Tag: NFL salary cap

Rams to roll over $5.6 million in salary cap space from 2020

The Rams will carry over more than $5 million in cap space from 2020 to next season.

There’s a lot of uncertainty about the salary cap for the 2021 season after the NFL and its teams suffered significantly in the financial department this season due to the pandemic. The salary cap could drop to as low as $175 million next season, which would be down from $198.2 million in 2020.

The Rams will be in rough shape, sitting more than $23 million over the cap if it’s set at $175 million. But they will be able to carry over some money from this season into the upcoming offseason.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Rams will roll over $5.67 million in cap space from this season to next. That’s right in the middle of the league, with 15 teams rolling over more cap space than Los Angeles.

Todd Gurley will still count $8.4 million against the cap in 2021 due to his dead cap hit from when the Rams released him last offseason. That’s a significant amount of money to pay a player who’s not going to be on the roster, but the Rams knew what they were doing.

Jared Goff has the biggest cap hit on the team next season at $34.6 million, followed by Aaron Donald ($27.9 million), Jalen Ramsey ($22.5 million) and Cooper Kupp ($14.5 million). Navigating free agency will be difficult for the Rams this coming offseason.

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Big contracts make it tough for the Atlanta Falcons to rebuild

After the Atlanta Falcons lost their ninth game of the season over the weekend, the idea of a rebuild is something that fans can no longer ignore.

After the Atlanta Falcons lost their ninth game of the season over the weekend, the idea of a rebuild is something that fans can no longer ignore.

That was the hot topic on Atlanta sports radio Monday morning and will continue being the hot topic as the Falcons get into the advanced stages of hiring their next head coach and general manager.

However, the contracts of quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones, which take up a combined 36 percent of the team’s salary cap space in 2021, make it tough for a rebuild to take place.

“The quickest way to close a window,” said Andy Bunker of 92.9 The Game, “is giving out bad contracts. Unfortunately, there looks like there are some bad contracts on this team.”

It’s easy to justify Ryan and Jones getting new contracts as both were playing at high levels and formerly top-10 draft picks.

However, having a player like Dante Fowler eat up a large portion of cap space limits how much the team can spend in the offseason to build around Ryan and Jones. Fowler has an $18 million cap hit in 2021 and has just two sacks this season, a massive decrease from the 11.5 he recorded with the Rams in 2019. With three games to go, it’s likely he will end the season with career lows in sacks, solo tackles and tackles for a loss.

“A lot of times when you give a contract, you cannot foresee what’s going to happen after the contract,” said Bunker’s co-host, Randy McMichael.

If you combine the contracts of Grady Jarrett, Deion Jones, Jake Matthews, Jones and Ryan, they account for 66 percent of the 2021 cap total and would be nearly impossible to move going into the offseason. This percentage goes even higher — up to 77 percent — when you include Fowler.

With the Falcons being $25 million above the projected cap in 2021, the team will make the necessary moves to get out of the red, but won’t be able to move on from Fowler until 2022 at the least.

Cutting safety Ricardo Allen, DL Allen Bailey OL James Carpenter, and possibly more would likely help Atlanta get out of the red. To the displeasure of some Falcons fans, though, Ryan won’t see his way out of Atlanta until 2023 at the earliest when the cap savings are higher than the potential dead money.

Many analysts and fans alike are projecting the Falcons to select a QB with their first pick. However, it could be more beneficial to trade back and select someone who can get the run game going or go for a game-changer, like Micah Parsons, on the defensive side of the ball.

On the season, the Falcons are 0-6 when the team totals less than 90 yards rushing. The lack of a run game has been detrimental to the Falcons over the past three seasons due to injuries and RB Devonta Freeman falling flat after getting his big contract extension in 2017. At the time, Freeman’s new contract was the highest for any running back in league history.

Randy McMichael even echoed this sentiment saying, “Matt Ryan needs a run game more than ever. When you ask him to sit back there and wing it around and try to win the football game, you might get some good results, but a lot of the times you will get the results you got [Sunday].”

Watch the full clip via 92.9 The Game’s Twitter.

