The Giants have started their 2021 roster cutting by informing Golden Tate and David Mayo that they will be released this year.

The #Giants have begun making cuts, informed WR Golden Tate and LB David Mayo of their releases, source said. No surprise, but now official.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 3, 2021

The Tate signing in particular is one that the Giants probably wish they had back. It got off to a terrible start with Tate being suspended for four games for PEDs and finishing the year with under 700 yards. It got worse this year with Tate being unhappy with his usage and being sent home at some point. He finished this year with under 400 yards.

Tate’s signing was always a questionable signing. Tate had been traded mid season to the Eagles in 2018 and performed poorly with under 300 receiving yards in 8 games. The Giants still pursued him and signed him to a lucrative four year, $37.5 million contract of which about $23 million was guaranteed. Tate voided those guarantees with his suspension which game them an opportunity to release him in 2020 but the Giants decided to chase the contract instead paying $10.352 million against the cap for him. Tate was going to count for $10.852 million on the cap this year and his release will save the Giants $6.147 million.

David Mayo joined the Giants in 2019 on a minimum contract after he was cut by the 49ers. Mayo played in nearly 57% of the defensive snaps for the Giants that season and had 52 tackles. He was also a special teams mainstay. He signed a three year contract worth $2.8 million a year and $3.5 million guaranteed in 2020, but saw his defensive participation drop to under 20%.

Mayo was going to count for $2.3 million on the cap this year which is somewhat reasonable for a special teams standout. His cut is probably tied more to the expected cap downturn and the Giants needs to fill so many voids on their offensive and defensive units. They will save all of the $2.3 million with the cut.

The Giants were more or less right around the estimated cap limit so when these moves become official they should be around $8 million under the cap.

The Las Vegas Raiders are trimming their roster in preparation for the 2021 season with Josina Anderson reporting that the team will cut guard Gabe Jackson and Ian Rapoport saying that they are also shopping right tackle Trent Brown.

The Jackson release was one that I expected to happen even before this year began. Jackson had a $9.6 million cap charge with no dead money if released. Jackson has been a solid player for the Raiders and bounced back from back to back years in which he did not play 16 games to play nearly every snap for the Raiders. Jackson had signed an $11 million per year contract back in 2017 that predated the Jon Gruden regime coming in. I would expect Jackson to land with a team pretty quickly once the release is official, though at a lower price tag.

Brown is one I speculated about earlier based on an astronomical contract for a right tackle and a constant injury history. Brown was the Raiders prized free agent signing in 2019 inking him to a four year contract that average $16.5 million a season, the largest contract ever (at the time) for an offensive lineman. They went that high because Brown was likely to have suitors at left tackle.

Brown has been pretty unreliable the last two seasons, starting off well enough in 2019 before a pec injury landed him on IR. He played 11 games and made the Pro Bowl that year but only played in five games this year, including a trip to the Covid list and a tough time coming back from it.

Brown’s contract was frontloaded with the Raiders picking up $36.75 million of the $66 million contract in the first two years. With only 16 games played that winds up one of the worst returns on investment in the league.

Brown’s contract is only $14 million this season and there are few tackles available in the NFL this year in free agency which gives the Raiders an opportunity here to find a team willing to take a chance this season. Brown may not have the best reputation in the NFL and the injuries are a clear problem but for a team with a gaping hole at left tackle Brown could be worth a gamble given how expensive the position has gotten since Brown signed the deal.

The Raiders should have about $2.5 million in cap space once Jackson’s release is official. If Brown if cut or traded that will jump to $16 million. The Raiders have a large number of players who could be cut in the coming two weeks to clear a good deal of cap room for free agency.

The Jets announced that they have released veteran defensive lineman Henry Anderson. Anderson was in the final year of a three year, $25.2 million contract and was due to count $9.53 million on the salary cap. His release will free up $8.2 million in cap room.

The Jets had traded for Anderson in 2018 and he had a career year finishing with 7 sacks after racking up just 3 sacks in three years with the Colts. That led the Jets to sign him to the three year deal but he never recaptured that 2018 season. He had some injuries in 2019 and his playing time this year failed to hit 50%. This release had been expected since last season.

