The opt out deadline has come and gone with three players making the decision to sit 2020 out for the Jacksonville Jaguars. As previously reported, those players were defensive tackle Al Woods, linebacker Lerentee McCray, and cornerback Rashaan Melvin.
For these three players, their salaries will toll and then resume in 2021. As a result, their unearned salaries, bonuses, and signing bonus portions will be removed from the Jags’ 2020 cap immediately. In other words, the team gained a little money.
NFL teams are about to gain tens of millions of dollars in cap space.
The management council informed clubs that signing bonus proration — not just unearned salary and bonuses — will be removed from the 2020 cap immediately upon notification a player is opting out, per sources
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 4, 2020
So where does this put the Jags now in terms of salary cap?
Well, according to ESPN’s Field Yates, right in the middle. As of Friday, the Jags were ranked 16th when comparing their cap situation to the rest of the league’s with just over $16.9 million.
Cap space post opt-outs (12-23)
12. NYG: $21,441,129
13. HOU: $21,137,877
14. CIN: $18,551,659
15. CHI: $17,220,760
16. JAX: $16,955,684
17. SEA: $14,497,295
18. LAC: $13,675,353
19. GB: $13,280,409
20. CAR: $13,177,619
21. KC: $13,003,035
22. SF: $12,529,886
23. MIN: $12,391,078— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 7, 2020
Of course, the catch with the aforementioned contract situations is that when/ if each individual player returns, the Jags will have to pay them what they would’ve earned this year in 2021. Then again, in the case of Woods, the Jags may be able to recoup his salary if the 33-year-old decides to retire.
When looking in advanced to 2021, the Jags are in good shape cap wise. With their current rollover figure, they are set to have approximately $86,596,124, according to Over the Cap. That’s good for second in the league with only the Indianapolis Colts ahead of them with $113,210,580.