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Report on potential FOX package for NFL broadcast rights could help ease any salary cap reduction

The cap is expected to drop in 2021 but a new FOX broadcast package could prevent big losses

A report from Bloomberg News offers some hope for NFL teams that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the salary cap in upcoming seasons might not cut so deep. In fact, the television networks might pay as much as double the current rates to keep broadcasting NFL games.

Bloomberg reports that FOX is willing to pony up as much as $2 billion per year to keep its share of the NFL broadcast rights. FOX currently pays just over $1 billion per year on its deal. And they won’t be the only bidders. From the report,

Now Fox has to fend off other broadcasters, which also want to air high-profile matchups. Negotiations with the league are heating up because current broadcast rights begin expiring at the end of next year, starting with Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and its deal for “Monday Night Football.” Talks between the league and the networks are already underway, but at an early stage, Fox Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch told investors this month.

“The NFL has asked, I think, all the broadcasters to think about every package, and to think how would we monetize packages that we currently have or other packages differently,” Murdoch said. “So, we’re looking at all sorts of options.”

NFL teams have been bracing for a potential reduction in the salary cap for 2021 and beyond due to the lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Detroit Lions are in relatively good shape compared to many other teams, but a bump in the broadcast revenue could ease any burden or reduction on the cap due to the loss of in-stadium revenue.

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Report: Ravens restructured DT Brandon Williams, freeing up $3 million

The Baltimore Ravens gained a little breathing room on their salary cap after restructuring defensive tackle Brandon Williams’ contract.

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The Baltimore Ravens are feeling the pressure of a light wallet as they enter the 2020 regular season. But with the help of defensive tackle Brandon Williams, the Ravens gained a little cap space.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, Williams agreed to a restructure that frees up $3 million in cap space right now in exchange for some guaranteed money over the next two years.

Williams was owed a total of $18.75 million in base salaries over the next two seasons. But outside of his prorated signing bonus, there was no guaranteed money left on the deal. According to Yates, the reworked deal now pays Williams $15.75 million over the next two years with $8.25 million guaranteed. While the exact breakdown of the contract isn’t known, the Ravens have an estimated $11.26 million, according to Over The Cap. This move buys Baltimore a little breathing room.

This is a pretty important deal considering the NFL salary cap could actually go down next season due to a loss of revenue from the coronavirus pandemic. Though the Ravens are one of only a few teams that’s expected to be above water next year if the cap dips down to $175 million, Williams was a potential salary-cap casualty. Prior to the restructured deal, Baltimore would have freed up $9.5 million on the 2021 salary cap by cutting Williams next offseason.

With new guaranteed money on top of his prorated signing bonus, this seems to be the Ravens signaling to Williams that they plan on keeping him around for at least another year.

Baltimore completely revamped their defensive line this offseason. They traded for former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell and signed free-agent defensive tackle Derek Wolfe to bolster a unit that was inconsistent last season. Those two moves push Williams back inside to nose tackle where he’s been a far better and more consistent player throughout his career.

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Bills currently over potential 2021 salary cap floor heading into roster cuts

Buffalo Bills currently over 2021 salary cap according to Spotrac.

The Bills have made some recent roster moves and have a bunch more en route. On Saturday at 4 p.m., it’s roster cut-down day in the NFL. The Bills will trim their crew of players from 80 to the traditional 53 guys they’ll head into the 2020 regular season with.

While we have those cuts and a full 16-game schedule this year before we get into the 2021 salary cap, keeping an eye on the future is a smart play for the Bills… and anyone rooting for a football team. That’s the case each year, but especially now due to COVID-19.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, fans won’t be allowed at games in Buffalo. No where in the league is anticipating full crowds when the upcoming season starts and we might not even get any at all, period. Truthfully we don’t know what’s going to happen with butts getting into seats.

And because of that, we’ll preface the 2021 salary cap discussion with this: We also don’t know what’s going to happen with it, so don’t panic.

Earlier this offseason, it was announced that the NFL and NFLPA agreed to a salary cap “floor” of sorts for 2021. That number is $175 million, a drop from 2020’s $198.2M salary cap. Not only is that in itself a big drop, each season prior to COVID-19, the cap has only gone up and up, typically increasing about 10 percent per year.

