3 Players the Cowboys Should Consider Releasing or Trading for Salary Cap Reasons

The Dallas Cowboys face as pivotal an offseason as any team in the league, as they have to figure out a way to keep their franchise quarterback in Dak Prescott, while also trying to keep one or both of Amari Cooper and Byron Jones.

These three Cowboys players all had solid campaigns in what turned out to be Jason Garrett's final season in Dallas, but they might need to be sacrificed on the altar of cap space this offseason.

3. OT Cameron Fleming

Dallas Cowboys OT Cam Fleming / Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Fleming has started six games over the last two years, but it appears that La'el Collins, whom Fleming was brought in to compete with, has solidified his place at right tackle for the Cowboys. Fleming is supposed to eat up over $5 million if the team picks up his club option, and even Fleming himself would have to agree that is to exorbitant for a backup offensive lineman.

2. CB Jourdan Lewis

Dallas Cowboys CB Jourdan Lewis / Elsa/Getty Images

The better of the two Michigan defenders the Cowboys picked in 2017 (sorry Taco Charlton), Lewis recorded four sacks and two interceptions as the slot corner alongside Jones and Chidobe Awuzie on the outside. Lewis could ask for a new deal now that he's managed a career season, and the Cowboys might need to divert the money that would normally have been spent on Lewis to make sure Dak and/or Amari is taken care of. The best option is to work him into a trade.

1. DT Tyrone Crawford

Dallas Cowboys DT Tyrone Crawford / Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Crawford is scheduled to be the second highest-paid defensive linemen on the Cowboys next season, and he has rewarded the Cowboys' financial trust in him by playing in exactly four games and only recording just three tackles and one sack last season. Crawford has been everything Dallas hoped for as a third round pick in 2012, but his time is officially up.