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Cowboys have cap space coming with Travis Frederick restructure

The Cowboys could gain $7 million in salary-cap space by restructuring Travis Frederick's contract. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire

FRISCO, Texas -- Depending on the website, the Dallas Cowboys either have $2.069 million in cap room (NFL Players Association) or $189,641 (ESPN Stats & Information) in cap room.

Either way, the Cowboys will need more cap room just to sign their draft picks in April, let alone any free agents over the next few days.

To help, the Cowboys will restructure the contract of Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick and should gain just a shade under $7 million in room, but they have not put that plan into place yet.

The Cowboys will turn a significant amount of Frederick’s $10 million base salary into a signing bonus and prorate that over the next five years. While it lowers Frederick’s $13.235 million cap figure in 2018, it will raise his cap figures in 2019-22 by about $1.7 million each year.

The Cowboys can move more money around by restructuring other contracts, but they would prefer not to touch the deals for Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith or linebacker Sean Lee. They can also gain space by asking Dez Bryant to take a pay cut or by releasing players, such as cornerback Orlando Scandrick or tight end James Hanna.

They could also gain cap room by working out a long-term deal for Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin, whose $9.3 million salary on his fifth-year option became fully guaranteed on Tuesday. A new contract for Martin could net the Cowboys another $5 million or so depending on the structure but a deal does not appear to be close, even after the Jacksonville Jaguars signed guard Andrew Norwell to a five-year, $66.5 million deal as a free agent.