In the 2024 league year, the Dallas Cowboys have already activated their first trigger. The team took one of the actions that will enable them to begin shopping on Friday, just 72 hours before the legal tampering window opens for free agency. Teams must, by Wednesday at 4 PM Eastern Time, be under the $255.4 million salary ceiling, regardless of whether they do so at Saks Fifth Avenue or Walmart.
Dallas was almost $11 million over the mark, but they were able to go under it on Friday by rearranging Zack Martin’s contract’s final year to postpone the cap impact.
Martin was supposed to cost Dallas $28.5 million against the limit this season. He was promised a base salary of $18 million following his holdout during the previous training camp.
The base pay and incentives for the current year plus any amortized bonus money from prior seasons that had been dispersed over the duration of the contract make up a player’s cap hit.
In addition to his base pay, Martin received bonus hits totaling $10.5 million for 2024.
Dallas restructured the deal so that Martin would still receive his full $18 million salary, but they would also add a third vacant year and turn $16.25 million of it into a bonus.
NFL teams can push cap allocations with the help of accounting gimmicks called void years.
beyond the term of the agreement. Martin’s contract currently contains four vacant years, from 2025 to 2028, worth little less than $23 million.
All of the vacant year cap hits will be considered dead money on the Cowboys’ 2025 cap if an extension is not negotiated before the start of the following season.
For the time being, Martin will continue to get the $16.25 million restructure bonus, which is split equally at $3.25 million annually between the cap amounts of 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028.
Martin’s 2024 cap hit is therefore composed of his new base salary of $1.75 million, his prior bonus allocation of $10.5 million, and the new $3.25 million restructure allocation.
