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IRVING, Texas -- The question was being asked before Peyton Manning agreed to take a $4 million pay cut from the Denver Broncos on Wednesday: Why doesn't Tony Romo take a cut in pay to help the Dallas Cowboys keep Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray? Well, he doesn't have to. Nor should he. And if the Cowboys want to sign Bryant and Murray to long-term deals, they don't need any cash from Tony Romo. Romo is set to make a $17 million base salary in 2015 and count an NFL-high $27.773 million against the salary cap as a result of his $25 million signing bonus two years ago and restructure last year. If the Cowboys want, they can restructure Romo's contract again and create up to $12.8 million in cap room by knocking his base salary down to $1 million and turning the rest into a signing bonus. Romo gets the same amount of cash in his pocket and the Cowboys get salary-cap space. The Cowboys and just about every team have been working the cap that way for years. The downside is that it adds $3.2 million in proration each year over the rest of Romo's contract, adding to potential dead money down the road. The Cowboys can lower Romo's base salary to $12 million and create $4 million in room or lower it to $10 million and create $5.6 million in room. Again, they would be adding proration to future years, but it would be more manageable than taking that base salary down to $1 million. There is a difference between restructuring and taking a pay cut. A restructure does not take any money out of a player's pocket and too often they are painted as “team-first” players when the whole deal is an accounting trick against the cap. Eventually it could hurt a player too. Because he restructured so much, DeMarcus Ware's contract was too out of whack for the Cowboys' liking so they cut him. A pay cut is just as it sounds. Give Manning credit for taking the cut in pay if you want, but this was not done out of the kindness of his heart. Plus, he can make that money back through incentives. But for all of you wondering why Romo doesn't take a paycut, I'll ask this: Would you voluntarily take a cut in pay if you had your best year with your company?
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