Again, this is not set in stone, but the Bills currently are not in a pretty position if this $175M figure holds. According to Spotrac, the Bills’ current forecast 2021 salary number is currently $6.4M over that floor.

While perhaps alarming, we’re here to tell you to not get overly worked up over this just yet.

As mentioned, the Bills are going to finish trimming their roster this week. This number from Spotrac is the team’s projected salary cap figure with their top-51 cap hits. That alone could change in the coming days.

But there’s many moving factors here such as potential salary cap space that’s carried over, how much revenue is generated from fans getting in venues throughout the season causing that $175M number to increase, and more.

Again, $175M is only the lowest it could possibly go. There’s a chance… probably a good one…  that this number increases.

And there’s little reason to worry because the Bills are not even close to being in the worst case scenario if this unfolds. In this 2021 ranking, the Bills are one of at least 10 teams in the NFL projected to currently be over next year’s cap floor of $175M. Some of the teams that have much bleaker outlooks are the Eagles and Saints, who are put at $90.1M and $77.8M over the 2021 floor, respectively, per Spotrac.

It could be worse for the Bills, but this simply just shows that the team and players such as linebacker Matt Milano and cornerback Tre’Davious White, who are looking to be locked up to extensions, just have to kind of… wait things out. At least Dion Dawkins got his.

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7 takeaways from Sean McDermott’s extension with Bills

Takeaways from Sean McDermott’s extension with the Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott will remain as such, at least contractually, through the 2025 NFL season. The team announced on Wednesday that McDermott inked a new extension with the club through that season.

Since McDermott was technically under contract through the next two years, in terms of a list of things on the organization’s “to-do list,” getting him under a new deal maybe wasn’t No. 1… but it certainly was up there. And now that the deed is done and signed, there’s many things to consider with this huge news.

With that, here are seven takeaways from Sean McDermott’s extension with the Bills:

Bills head coach Sean McDermott. Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

National narrative remains

By no means has McDermott been a perfect coach. He’s had his mix of blunders such as clock management scenarios and replacing Tyrod Taylor with Nathan Peterman in the midst of a playoff race. But these situations are very much overshadowed by the new national perception surrounding the Bills, created by McDermott.

For nearly two decades, the Bills were… nothing short of a joke. From ownership previously getting involved with decisions, to a lack of wins, to players openly saying they’d rather play anywhere else. Buffalo’s bottom line was the bottom of the barrel in 2017 when Rex Ryan was fired with one game remaining in the season.

But McDermott came in and revitalized this organization. Sure, others helped him along the way, but after the Rex-Doug Whaley fiasco of the past, the Bills organization made one guy the face of this franchise, and it’s McDermott. By keeping McDermott around and not losing him, the phrase “same old Bills” holds a lot different weight.

In keeping their leader and bench boss around, yes, it is the same (new) Bills we’re used to. The ones that have become accustom to being admired across the league, not pushed to the back of the line. Losing McDermott could’ve completely undone all of this, but the Bills didn’t let it happen.

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Steelers to start the 2021 offseason in a serious salary cap hole

The salary cap situation for the Steelers next season is dire.

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Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL and the NFLPA has had to amend the current collective bargaining agreement on the fly. One of the negotiations involved the salary cap for this season as well as 2021. It looks as though the league will see a fairly significant drop in the 2021 salary cap with a floor of $175 million.

For many NFL teams, this will be less of a concern. The Indianapolis Colts are going to have $91 million and the New England Patriots will have $70 million. But for the Pittsburgh Steelers, things are bleak. According to Over The Cap, Pittsburgh will start the 2021 offseason $17 million over the cap.

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This situation is compounded by the fact Pittsburgh has a significant list of high-profile free agents. With players like Cam Heyward, JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Bud Dupree and Mike Hilton all want new contracts. In addition, T.J. Watt deserves a contract extension. There are going to be some very difficult decisions to be made in response to a horrible situation.

