Quinnen Williams joined the Dallas Cowboys for seven forgettable games in 2025 following his trade deadline deal. Even with the four-time Pro Bowler, the Cowboys defense stunk up the joint last season.

In the months since, the 28-year-old has seen a distinct turnaround under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker.

“The growth, it’s like night and day,” Williams said of the strides made by the Cowboys on defense, via the team’s official website. “Starting in OTAs, and starting the first week of training camp, getting a chance to go against one of the best offenses in battle every single day has helped us tremendously. The mindset coming from the coaches, top down to the players and to the leadership, has been drastically changed. It’s just fun, man.

“I just can’t wait to see the process and the results from all the hard work, but we’re not done yet.”

Well, I’m sure this won’t get Dallas Cowboys fans speculating.

On Thursday, the Cowboys restructured the contracts of three players, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. The Cowboys insider added the moves will create more than $19 million in cap space. That means the Cowboys more than doubled their salary cap, jumping from near $14 million to over $33 million.

The players in question? DT Kenny Clark, CB DaRon Bland, and TE Jake Ferguson. The latter two signed contract extensions last year and Clark is under contract through 2027.

*Quick note on restructures: These are more than anything accounting “conversions.” For the players, they mean nothing in terms of cash received. They’re not paycuts. They’re rather tools that allow NFL teams to spread out cap hits over multiple years.

Why did the Cowboys do these restructures now?

Naturally, creating cap space always creates questions in the minds of fans. Surely, this means a move is in the making, right? Well, not quite. Though it’s certainly possible the Cowboys made these knowing they intend to make a trade down the road (the front office has stated multiple times they’re willing to sacrifice future picks to help this year’s team), it’s not necessarily the reason why they did it.

Unused cap space can be carried from one year to another, so the Cowboys can benefit from having cap flexibility even if they don’t use it this season. In other words, this could very well be nothing but proactive cap management.

That being said, the Cowboys are certainly in a good financial spot to make something work if the opportunity arises. Whether that’s a free agency addition like signing LB Bobby Wagner, trading for superstar EDGE Maxx Crosby down the road, or anything in between remains to be seen.

But for now, this is my advice to Cowboys fans: don’t get too excited. The Cowboys were likely going to restructure these deals regardless of any trade possibilities.

Perot Museum in Dallas hosts Dino Days this weekend, featuring hands-on fossil digs, paleontologist demos, dino puzzles, a 3D T-Rex film, and touchable dinosaur bones.