The Cowboys definitively know they are in line for four compensatory picks in the 2018 NFL draft. While the rounds of those picks may be altered based on 2017 playing time, Dallas is now free to sign any players they want and it will not affect the formula which has them slated for the additional haul.

As of Tuesday, May 9, teams can sign however many unrestricted free agents they want without it affecting their compensatory formula. Every year the NFL has a deadline for when these signings no longer affect the mechanism that awards 32 extra draft picks around the league, to teams who have lost more high value free agents than they gained. The date used to be the start of June, the same benchmark that affected the spreading out of dead money for released players. Last year, the date for the UFA change moved to the second Tuesday after the draft. May 9 is that day in 2017.

After selecting nine players in the draft and bringing in 14 UDFAs, do the Cowboys have any shopping needs? If they do, they will not be risking any of their expected compensatory picks from the 2018 draft.

What does the ledger of Cowboys CFA look like?

PLAYER LOST CONTRACT APY ROUND PLAYER SIGNED CONTRACT APY Ron Leary 4 yr / $36M $9M 4 Barry Church 4 yr / $26M $6.5M 5 Brandon Carr 4 yr / $24M $6M 5 Terrell McClain 4 yr $21M $5.25M 6 Nolan Carroll 3 yr / $10M $3.33M Morris Claiborne 1 yr / $5M $5M 6 JJ Wilcox 2 yr / $6.5M $3.25M 6 Jack Crawford 3 yr / $8.8M $2.93M 7 Stephen Paea 1 yr / $1.9M $1.9M Mark Sanchez 1 yr / $2M $2M 7 Byron Bell 1 yr / $1.55M $1.55M Lance Dunbar 1 yr / $1.5M $1.5M 7 Ryan Davis 2 yr / $2.2M $1.1M 7 N/A Damontre Moore 2 yr / $1.75M $875K N/A Robert Blanton 1 yr / $775K $775K

Teams are only allowed a maximum of four comp picks a year, so the Cowboys had three slots remaining, one in the sixth and another two in the seventh, to sign some lower-level free agents without changing their projections.

Prior to the deadline, if Dallas theoretically signed a a high-value free agent making $7 million a year or more, it would have cancelled out the likely fourth-round compensatory pick they will receive for losing Ron Leary to the Denver Broncos in free agency. If that had happened, the highest remaining slot (sixth round above) would have then come into play.

Now, Dallas can go out and sign any player at any level of pay and still sit comfortably knowing the only thing that will affect the comp for Leary lies with how he performs as a Bronco.

The Cowboys have around $4.9 million of space remaining, per Over the Cap, and will gain another $14 million on June 2 once Tony Romo’s base salary comes off the books.

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