Dallas Cowboys salary cap primer

The NFL's salary cap for 2014 will be $133 million.

It's a $10 million increase from 2013.

So what does this mean for the Dallas Cowboys?

The Cowboys were projected at $20-25 million over the salary cap before it was established at $133 million.

The highest salary cap figure belongs to quarterback Tony Romo at $21.7 million. That figure will be lowered along with Sean Lee ($7.5 million) and Orlando Scandrick ($6.6 million) to create nearly $17 million in cap space.

DeMarcus Ware is scheduled to get a base salary of $12.2 million in 2014 but Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Ware's cap number at $16.003 million will be lowered. The Cowboys can release Ware and save $7.4 million against the cap, restructure or offer a pay cut to create space as well.
Brandon Carr has a base salary of $7.5 million with a cap figure of $12.2 million. The team might leave Carr's contract alone so he won't eat up more of the salary cap in future years.

Miles Austin has a cap figure of $8.249 million. If Austin is a post-June 1 cut, the Cowboys save $5.5 million, however the team won't receive those savings until June 1.

There is speculation backup center Phil Costa will be released. If that's the case, the team saves $1.5 million.
Justin Durant could also be a salary cap release and save the team $1.250 million.
If the Cowboys tendered running back Phillip Tanner, who is a restricted free agent, it would cost them, $1.4 million. The team won't offer a tender to Tanner given he's the No. 4 running back on the projected 2014 depth chart at his position, so he'll be allowed to hit the free agent market.

The Cowboys released four players on Friday afternoon creating a little more than $1 million in cap space.