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In a move that happens seemingly every year, the Dallas Cowboys have restructured the contracts of two of their highest-paid players in order to create cap space to sign free agents this offseason. Per ESPN.com’s Todd Archer, the Cowboys restructured the deals of All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith and All-Pro center Travis Frederick, freeing up approximately $17.3 million of cap room in the process. 

Here’s the full text of Archer’s report:

The Cowboys have restructured the contracts of All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith and All-Pro center Travis Frederick, freeing up roughly $17.3 million, moving them under a proposed salary-cap of $168 million for 2017, according to sources. The total cap will be finalized by March 9 when the league year begins. The Cowboys turned roughly $21 million of the $24 million due Smith and Frederick into signing bonus to create the room. Smith was set to make $10 million in 2017, while Frederick was set to make $14.221 million.

The Cowboys specifically designed the contracts of both Smith and Frederick (both of which keep them with the team through 2023) to be restructured during the first few seasons, paying them low base salaries in early years with balloon payments meant to be converted into signing bonuses later on to keep their cap holds low. Because they’re so good and so young, it’s a prudent strategy for now. If they were ever to get injured or see their level of play dip, however, continually restructuring the deals could come back to haunt the Cowboys in the future. (That’s exactly what’s happened with Tony Romo, whose deal has a ton of guaranteed money left and makes him more difficult to trade.)

Dallas is probably not done making cap-clearing moves, either. Freeing up $17.3 million puts the Cowboys just a few million below the cap, and they’ll likely want to create a bit more room. They could add $5.1 million in space by trading or outright releasing Romo, and just about $12 million by designating him a post-June 1 cut. Restructuring the contract of defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford is an option as well, but he’s one of those guys that did not live up to his deal and it would thus be dangerous to kick too much of his guaranteed money down the line. The Cowboys should be expected to extend guard Zack Martin this offseason (likely through 2023 as well), and depending on how the deal is structured, that could also create a moderate amount of additional space, which they’ll presumably use to go shopping for badly needed defensive upgrades.