By now we are all pretty used to hearing about the cowboys restructuring contracts, because this offseason they’ve done quite a bit on it. One contract we’ve all been waiting to hear about for some time now is Doug Free.
The veteran offensive lineman Free and The Cowboys came to a deal on Thursday, and Free is no longer the highest paid right-tackle because his pay took quite the hit.
Free took a 50 per cent pay cut to stay with the Cowboys. Free would have made $7 million and will now make $3.5 million. This helped The Cowboys stay under the salary cap by quite a bit.
In 2010 the Cowboys offered Free a four-year, $32 million extension with $17 million in guarantees. Since then Free has failed to impress many people in Cowboys nation.
In 2011 Free was ranked 44th in offensive tackles, justifying him making the move to right tackle. That didn’t help. Free was ranked 66th in right tackle last season.
So, during the off-season the Cowboys explored other options, with a big focus on Tyson Clabo, but all that time they remained interested in Free.
Now the big question remains: Now that they have free’d up over $3 million, what are they going to do with that money?
There has been some speculation behind this – some believing it will go to an extension for Lee, some believe it will go towards a player that will help this team. Either way, lets hope Jerry Jones puts the money to good use and does something that will get the ‘Boys to the playoffs for the first time since ’09.
