In reality, though, they aren’t spending because they find themselves in a difficult cap situation, even with the benefit of Prescott’s minuscule salary. For years now, they’ve operated with a unique strategy designed to pay their top stars market-value contracts while simultaneously keeping their cap hits relatively team-friendly. It might sound like a great plan, and it is when everyone stays healthy and effective. The downside is that when those players become ineffective or are otherwise unable to play, teams end up paying the price. While most teams can move on from veteran deals without incurring significant costs, the Cowboys have been stuck paying uncomfortable amounts of dead money.

Mostly a football story, but maybe some technical debt parallels. Borrow from tomorrow.