Tag: NFL salary cap

Lions’ spending at WR still near bottom of NFL even with Amon-Ra St. Brown’s extension

The Lions spending at WR is still near the bottom of the NFL in 2024 even with Amon-Ra St. Brown’s extension

The Detroit Lions rewarded All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown with a new contract this offseason that briefly made him the highest-paid wideout in the NFL. The four-year, $120 million extension that included $77 million guaranteed is a massive deal, albeit one that was quickly surpassed by Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson.

Despite the $30 million-per-year average, St. Brown’s new contract is structured such that barely 10 percent of that APY counts against the Lions’ salary cap this season. Thanks to some creative cap management, St. Brown amazingly counts only for a cap hit of $4.86 million in 2024.

Detroit’s savvy cap manipulation permeates beyond St. Brown at wide receiver. The entire WR corps will count just $21.543 million against the salary cap, which represents 8.5 percent of the team’s spending. The total expenditure at wide receiver ranks 26th in the NFL.

The Lions aren’t even spending half of what the top team, San Francisco, is devoting in cap resources to the wide receiver position in 2024. Green Bay ranks last in WR spending in 2024 at just over $11 million.

The Lions’ WR breakdown in cap hits for 2024:

Amon-Ra St. Brown – $4.862 million

Jameson Williams – $4.762 million

Kalif Raymond – $3.25 million

Donovan Peoples-Jones – $1.3 million

Daurice Fountain – $1.06 million

Tom Kennedy – $985,000

Tre’Quan Smith – $985,000

Antoine Green – $944,190

Maurice Alexander – $915,000

Isaiah Williams – $800,000

Jalon Calhoun – $800,000

Kaden Davis – $795,000

All salary figures courtesy of Spotrac. 

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The Cam Sutton contract wasn’t fully voided for the Lions

The Cam Sutton contract wasn’t fully voided for the Lions, based on the latest salary cap figures from the NFLPA and Over The Cap

When the Detroit Lions released veteran cornerback Cam Sutton after his legal issues earlier this offseason, the team applied to the NFL to have his entire contractual obligation for 2024 recovered. Based on recent figures from the NFLPA and Over The Cap, that did not happen.

Sutton was initially due to cost the Lions $10.5 million in base salary for 2024. Detroit released Sutton with a June 1st designation and was hoping to have all of that $10.5 million cleared because of Sutton’s domestic charges and failure to turn himself into authorities promptly despite being at the team’s facility.

However, the latest salary cap update from the NFLPA shows a lower increase in Detroit’s cap room. Over the Cap now shows a $4.2 million dead money charge on the Lions’ books for 2024, and the NFLPA numbers reflect the same figure.

That would mean the NFL did not fully void Sutton’s salary obligation with the Lions. There has been no public info released on any potential settlement or ruling as of yet. Detroit now has just under $36 million in available cap room based on the NFLPA’s accounting.

Sutton recently signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is also unclear if Sutton’s contract with Pittsburgh contains any salary offsets that benefit the Lions.

Update:

Per Jason from Over The Cap, Sutton has filed a grievance or will do so, which results in 40% of the total figure being charged to the team, pending the outcome of the grievance hearing.

Projecting Texans QB C.J. Stroud’s future contract extension

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence’s contract extension topped the market, but what will Texans QB C.J. Stroud’s second contract look like?

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence became the latest signal-caller to ink a massive, agreeing to a five-year deal worth $275 million, including $200 million guaranteed.

The contract matched Cicinnati’s Joe Burrow’s extension for second-highest in total value, trailing only Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes’ 10-year, $450 million deal. Since the two-time league MVP agreed to his record-breaking deal, the average per-year salary for top-flight quarterbacks has increased by 22%.

With Lawrence locked up, the market price moves again before the 2024 season. And as more quarterbacks work out future extensions, sights turn to the Houston Texans and a potential long-term deal for Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.

A deal isn’t imminent. Stroud still has three years remaining on his rookie contract, plus a fifth-year option that could be picked up after the 2025 season. The financial commitment makes Stroud one of the league’s best bargains, and it’s why Houston has aggressively upgraded its to maximize its Super Bowl window entering Year 2 of the DeMeco Ryans’ era.

However, Houston will eventually have to make Stroud one of the league’s highest-paid quarterbacks should he only build off one of the greatest rookie seasons in league history.

But what will that contract untimely be in annual salary and guarantees given the market value?

This exercise only explores players signing their second contracts, so while Dak Presscot’s potential (clears throat) $60 million annual salary was considered, it’s not included. In total, nine quarterbacks’ second contracts were used. Green Bay’s one-year extension with Jordan Love was also excluded since it was mainly used to avoid picking the fifth-year option on a first-year starter.

