The Dallas Cowboys suddenly have room to chase a splash, and the name floating around is Maxx Crosby.
After restructuring the contracts of Kenny Clark, DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson, Dallas opened up $19 million in cap space and now sits at $33 million. That puts the Cowboys in position to absorb Crosby’s $30 million salary for the 2026 season. Per Over The Cap, via Jane Slater of NFL Network, the team taking on Crosby in a trade would need $29.857 million in cap space up front to get the deal done, not merely the $7.822 million he would count for after a presumed restructure.
That’s the upside. The cost is that Dallas may have tied itself tighter to Bland and Ferguson than it would have liked.
Neither player had guaranteed money left on his contract after this season, but the restructure pushes money down the road and makes their stay in Dallas feel far more secure through 2027 and possibly beyond.
Bland and Ferguson are hardly random names. Both were Day 3 picks in 2022, and both have become fixtures in the lineup, with Bland starting 42 games and Ferguson 48 over four seasons. They also came into this season needing to show more after uneven 2025 campaigns.
Ferguson’s numbers still look busy on paper, but the tape told a different story. He caught plenty of passes, yet did very little after the catch and had trouble protecting the football.
The arrival of George Pickens was supposed to create more room for Ferguson to work with, but it didn’t cut into his target volume and still didn’t spark the kind of production Dallas expected. Instead, he finished with a career-low 7.3 yards per catch.
That’s a rough outcome for a player earning $12.5 million per year, which ranks seventh among tight ends, with $30 million guaranteed, fifth-most at the position.
Bland’s situation is more complicated because of health. He underwent a second surgery on his left foot in January, and foot injuries have limited him to 19 games over the last two seasons.
His 2023 breakout now feels a long way off, and even in 2025, when he was clearly not at full strength, the numbers were still tough to ignore. He allowed a 109.0 passer rating when targeted, not what you want from a corner making $22.5 million a year.
ESPN’s Todd Archer, who first reported the restructure wave, wrote: "Bland's $12 million base salary and Ferguson's $7.25 million base salary were turned into signing bonuses as well. Both players signed multiyear extensions last year. Bland's cap number will increase by $2.15 million for the remainder of his deal, while Ferguson's will increase by $1.2 million."
The bigger point is that Dallas no longer has an easy exit with either player. Two years ago, the idea of locking in Bland and Ferguson would have sounded like a win. Now, with their recent production and injury concerns, the deal looks more complicated.
The Cowboys could have moved on from either player, even if that wouldn’t have been simple, and used the savings elsewhere - maybe even to help make a George Pickens move possible. Instead, the money has been pushed back, and the club is carrying the dead-money risk for at least the next two seasons.
That doesn’t mean the move has to blow up. Bland and Ferguson both have done enough in this league to justify patience, and there’s still a real chance each turns in a strong season.
But if they don’t, then Dallas had better make the flexibility count somewhere else. If the Cowboys are taking on that kind of risk, the return needs to be real - Maxx Crosby-level real, or something close to it.
In Other News...
Cowboys Just Added A Risky New Twist To Their Tackle Battle
The Cowboys have been looking for ways to sharpen the edges of their offensive line battle, and the trade for Broderick Jones gives them another intriguing body in the mix at right tackle. Dallas sent draft picks to Pittsburgh to bring in a young player with real talent and a rsum that has already been complicated by early-career adversity, including a neck injury and stretches of uneven play. For a team trying to sort out its best five up front, Jones brings both upside and uncertainty.
What makes the move so interesting is that Jones has often looked more comfortable on the left side, even as the Cowboys are asking him to compete on the right. His technique and consistency have been part of the concern, and he is still working back strength after missing time, which makes his path to a starting job less straightforward than it might appear. For Dallas, it is another swing at finding the right answer at tackle, but it comes with the kind of risk that can reshape the whole competition. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Still Have One Roster Problem Jerry Jones Can't Ignore
With injuries and roster churn still shaping the back end of camp, the Cowboys are doing what every contending team does this time of year: scanning the league for useful pieces before the regular season locks the roster in place. The practice squad market has become part of that search, and Jabbar Muhammad stands out as one of the more intriguing names because Dallas can still use help at cornerback. The current depth chart has enough questions to keep the front office honest, especially with the team continuing to weigh how much stability it really has behind its top options.
It is also the kind of position where one move can quietly matter more than the splashier headlines around the team. Trade chatter has already followed Dallas in other areas, from the Maxx Crosby buzz to the ripple effects of the George Pickens deal and the Cowboys' own quarterback roster activity, but the cornerback conversation keeps circling back to need. For Jerry Jones, the unresolved issue is not whether there are interesting options out there. It is whether one of them is worth acting on before someone else does. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Enter Week 1 With One Big Availability Concern
The Cowboys head into Week 1 in fairly good shape overall, but the injury report still leaves a few moving parts as the opener approaches. Defensive lineman Bullard and guard Cornelius are both in rehab mode and could still be available when the season starts, giving Dallas at least some hope that the depth chart wont be hit too hard right out of the gate.
Marist Liufau and Devin Moore are the bigger long-term absences to track. Both are on injured reserve with return designations, with Liufau working back from forearm surgery and Moore dealing with a hip injury, so the Cowboys know they will have to get through the early part of the schedule without them. For a team trying to set a tone in September, the question is less about who is ready now and more about how soon the roster can get back to full strength. [Read more 🡒]