Tag: over the cap

Chiefs are top spenders on undrafted free agent guarantees in 2023

The #Chiefs are the biggest spenders in the NFL when it comes to undrafted free agent guaranteed money in 2023.

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The Kansas City Chiefs have spent more guaranteed money on their class of undrafted free agents in 2023 than any other team in the NFL.

OverTheCap’s Nick Korte shared a list on Twitter on Tuesday, featuring the most and least guaranteed money given to 2023 UDFAs by teams. The Chiefs were right at the top with $1.1225M, while the Cincinnati Bengals came in at the bottom with $35K in guarantees spent.

RB Deneric Prince and DE Truman Jones — two of the top-ranked UDFAs signed by Kansas City — both earned $216K in guarantees on their contracts. CB Reese Taylor, CB Kahlef Hailassie, OL Jerome Carvin, LB Cam Jones, WR Nikko Remigio and LB Isaiah Moore all had at least $50K or more in guaranteed money attached to their deals.

This isn’t exactly a one-off for the Chiefs either. Korte added a follow-up tweet saying that the team has given six-figure guarantees to 19 UDFAs on record, including six total in 2023.

One reason Kansas City is a big spender here — their entire draft class costs less than others given that they’re picking at the end of each round after winning Super Bowl LVII. Brett Veach feels he can go out and spend a bit more there in order to land players that they really like and who they believe will make their roster more competitive.

There is also something to be said about opportunity. A lot of undrafted free agents are sold on the system, the culture and the opportunity to compete. As a Super Bowl-winning roster without a lot of starting jobs up for grabs, this team isn’t as flush with chances as others might be. Some of these players might need some extra motivation in the way of a guaranteed salary or a signing bonus to join a team that it’ll be much more difficult to make when it comes time for roster cuts.

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Report: Vikings retain part of Za’Darius Smith’s salary

Wording from Ian Rapoport’s tweet of a reworked contract smelled fishy, and it came to fruition as the Vikings retained part of his salary.

On Friday evening, the Minnesota Vikings traded outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns in a pick swap. The Vikings sent 2025 sixth and seventh-round picks to the Browns in exchange for fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025.

Mere hours later, Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported that the Vikings retained some of Smith’s salary. This was something I alluded to in an earlier piece when the trade was announced, as the tweet from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport alluded to a reworked contract to make the move happen.

The wording signaled that the Vikings retained some of Smith’s salary, as it was just vague enough to allude to something of the sort.

How much did the Vikings end up taking on? That remains to be seen, but it’s likely substantial. The Browns entered the day with only $7.1 million in cap space per Over The Cap and the Vikings were set to pay Smith $5 million guaranteed after that amount vested five days into the new league year.

Overall, it’s a disappointment that the Vikings absorbed any salary considering the rather poor return they got back from the Browns. Although, upgrading sixth and seventh-round picks is still better than nothing at all.

Where do the Bills rank in positional spending among rest of NFL?

How much the #Bills already spend on each position could play a part in their pick at the draft, here’s the position-by-position breakdown:

Heading into the 2023 NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills sit in the latter half of the league in terms of salary cap space.

According to OverTheCap.com, the Bills have approximately $4.3 million in space. That means Buffalo only has the 23rd most money to work with in the NFL.

However, pre-draft, what really could be telling is how much of that cap space is spent on each position already. This could affect what positions the team uses their picks on.

With that, here’s that position-by-position breakdown for the Bills:

Trading Kirk Cousins before June 1st is a difficult task

After restructuring the contract of Kirk Cousins in March, trading him is a significantly more difficult task.

The Minnesota Vikings need to find a quarterback of the future and they were linked on Wednesday morning by Mike Florio to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance. They had spoken about a trade potentially involving both Lance and Kirk Cousins at the combine and it made a lot of sense then.

Does it make the same amount of sense now? Not quite.

Since they had those conversations at the combine, the Vikings have restructured the contract of Cousins to free up $16 million of cap space. That in itself makes trading Cousins a difficult task.

