Brandin Cooks Renegotiates Contract with Cowboys

A day after the trade that sent WR Brandin Cooks to the Cowboys, Cooks and the Cowboys agreed to modify his contract. Todd Archer of ESPN was the first with the details

The move saves Dallas $6 million in salary cap space this year, dropping Cooks’ cap number from $12 to $6 million while reducing his salary for this year by $500,000. The change really comes in 2024 where Cooks’ salary dropped from $16.5 million to $8 million with a salary cap charge of $10 million.

That salary reduction puts the Cowboys in a better place with their wide receiver allocation this year and also strengthens their place in the trade that was made yesterday, with the new contract making it more likely that Cooks remains on the team next season. The new figure is more along the lines of a number 2 or very high level number 3 compared to his original salary which was closer to that of a lower level number 1.

With a $10 million per year salary, Cooks’ contract would now be on par with Michael Gallup ($11.5 million a year) and give Dallas an option, depending on how things go this year, to move on from Gallup after the year. The lower salary and cap figures also makes things work better if the team keeps all three receivers in 2024 when CeeDee Lamb will either be playing on the option year or on a contract extension.