Dallas Cowboys to save $9.5m with decision to cut wide receiver

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Dallas will create a good space in the salary cap, but will have to wait to get the money until June.

The Dallas Cowboys have released wide receiver Michael Gallup with a Post-June 1 designation, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. They have freed up US$9.5 million in cap space this year, but will have US$8.7 million by 2025.

This enables the franchise to refrain from speeding up the allocation of bonus money that remains from 2025 onwards for this season’s cap.

It’s a measure for players who prefer to be available in free agency straight away rather than waiting until 1 June, when many teams are almost out of money.

If the Cowboys had left him on the roster for one more day, i.e. until Saturday, US$4 million of his US$8.5 million salary would have been fully guaranteed.

An injury was also a factor in the decision to cut the wide receiver. He tore the ACL in his left knee in 2021, yet a year later the Cowboys extended his contract for five years, worth $57.5 million.

Gallup’s performances never recovered to what they had once been. Fully healthy again, the WR caught 73 receptions for 842 yards and six touchdowns in the last two seasons. Against the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, he received six passes for 103 yards.

It remains to be seen how the market will react to the WR’s cut and which team will be his new home.

Another significant cut

Dallas have also waived linebacker Leighton Vander Esch after five seasons with the team. He was drafted in 2018 and in his rookie year was named to the Pro Bowl.

Neck injuries have always been a problem for him. Vander Esch missed the last 12 games of the season because of one.

Another reason for the cut is that the first external signing of free agency was linebacker Eric Kendricks.