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The Dallas Cowboys were almost $20 million over the salary cap when the offseason began, but the restructuring of contracts and releasing of some players put the team in a better situation after the NFL draft.

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The Cowboys are a little more than $5 million under the salary cap. They will pick up an additional $2 million when the release of defensive end Marcus Spears takes effect June 1.

That means the Cowboys will have $7 million available to sign draft picks and free agents. That figure could increase if right tackle Doug Free is released (saving $7 million) or takes a pay cut (an undetermined amount of savings).

Defensive end Anthony Spencer is under contract for $10.6 million, but his cap number could be decreased if he is signed to a long-term deal.

The Cowboys want to have salary-cap space during the season in the event obtaining a veteran free agent is necessary due to injury. Last season, the Cowboys signed Charlie Peprah, Brady Poppinga, Brian Schaefering, Ernie Sims and Anthony Armstrong because of injuries.

Right now, the Cowboys are on target to have enough space to take care of draft picks and free agents before and during the season.

After being released last week as part of some roster moves to clear salary cap space for two free agent signings, wide receiver Anthony Armstrong has agreed to terms to rejoin the Cowboys.

Armstrong was singed last Nov. 26 then released Dec. 22 to allow the Cowboys to place guard Ronald Leary on the active roster.

The Cowboys have nine wide receivers on the roster: Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, Dwayne Harris, Cole Beasley, Carlton Mitchell, Tim Benford, Danny Coale and Jared Green.

IRVING, Texas – Among the two groups of futures signings the Cowboys have announced since the season ended one name is missing: wide receiver Andre Holmes.

Last year Holmes was anointed by owner and general manager Jerry Jones as a possible candidate for the No. 3 wide receiver job.

At 6-4, 223 pounds, Holmes had the build of a top-end wide receiver although he came from Hillsdale College. The Cowboys were hoping Holmes would grow the way Miles Austin did from Monmouth, but it never happened.

He failed the conditioning test in training camp and while he had a couple of moments in Oxnard, Calif., he never took advantage of the opportunity they way Kevin Ogletree, Dwayne Harris and Cole Beasley did.

The Cowboys kept him in the active roster through Thanksgiving but he dressed for only seven games and caught two passes for 11 yards. He was inactive four times before he was cut and re-signed to the practice squad.

Since the season ended the Cowboys have signed receivers Anthony Armstrong, Jared Green, Carlton Mitchell, Tim Benford and Danny Coale. Holmes has not put pen to paper to return in 2013 and it doesn’t look like he will be back.

It’s quite a fall from 13 months ago.

The Cowboys signed nine players to their reserve/future list on Monday.

Wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, who spent some time with the team this season before getting released, will get another look. Tight end Colin Cochart, who was claimed off waivers before getting cut in September, was also brought back.

Wide receiver Carlton Mitchell, who has three career catches, all with the Cleveland Browns, guard Ray Dominguez, wide receiver Jared Green, long snapper Charley Hughlett, linebacker Cameron Sheffield, tackle Aderious Simmons and cornerback Brandon Underwood were also picked up.

Of these players, Hughlett might have the best chance of making the team. The Cowboys long snapper, LP Ladouceur, becomes a free agent in March and Hughlett spent time with the team in training camp. He could become the long snapper if the team elects to go elsewhere.

Another interesting signing involves Green, the son of former Washington Redskins cornerback and Hall of Famer Darrell Green.

To make room for guard Ronald Leary, the Cowboys released wide receiver Anthony Armstrong on Saturday morning.

The Cowboys moved Leary from the practice squad to the 53-man roster because another team wanted to sign him. To protect Leary, whom the Cowboys value, they had to make this move.

It's doubtful Leary will be active Sunday when the Cowboys face the New Orleans Saints. The Cowboys now have 11 offensive linemen on their 53-man roster.

IRVING, Texas – As the Cowboys can attest, injuries play a large part when pondering the 46-man gameday roster. So does the opponent.

With New Orleans bringing the second-ranked pass offense in the NFL, the Cowboys will likely have to counter by having all nine defensive backs available with Morris Claiborne returning from a one-week absence due to a concussion.

Five inactives appear to be a lock: Jay Ratliff, David Arkin, Darrion Weems, Kevin Kowalski and Phillip Tanner.

Who are the final two?

Last week against Pittsburgh the Cowboys dressed all six wide receivers, but that might be a luxury they cannot afford this week. To me, that puts the final couple spots down to the defensive line, wide receiver and linebacker.

