DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Free Agency - Potential Surprise Cuts

There are a number of teams that are well over the cap, and most will have to make some hard decisions on who gets let go in order to create some space to work with.
This means that there are going to be some names available that aren't slated to be free agents, and there *could* be some interesting ones.


Teams that are currently over the Cap:

Buffalo Bills $-1,330,816
Atlanta Falcons $-5,885,266
Tennessee Titans $-6,645,413
Los Angeles Rams $-10,052,364
New York Giants $-10,731,002
Minnesota Vikings $-14,020,023
Dallas Cowboys $-21,164,940
Green Bay Packers $-48,453,661
New Orleans Saints $-76,160,406


Now, the Rams is potentially exciting, but Andrew Whitworth will be retiring and that will almost completely wipe out their deficit in a single stroke.

The Bills may end up allowing some of their defensive line free agents to walk.
With the Cowboys, there is a *possibility* of Amari Cooper being released. The Cowboys are $21 million over and a pre-June 1st trade or release of Amari would free up $16 million for them.
Another Cowboys possibility is Demarcus Lawrence who would save them $8 million.


With the Packers, DT Kenny Clark is a possibility in that he would save them $5.8 million, while Randall Cobb would save them $6.7 million.

The Saints... well, they may just be trading away their entire roster, lol!
It is likely to be a bloodletting down there, but I'm also not certain that they even have enough contracts to cut that don't escalate even more money onto this year.... it'll be interesting to see what happens there.


Who do you think will be a surprise cap casualty, or who are you hoping to see made available??




** All info from https://www.spotrac.com/

Does this take into consideration contracts expiring at the start of the new league year?

To the best of my knowledge, yes. That is my understanding of it, anyway.

David Onyemata the DT of the Saints is someone who would certainly be helpful.

If so, for a team like the Saints that are FAR over....it may be more about trading players as opposed to cutting them. Cutting the players taking up the majority of their cap does nothing for their cap relief in 2022.

Other teams may be getting some pretty nice trade deals this offseason for guys like Lattimore, Jordan and Thomas if they have the cap room.

For the Buffalo Bills, a player like Cole Beasley (33 yrs old when the season starts) might be cut because of WR play of Davis and McKenzie, not to mention the price tag of Diggs. Cutting Beasley saves $6M and might allow more flexibility to upgrade the RB position. Not sure this qualifies as a surprise, however.

Basically the only the team that is really screwed is the Packers. They have to re-sign/franchise Adams and give Rodgers a new deal.

Great point. Contract restructure is an option as well. Perhaps, the only problem would be the players' willingness to do so AND the # numbers of player they might need to do it to? I suppose changing the terms of the deal into bonus money allows the team to break it up over subsequent years, while the player gets a lump sum, but goodness, the Saints look as though they are in a pretty rough spot across the board and can't do that with everyone while taking the future into consideration.

That said, Loomis has been in his GM position for awhile because of his cap manipulation, apparently. I'm interested to see what he does.

I think if a team truly wants to keep a player that there are plenty of tools at their disposal to structure the contract to make it work for both the team and the player. The player has to want to stay as well.

If a team just wants to move on from a player he becomes a "cap casualty."

I didn't realize this part of their situation. Doesn't that kind of necessitate them making trade(s)?

I agree, to a degree. But when you are close to being $80M over the cap, it might not be that cut n dry with every player you want to keep. At some point, mismanagement of the cap, or not caring about it as a top priority, could possibly come into play. I don't know the answer here, obviously, but this seems like quite the predicament to be in.

No doubt. You do not want some muttonhead in charge of long term cap planning, but as long as you have bright people steering the ship, I think it's much ado about nothing for the most part.

Most teams are going to turnover roughly 20%-25% of their roster on a year-to-year basis anyway.

It certainly could be the case here w/ Mickey Loomis allegedly having worked his magic before.

I did not know the Saints were this far under the cap and I'm very curious to see their transactions over the offseason.

A trade doesn't necessarily give any more relief than cutting a player. In both cases, all dead cap from monies already paid (signing bonuses and other guaranteed dollars) accelerates into the current year, unless it is Post-June 1st in which case everything still accelerates forward, but is divided onto the current year and the following year. The only real difference is that the team is getting something in return for losing their player in the case of a trade.

Not under... Over. That's how much too much they're on the hook for.

My bad. I meant "over".

The problem with restructures is that you have to convince the player to go along with it. Yes, they're getting a fat chunk of money already owed them in one big sum up front, but it is also pushing back their next opportunity to hit free agency and potentially cash in. It's not quite a slam dunk for every player.

That’s one way to look at it.

Other side of the coin: NFL means not for long (even if your a pro bowler or not). Give me my money now as I could have a major injury and lose all that extra cash, or I could get cut and possibly the market for me could be terrible and I lose those millions.

This way I know I’m getting my cash….and in a few years if I’m still good, I can request a bump in pay (restructure extension/bonus pay) or trade/release

Oh, totally! Both approaches are a gamble and the player has to decide which is best for them.

Plus (let's face it), the Saints has lost their fQB and their institution of a coach. They're looking for a QB as well as a coach... hoping that players will do them a favor restructuring contracts while that's going on is probably a bridge too far.

Players might also incur higher tax implications that would need to be considered...but it might also help.