The release will put the Jets at about $75 million in salary cap space for 2021. They are only behind the Jacksonville Jaguars who have an estimated $82 million in cap room.

Last March Kyle Van Noy signed a big free agent contract worth $51 million dollars with $30 million “guaranteed”. Less than a year later the contract will turn to dust as the Dolphins have surprisingly informed Van Noy that he will be released this year.

Van Noy was set to count for $13.9 million on the salary cap in 2021 and his salary was to become fully guaranteed on the 3rd day of the league year. By cutting him they will avoid the guarantee and carry just $4.125 million on the salary cap as dead money, a savings of $9.775 million.

While Van Noy did not have a great season, he was a captain of the team and played in about 70% of the teams snaps. He recorded 6 sacks and 46 solo tackles, both numbers of which were on par with his play with Patriots the year before. Miami wound up paying Van Noy a whopping $15 million for just one season.

I am usually not very surprised by cuts in the NFL but I was a bit surprised at this one. The team was not in a salary cap crunch though this gives them more avenues to explore options. the move does open up the room for the team to explore the option of trading Tua Tagovailoa as part of a package for Deshaun Watson. The swap of those two players would cost the Dolphins about $18.3 million in cap space, so the extra $9.7M comes in handy for that.

It is also worth noting that free agency is loaded with veteran and younger pass rushers this season and perhaps they can find a cheaper option while using the extra cap space for other players. I don’t believe it is payroll related as there would have been talks of a pay cut if that was the case.

The Dolphins should have around $30 million in cap space in 2021 once the release becomes official. I would expect them to explore trades first before officially cutting him.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the Bears will release cornerback Buster Skrine.

Bears are releasing veteran CB Buster Skrine, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 1, 2021

Skrine had signed a three year contract worth $16.5 million with the Bears in 2019. Skrine had $5 million remaining on the contract and was set to count for $6.03 million on the salary cap. Though this was the final year of his contract Skrine will count for $3.3 million in dead money unless the team uses a June 1 designation to try to defer $2.2 million of acceleration. The reason for this is that the Bears utilized two void years in the contract to make the cap hit more manageable in 2019.

I would say that the June 1 is very unlikely as the Bears are hoping to be active in free agency and the June 1 would force them to carry the $6.03 million cap number until June 1st. Using a regular cut allows them to free up $2.7 million immediately. The release should put the Bears right in line to be under the salary cap if it comes it at the low numbers agreed on by the NFL and NFLPA.

Expect the Bears to be somewhat active in player restructure and veteran releases over the coming days. They have big cap charges for Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller, and Eddie Jackson that can definitely be brought down with some creative salary cap adjustments. Jimmy Graham and the Bears tackles could all be potential cuts.

Alex Smith’s release was pretty much inevitable, but according to Ian Rapoport and Kim Jones it sounds like the release will be official sooner rather than later.

The Washington Football Team is expected to part ways with QB Alex Smith in the coming days, sources tell me and @KimJonesSports. The AP Comeback Player of the Year has said he still wants to play, and at age 36 may have a chance to do so.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 1, 2021

Smith was going to count for $23.3 million on Washington’s salary cap this year, which is a very high number for someone who was going to, at most, compete for the starting job. By releasing Smith the team will create another $14.7 million in cap room bringing them to about $52 million in projected cap space in 2021, 4th highest in the NFL at the moment.

Smith will be free to sign anywhere in the league once he is released. Most likely he will be lumped in with all the veteran free agent QB’s who would be considered stopgap players or tutors to a young quarterback. That list includes the names Cam Newton, Andy Dalton. Joe Flacco, Tyrod Taylor, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. There are also going to be some younger names available.

It is entirely possible he could get lost in the shuffle of all those names. I would wonder if both of his former teams would look at him as a backup over some of the others out there this season. Many of the veterans last offseason did not sign until late in the spring or in the summer, though more teams should be in the QB market this year.