IRVING, Texas -- At the top of the list of questions the Dallas Cowboys need to answer this offseason is DeMarcus Ware's future.
Ware will undergo surgery on his right elbow next Tuesday, but his future with the team might be more tied to the salary cap than his health.
He is set to count $16.003 million against the cap with a $12.25 million base salary. After the season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Ware said he would be open to a cut in pay but amended that comment a day later saying he would be open to restructuring his deal.
Ware said his agent, Pat Dye, has not been approached by the team yet about their plans, and he did not want to discuss specifics. Those discussions could come next week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Ware said. “I’m going to let the guys run the numbers and handle that. My mentality is that I’m going to do what I need to do to try to help the team out the best I can where they’re going to win and I want to win.
“We need guys here to be on the team for next season to help me out, to help us out, so sometimes you can’t think about a whole bunch of money and then not have anybody there. You need somebody there by your side, a defensive tackle, a defensive end, a wide receiver. You need to figure it out because the time is now. We need to win. That’s what I get out of playing. I play hurt, bruised up. Some guys don’t play, but I still get out there and play because I don’t care about anything else.”