The Dallas Cowboys walked into the offseason with two defensive tackles inherited from other teams rather than built from scratch. Kenny Clark arrived through the Micah Parsons deal, while Quinnen Williams came in at the November deadline. Together, they sit at the center of Dallas’ financial conversation, and the front office has now spoken directly about where things stand.

“All those are obviously guys that we’ve got to work with,” Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones told reporters on February 23. “We’re gonna need their money, both of them, to work through that. And then we just see when we’re done thinking, ‘hey, we think we’ve put together the right defense here.’ Then you start to think about extending guys and who’s gonna be here, even past where their contracts take them.”

So, according to Jones, the front office is prioritizing its roster decisions in a specific sequence. Dallas needs the cap flexibility those contracts can generate first. Once the roster picture is clearer, the team determines who gets a long-term commitment and who does not. The statement signals restructures are coming, not releases. At least for now.

Here is what makes that significant. Neither Kenny Clark nor Quinnen Williams signed their current contracts with the Cowboys. Clark signed his deal with the Packers in 2024, and those final contract years arrived in Dallas as part of the Parsons trade package. 

Williams signed a four-year, $96 million extension with the Jets in 2023. Dallas acquired him at the November trade deadline and inherited the back end of that contract. The Cowboys now carry those obligations.

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In 2026, Clark is set to count $21.5 million against the cap, with an $11 million roster bonus that triggers on the third day of the league year. Williams carries a cap charge of approximately $21.6 million. 

Clark came to Dallas with Green Bay covering the majority of his 2025 salary and leaving the Cowboys with just a $2.3 million cap charge that year. He wrapped up the year with 36 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks in 17 starts. 

Williams was a bigger swing. Dallas sent a 2027 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick, and defensive tackle Mazi Smith to the Jets to bring him in. A former third overall pick out of Alabama and a then three-time Pro Bowler, Williams was exactly the kind of proven disruptor Dallas needed after losing Parsons. He finished the season with 21 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks in seven games. 

However, keeping both the DTs is going to cost Dallas over $43 million from one position group before the rest of the roster enters the equation. Recently, Javonte Williams was locked up on a three-year, $24 million extension, a reward for the season. 

While other players like George Pickens are expected to be franchise-tagged, Dallas is trying to lock down its proven contributors and also create cap space. So, where does this leave Clark and Williams?

Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, and the cap bill Dallas didn’t budget for

This season, the Cowboys are approximately $24.5 million over the projected salary cap. The cap space is expected to land between $301.2 million and $305.7 million this season. That’s at least $22 million above the prior year. That sounds like a problem, but Dallas has a well-mapped route out of it. 

They plan on restructuring contracts, and Jones’ statement essentially confirmed that Clark and Williams are part of that same restructuring exercise. The 2025 defensive tackle group had four main contributors: Osa Odighizuwa, Clark, Williams, and Solomon Thomas. 

Osa was the clear standout of the group. He played all 17 games, finished with 44 tackles and 3.5 sacks. The Cowboys signed Osa to a four-year, $80 million deal in 2025, and his $16.25 million guaranteed base salary in 2026 reflects a player Dallas views as foundational. He is not going anywhere. But here’s where the numbers get harder to defend.

Clark’s $21.5 million cap hit is steep for a 30-year-old veteran. Though his pedigree as a three-time Pro Bowler with 38 career sacks at least provides context for the price. Williams, at $21.6 million for a combined 2.5 sacks across two teams in half a season, is the figure that sits most uncomfortably in the ledger. 

Thomas, who played 16 games and tallied 27 tackles in his first year with Dallas, carries a cap charge of just $3.2 million. Looking at all these numbers, the contrast is stark, even if it is not entirely fair to Williams, who spent half the season adjusting to a new system mid-year.

Odighizuwa’s output makes him untouchable. Clark’s situation is urgent in a way that is calendar-specific. Move him before the league year starts, and Dallas saves the full $21.5 million with zero dead cap consequences. If they wait past that date, $11 million in dead money stays on the books. 

As for Williams, his pre-June 1 release hits the Cowboys with $5 million dead cap but saves over $16.6 million. But if he is traded post-June 1, Dallas won’t have to deal with the dead cap at all for this year. So, when March hits and free agency opens, it will reveal the direction Dallas is headed.