As we come down to another contract deadline, the Dallas Cowboys continue to find themselves in another financial standoff with a star player. It’s become such a common thing for this organization and it’s been all anyone’s talking about over the summer. This is the way the front office works. It’s beyond frustrating for fans and it’s a never-ending supply of storylines for the media. This is the Cowboys’ way.

The difficult thing to understand about all this is why the front office chooses to operate in this manner. There are three big differences between them and many other teams. The first is that the Cowboys don’t want to overspend tomorrow’s resources. If they wanted, they could do some creative bookkeeping and restructure several contracts to free up more cap space. The Cowboys have more restructuring potential than half the teams in the NFL.

Restructure potential courtesy of overthecap.com

This table shows where teams are now in terms of cap space (circle) and their possible cap space with the maximum restructures employed (diamond). The Cowboys have the potential to go from $7.2 million in cap space to $63.7 million, freeing up an additional $56.5 million. You may notice that the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns have very little restructuring capability while a team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have plenty of flexibility.

The Cowboys are in the middle of the pack when it comes to moving money around. They could do more if they wanted to, but as we know, they choose their battles carefully. While borrowing from the future is an interest-free loan on an available credit that keeps rising, decisions they make now can hinder decisions they want to make tomorrow. The Cowboys try to be responsible with their financials as do most teams as 75% of the league has at least $30 million of restructuring potential.

Not only do the Cowboys have more spending power in their back pocket, they are cheap in free agency. Free agency is an opportunity to strengthen the roster by bringing in outside talent to address needs. The Cowboys are super thrifty in this department. They shop for deals. This is aggravating for many fans and it’s understandable as it certainly seems like the team could at least try to be a little more active in free agency to improve the roster. While it’s frustrating on the surface, it’s actually a good thing the team avoids this roster-building pitfall. Free agency is like doing your grocery shopping at the corner convenience store. Everything is overpriced and a great majority of people who shop that way are getting ripped off. Instead, the Cowboys put a large amount of faith in their young draft prospects on very cheap rookie deals.

All this money-saving the Cowboys are doing culminates into this third and final front office strategy, re-signing their cornerstone players. This brings us full circle to our initial problem where the front office drags out these negotiations. The Cowboys are doing this for one reason, and one reason only and that is to save money. Some will try to convince you that waiting this out costs the team more money, but it doesn’t.

The front office is trying to cheat the system and get away with paying their star players less than market value. We already got a behind-the-scenes look at the CeeDee Lamb negotiation courtesy of Jane Slater where the front office held their breath as long as they could trying to get him to take less money, only to finally end up caving and paying him what he’s worth. Did this delay end up costing them more money? No, but they didn’t get the discount they were looking for either.

Jerry and Stephen Jones will plead to us that they are trying to save enough pie for others. They’re not lying. This team has a lot of talent that costs money and they’ve had to let good players walk in free agency. The challenges they face are real. And despite knowing that the Cowboys can afford to spend more money, we also know they are financially strapped if they want to continue operating in the environment they are so comfortable in. And they do.

So, the net result is that the front office attempts to take matters into their own hands and squeeze out cheaper deals from their star players to have an added advantage. Why would they do this? Because years of having one of the top rosters in the league hasn’t been enough to win in the playoffs. Whatever is holding them back, the front office is trying to fix it by stretching their dollar to create an even stronger team. Expecting their star players to accept less than they’re worth to help the team have more cap space is not only unfair to that player, but it also disrupts the market value of other players in the league. While it might be well intended for the greater good of the team, it’s shady. The team has gotten away with getting great deals before from players like Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Tyron Smith (twice), but they can’t keep doing that forever. Sometimes you have to pay a player what they’re actually worth.

For years, the Joneses have sat in their suite and watched helplessly as another high-expectation season comes crashing to a halt. They have no control over how the players perform in those games or how the coaches coach. All they can do is provide the best possible roster. And while many disagree with their approach, the front office continues to look for an edge, and like it or not, this remains the Cowboys’ way.