The Dallas Cowboys will give Josh Butler another chance to contribute to their defense in 2026. The team has decided to exercise a tender on the exclusive-rights free agent, which will automatically keep him in a Cowboys uniform for the upcoming season.
Butler is going to be on the books for just over $1 million, which means he will not substantially change the club’s current available cap space as he lands at the very bottom of the team’s Top 51 salaries during the offseason. He’ll take away around $70,000 of space with the cap limit at $301.2 million for 2026.
Butler is not the typical ERFA situation. He’s been out of college this entire decade, his final year at Michigan State happening in 2019. However he went undrafted in 2020, and had stints in the Spring League as well as the USFL until he was grabbed for Dallas’ practice squad in 2023.
He made his way onto the roster in 2024, playing in five games to log his first accrued season, and he appeared in one game last year for accrued season No. 2.
Out of contract players who have less than three years of official NFL experience are classified as ERFA, which give the club the option to retain the player for just over $1 million without the player being able to shop his talents elsewhere. If the original team wants him, they keep him.
This differs from a restricted free agent, who has three years NFL experience. Teams can place any of three tenders on RFAs, but those players are allowed to shop their services around the league. If they sign an offer sheeet, the original team can match, or get compensation (based on the amount of the tender). If an original team doesn’t commit to one of the tenders, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Tender Exclusive: Cowboys to retain journeyman CB, very low cap impact
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
