Earlier this week, there was a report that the Dallas Cowboys were a train wreck in terms of cap situation. It was estimated that the Cowboys will be over the salary cap by around $30 million dollars in 2014. After looking into the cap, I can confidently say that’s not true.

Sep 22, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks with son executive vice president Stephen Jones during halftime against the St. Louis Rams at AT

If we look at all the contracts we have signed for next year, we have a total of around $133,927,641 million dollars committed to 2014 already. This isn’t including dead money. Including the recently waived defensive tackle Jay Ratliff’s contract, we have around $11,667,701 in dead money. So for 2014, our total cap spending so far is $145,595,342.

We do not know the salary cap for 2014 year, but I’m going to estimate it being around $125 million dollars. So with this in mind, the Cowboys are around $20 million dollars above the cap rather than $30 million. I know what you’re thinking, that’s still a lot of money over the cap. That is true, but the Cowboys cap situation is a lot more manageable than you think. There are a couple of options that we can do next season to bring that number down.

But firstly, I would like to say I’m not a cap expert. I understand the salary cap well though, and I am confident in the calculations and research I did for this article. I would like to put a disclaimer on this article. All information that I provided may not be accurate. I do not have access to the specific details of the contracts that I talk about. Honestly, everything you read about the cap is a “best guess” situation unless your executive vice president Stephen Jones, in the Dallas Cowboys front office, or some sort of NFL accountant. All of the information I have provided within this article comes from spotrac.com and overthecap.com. They provide a simplified overview of all the contracts in the NFL. Without further ado, here are some options the Cowboys have for 2014 to bring the cap down.