On Tuesday, the Dallas Cowboys turned to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s contract for something every NFL team is looking for in the days leading up to free agency: Salary cap relief.
The Cowboys restructured the star wide receiver’s deal to open up $20 million in cap space.
As one of the highest-paid players in the league, Lamb’s contract was an obvious candidate for a restructure, which can also be called a “conversion.” Teams take salary for a player that counts toward that year’s salary cap and turn it into a signing bonus, which can be prorated over the remainder of the contract instead of having to account for it in single season.
In other words, it’s not a pay cut and doesn’t impact players at all. In most cases, teams don’t even require a player’s permission to execute such conversions or restructures.
However, that didn’t keep Lamb from seeing his chance of applying pressure to the Cowboys’ front office and taking it. Upon being asked on X why he would agree to “such a dumb move,” CeeDee had a simple yet powerful response: “I want to win. It’s gonna take more than just myself.”
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Though it’s true Lamb isn’t truly sacrificing anything with this move, despite what the user asking the question probably thought, he knows the additional cap space can help the team. However, it isn’t guaranteed to be used in significant free agent additions. Making such a statement puts pressure on the Cowboys to make it count though.
Stephen Jones told the media during the NFL Scouting Combine the Cowboys were going to be “selectively aggressive.” At this point, it’s not something only fans want but players themselves. I’ve got nothing but respect for Lamb putting the ball on the front office’s court following the restructure.
Dak Prescott’s deal is likely to be similarly restructured and a Micah Parsons extension would also provide major cap relief for 2025. It’ll up to the decision-makers to make good use of it.
