Cowboys Restructure Salary Of Ailing Novacek

The Dallas Cowboys restructured tight end Jay Novacek’s contract to create room under their salary cap, although they don’t know whether he’ll play this season.

Novacek missed last season because of a degenerative disc in his back and hasn’t been able to practice for a full week since the Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX on Jan. 28, 1996.

The team said Novacek agreed to lower his base salary of $1.25 million this season. The Cowboys, though, wouldn’t say by how much. Although Novacek practiced for three days last week during the team’s minicamp, he couldn’t practice on Monday because of back soreness.