Cowboys squarely at salary cap after officially tendering Aubrey, Bass
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The Dallas Cowboys didn't hide their intentions, at least not with these moves. On Saturday, the team made official what they had alluded to over the last several weeks when it came to locking in their restricted free agents. As a result, Dallas has locked into another $11.5 million of salary cap hit for 2026, taking them right up against the salary cap with the start of the league year set for Wednesday.
The Cowboys have officially placed second-round tenders on kicker Brandon Aubrey and reserve OL TJ Bass. That means each will be allowed to negotiate with other NFL teams when the tampering window opens on Monday, but the Cowboys will have one week to match any offer sheet the player signs. If either sign an offer but Dallas doesn't match, the acquiring team would give Dallas their second-round pick.
Cowboys also put second round tender on OL TJ Bass and did not tender OL Brock Hoffman or S Juanyeh Thomas, making both players unrestricted free agents https://t.co/ByHpFVugGm— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) March 7, 2026
For now, each tender puts a $5.76 million hold against the Cowboys cap, but as they enter the Top 51 salaries that calculate offseason cap compliance, they replace two players at the bottom of the roster who each have $1 million hits. The net increase to the cap is around $9.5 million, and the Cowboys entered the day with around $9.7 million of cap space after restructuring the contracts of Dak Prescott, Tyler Smith and CeeDee Lamb earlier in the week.
Dallas did not offer restricted tenders to reserve OL Brock Hoffman or reserve safety Juanyeh Thomas.
RFAs are players who are out of contract, but who have only three accrued NFL seasons. It takes four years in the league to automatically be granted unrestricted status. Out-of-contract players with just one or two years of experience are exclusive rights free agents. That designation basically means if the team wants them back, the player has no choice but to have a one-year salary at league minimum.
Dallas placed ERFA tenders on CBs Josh Butler and Reddy Steward earlier in the week.
Dallas had four options with all four of their RFAs; not tendering them at all (like Thomas, Hoffman) or choosing one of three financial/compensation levels. The original round tender, or the right of first refusal tender, would have given the players a salary of $3.52 million, the second-round tender, or a first-round tender worth $8.05 million/
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys place 2nd-round tenders on All-Pro K Aubrey, reserve OL Bass