Those players are:

  • Patrick Mahomes (2020)
  • Dak Prescott (2021)
  • Josh Allen (2021)
  • Kyler Murray (2022)
  • Justin Herbert (2023)
  • Lamar Jackson (2023),
  • Jalen Hurts (2023),
  • Joe Burrow (2023)
  • Trevor Lawrence (2024)

The per-year cost increase previously mentioned is due to the rising salary cap total, which made the grandest single-season increase since 1994 by adding $30.6 million to the team’s pocket this past offseason.

With the NFL continually exploring avenues for revenue, such as a two-game broadcast contract on Christmas with Netflix, the league’s salary cap will expand.

So, while the per-year cost is rising, the percentage against a team’s salary cap at the signing has not significantly jumped. For instance, Burrow and Lawrence’s contracts are nearly identical, aside from Burrow being guaranteed $19 million more, yet Burrow’s percentage of the Bengals’ cap space was 24.47% at the signing compared to Lawrence accounting for 21.93% of the Jaguars cap.

When Deshaun Watson signed his five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal with the Brown in 2022, it sent a seismic change to the market as more quarterbacks sought higher guaranteed totals. Mahomes’ contract in 2020 included a guaranteed money percentage of 31.4%, and Allen’s six-year, $258 million contract a year later garnered him 58.1% of guaranteed money.

Since Watson’s signing, no quarterback that’s signed their second contract has had a percentage of guaranteed money under 69%. Murray, who signed the same year, is the lowest at 69.3%. Herbert’s 2023 five-year deal worth $262.5 million peaked at 83.3%.

The average percentage of guaranteed money among the six quarterbacks to sign since Watson is 74.1%.

Spotrac estimates each team’s salary cap to be $334.8 million in 2028, a $79.4 million jump or a 31.1% increase. The last four years saw a $57.2 million increase or 28.8% leap.

Stroud, who became the youngest quarterback since Mark Sanchez (2009) to win a playoff game, figures to crack the top five in percentage against Houston’s salary cap. The average among the current top five is 23.44%. Most quarterbacks sign five-year deals to give themselves another crack at free agency, and Stroud will likely do the same.

With the parameters of a five-year extension, a 23.44% hit against the team’s salary cap at signing and 74.1% of guaranteed money, Stroud’s projected extension would be worth $392.5 million, which includes $290.8 million guaranteed.

And as for annual salary, Stroud would earn $78.5 million. Welcome to the future NFL.

The good news? That’s four years away, so Houston can relax knowing Stroud still has one of the best contracts in the league.

The bad news? This is all a projection based on current numbers. We’re one unearthly contract away from this reaching astronomical heights and making this scenario illogical.

Comparing Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff: The numbers and the contracts

Comparing Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff: The numbers and the contracts after the Jaguars paid Lawrence a new 5-year extension

It didn’t take long for Jared Goff’s contract extension with the Detroit Lions to get put into a broader NFL context. When the Jacksonville Jaguars signed their franchise quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, to a lucrative new deal on Thursday, it provided a nice comparative tool for what the Lions and Goff agreed to earlier this offseason.

Lawrence signed a new five-year, $275 million contract on Thursday, keeping the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft in Jacksonville. Initial reports indicate that $200 million of the total is guaranteed.

Goff’s new contract pays the Lions QB $212 million over four years, an annual average salary of $53 million. By way of comparison, Lawrence will get $55 million per year on average. Goff cleared just over 53 percent ($113.6M) of his contract fully guaranteed, while Lawrence’s deal features 72 percent guaranteed. That impacts how much flexibility the teams have in spreading out the salary cap hits.

Because Lawrence joined the Jaguars at the same time Goff came to Detroit, it makes for an easy comparison of their current tenures. Here’s how they stack up, beginning in the 2021 season:

Record Completion % TDs INTs Yards per attempt GW drives Rush yards QB Rating
Goff 24-23-1 66.5 78 27 7.3 8 181 96.5
Lawrence 20-30 63.8 58 39 6.7 6 964 85.0

Goff is 30 years old, while Lawrence is 24. Both have led their teams to one playoff berth, with Lawrence and the Jaguars winning one game in the 2022 postseason and Goff leading the Lions to two postseason triumphs in 2023. The two have squared off once, with Goff and the Lions prevailing 40-14 in Week 13 of the 2022 season.

On the surface, Goff has clearly been the better quarterback over the last three seasons. However, NFL contracts are often based on what potential a player offers over the life of a contract. Lawrence being younger and having played with a lesser supporting cast than what Goff has had in Detroit — certainly over the last 25 or so games — is context for why the Jaguars were willing to make Lawrence the highest-paid QB in the league even though he’s not been as good of a quarterback as Goff (or many others) to start his career.

