Cowboys take dead cap hit on Tyron Smith, Dorance Armstrong contracts

The Dallas Cowboys ended up taking two big dead cap hits on Monday as Tyron Smith and Dorance Armstrong Jr.‘s 2023 contracts voided. The team could have avoided those hits with new contracts but instead, they’ll take on the dead cap and continue working toward potential new contracts for those players before they hit free agency next month.

Offensive tackle Tyron Smith had one of the largest dead money figures in the league this year, trailing on Bucs wideout Mike Evans, Titans QB Ryan Tannehill and Vikings DE Marcus Davenport. Smith’s contract had $6.005 million in dead money. Meanwhile, Armstrong contributed $1.5 million.

Armstrong played all 17 games for Dallas this season, starting one opposite DeMarcus Lawrence. He posted a career-high for tackles during the regular season with 38 and he also had 7.5 sacks. Over the last two years, he’s had 16 sacks, plus 9.5 tackles for loss with a forced fumble and two recoveries. The Cowboys snagged him in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Kansas.

Dallas is currently in the red in cap space. The Cowboys’ figure before making roster decisions is -$21,570,700, which is the sixth-worst in the league.

Cowboys considering veteran Tyron Smith’s future

A number of Dallas’s upcoming free agents could walk for a deal from another team but, according to Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News, Tyron Smith reportedly wants to stay with the Cowboys for at least one more season. How the franchise feels about bringing Smith back is currently unknown. Coming back for the 2024 season would mark his 14th season in Dallas.

“Tyron Smith, the longest-tenured player on the Cowboys, wants to play another season with the team, a person familiar with his thinking told The Dallas Morning News,” Watkins said. “Smith, 33, becomes an unrestricted free agent this spring and there is uncertainty about a return.”

The Cowboys coaches kept Smith on a “Hall-of-Fame” practice schedule for the majority of the season, meaning he played very little during the week, and that worked well, even if he did miss four games throughout the year.

The former first-round draft pick was reliable when he started as evidenced by his first All-Pro selection since the 2016 season. His second-team selection gives him five All-Pro honors in his 13-year career. Head coach Mike McCarthy called Smith’s play this season his best since he took over the team in 2020. Smith last signed a major deal for eight years, $97.6 million in 2014.

“Biggest thing for Tyron, we talked about the path of this season, this is clearly his best season that I’ve experienced with him,” McCarthy said at the end of the year. “He felt really good about that. Just the fact that he’s not going into the offseason with surgeries is a big plus. We’ll continue talking about it moving forward.”