Cowboys rumors: 3 overpaid players who need to be cut this offseason
By Mark Powell
Dallas Cowboys: Time to cut DeMarcus Lawrence?
If the Cowboys make Lawrence a post-June 1 cut, they can shave about $19 million off their salary cap figure for 2022. That’s an attractive number. Sure, they’d still owe Lawrence some money on his deal, but it wouldn’t count towards their final cap number, which is the real purpose of this exercise.
Lawrence when healthy is one of the best edge rushers in football. But Dallas has another one of those in Micah Parsons, who proved to be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in his rookie season out of Penn State. Ideally, it’d be great to pair the two, but a No. 2 EDGE rusher isn’t worth a $27 million cap hit.
The Cowboys would be smart to move forward without Lawrence, who played in just seven regular-season games last season due to injuries. A fresh start elsewhere would do Lawrence some good, or the Cowboys could convince him to come back on a restructured contract.
Either way, Lawrence alone can get the Cowboys back under the current salary cap figure. But given the post-June 1 designation, Dallas would be smart to move on from one more big name before then so they can add to the roster prior to the summer.