Tag: cap space

Saints no longer lead the league in negative salary cap space

The Saints are no longer 32nd in negative salary cap space. After restructuring Derek Carr and Erik McCoy, they moved up to 31st:

Ring the bell: the New Orleans Saints are no longer ranked 32nd among the NFL’s 32 teams in negative salary cap space. After restructuring their contracts with starting quarterback Derek Carr and Pro Bowl center Erik McCoy, they moved up to 31st.

The experts at Over The Cap track every transaction and contract tweak around the NFL, and they estimate the Saints to now be in the red by just $53.7 million — a big jump after New Orleans started the offseason with about $83 million in expenditures keeping them over the salary cap. Two conversations with Carr and McCoy wiped out nearly $30 million in 48 hours.

Sure, they still have a lot to figure out with $53.7 million in negative cap space. But that isn’t the worst number in the league anymore. The Buffalo Bills are now in last-place with an estimated $55.1 million, per OTC. And the Saints are going to be busy working towards cap compliance.

There’s just one other thing: we don’t know yet what the salary cap will be in 2024. OTC works with an estimated figure of $242 million, based off the rise in past years. We do know the cap will continue rising — it’s forecast to reach $300 million in the near future — the question is how high. Some reports suggest it may approach $250 million this season. With the Saints currently putting roughly $295.7 million on the books, every dollar counts. Look for more restructures and contract adjustments in the days ahead, with the league office expected to announce this year’s salary cap during or after the NFL Scouting Combine next week.

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Ranking all 32 NFL teams (including the Dolphins) by cap space for 2024

Ranking every NFL team by 2024 cap space.

The Miami Dolphins were eliminated from the postseason after just one game, extending their streak without a playoff win to 23 years – the longest such streak in the NFL currently.

Before the 2024 season kicks off, the Miami Dolphins will have to make many changes to ensure that they put themselves in the best position to earn a postseason victory for the first time since January 6, 2001.

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and senior vice president of football and business administration Brandon Shore will have to work within the constraints of the league’s salary cap, which has yet to be announced.

At the moment, we’re all operating with the $242 million estimation used by Over the Cap to project cap space in 2024. How does Miami’s cap space compare to the rest of the league? Let’s take a look:

How can the Falcons maximize their cap space this offseason?

How can the #Falcons create more cap space for 2024? Looking at potential trades, extensions and cap casualties going into the offseason

Now that the Atlanta Falcons have completed their coaching search and hired the majority of their staff, they can focus on assembling the roster for 2024. Fortunately for head coach Raheem Morris, he’s inheriting a talented roster with a considerably better salary cap situation than the one Arthur Smith inherited in 2021.

The Falcons currently have $25,849,508 in available cap space for 2024, which ranks 14th in the league. In terms of effective cap space (cap total accounting for the team’s top 51 players and upcoming draft class), Atlanta has a little over $20 million.

With the NFL’s 2024 cap ceiling set at $242 million, here’s a breakdown of the different ways that the Falcons could create more cap space for the upcoming season.

Ranking all 32 teams (including the Panthers) by cap space going into 2024

Here’s how every team stacks up in available cap space heading into the offseason

Now that the Carolina Panthers have themselves a new general manager and a new executive vice president of football operations, how much will Dan Morgan and Brandt Tilis have to spend this offseason?

Here’s how all 32 teams rank in cap space going into the 2024 offseason:

Ranking all 32 teams (including the Falcons) by cap space for 2024

Ranking all 32 NFL teams (including the Falcons) by total salary cap space for 2024

For a handful of years, the Atlanta Falcons could barely afford to add players in free agency because the roster was so full of bloated contracts. It wasn’t until the Falcons hired general manager Terry Fontenot in 2021 that the team started to get the salary cap under control.

In 2023, Atlanta entered the offseason with the second-most available cap space in the NFL, netting big names like Jessie Bates III and Calais Campbell in free agency. Having additional cap space also gives teams more flexibility in terms of how they want to address certain positions.

Let’s check out where all 32 NFL teams (including the Falcons) are ranked in terms of total cap space going into 2024.

8 moves the Jaguars could make to create cap space in 2024

The Jaguars may need to create cap space if they hope to make moves this offseason.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are projected to enter the 2024 offseason with much more salary cap space than they did when they were over the limit heading into the 2023 offseason.

This time around, the Jaguars have more room to maneuver, but there are also some moves that could eat up that space quickly. For one, the team seems likely to franchise tag Josh Allen, which would guarantee the pass rusher about $22 million for the 2024 season.

If Jacksonville hopes to make that move along with any other additions or extensions in the 2024 offseason, the team simply has to find a way to create more room.

