Cowboys WR Miles Austin Signs His Tender

On Friday morning, the Dallas Morning News reported that the Cowboys had not sent a letter to restricted free agent Miles Austin informing him that his tender would be reduced on June 15 to 110% of his 2009 salary.

Here’s the reason why: Austin signed his tender on Friday, according to Michael Lombardi of NFL Network.

It’s a one-year contract worth $3.168 million.

If Austin hadn’t signed by June 15, the Cowboys would have been eligible to reduce his tender level to 110% of his 2009 salary. The difference would be about $1.5 million. However, reducing his tender level never seemed like a possibility because Austin had already signed an injury waiver to participate in OTAs and owner Jerry Jones has publicly said he’d like to get a deal done for Austin.

Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News reports the two sides have had “minimal talks” regarding a due in large part to the uncertain labor landscape.

“It’s not that big of a deal to me,” Austin said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “It is what it is. I’m here to work, that’s what I do. I’m not trying to lose any more money ... Hopefully something can work out. Obviously I love Dallas. Yeah, I’m excited for the season. I’m excited to play hard.”

It’s unclear at the moment if Austin signing his tender has any bearing on the potential long-term deal the two sides are reportedly working on.

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