The Dallas Cowboys will have roughly $2.5 million in salary cap space heading into the new league year

With the fine folks at Over The Cap splitting the difference and projecting the 2025 salary cap at $279.5 million, the Cowboys would have $2,471,944 in cap space heading into the new league year (we’re not capitalizing).

So, they’re all set to be compliant on March 12, albeit not by much. But that’s only because of the unexpected increase.

With prior estimates being $272.5 million, America’s Team would have been on the wrong side of the threshold if not for the elevated figure.

Even with rolling over nearly $20 million in 2024 unused cap space, the 2025 cap hits of the 54 players on the offseason roster combined with the dead money on the books would have still had the Cowboys in the red.

And that’s not a place you want to be, as that involves being forced to restructure contracts or release players to become cap-compliant before the new league year starts. Otherwise, the NFL will legit start removing players from your roster for you.

Now, despite having only about $2.5 million in cap space at the moment, the Cowboys could create anywhere from $60-$100 million more with certain releases and restructures.

And now that they’re on the right side of the threshold, they’ve got more time to work those things out before they start signing more players.

That’s if Jerry Jones actually signs anyone of significance this offseason, that is. But we won’t dive down that rabbit hole right now.