Salary cap set at $120.6 million

March, 11, 2012
3/11/12
5:46
PM CT
IRVING, Texas – The NFL’s 2012 salary cap increased by less than $300,000 over last year’s figure to $120.6 million, which is close to what the Cowboys were expecting as they budgeted for their offseason spending.

The Cowboys will not have to release players to get under the cap by Tuesday, but if they are to be as aggressive as owner and general manager Jerry Jones said they will be when the market opens, they will have to re-work a number of contracts to have money to spend.

The official cost of Anthony Spencer’s franchise tag is $8.856 million, which leaves the Cowboys with around $3.5 million of room. That does not include the tenders that will be given to restricted free-agent fullback Tony Fiammetta (expected to be $1.26 million) and exclusive rights free agents Jesse Holley, Clifton Geathers and Jermey Parnell.

The Cowboys can create cap room by releasing Terence Newman, which could save either $4 million or $6 million. They can also re-work the deals of DeMarcus Ware, Doug Free, Orlando Scandrick and Dez Bryant and create as much as $13 million in room.

The Cowboys would like to re-sign wide receiver Laurent Robinson and have been linked to free-agent cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Cortland Finnegan as well as guard Ben Grubbs.
Todd Archer joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2010. He's covered the NFL since 1997 and the Cowboys since 2003. He covered the Bengals and Dolphins before arriving in Dallas. A Massachusetts native, Archer lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.

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