I’d rather see Brian Schaefering over Robert Callaway along the defensive line. Linebacker could be a question, so if they go there that final spot comes down to Brady Poppinga and Kyle Wilber. Since Poppinga started last week and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan used more of a 4-3 look vs. Pittsburgh, he gets the edge. At wide receiver, Anthony Armstrong was active last week but didn’t play an offensive snap, so he’s inactive this week in my book.

IRVING, Texas – With so many new faces in new places, configuring the Cowboys’ 46-man roster for Sunday against Pittsburgh could be a challenge.

Injuries play a big part in setting the roster, so even though DeMarcus Ware said he will play with a hyperextended elbow against the Steelers, the Cowboys have to prepare for the possibility Ware won’t be able to finish the game. Does that mean they dress all eight linebackers?

Injuries in the secondary have the Cowboys shorthanded too. Can they dress all nine of them?

While the Cowboys might want to get a look at wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, can they get all six wide receivers active? How about all five running backs?

Facing a physical team, the Cowboys could want to dress all seven defensive linemen, including newcomer Brian Schaefering. Most likely they will go with six with Schaefering and Robert Callaway taking the last two spots with Jay Ratliff off.

The Cowboys’ final decision has to come down at wide receiver, running back and linebacker. Is Phillip Tanner active? Can they go with four receivers, especially with Dez Bryant playing with a broken finger? What role can Brady Poppinga serve?

The inactive guesses: David Arkin, Darrion Weems, Kevin Kowalski, Ratliff, Poppinga, Beasley, Michael Coe

IRVING, Texas – With Jay Ratliff all but done for the season because of sports hernia surgery, the Cowboys have lost 12 players to injury, the most since 2005.

If you add Josh Brent, who was placed on the non-football injury list and is done for the season, to the list, it’s the most players they have lost in a year since 14 players ended the 1999 season on injured reserve or the non-football injurt list.

Since Nov. 26 the Cowboys have signed six players -- Brian Schaefering, Robert Callaway, Darrion Weems, Sterling Moore, Anthony Armstrong and Brady Poppinga –- to the 53-man roster. This week they changed out half the practice squad, signing four new players.

“I’ve never been a part of a season or a team that’s had so many guys lost for extended periods of time,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “We were joking earlier this week (that) we needed name tags out at practice, just because new guys keep coming in. That’s part of what happens in the National Football League sometimes. This is definitely the most our team has been exposed to that since I’ve been here. With that battle, guys have had to step up all year.”

Of the 13 players out for the year, nine were expected to be significant contributors: Ratliff, Brent, Sean Lee, Bruce Carter, Kenyon Coleman, Orlando Scandrick, Barry Church, Phil Costa and Chris Jones.

CINCINNATI -- The Cowboys will start Sean Lissemore at nose tackle in place of Josh Brent for Sunday's game against the Bengals.

Lissemore starts because Brent is in jail, pending bail, after being charged with intoxicated manslaughter after a car accident in which teammate Jerry Brown was killed early Saturday morning.

Lissemore becomes the third player to start at nose tackle for the Cowboys this season.

Here are the Cowboys inactives: WR Anthony Armstrong, S Charlie Peprah, LB Kyle Wilber, G David Arkin, T Darrion Weems, NT Jay Ratliff and Brent.

The Bengals inactives are: K Mike Nugent, CB Dre Kirkpatrick, RB Cedric Peerman, S George Iloka, DT Devon Still, DT Brandon Thompson, TE Richard Quinn.

IRVING, Texas – In configuring Sunday’s 46-man roster at Cincinnati, coach Jason Garrett will have to take into account injury and scheme.

Can the Cowboys have all six wide receivers active? Can they have all five running backs active? How about all of the healthy defensive backs?

From the looks of it in practice this week Jay Ratliff will not play, and Orlando Scandrick and Charlie Peprah are out. New tackle Darrion Weems will also be inactive because he doesn’t know what’s going on yet. Nate Livings has a knee injury that could keep him out, which could mean the Cowboys go with eight offensive linemen again with Kevin Kowalski and David Arkin manning the final spot.

Cornerback Vince Agnew hasn’t earned the trust to play that much yet, but Sterling Moore, who joined the team a week ago, has. Can the Cowboys only carry four cornerbacks? Linebacker Brady Poppinga wasn’t active last week but he could be called up this week, especially for a special teams’ role.

Can you take up 13 percent of the roster with six receivers? It’s difficult, but Anthony Armstrong can help in the return game and cover some kicks. You don’t get coverage help from Kevin Ogletree or Cole Beasley, so maybe one of them could be down this week.