Fortunately for the Jaguars there are ways to make that happen. Some of the decisions will be relatively easy, others will be a much tougher call.

Here are eight ways the Jaguars could cut costs and clear space this offseason:

Saints opened up more salary cap space by releasing Tre’Quan Smith

The Saints opened up more salary cap space by releasing Tre’Quan Smith. It’s not much, but they’ve got some more wiggle room ahead of the trade deadline:

Tre’Quan Smith was released by the New Orleans Saints this week and immediately booked a flight to visit Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos, but what does his departure mean for the team’s salary cap outlook? The Saints were under the spending limit by about $2.67 million prior to releasing Smith from injured reserve.

Now, the experts at Over The Cap estimate the Saints are under the cap by $4.1 million. That isn’t much (it currently ranks eighth-lowest around the league), but it does give them a little wiggle room ahead of the Oct. 31 trade deadline.

They wouldn’t be able to take on the full salary for some players — like, say, Las Vegas Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow at about $5.05 million right now — but the Saints typically ask their trade partners to pay part of the player’s salary to facilitate a trade. That’s what they’ve done in trades for Bradley Roby and Kwon Alexander in recent years. Maybe they circle back to that approach.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Right now the Saints need to focus on getting back in the win column so they can be in a position to buy, not sell, at that trade deadline next month. Still, moves like this Smith release should be noted when we take a big-picture look at this team.

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Examining a potential trade for Mike Evans by the Texans

Could Mike Evans be a potential trade target for the #Texans heading into the regular season?

Last week, news broke that Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans had set a hard deadline with the organization regarding his future status. The recently turned 30-year-old wide receiver has had nine consecutive 1000-yard seasons with Tampa in addition to four Pro Bowl appearances and contributing to the 2021 Super Bowl team. However, the organization has been reluctant to extend the aging wideout in their post-Tom Brady era while they face one of the worst financial situations in the league.

Unsurprisingly, Evans feels quite differently. He’s set a deadline of September 9th for Tampa Bay to arrive at a contract extension or that his camp will shift their attention to his next team. Evans’ contract is set to expire at the end of the 2023 season and the Buccaneers would find it quite expensive to exercise the franchise tag, meaning that September 9th could ultimately signal the end of his time with the organization after this year.

Why does it matter? In a rebuilding year for Tampa Bay, featuring Baker Mayfield starting at quarterback, many are left to wonder if Evans makes sense as a logical trade candidate before the Buccaneers lose his services for nothing in the spring.

Could the Houston Texans make sense as a candidate to bring Evans back to the state where he dominated as a college football player at Texas A&M? There are multiple angles worth looking at.

Where Saints rank among NFL in unspent salary cap space after roster cuts

How much salary cap space do the Saints have after roster cuts? Here’s where they rank among their peers around the NFL:

The dust has settled around the NFL after a tough week of roster cuts, with almost every team back to its full capacity with 53 players on the roster, 16 on the practice squad, and a few others on injured reserve or the suspended list.

This shift in the NFL calendar also introduces a new wrinkle for salary cap accounting: every player on the team counts against the cap, unlike in the offseason, where only the top 51 contracts factored in. That means some teams (eight of them, right now) are in the red and must open up cap space; the easiest ways of doing that are restructures with veteran players or injury settlements for those on injured reserve.

So where do the New Orleans Saints rank now? Are they even in the clear? Here’s how much cap space the Saints have at their disposal, and where it places among their peers (with all information sourced from Over The Cap):

Bradley Roby shares choice words after being released by New Orleans Saints

Bradley Roby shared choice words after being released by New Orleans Saints: ‘Cutting costs at all cost might just cost you in the end’

The New Orleans Saints’ decision to release veteran cornerback Bradley Roby surprised everyone — including Bradley Roby. He had been penciled in as the starting slot corner in their defense all summer, resting with other starters in preseason games and preparing for a big role in New Orleans’ nickel defense.

But then he was released ahead of the NFL roster cuts deadline on Tuesday, clearing about $3.3 million in salary cap space (with the Saints already under the cap by more than $11.4 million). Roby acknowledged the move on social media, warning that “Cutting costs at all cost might just cost you in the end.”

While Roby was at least implicitly critical of the front office’s decision, he expressed nothing but gratitude to his teammates in the locker room and the Saints fans who have cheered their team on every year he’s been in town:

Where will Roby land? He can still run with most receivers around the league so his services shouldn’t be in low demand once the dust settles on this year’s roster cuts. It’s possible he returns to play for Sean Payton on the Denver Broncos (ironically, where he started his NFL career), who have experienced some instability in the secondary this summer. He could also land with a playoff team elsewhere around the league. But he isn’t finished just yet.

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