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Browns still have the most available salary cap room after opt-outs

The cap room could be very valuable to roll over into 2021

The more than 60 players who opted out of playing in 2020 around the NFL changed the salary cap landscape quite a bit. When factoring in the opt-outs, which defers the scheduled 2020 contract to 2021 other than guaranteed bonuses, many teams picked up some extra cap room for this season.

The Browns did that, notably with players like Andrew Billings and Colby Gossett. In doing so, Cleveland remains atop the NFL pack in terms of salary cap room in 2020.

The Browns still have a slight edge over the New England Patriots, who had a league-high eight players opt out due to COVID-19 concerns. Per Spotrac, Cleveland has $38.89 million available. New England sits second at $36.56 million, followed by Denver, Washington and the New York Jets. Tampa Bay has the least, with barely $1 million in available cap room.

Having the cap room doesn’t necessarily equate with spending it. GM Andrew Berry and the Browns could opt to roll over the extra room to 2021, when the league’s salary cap is expected to plunge due to lost revenue. Having those extra cap funds could help the Browns navigate the stormy financial seas in the coming year.

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Where does the Bills’ salary cap stand after opt outs?

A look at the Buffalo Bills’ salary cap after opt-out deadline.

What a time opt outs were for the Buffalo Bills, huh?

Over the course of a few hours, cornerback Tre’Davious White’s debate with the situation was a tough one for the team to worry about. It’s an understandable area of concern for White, but in the end, he decided he’s going to play.

The deadline for players to decided whether or not they planned to play in 2020 has come and passed. Still, even with White opting-in, the Bills were pinched a bit by this deadline as there were players to opt out of playing for Buffalo, plus, there were some new contract details factored into the Bills’ situation just prior to the deadline.

So when it was all said and done, the Bills ended up with $24.3 million in remaining salary cap space. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, that’s the eighth-most remaining in the NFL, so by comparison, the Bills are actually doing pretty well handling all the offseason curve balls the team has been dealt.

Helping the Bills get to this spot relating to opt-outs specifically were defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and cornerback EJ Gaines. Those were the two players on the Bills that decided not to play in 2020. In addition to those two, offensive lineman Brian Winters was signed by the Bills and wide receiver Stefon Diggs had some figures moved around in his contract, too.

But here’s a big twist: In terms of the AFC East, the Bills actually have the least amount of salary cap space left. Yeah… it’s true. Of the seven teams with more space than Buffalo, half are division rivals.

Here’s all their totals:

  • Dolphins: $25.7M
  • Jets: $29.3M
  • Patriots: $33.4M

The Patriots currently have the second-most salary cap space in the league, squeezed between the Browns ($40.5M) and Washington ($30.6M). But that almost directly has to do with the number of opt-outs the Pats had prior to Thursday’s deadline, eight in total, the most of any team in the NFL.

It remains to be seen if and what Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane would do with his remaining salary cap space. Most would point to him using that for extensions with players already on the Bills roster.

 

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How much cap space do the Panthers have going into 2020 training camp?

With training camp set to begin later this week, let’s take a look at the team’s updated salary cap picture.

It took a while, but the Carolina Panthers now have their entire 2020 NFL draft class under contract.

With training camp set to begin later this week, let’s take a look at the team’s updated salary cap picture.

According to Over the Cap, the Panthers currently have $10,072,824 in space remaining for this season. Only 12 teams have less. That’s not a whole lot of room to add talent at positions of need like tight end and cornerback, let alone if somebody important currently on the roster gets injured.

This is 2020, so naturally it gets worse from here, too.

Previously, we were expecting a significant raise in the team’s salary cap space for 2021 (up to a maximum of $90 million) with a lot of dead weight coming off the books. Unfortunately, due to a projected massive shortfall in revenue this year because of the pandemic, the Panthers and every other team will be going into a much leaner environment.

If the salary cap ceiling winds up being $175 million next year, Carolina would have just $9,371,349 left if they carry over their current estimated cap room, per OTC.

Hopefully the revenue drop is not as bad as projected and the cuts won’t be as deep next year. If not, the front office will lose a valuable tool as they begin phase two of the rebuilding period.

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