In short, the Jaguars are paying Lawrence a lot more on potential than actual accomplishment. The Lions are still paying for Goff’s potential, but he’s proven more capable of actually attaining that potential too.

Trey Lance will cost 49ers more than Brock Purdy in 2024

Lol Trey Lance is going to cost the #49ers about the same against the cap this year as their entire QB room combined.

Everything about the Trey Lance era in San Francisco is strange. From the discourse and reporting around which quarterback the team was targeting in the 2021 draft, to his tenure with the team, to his eventual trade just ahead of the 2023 season – Lance’s third with the team. All the while Lance had to battle a veteran quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo) who was on his way out the door for both of Lance’s first two seasons, only for Lance to have his spot taken by the final pick in the 2022 draft. It turns out we’re not quite done with the Lance oddities just yet.

Because of the nature of rookie contracts, when the 49ers traded Lance to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick during the 2023 preseason, they had to eat some of the money left on his deal.

The 49ers will carry a $5,540,956 dead cap hit from Lance, which means the 2021 No. 3 overall pick and current backup QB for the Dallas Cowboys, will cost San Francisco more against the cap than their starting quarterback Brock Purdy.

Purdy in the third year of his four-year rookie contract will count for $1,004,253 against the cap. That makes Lance $4,536,703 more expensive for San Francisco than their starting quarterback for this season.

If we want to go a step further, Lance’s $5,540,956 cap hit for the 49ers will cost the team about as much as their entire QB room. Purdy, Brandon Allen, Joshua Dobbs and Tanner Mordecai are slated to cost $5,597,586 against the cap – just $56,630 more than Lance.

Ultimately that $4.5ish million is a drop in the bucket that hasn’t had any real impact on the 49ers’ offseason. And once Purdy is getting paid at or near the top of the market by the time he signs an extension, presumably next offseason, the Lance deal will be entirely off the books for San Francisco.

Alas, the Lance era was odd and this is one last small reminder of his tenure before the page turns for good.

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How much salary cap space do the Commanders have post-June 1?

Despite being busy in free agency, the Commanders remain in excellent shape with the salary cap.

The Washington Commanders led the NFL in salary cap space heading into free agency in March. Washington, with plenty of holes to fill, was busy, signing over 20 external free agents and retaining some of its own.

Remarkably, the Commanders exited March’s busy free-agency period with over $40 million remaining in cap space.

Now we’ve entered the next phase of the offseason: Post-June 1 cuts, which many teams use to save money on the salary cap over two years. If teams cut players before June 1 and do not use the post-June 1 designation, all the salary cap hit counts on the current year.

Several teams used the post-June 1 designation this year. Washington, which released longtime veterans Charles Leno Jr. and Logan Thomas, did not. The Commanders have used the designation in the past to cut bad contracts, such as Landon Collins most recently.

We now have an updated look at what each team has remaining in cap space, according to Over the Cap. Washington is in excellent shape, with $43.4 million remaining in cap space for 2024 — second only to the New England Patriots ($46.4 million).

If a team cuts a good player for salary cap reasons, the Commanders would be in a prime position to add that player. However, it doesn’t appear that there are any significant cuts on the horizon. Washington could use some of that space to sign players to contract extensions, such as guard Sam Cosmi, or allow it to roll over into 2025.

Regardless of their decision, the Commanders have an extremely healthy salary cap situation for the foreseeable future.

Every move the Ravens have made so far this offseason

With the 2024 NFL Draft fast approaching, we’re looking at every move the Baltimore Ravens have made this off-season

The Ravens will look drastically different on both sides of the football field after undergoing massive changes in player personnel and the coaching staff.

Baltimore signed Justin Madubuike, one of the league’s best defensive linemen, to an extension. After inking Madubuike to a deal, Baltimore landed Derrick Henry for two years and $16 million.

However, the Ravens suffered significant free-agent losses. 

Patrick Queen (Steelers), Geno Stone (Bengals), and Gus Edwards (Chargers) were among eight free agents to sign elsewhere. Baltimore also traded Morgan Moses to the Jets and released Tyus Bowser in a cost-cutting move.

With the NFL draft fast approaching, we’re reviewing every move Baltimore made this off-season.

Cowboys loss of Tyron Smith illustrates the need for salary cap exceptions

Should the NFL mimic the NBA in how they deal with veterans who have been with the club that drafted them for an extended period of time? | From @ReidDHanson

No one wants to remember Joe Montana finishing his career with Kansas City, or Joe Namath ending up in Los Angeles. Johnny Unitas was last seen as a Charger and even the great Emmitt Smith was last seen with a bird on his helmet. Those sights are affronts to rationality.