Here’s the guess on the inactives: Scandrick, Ratliff, Weems, Agnew, Arkin, Peprah and Livings or Kowalski depending on Livings’ health.

IRVING, Texas – It’s on to the next one, and the next one being Cincinnati. Plenty of things to wonder about as we get ready to see old friends like Terence Newman, Mike Zimmer and Adam Jones this Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

** Jerry Jones said he was hopeful but realistic when addressing the Cowboys’ playoff chances the rest of the way. I wonder if he will be realistic and honest about the composition of the roster at the end of the season. If the Cowboys fail to make the playoffs -- or even if they do qualify by a whisker -- he cannot look at a handful of plays and say, “We’re close.” He did that last offseason and has been convinced for far too long this team is close. Close to what? My belief is that every team is 8-8 at the start of the season and with good breaks you go 10-6 and bad breaks you go 6-10. Jones can’t live on the what ifs of Dan Bailey’s missed field goal at Baltimore and Dez Bryant’s fingertips hitting out of bounds as a reason for optimism. There are too many people inside the building at Valley Ranch willing to tell the truth about a roster that could be blown up to a large degree this offseason. Can Jones, who is now 70, bear himself to make difficult decisions on players he likes and believes can win?

** I asked defensive coordinator Rob Ryan last Friday about why he just doesn’t use cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne in press coverage almost on every snap. I saw Miami do that with corners Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison in the early 2000s and eat up receivers. Ryan mentioned the league rules favoring offensive players as a reason why they don’t do it more. OK, makes sense. But I wonder why the Cowboys invested $50 million in Carr and moved up to the No. 6 overall pick in Claiborne? The rules didn’t change in the offseason. The Cowboys should live with aggressive mistakes on the outside with illegal contact and holding penalties because the way it is going right now is not working. Maybe Carr is banged up, but he’s not on the injury report. Maybe the Cowboys worry about Claiborne’s confidence, but they say that’s not a problem for him. It’s not too late. By playing off and soft as much as they are, the Cowboys are not helping the pass rush. Force the receivers to make a move off the line and then the pass rush is better. The way Ryan is playing his corners is further proof that a pass rush makes a secondary and not the other way around.

** Kevin Ogletree is about to enter the final four games as a Cowboy. Barring something unforeseen, I can’t see the Cowboys signing him to a new deal as an unrestricted free agent, even if he remains a favorite of Jason Garrett and John Garrett, his college coach. I wonder why he remains the No. 3 receiver when there is no future. Ogletree returned Sunday from a concussion suffered against Cleveland and resumed his normal role with Dwayne Harris and Cole Beasley mixing in. Ogletree has taken too much heat for the offense’s woes. As the No. 3 receiver, he is the fifth option at times in the passing game, but wouldn’t it serve the Cowboys more to develop Harris and Beasley or mix in newcomer Anthony Armstrong in the final month? Harris is showing he can be counted on as a playmaker. Beasley has a niche role in the slot. The Cowboys like Armstrong’s speed, which they could use to stretch things more outside in three-wide packages.

** While I’m wondering about the future, I wonder about Jay Ratliff’s with the team. He’s missed as many games as he has played this season because of ankle and groin injuries. He turns 32 in August and barring a major change in the final four games his sack total will go down for the fifth straight season. This is one of the difficult decisions potentially for Jones. Ratliff has been to four straight Pro Bowls but that streak will end this year. He has been one of the best late-round picks in team history. But this team has real cap issues and it is hard to justify a $7 million cap figure. The Cowboys would save $1 million against the cap with a straight release or $5 million with a June 1 release and carry over four million in dead money in 2014. With the way Josh Brent has played (at a much, much cheaper price) I wonder if the Cowboys head down this direction and look in the draft for a bigger nose tackle or go to a stop-gap measure in free agency.

** I wonder if the replacement refs will end up hurting the Cowboys by the time the season ends. The Hail Mary touchdown pass from Seattle’s Russell Wilson to Golden Tate against Green Bay looms large in the Cowboys’ wild-card hopes. That’s why the Seahawks’ win in Chicago on Sunday was hurtful to Dallas. They need Seattle to lose games, especially with the head-to-head loss in Week 2. In effect 7-5 Seattle has a two-game lead on the Cowboys with four to play. Had the replacement refs, which Jones showed much love to during their work, gotten the call right, then the Seahawks would not be in such a good postseason position in the final month. If cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner end up suspended, that will help the Cowboys as well. Of course, it’s all moot if the Cowboys don’t win their remaining games.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Newly-signed cornerback Sterling Moore is active for Sunday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Moore, who played at SMU, was signed by the Cowboys on Friday.

