The Dallas Cowboys are moving on from Right Tackle La'el Collins.

The Cowboys will release La'el Collins today, per source. Expected to be a post-June 1 cut, saves $10 million. No trade but Collins will have a good market once he's free to sign.

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) March 17, 2022

The news is not surprising after recent reports emerged on the Cowboys being actively shopping Collins around the NFL. While many expected the front office to get something in return via a trade, the 28-year-old offensive tackle will be released.

According to Michael Gehlken from Dallas Morning News, Collins' release will come in the shape of a post-June 1 cut.

That means the Dallas Cowboys would save $10 million in cap space for 2022. However, it's not the kind of cap relief that Cowboys Nation wants to hear about at this time of the year.

That's because Post-June 1 cuts, as the name implies, are not processed in the salary cap – an accounting system at its core – until June second.

The player is considered to be a member of the roster until then (even though he's really not) meaning the team gets no cap relief during what's considered the salary cap portion of the NFL offseason. As you probably know, most free agents are signed before June.

Teams use this tool to avoid big numbers in dead money, which is the charge teams need to account for in the cap when a player's contract is terminated early.

If there's one rule to understand about the salary cap is at some point everything that's paid to a player must be accounted for in the cap. Hence, dead money exists. The most common source of dead money is prorated bonuses on a player's contract.

Had the Cowboys released La'el Collins the usual way, they would've gotten $1.3M in cap savings and a dead-money hit of $13.95M, per Over The Cap. Instead, with the post-June 1 designation, the Cowboys spread out his dead-money hit in two seasons:

• 2022: $5.25 million
• 2023: $8.7 million

La'el Collins' relationship with the team likely went sour a while back, as we even saw the Cowboys "punish" the right tackle even after he came back from his suspension in 2021.

In his first game back, Collins had to sit on the bench while Terence Steele remained the starter versus the Minnesota Vikings in Week 8.

Now, the Cowboys will move on with Steele, who's on a contract year at the position. Although he's shown good play and very promising development, the team is downgrading at a key position.

Featured image via Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports