On Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys placed former center Travis Frederick on the official reserve/retired list.
Frederick’s surprising retirement came on March 23, days after the former All-Pro turned just 29 years old. Frederick was originally set to cost $11.975 million against the Cowboys salary cap this season, but by delaying the formal retirement, Dallas is able to split Frederick’s remaining signing bonus allocatgion over the next two seasons.
This frees up $7 million for the Cowboys, the amount of his 2020 base salary. Now, as predicted by Cowboys Wire when the retirement was announced, Frederick will cost the Cowboys $4.975 million in the upcoming season, and $6.06 million the year after.
The move gives Dallas around $11.4 million in cap space. Signing their rookie class will only cost around $3.1 million, leaving Dallas with over $8 million to sign additional free agents now or during the season.
Losing Frederick is a blow for the Dallas offensive line, but the Cowboys can now use the added cap space to comfortably sign their rookie class, and maybe even add another veteran free agent like Everson Griffen, who many have speculated would be a good fit with in Dallas.
Frederick missed the entire 2018 season with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and while he started every game in 2019 and earned his fifth pro-bowl nod, he wasn’t his usual dominant self. Joe Looney, who started all 16 games at center while Frederick was out with his autoimmune disease, figures to play an important role again in the middle of the Cowboys offensive line. Connor McGovern, a third-round selection in 2019, and Tyler Biadasz, the Cowboys fourth round selection in 2020, should compete with Looney for the starting center position.
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