For outstanding players who plainly deserve, and inevitably receive, top-of-the-market salary,
Dallas likes to play coy, allowing negotiations to drag on and only resolving the issue when a deadline approaches—
similar to how the franchise handled negotiations with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
But what about middling or injured players, who the Cowboys could presumably wait out before signing a huge contract? So the Cowboys get ahead of the curve there, sometimes to their detriment
That was the case last year with guard Terence Steele, who was awarded a $82.5 million contract extension (per Spotrac) in September 2023 despite still recovering from a ruptured ACL and underperforming.
Steele struggled as he recovered from his injury, with a grade of 50.8 as a blocker from Pro Football Focus, ranking him 256th out of 329 rated linemen for the season.
Steele received the fourth-worst grade among all linemen who played at least 1,000 snaps in 2023.
Despite this, the Cowboys made a move on Steele's bloated contract, converting $4.5 million in 2024 salary to a signing bonus and freeing up some cap room in the process.
That story originated from ESPN's Todd Archer, who posted on Twitter/X: "The Cowboys have reworked right tackle Terence Steele's contract, opening up $4.5 million in salary cap space."
Add that to the cap space saved on the Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb contracts this year, as well as the money that will most certainly be carried over to 2025 ($20 million or more).
In other words, don't expect the Cowboys to sign Steele in order to bring in unhappy Jets pass rusher Haason Reddick or maybe disgruntled receiver Davante Adams. The Cowboys are still working out a contract with top linebacker Micah Parsons.