Tag: Raiders salary cap room

Salary cap impact for Raiders from Davante Adams trade

What kind of money is freed up for the Raiders this season and beyond after the trade that sent Davante Adams to the Jets.

Davante Adams is gone. And with him goes his salary for the remainder of this season and beyond. Just how does Adams’s departure affect the Raiders money against the cap? Glad you asked.

First let’s look at this season’s cap.

For the final 11 games this season, the Raiders save $11.6 million.

Had Adams been traded away the week he requested it, the number would have been closer to $13.8 million, but they paid him around $1.1 million for the last two weeks, bringing it down to the number it sits now.

They are currently sixth in the league in available cap space with $21.8 million according to Overthecap.com.

What about next year?

Not that Adams was ever going to be playing additional seasons on his current contract with its bloated numbers, but now it’s the Jets’ problem. The Raiders take $28.4 million off the 2025 books, bringing their salary cap room to a projected $104 million for next season. Only the Patriots are expected to have more cap room next year.

This could change before free agency opens in March, and probably should. With Nate Hobbs looking for an extension and contracts for Maxx Crosby and Kolton Miller entering non-guaranteed years, the Raiders figure to use some of that money to restructure and likely extend their deals.

Raiders have considerable salary cap room heading into 2024 season

With the season around the corner, the Raiders are still sitting on a lot of unspent cap space.

All the expectations/hopes the Raiders would add a big ticket free agent ahead of training camp never came to pass. They had plenty of money with which to do it. And they still have plenty of money. But whether they spend it, or if there’s even any player worth spending it on is the question.

Currently they have some $28.8 million in cap room burning a hole in their pocket according to overthecap.com

They could save it for a rainy day. For instance if they have an injury and there happens to be a moderately pricy free agent out there they could add.

Or take on a player with a large contract in a trade.

Or they could give an extension to one of their own players.

That last one seems the most likely. And perhaps the smartest as well.

There are two players who would be worth holding that money to give an extension — Nate Hobbs and Malcolm Koonce. As both players are in the final season of their rookie contracts and are worthy of getting a big money deal to stick around.

There are several other players who could be deserving of an extension and who wouldn’t be nearly as pricey as Hobbs and Koonce.

Either way, it’s a bit strange to have the amount of money the Raiders have. Only four teams have more cap money available. Meanwhile, ten teams have less than five million and 18 teams have less than ten million.

Raiders just gained a lot of cap space; here’s where they stand

Raiders just gained a lot of cap space; here’s where they stand

As the Raiders hit June, they see an influx of cap space hit the books. Where this money comes from is from the post-June 1st designation given to the release of QB Jimmy Garoppolo.

As of now the Raiders pick up $12.8 million in cap space this season. They had split the $17.1 million owed to Garoppolo between this year and next. Putting his dead cap at $4.26 this season and $12.8 next season.

The added $12.8 million gives them a substantial $34.1 million in available cap space, which is the sixth most in the NFL according to Overthecap.com.

1. Patriots — $46.4M
2. Commanders — $43.4M
3. Lions — $40.3M
4. Cardinals — $35.5M
5. Jaguars — $34.2M
6. Raiders — $34.1M

A lot of quality free agents wait to sign until this time, hoping needy teams will be able to offer better deals with the added cap money available. And if they signed right now, they’d only have missed a couple weeks of OTA’s.

It seems unlikely the Raiders would just sit on over $34 million heading into the season. Or even into training camp.

5 potential Raiders offseason cuts

5 potential Raiders offseason cuts and cap ramifications

There is a bit of house cleaning that needs to happen this offseason for the Raiders. Currently they have around $38.8 million in cap space. That lands them at 12th most in the league. But they can do better. 

Cuts aren’t always about cap savings, to be clear. But sometimes it’s either the main reason for the cut or a nice byproduct. Should they make all five of the cuts below, the Raiders would save an additional $13.86 million to bring their space under the cap to $52.64 million. That would jump them up to 8th in the league as it currently stands.

If Raiders are to add any more free agents they need to clear cap space first

With among least available under the cap, Raiders will need to clear space if they want to sign any more free agents (cough-Marcus-Peters-cough)

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Exactly a month ago, the Raiders hosted free agent cornerback Marcus Peters for a visit. He left without a deal. And though recent reports say the Raiders are still interested in signing him, it has yet to happen. Based on how much money the Raiders have available to spend, you can see why.

Peters is one of the top free agents out there yet to be signed, which means in order to sign him, the Raiders would need to have to have cap space to do it.

Currently the Raiders sit with just $2.8 million in available money under the cap — the third lowest cap money available in the NFL.

Only the Buccaneers ($1.7M) and Chiefs ($393K) have less available money.

If we’ve learned nothing else about the salary cap, we’ve learned that finding a few more dollars to free up isn’t all that difficult. Usually it comes in the form of restructuring a player’s contract to convert part of his base salary into a signing bonus. If it’s a player they are pretty sure they want to keep several more years, it’s nice little hack to get around the salary cap restrictions.

There is also, of course, the route of cutting a trading a high priced player. Though often times that route also leaves behind dead money.