With the dawn of the NFL salary cap, situations such as these grew in prevalence. Would Tom Brady have left New England if money weren’t a factor? What about DeMarcus Ware leaving Dallas for the Broncos? What about Tyron Smith going to the Jets here in 2024? Jerry Jones recently mentioned Smith’s departure and likened it to Ware’s. He said the money was a problem.

“You know how highly he is thought of by us,” Jones said. “[But] We can’t afford that. We can’t afford that. If he makes all of those incentives and things like that, we would be really wrecked.”

While not directly blaming the NFL’s salary cap specifically in this situation, Jones has discussed the limits a hard salary cap places on the franchise many times previously. It’s been used to justify the Cowboys frugal spending habits in free agency and used as leverage against players negotiating new extensions.

It’s certainly possible the most valuable franchise in the world isn’t liquid enough to pay game incentives on a contract, but it’s more likely Jones was pointing to the cap health and not his pocketbook when he said the word “wrecked.”

While the salary cap is highly malleable and not as restrictive as some owners would have fans believe, it isn’t completely fake either. Players do count against the ledger and salaries eventually have to be accounted for in some way. If certain veteran exceptions were made, maybe more franchise cornerstones like Smith and Ware would be able to finish their career on the team they had always played for.

The NBA saw the issue in their league and added a thing called “bird rights” to certain veteran contracts. It’s to make it easier for teams to retain players over the cap and subsequently reduces the number of superstars bouncing around from team-to-team year after year. The NFL could do something similar.

Maybe a player who’s played “x” number of years for the team that drafted him no longer counts against the cap? Some owners probably wouldn’t like it because they wouldn’t have the cap excuse to fall on, but teams focused on maximizing the success of their roster would certainly profit. Fans would certainly like it.

If the number of years for this veteran exemption is set at 10, someone like Dak Prescott would come off the books in 2026. It would give a team like the Cowboys a major advantage having a franchise QB exist off the ledger.

Maybe each year under an exemption would come with a player option to hit unrestricted free agency? These legendary players would have the right to demand a good team around them or they could look for a better situation elsewhere. Of course, leaving would mean the exemption dissolves and whatever outside contract is signed would count against the cap of the new team.

At a time of the offseason when the NFL owners meet to discuss rules changes and other matters of business, it’s an interesting topic to think about. Such an exception would benefit teams strong in drafting and would keep legends with the same team in which they began their career.

Because no Cowboy should have to finish their career with a bird on his helmet.

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15 biggest salary cap hits for the Ravens in 2024 after first wave of NFL free agency

With the second wave of free agency heating up and updated signings, we’re releasing the Ravens 15 biggest salary cap hits according to Over The Cap. 

Change is always good for the soul, and after a stunning loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game, Baltimore has undergone a dramatic reconstruction that could pay off with championship dividends.

Changes hit the defensive coaching staff as Mike Macdonald accepted the Seahawks head coaching job, Anthony Weaver became the defensive coordinator in Miami, and Zach Orr was promoted from inside linebackers coach to defensive coordinator.

Baltimore signed Justin Madubuike, one of the league’s best defensive linemen, to an extension. After inking Madubuike to a deal, Baltimore landed Derrick Henry for two years and $16 million.

However, the Ravens suffered significant free-agent losses. Patrick Queen (Steelers), Geno Stone (Bengals), and Gus Edwards (Chargers) were among eight free agents to sign elsewhere. Baltimore also traded Morgan Moses to the Jets and released Tyus Bowser in a cost-cutting move.

With the second wave of free agency heating up and updated signings of cornerback Ka’Dar Hollman, linebacker Chris Board, and offensive guard Josh Jones, we’re releasing the 15 most significant salary cap hits according to Over The Cap.

Where do the Ravens rank in spending at each position after first wave of free agency?

We’re looking at where the Baltimore Ravens rank in positional spending after the first wave of NFL free agency

The 2024 salary cap is set at $255.4 million.

The Ravens will look drastically different on both sides of the football field after undergoing massive changes in player personnel and the coaching staff.

Eric DeCosta started the off-season with urgency, signing Justin Madubuike, one of the league’s best defensive linemen, to an extension. After inking Madubuike to a deal, Baltimore landed Derrick Henry for two years and $16 million.

The talented running back could earn $20 million throughout the deal.

However, the Ravens suffered significant free-agent losses. Patrick Queen (Steelers), Geno Stone (Bengals), and Gus Edwards (Chargers) were among eight free agents to sign elsewhere. Baltimore also traded Morgan Moses to the Jets and released Tyus Bowser in a cost-cutting move.

The Ravens have $13,884,766 in available cap space, and they’re paying out over $113 million on the offensive side of the football.

With the second wave of free agency set to begin, we’re examining Baltimore’s positional spending ranking.

All figures are via OverTheCap.com and official NFLPA records.