Cowboys Reduce Star Defender's Salary Over Offseason Workout Contract Clause

Dallas will reduce Trevon Diggs's salary by $500,000 after the star corner failed to meet a workout clause in his contract.
Trevon Diggs will see his salary reduced for 2025 after failing to meet an offseason workout clause.
Trevon Diggs will see his salary reduced for 2025 after failing to meet an offseason workout clause. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys will enter the 2025 NFL season with the usual spotlight of attention shining on the franchise, this time because rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer was given the keys to the organization this offseason. With training camp merely days away, it would seem the team decided to make a statement in regard to one of its star defenders.

On Thursday, Cowboys reporter Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News reported team officials will reduce Trevon Diggs's salary by $500,000 for the upcoming season; the All-Pro corner was slated to make $9 million in base salary in 2025 and will now make $8.5 million. Why did Dallas decide to knock off a half million dollars from the salary of one of its top players? Diggs failed to meet an offseason workout clause in his contract. This possibility was raised in June when Diggs was notably absent from several rounds of offseason activity at The Star.

Diggs's contract includes a clause where he is required to complete 84% of his offseason workouts with team employees in order to earn that $500,000 inclusion onto his 2025 base salary. It appears that failed to hit that number. The Cowboys have the option to not enforce the clause and give Diggs his money anyway. It does not seem they are choosing to do so.

Diggs is recovering from knee surgery this offseason and elected to undergo a "majority" of his rehab away from the team facility, per Watkins.

The 26-year-old corner signed a five-year deal worth $97 million with the Cowboys in 2023. Last year Diggs appeared in 11 games for Dallas and recorded two interceptions.


More NFL on Sports Illustrated

manual


Published |Modified
Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.