Cap Trouble? Twelve surprise moves that could be made for NFL teams to make cap room!
In what has been a weird 12 months, one possibility that many NFL teams have been dreading is a significantly lowered salary cap. Everyone knew it was happening as early as around May, but are teams ready to sever ties with players to even make the new cap? Now some teams already have significant cap space like Indianapolis and Jacksonville, but if you look down south at what New Orleans has to deal with, you’ll see that they are currently around 63 million dollars ABOVE the estimated cap as this article is written. Teams who have a significant amount of cap room already will not be included in this article, as they most likely won’t be cutting any of their starters for cap reasons. (All of the numbers provided in this article are from Spotrac)
Atlanta Falcons: James Carpenter; OG
For a team that is about 16 million over the cap, Atlanta doesn’t really have a clear-cut candidate to be moved. Moving Carpenter would only free up about 4 million, but that’s the most money that could be saved from any one player being moved. Atlanta will most likely restructure a larger contract to fit under the cap this year. Players who could be restructured include Grady Jarrett and Dante Fowler Jr.
Buffalo Bills: Jerry Hughes; DE
This may be a surprise to Bills fans, but if someone is accounting for almost 10 million dollars on the salary cap, I’d like for them to have more than 9 sacks in the last two years. Buffalo only has about 5 million in cap space, and with pending free agents like Matt Milano, some extra cap room couldn’t hurt. The case for Hughes to be moved is mainly because of his cap, just a situation where a highly-paid player isn’t performing up to his contract. I could understand him staying because he is in the final year of his contract, but if Buffalo was in need of cap space to sign a guy like Matt Milano, this is a move they should consider, especially if they could get a guy like Carlos Basham in the first round of the draft.
Chicago Bears: Jimmy Graham; TE
Cole Kmet will take on a larger role in his sophomore season, so the need for Jimmy Graham fades away. Chicago is slightly under 3 million in the negative, and moving Jimmy Graham would free up 7 million in cap space for the Bears. I could also see Chicago moving Charles Leno if they feel they can get a good replacement for him at left tackle. Moving Leno would free up about 6 million in cap space as well.
Detroit Lions: Danny Shelton; IDL or Nick Williams; IDL
Both Williams and Shelton have the same cap relief if they were to be moved (around 4.5 million). They had very comparable stats when it comes to tackles and TFL’s, and since Detroit has a positive cap of 4.7 million, it is possible that neither gets cut. But if Detroit wants to franchise tag their star receiver in Kenny Golladay, they’ll need at least 13 million dollars of cap space. Both Shelton and Williams are replaceable, and Detroit will likely have to move at least one of them if they want to tag Golladay.
Green Bay Packers: Billy Turner; OL and Dean Lowry; DE
I couldn’t decide on just one, so I chose both Lowry and Turner to be candidates to be on the move. Both players would save about 3.5 million dollars each on the salary cap. Green Bay is currently about 6 million in the red, meaning that these two moves alone would put them in the green. Billy Turner actually performed well at right tackle in 2020, but if Green Bay decided to take a tackle early in the draft, they could move Turner because they have a decent amount of depth at the right guard position with players like Lucas Patrick and Jon Runyan. For Dean Lowry, he most likely won’t get much playing time with the emergence of Rashan Gary in the Packers’ front seven.
Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Fisher; OT
The former first overall pick would relieve 12 million dollars in cap space if he was moved. Kansas City is currently 19 million over the estimated cap limit and moving Fisher would alleviate a majority of the Chiefs’ cap concerns. Fisher has been an ok tackle for Kansas City, but I wouldn’t say he has come anywhere close to the expectations set for him as a #1 overall tackle like Orlando Pace in 1997.
Los Angeles Rams: Andrew Whitworth; OT
The main reason you would cut Whitworth besides cap space is age. The Rams are currently 28 million dollars in the red, and with most players at the top of their books having a lot of signing bonuses, LA will most likely have to restructure some deals to meet the required cap. Whitworth is 39 years old and would be coming off an injury if he did play next year. Whitworth is currently slightly above 11 million dollars against the 2021 cap space, but with a dead cap of 5.8 million dollars, his cap relief would only be around 5 million dollars. Whitworth may retire this year, and if so, another player LA could possibly move is Michael Brockers. His departure would free up slightly less than 6 million dollars. Brockers was able to sack the quarterback five times this season in 15 games played this season.
Minnesota Vikings: Riley Reiff; OT
Not only is Reiff most likely gone because of subpar play, but he also would save the Viking almost 14 million dollars. Minnesota is only about 3 million in the red, so this move would be substantial enough to get his replacement and still have enough money to make a splash in free agency. And with the announcement of Stephen Weatherly’s return to Minnesota costing around 2.5 million possibly, Reiff’s departure would pay for that addition in full.
New Orleans Saints: Kwon Alexander; LB
Cutting Alexander seems like a no-brainer to me. His departure would relieve New Orleans of just over 13 million dollars in cap space, and since he does not have any signing bonus, his dead cap would be a grand total of $0. The Saints traded for the linebacker in the middle of this past season for a conditional fifth-round pick and Kiko Alonso. Alexander only played 7 games in the black and gold after suffering an Achilles injury in week 16. Alexander has proven many times before that he is a very talented linebacker, but with how bad the Saints’ cap room is right now, they are unfortunately going to have to make some tough decisions to meet the league’s required salary cap.
Philadelphia Eagles: Derek Barnett; DE
Another pretty easy decision for Philadelphia, who are currently about 40 million dollars over the projected salary cap. Barnett is currently 10 million dollars against the cap and doesn’t leave any dead cap for the Eagles. Barnett tallied 5.5 sacks in 2020 and had 16 QB hits in 13 games played this year. The Eagles are in a tough spot since they are paying 34 million dollars to a player who isn’t on the roster. I also predict that the Eagles will end up trading Zach Ertz for draft capital, which would free up another 4.5 million dollars.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Eric Ebron; TE
For the final team, I predict that Eric Ebron is at risk of being moved by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh currently has about 8 million in cap space, but they have a multitude of free agents who are set to hit the market in only a few days. Moving Ebron would free up an extra 6 million dollars to use on the current free-agent class. Even though I don’t like most of the weapons in Pittsburgh, Ebron did not play nearly as well as he should be for how he played in 2020. Ebron had the most drops and most penalties out of any tight ends, and I feel you could get a similar amount of catches and yards from a cheaper tight end either in the draft or on the market.
Tennessee Titans: Adoree’ Jackson; CB
Moving Jackson saves Tennessee about 10 million dollars, which they could add to their current cap of 5 million to make 15 million dollars to spend. Adoree’ missed most of this year and part of last year, but in general, he hasn’t produced at the level that he was expected to as the former 18th overall pick. Especially with pending free agents like Jayon Brown and Corey Davis, I assume that Mike Vrabel will want to try and bring at least one of them back.
At the end of the day, all of these are just predictions and I have no insight into what any NFL teams are planning to do ahead of free agency. But most of these moves would make sense for the team to free up cap space and set them up to spend more money in free agency.
