The 2026 NFL salary cap has officially been set for the Cowboys ahead of free agency.

As the NFL Combine draws to a close, the league has announced the Cowboys' official salary cap number for 2026, and it's big — historic, even.

INDIANAPOLIS - Stop me if you've heard this one before: The NFL is a business.That means money goes around and, in professional football, how teams manage their salary cap can help make or break their season — the Dallas Cowboys are no exception.

With the NFL's full offseason calendar out and the non-exclusive franchise tag applied to Pro Bowler George Pickens, the Cowboys must balance filling vacancies on their coaching staff with contract discussions looming over internal free agents.

Now they can get down to doing the latter after the NFL told teams where the 2024 salary cap will sit — a hefty $301.2 million, the league announced Friday.

This number is far from a record;

2019: $188.2 million

- 2020: $198.2 million.

- 2021: $182.5 million*

- 2022: $208.2 million

- 2023: $224.8 million

2024: $ 255.4 million

- 2025: 279.2 million dollars

- 2026: $301.2 million

*Adjusted for the impact of COVID-19

Additionally, for the league: "Add another $77.6 million in benefits and that equates to $378.8 million per club in player expenses."

As for the actual margin itself ($301.2 million), as mentioned above, it has increased every year except for the pandemic-affected 2020 season, which led to earnings the following year.

As we head into an offseason that requires work to be done under the Cowboys' cap, there are a few triggers that could, and could, pull to get Dallas green before free agency.

The Cowboys are currently over the cap at $56.1 million, but it's important to note two things.

- That amount includes Pickens' $27.3 million franchise cap.

- More than $131 million can be freed from the Cowboys through a restructuring that does not require player recognition to be done (eg Dak Precott, Tyler Smith, CeeDee Lamb, Osa Odighizuwa, with $52 million more available through another restructuring).

- Cap space could be freed up in 2026 by extending players early such as Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams to reduce their respective cap numbers - a combined $31 million - while also locking them up for the future.

And of course, if the Cowboys sign Pickens to a long-term deal before the NFL deadline in mid-July, his $27.3 million franchise value will be significantly reduced, and the sooner the better, freeing up that money to spend on the first waves of free agency.

"We want, with Dak playing the game and getting it the way he got it, coming out here and doing better than we did this year," So a combination of those things gives us incentive to, dare I say it?Blowing the budget — trying to get something done now?Yes.OK?Yes.We're going to do dramatic things."

There’s a reason the Cowboys's executive vice president and chief of staff could "do whatever we have to do" despite the Pickens label being implemented, and owner and general manager Jerry Jones has not consistently spoken of the vacancy, as Dallas could not reach an agreement with Pickens without affecting their free agency plans.

The elder Jones went so far as to say that the Cowboys "encouraged this to boost the budget" and wanted to "do something now" and do some "dramatic things" to end their thirty-year Super Bowl drought.

With the numbers now set for the public, the accounting can really begin in Dallas.