How does it become difficult? Accelerated bonus money. Let me explain.

When you give a player a signing bonus, that money gets spread out up to five years. That gives you the ability to ease the cap hit for that season while also getting the player cash up front. It’s a very common practice by teams. That also can complicate moving on from a player.

Kirk Cousins this year was set to have a cap hit of $36.25 million before the restructuring. It was setup with these parameters.

  • $10 million base salary
  • $20 million roster bonus
  • $6.25 in pro-rated signing bonus

A roster bonus is different from a signing bonus. It’s a different way to structure base salary. It vests on a certain day (usually within five days of the new league year beginning) and is structured to give front offices flexibility to do something like a restructure. A roster bonus is counted on the salary cap the same season in which it is paid and it’s really easy to convert into a signing bonus.

Cousins also had two void years on the deal each with $6.25 million in pro-rated signing bonus. The restructure has the contract looking quite different. Over The Cap has the numbers broken down with detail.

Moving on from Cousins with a trade prior to June 1st would accelerate all of the prorated bonus money onto the 2023 salary cap as seen below. The total cap hit for Cousins would increase by $18.5 million in 2023 to $38.75 million.

If they end up trading Cousins after June 1st, Cousins’ cap hit won’t end up accelerating into 2023, but the cap hit for 2024 would be the anticipated $28.5 million. They would save $10 million on the cap with a trade, as the new team would be responsible for his $10 million in guaranteed salary.

With all that said, a trade isn’t impossible. If the Vikings end up trading both Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Cook during the NFL draft, that would clear enough cap space to make it happen.

We can argue the merits of whether that’s a good idea or not, but there is a path if the Vikings want to pursue it. It just happens to be a difficult one.

Where do Commanders rank in spending at each position?

How much are the Commanders spending at each position, and where it ranks among NFL teams.

After trading for quarterback Carson Wentz last offseason, the Washington Commanders had a different approach to the quarterback position this offseason. Washington jettisoned Wentz after one disappointing season and planned to give second-year passer Sam Howell a chance to win the starting job in 2023.

In addition to Howell, the Commanders planned to sign a mid-level veteran to compete with and push Howell. That player is Jacoby Brissett, who had an impressive season as Cleveland’s starter in place of Deshaun Watson.

With this strategy, Washington would have one of the cheaper quarterback rooms in the NFL in 2023, allowing the Commanders to spend more heavily at other positions. The move also allowed Washington to retain star defensive tackle Daron Payne.

Over the Cap has a unique positional spending table that shows how every NFL team spends at each position. Where does Washington’s defensive line spending rank amongst NFL teams?

Let’s look at how much the Commanders are spending at each position in 2023 and where that ranks in the NFL.

Where do the Seahawks rank in spending at each position?

Here is where Seattle ranks in spending at each position compared to the rest of the league.

As the President likes to say, a budget is a reflection of values. The same can be said for NFL teams and how they utilize the salary cap. Some teams are free spenders in the trenches, investing their resources to dominate at the line of scrimmage. The 49ers are one and it’s working pretty well for them. As for the Seahawks, nobody is spending more money at the safety position. Let’s see how they compare to the competition.

Here’s where Seattle ranks in spending at each position compared to the rest of the league. Figures courtesy of Over the Cap.

Seahawks have the least effective cap space in the NFL after free agency

With the contract details for Bobby Wagner’s one-year deal revealed, Seattle is now firmly in the red.

The Seahawks were busy in free agency this year, splurging to fix their defensive front seven by signing two interior defensive linemen and two off-ball linebackers They also added a veteran center and re-signed both 2022 quarterbacks, Geno Smith and Drew Lock.

While that’s a good bit of work for March, the party is now over. With the contract details for Bobby Wagner’s one-year deal revealed, Seattle is now firmly in the red.

