The Dallas Cowboys are going to have to scale down its player payroll this season after the NFL stripped them and rival Washington Redskins of millions of dollars in salary cap space, according to a report by ESPN's Adam Shefter.
"NFL is taking away millions of dolllar of salary-cap space from Cowboys and Redskins for how they front-loaded deals during uncapped year." - @AdamShefter
A few minutes after that tweet, Shefter sent out another to explain a bit:
"Cowboys lose $10 million in cap space, Redskins lose $36 million in space. Can split it over 2012 and 2013 any way they want. More at ESPN." - @AdamShefter
Twenty-six of the remaining 28 teams (New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders excluded, but don't lose anything) will get the money that Dallas and Washington loses except, according to Shefter.
Dallas has at least 20 players set to make over $1 million in 2012, unless the Cowboys cut Terrance Newman's $8 million figure by Tuesday. The highest-paid salary for the upcoming season is DeMarcus Ware's $10 million.
Here is a look at the Cowboys' top salary figures of 2012, not including linebacker Anthony Spencer who was just recently hit with the franchise tag:
DeMarcus Ware $10.301 million
Marcus Spears $2.700 million
Tony Romo $8.060 million
Kenyon Coleman $2.345 million
Doug Free $8.060 million
Jason Hatcher $2.100 million
Terence Newman $8.016 million
Kyle Kosier $1.950 million
Orlando Scandrick $7.700 million
Felix Jones $1.884 million
Jason Witten $5.500 million
Gerald Sensabaugh $1.800 million
Jay Ratliff $5.291 million
Mike Jenkins $1.672 million
Dez Bryant $3.660 million
David Buehler $1.297 million
Tyron Smith $2.840 million
Bruce Carter $1.103 million
Miles Austin $2.721 million
For more on the Cowboys and their salary-cap situation, visit SB Nation Dallas and Blogging The Boys.