Nose tackle Jay Ratliff will miss his second consecutive game with a groin injury. He missed the first four games with an ankle injury and was inactive the last two weeks with the groin problem.

Newly-signed wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, safety Charlie Peprah, cornerback Orlando Scandrick, guard/center David Arkin, center Phil Costa and Brady Poppinga are inactive.

Ryan Cook will start at center, allowing Mackenzy Bernadeau to return to his natural right guard spot in the starting lineup. Bernadeau started at center in the last two games because of Cook's knee injury.

Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, wide receiver Greg Salas, running backs LeSean McCoy and Chris Polk, tackle/guard Nate Menkin and wide receiver Marvin McNutt are inactive for the Eagles. The Eagles have 52 players on their roster and will have six inactive.

In a lineup change, Jake Scott will start in place of Danny Watkins at right guard. Bryce Brown starts at running back for the injured McCoy.

IRVING, Texas – For the first time since the middle of October, the Cowboys will have the choice of dressing all five running backs in a game now that it looks like DeMarco Murray will play Sunday against Philadelphia.

But can they afford it?

Maybe.

“We’ve had some different challenges throughout the year,” coach Jason Garrett said of setting the gameday roster. “It’s easier when guys are hurt and you can say, ‘OK, you can’t play,’ and you set the 46 accordingly. We’ll have a couple of decisions to make, but that’s been pretty much the case all year long.”

Charlie Peprah, Orlando Scandrick, Phil Costa and most likely Ben Bass will be out because of injuries. Jay Ratliff has not practiced in two weeks because of a groin injury but did some running on the side, so the guess is he could be available.

Who are the final three inactive players? Two of them should come on the offensive line in David Arkin and/or Derrick Dockery and Kevin Kowalski, now that it looks like Ryan Cook will play.

The fifth spot could come down to a running back and wide receiver Anthony Armstrong. Felix Jones is banged up but he’s practiced, so he’ll be good to go. Lance Dunbar and Phillip Tanner are key special teamers. Armstrong has been with the team for less than a week, so he would appear to be the odd man out.

IRVING, Texas – Released from the active roster over the weekend, the Cowboys re-signed wide receiver Andre Holmes to the practice squad after he went unclaimed through waivers on Monday.

Holmes played in seven games, seeing most of his action on special teams. He caught two passes for 11 yards.

To make room for Holmes on the practice squad defensive linemen Tevita Finau was cut.

The Cowboys cut Holmes in order to make room for Anthony Armstrong. With Danny Coale lost for the year because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Cowboys wanted to keep two wide receivers on the practice squad in Tim Benford and Holmes.

IRVING, Texas -- Newly signed Anthony Armstrong was watching "Breaking Bad" when he got a phone call from the Dallas Cowboys saying they were interested in signing him.

Armstrong came to Valley Ranch last week for a workout and after seeing the Cowboys lose receiver Miles Austin to a hip injury on the Thanksgiving Day game, he got ready.

"I saw that and I started stretching," Armstrong said after Monday's light practice at Valley Ranch. "Actually, I was eating Thanksgiving dinner and I was like, 'Alright this might happen and I might be participating a lot sooner than some may expected.' I'm ready for the challenge. It's always exciting to go to a new team and learn new things. I'm looking forward to it."

Armstrong was signed to help out a receiving corps that is missing Kevin Ogletree (concussion) and Austin. Ogletree and Austin both said they were hopeful they could practice Wednesday.

The Cowboys will use Armstrong on offense and special teams. His 4.2 speed allows him not only to stretch the defense in the passing game, but he's somebody who can get downfield and make a few tackles on special teams. It's that speed which attracted the Cowboys when they first saw Armstrong in 2007 when during a workout he ran a 40-yard dash in 4.24 seconds. Armstrong played with the Dallas Desperados, an Arena League team owned by the Jones family.

Armstrong played two seasons for the Washington Redskins, where he caught 51 passes and five touchdowns. In 2012 he played five games in Miami and after his release was picked up by Jacksonville before being cut.

"I feel like I can play 20-30 plays if I can," he said. "Being in the league a little bit you kinda know what it takes to participate to compete and play special teams right away. As long as the coaches and Tony (Romo) feel comfortable with me in the offense, I will try to make an impact right away."