According to the latest figures at Over the Cap, Seattle has roughly $4,168,554 available for the 2023 season. However, that number does not count what it will cost to sign their draft class. With 10 total picks this year including two first-rounders, that won’t be cheap.

The Seahawks’ effective cap number is actually -$5,496,786, which is the least space in the entire league.

So, in order to make room for their extra large rookie class they’ll have to either release more players or get creative. So far several vets have already gotten the axe, including Gabe Jackson and Shelby Harris.

They could cut more but there’s not much fat left to trim on this roster. General manager John Schneider may need to tweak some of the larger contracts on the books in order to create room.

The three players who make sense for contract restructures are wide receiver Tyler Lockett and safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs. According to Over the Cap’s projections, Seattle could save another $5,690,000 by restructuring Lockett’s deal, $6,613,333 more by restructuring Adams and $6,162,500 with a restructure for Diggs’ deal.

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How much cap space do the Seahawks have after 1 week of free agency?

So, how much salary cap space do they have left?

The Seahawks threw out their usual script in free agency this year. Instead of waiting several days to sign their usual bargain-bin targets they spent big on Day 1 and have added five new players since the market opened.

First, they splurged to sign former Broncos defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones, who signed a three-year, $51 million deal. Next, they doubled down on the interior defennsive line, bringing back former Seattle tackle Jarran Reed on a two-year, $10.8 million contract. The team also re-signed backup quarterback Drew Lock and brought in former Lions center Evan Brown, former Steelers linebacker Devin Bush as well as former Giants DB Julian Love.

So, how much salary cap space do they have left?

According to Over the Cap, Seattle currently has $11.9 million in cap room. That ranks No. 15 in the league.

What comes next? Based on what general manager John Schneider said on ESPN radio last week, our best guess is they will continue to add help to the defensive front seven.

Specifically, Schneider says they are in contact with several other free agent defensive linemen. A bunch of interesting names remain on the market, including former Seahawks defensive ends Jadeveon Clowney and Frank Clark as well as Yannick Ngakoue. Inside, there are a lot of intriguing over-30 options, including Calais Campbell and Akiem Hicks.

Linebacker is another market to watch. Even after the unpopular Bush signing they are still in the market for another veteran. Specifically, the latest reporting says they’re still keen on re-signing Bobby Wagner.

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Details from Chris Reed’s re-worked contract are revealed

The Minnesota Vikings have been busy at work getting under the salary cap and the detals from Chris Reed’s pay cut have been revealed

The Minnesota Vikings have been working dilligently on getting under the salary cap and the details from Chris Reed’s reported paycut are in.

Per our friends at Over The Cap, Reed accepted a paycut of $1 million in exchange for the Vikings guaranteeing $600k of his base salary.

Reed will have a base salary of $1.4 million. He has a pro-rated bonus of $250k from his signing bonus and $100k in workout bonuses for a total cap hit of $1.75 million.

With the unknowns of the structure of both Jordan Hicks and Marcus Davenport, the Vikings are currently $9,939,549 over the salary cap. They need to get under that threshold before 3:00 pm on Wednesday, March 15th.

Looking at the projected market value for Jalen Hurts, Darius Slay, and Eagles’ top free agents

With the legal tampering period just hours away, we’re looking at the projected market value for the Philadelphia Eagles’ top free agents

The NFL’s new league is less than four days away, and with the legal tampering period scheduled to start on Monday, Philadelphia will look to retool on defense, while making cost-effective decisions.

All-Pro quarterback Jalen Hurts and his contract is the biggest concern this offseason, but the Eagles will also need to navigate 19 looming free agents and the likelihood that they’ll lose C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Javon Hargrave and James Bradberry.

GM Howie Roseman has made it clear that he’s prepared to lose several key starters and he’ll retool via the draft with a handful of 2024 compensatory picks.

With the new league year just days away, Spotrac projected the market values for the top free agents, players in line for a new deal, or guys looking for a potential trade.

Below is the predicted market value for the Eagles’ top free agents, along with Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay.