The Dallas Cowboys are going to have a very stark fiscal reality to deal with after the 2025 season concludes.
As it stands, the Cowboys are set to be around $35.5 million over the cap next year, and decisions will have to be made about many of the team’s better players. Among them is whether veteran right tackle Terence Steele remains worth his price tag.
An undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech who went from practice squadder to longtime starter, Steele has played in 88 games for the Cowboys, starting 83 of them.
He inked a $82.5 million extension in September of 2023, but just two seasons later, that deal could also make him a financial casualty.
GettyCould the Dallas Cowboys OL Terence Steele be cut in 2026? One analyst thinks he could be a cap casualty.
Cowboys Wire’s K.D. Drummond looked at ways the team could save money in 2026, and in addition to the expected moves — contract restructures for stars like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, for example — Drummond listed Steele as a likely cap casualty.
“The Cowboys didn’t touch Steele’s 2025 base salary, a clear indication they wanted options following this season,” Drummond wrote on November 9. “He just hasn’t ascended to a point where his early extension now looks like a bargain and the team will likely want to move on this coming offseason as they reach the escape year of his deal.”
Thrown into the lineup as a 23-year-old in 2020, he had some growing pains before maturing into a steady, dependable tackle. His five-year deal included $23.55 million fully guaranteed and nearly $50 million in total guarantees, placing him among the top ten highest-paid right tackles in football at the time. Clearly, Dallas values him, and his story has been a compelling one.
The 6-foot-6, 320-pound O-lineman suffered a devastating ACL and MCL tear in 2022, and he rehabbed hard to reclaim his spot without visible decline. His 2025 season, at least so far, has been relatively consistent. Still, he could be a cap casualty simply due to the amount of hefty contracts Dallas has to dole out.
Releasing Steele before June 1 next year would create roughly $8.75 million in savings, but it would also leave $9.37 million in dead money. A post–June 1 designation would clear a cleaner $14 million while deferring a modest dead-cap charge to 2027.
Performance metrics could also complicate Steele’s case to stick around after 2025. His play, while solid, hasn’t always matched the upper tier his salary suggests. It’s fair to suggest he’s a slightly above-average starter, but not a dominant one.
That said, if the Cowboys do decide to part ways with Steele in 2026, it would be less a referendum on the veteran O-lineman’s value, but rather, an reflection of the Cowboys’ financial situation. He has been, by every reasonable measure, a success over his six-year NFL career. But along with CeeDee and Dak, Dallas is going to have to dole out big money to new addition Quinnen Williams, and that could mean Steele’s days as a Cowboy are numbered.
The Packers lost to the Eagles on Monday Night Football this week, 10-7, in what was quite an ugly nationally-televised affair. It was a bad enough loss that Tuesday has brought about plenty of doubts regarding Green Bay’s position as a contender in the NFC and even questions about coach Matt LaFleur’s job status. It’s also led to plenty of sports TV segments examining the flaws of the Packers, and Colin Cowherd did so by taking aim at Micah Parsons.
On Tuesday’s episode of his show, The Herd, Cowherd discussed Parsons failing to record a sack or QB hit in each of the last two games. He presented this as proof that all the hype surrounding Parsons was overdone and the All-Pro pass-rusher is simply a “splash” player who isn’t as good as his reputation suggests. Cowherd also repeated a common criticism of Parsons’s game—that he struggles to defend the run to a degree that it offsets his effectiveness as a sack artist.
Parsons saw the clip and didn’t hesitate to fire back at what he considered to be a “trash” take from the Fox Sports personality.
“We just held Saquon Barkley to 60 rushing yards, and our only losses have been holding teams to 13 points!” Parsons wrote on X with several laughing emojis. “Man, sometimes can y’all?Please stfu and enjoy great defense! Why do you think teams come into the games that were going to run the ball on 3rd and long? What effect do you think that is? Please stop giving people’s mics or listening to trash!”
It’s a fair rebuttal from the Packers star. In the three games Green Bay has lost in the 2025 NFL season, the Panthers scored the most points in a 16-13 victory. The other two defeats the Packers’ opponents scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Barkley couldn’t get anything going on the ground Monday night and the team as a whole managed only 111 yards rushing, although his 41-yard catch in the fourth quarter set up the only Philly touchdown of the evening. Given those facts it’s fair to say the Packers’ losses this year have been mostly the result of offensive ineptitude rather than a leaky defense. It should be noted, though, that they gave up 40 to the Cowboys in a tie as well.
To give further credence to Parsons’s point, the Packers rank sixth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game. In regards to Parsons specifically, he’s the NFL’s top pass rusher by PFF metrics but ranked 24th in run defense among all EDGE players. However, his run defense grade is still considered “good” by those metrics. On the year, he has 22 tackles and 6.5 sacks.
Parsons has an opportunity to fire back at Cowherd on the field this week with a matchup against the Giants next on the schedule.