On Friday, the rumors began to circulate once again. The Dallas Cowboys decided to restructure multiple contracts, freeing up roughly $19 million in space by re-working deals for defensive tackle Kenny Clark, cornerback DaRon Bland and tight end Jake Ferguson.

As Cowboys On SI writer Mike Moraitis says, this gives the franchise roughly $33 million in cap space. Early reports suggest the team has no interest in doing anything with that extra cap space, suggesting they could be carrying it over to the 2027 season. That hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning, especially with the Cowboys linked to Maxx Crosby all offseason and the Las Vegas Raiders star's salary now sitting close to the amount of cap space Dallas has available.

As for the reports that this is all coincidental, Danny Parkins of First Things First isn't buying it. Parkins said teams such as the Chicago Bears recently restructured deals because they needed to get under the cap. The Cowboys, however, were already under the salary cap, so he believes these moves were made to open the door for a Crosby trade.

When could a Maxx Crosby trade actually happen?

Parkins added that he doesn't expect the trade to happen immediately, but instead believes Crosby will use the month of September as a sort of audition for interested teams. The five-time Pro Bowler had knee surgery this offseason and was originally traded to the Baltimore Ravens, but failed a physical. Parkins believes Crosby will use the first month of the year to show he's healthy, which will lead to renewed trade talk, ultimately ending with Crosby wearing a Dallas uniform.

"That's the exact situation, especially when you add in veteran quarterback, owner in his early 80s, 30-plus year Super Bowl drought. That's the exact situation to mortgage a little bit of the future. Like, trade a draft pick to go get a player. So I think Maxx Crosby's going to be a Cowboy," Parkins said.

"I think September will be an audition for the rest of the league to show that Crosby is healthy. There's no reason for him to stay on the Raiders. He doesn't align with (Fernando) Mendoza's timeline. They already tried to trade him, and the Ravens backed out of it. If Crosby has a good September, he won't be a Raider in October, and I think Dallas will be at the front of the line."

Jerry Jones ready to mortgage the future

In recent years, the Cowboys have been frustratingly hesitant to make big moves. That has changed over the past year, beginning with their decision to move on from Micah Parsons.

Trading Parsons to the Green Bay Packers seems to have awoken the gambler inside of Jerry Jones as he has made multiple trades since that move, adding players such as Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, Dee Winters, and Broderick Jones. The Cowboys also brought in George Pickens in a trade with the Steelers, a move that happened before Parsons was traded but was a huge success for the Cowboys.

That has Jones open for more moves in 2026, with the team owner going as far as saying he would give up some of the team's future for a chance to win now. Adding Crosby to an already improved defense is the exact type of "win now" move Jones was hinting at. Now that he has the freed up cap space, we need to wait to see if Jones truly does pull the trigger on another blockbuster.

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