Report: Cowboys OL Terence Steele signs RFA tender, counting $4.3M against cap this season

There has been little to no drama for the Dallas Cowboys this offseason which is a bit rare. Nobody is complaining that the team has learned how to improve themselves in a quiet and efficient manner.

If there was a point of contention in the offseason it had to do with offensive lineman Terence Steele. As a UDFA back in 2020, Steele entered this offseason as a restricted free agent, but the Cowboys quickly placed a second-round tender on him.

Technically a tender has to be signed, and if it had not been then there would have been some drama. That will not be the case, though.

Terence Steele has reportedly signed his tender and currently counts $4.3M against the salary cap

The Cowboys faced potential drama with a cousin of the tender, the franchise tag that they placed on Tony Pollard. Fortunately Pollard signed his tag a few weeks back which made that a moot point.

Like Pollard did with the tag, Terence Steele has now signed his tender. All is well.

Steele currently counts $4.3M against the Cowboys’ salary cap, but the Cowboys could always work out a long-term deal with him. Seeing as how he is an important member of their team entering a contract year, that would be a wise idea.

Terence Steele tore his ACL and MCL back in mid-December so he is also coming off of a significant injury. As ESPN’s Todd Archer notes though, the Cowboys have spoken positively about his recovery. Stephen Jones has even said that they anticipate Steele being ready for camp. Obviously we will wait and see on that front.

An additional matter worth monitoring is where we see Steele when he ultimately returns to the field. To this point he has primarily been a tackle for the Cowboys and has commanded the right side of the offensive line for the majority of his three-year career. Interestingly though, the Cowboys have floated the idea this offseason of moving Steele to left guard which would (theoretically) open the door to a world where Tyron Smith is playing right tackle full time (Smith took over the spot when Steele was injured as you may recall).

It is possible that the Steele-to-guard chatter is contract posturing or gamesmanship ahead of the NFL Draft next week so that the Cowboys do not tip their hand, so to speak. Once the draft is over we will know the meat, potatoes, appetizers and everything in between associated with this roster which will help us draw some more legitimate conclusions.

On that subject we recently discussed the top guard options for the Cowboys in the first round on the Blogging The Boys YouTube Channel. You can watch our discussion right here.

One week to go.