The NFL’s salary cap for the 2023 season will be a record high $224.8 million. That should help spur a healthy free agent market — but it won’t keep teams from having to make difficult roster decisions this spring.
Each March is the backdrop as expensive veterans restructure their contracts, take pay cuts or, in the worse case scenario, wind up released outright by teams who value cap space more than their contributions. In some cases, these roster moves are the outcome of general managers weighing a current player’s production vs. potential replacements on the open market. In others, cuts are the equivalent of tossing cargo from a sinking ship in an effort to remain seaworthy — or, in this case, cap compliant.
The end result is a handful of cleaned-out lockers and solemn goodbyes to teammates and fans. Some teams won’t have to make these decisions. Some already have (see the Tennessee Titans with Taylor Lewan and Robert Woods). But all 32 franchises have at least one veteran whose potential cap savings will linger in the minds of table-setting GMs as free agency looms.
Here’s the most likely cut candidate for each team — even the ones not especially likely to make dramatic releases. All salary cap information comes from the uber-useful Over The Cap. All potential savings are based on releases being designated at post-June 1 moves, thereby saving the maximum amount of money on the 2023 cap.