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With the NFL season officially over, today marks the day in which the offseason begins and teams begin implementing their roster management strategies for 2014. Teams can begin to release players from the roster today and this is the week in which most contracts that contain void provisions will terminate if the player and team fail to reach an extension agreement.
Players with automatic voidable years include Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Broncos), Knowshon Moreno (Broncos), Jordan Gross (Panthers), Corey Webster (Giants), Brandon Myers (Giants), Victor Butler (Saints), Larry English (Chargers), BJ Raji (Packers), Brian Orakpo (Redskins), Brandon Meriweather (Redskins), London Fletcher (Redskins), and Josh Morgan (Redskins). Matt Cassel (Vikings) has the ability to void his contract this week if he chooses and I believe Jason Babin of the Jaguars can declare himself a free agent and void his deal but that timeframe is longer. Malcolm Jenkins (Saints) already had his contract void last week.
Franchise tag designations will begin on February 17 and end on March 3. Once a player is tendered the tag the Franchise value immediately hits the salary cap and remains there until a deal is reached or the player signs with another team. You only get one tag to use so teams often wait until the last minute to use it.
Teams will have until 4PM on March 11 to extend RFA tenders and ERFA tenders to their free agents who have yet to achieve veteran status. The RFA tenders should be $3.023M (1st round comp), $2.124(2nd round comp), and $1.389M(original round comp/ROFR). ERFA tenders are simply the minimum salary that can be earned by the player. Provided these tenders are in the top 51 valued contracts they will count on the salary cap immediately upon extending the tender.
Below are our current estimated for cap space in 2014 based on a $126.3M salary cap, each teams’ cap carryover, and the void year contracts all voiding. It does not take into account tender possibilities or other adjustments such as the Patriots credit they should receive for Brandon Lloyd’s cap treatment in 2013. I had some requests to detail changes in these but I really can’t do that. During this time of year escalators are earned and NLTBE and LTBE adjustments made and they are usually the reason for changes in the numbers. In some cases I have corrections to my database that I take into account.
As of today I have eight teams that have $1 million or less of salary cap space and clearly need to do work to be cap compliant in the 2014 League Year. Another eight have between $2.2 and $8.3 million in room, basically putting half the NFL in a position of work needing to be done in order to operate effectively in 2014. These 16 teams include the Panthers, 49ers, Patriots, Seahawks, Chiefs, Chargers, and Saints- all playoff teams last season which includes the Super Bowl Champions and two of the other three finalists. Big spenders should be the Raiders, Jaguars, and Browns all who have huge cap room. The Colts, Packers, Bengals, and Eagles should be the four playoff teams with the most cap space in 2014.
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| Team | Players | Adjusted Cap | Est. Spend | Est. Dead Money | Est. Total | Est. Cap Space |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Raiders | 50 | $128,550,000 | $57,950,888 | $9,311,192 | $67,262,080 | $61,287,920 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 51 | $145,945,313 | $90,898,454 | $5,600,511 | $96,498,965 | $49,446,348 |
| Cleveland Browns | 51 | $150,837,568 | $98,186,394 | $7,194,157 | $105,380,551 | $45,457,017 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 51 | $126,907,906 | $92,210,148 | $800,734 | $93,010,882 | $33,897,024 |
| Miami Dolphins | 49 | $144,364,000 | $106,939,831 | $4,942,896 | $111,882,727 | $32,481,273 |
| Green Bay Packers | 51 | $136,120,459 | $108,207,545 | $1,277,484 | $109,485,029 | $28,347,930 |
| Washington Redskins | 51 | $126,300,000 | $113,930,281 | $155,233 | $114,085,514 | $24,145,986 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 51 | $134,963,480 | $110,314,240 | $984,283 | $111,298,523 | $23,664,957 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 51 | $127,112,317 | $103,239,582 | $333,163 | $103,572,745 | $23,539,572 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 51 | $143,469,768 | $122,035,688 | $1,348,343 | $123,384,031 | $20,085,737 |
| New York Jets | 51 | $127,773,437 | $107,679,921 | $48,958 | $107,728,879 | $20,044,558 |
| Buffalo Bills | 51 | $144,101,975 | $113,064,380 | $12,070,113 | $125,134,493 | $18,967,482 |
| New York Giants | 50 | $126,300,000 | $116,718,676 | $403,141 | $117,121,817 | $13,008,183 |
| Denver Broncos | 51 | $134,231,875 | $125,670,501 | $1,137,330 | $126,807,831 | $12,894,044 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 46 | $127,831,423 | $111,530,107 | $4,422,216 | $115,952,323 | $11,879,100 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 51 | $133,069,781 | $122,461,310 | $139,119 | $122,600,429 | $10,469,352 |
| Carolina Panthers | 51 | $132,312,268 | $111,651,563 | $12,240,241 | $123,891,804 | $8,300,464 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 51 | $129,429,200 | $119,162,294 | $3,172,507 | $122,334,801 | $7,094,399 |
| Tennessee Titans | 51 | $133,253,561 | $124,496,884 | $2,449,725 | $126,946,609 | $6,306,952 |
| Chicago Bears | 46 | $127,046,727 | $119,995,330 | $1,476,671 | $121,472,001 | $5,574,726 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 51 | $128,475,038 | $121,006,338 | $1,934,689 | $122,941,027 | $5,534,011 |
| New England Patriots | 51 | $130,406,801 | $118,224,826 | $8,533,721 | $126,758,547 | $3,648,254 |
| Houston Texans | 51 | $127,414,730 | $121,645,595 | $3,247,174 | $124,892,769 | $2,521,961 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 45 | $129,145,004 | $126,036,440 | $907,367 | $126,943,807 | $2,201,197 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 51 | $132,050,007 | $120,934,952 | $10,087,468 | $131,022,420 | $1,027,587 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 51 | $128,681,518 | $126,375,751 | $1,505,823 | $127,881,574 | $799,944 |
| St. Louis Rams | 51 | $126,300,000 | $125,548,962 | $133,805 | $125,682,767 | $617,233 |
| San Diego Chargers | 51 | $128,619,341 | $122,766,362 | $7,809,983 | $130,576,345 | ($835,670) |
| Detroit Lions | 51 | $127,774,552 | $131,561,629 | $1,537,793 | $133,099,422 | ($5,324,870) |
| New Orleans Saints | 50 | $126,800,000 | $138,599,410 | $1,757,600 | $140,357,010 | ($12,057,010) |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 51 | $127,652,450 | $135,722,583 | $4,552,933 | $140,275,516 | ($12,623,066) |
| Dallas Cowboys | 51 | $127,580,693 | $140,386,197 | $11,809,439 | $152,195,636 | ($24,614,943) |
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