Cardinals, Titans Have Cap Room; Redskins, Colts Will Have to Be Stingy

Pro Football Talk has gotten its hands on some preliminary cap room numbers. What's clear is that, like last year, there is more money available to be spent then there are players to spend it on.

Even before teams start getting rid of dead weight and overpaid veterans, only four teams are over the cap--the Jets, Colts, Saints and Redskins (Washington wouldn't know how to start an offseason if it wasn't over the cap). Now these numbers may change slightly once unlikely to be earned incentives that were reached are added and likely to be earned incentives that weren't are credited, but the numbers will not change much.

The full numbers and cap room are after the jump.

WHO'S GOT MONEY TO SPEND
Team	Current Salaries On The Books	Cap Room
Cardinals	84	40
Lions	85	39
Chiefs	86	38
Buccaneers	86	38
Titans	93	31
Eagles	93	31
Packers	95	29
Bengals	95	29
Bills	98	26
Falcons	101	23
Texans	101	23
Dolphins	101	23
Seahawks	103	21
Ravens	104	20
Bears	104	20
Vikings	105	19
Steelers	105	19
Chargers	107	17
Broncos	107	17
Panthers	108	16
Rams	109	15
Jaguars	110	14
49ers	111	13
Giants	112	12
Browns	113	11
Raiders	116	8
Patriots	119	5
Cowboys	121	3
Jets	125	-1
Colts	128	-4
Saints	130	-6
Redskins	131	-7

NFL teams have an average of $18.19 million to spend as free agency arrives. If you look at this free agent crop, it's hard to figure out where it will be spent. Julius Peppers, Jordan Gross, Nnamdi Asomugha and Kurt Warner will all become even richer this offseason, but there just aren't enough top talents hitting free agency to justify all that cap room.

So we can expect to see mediocre players get contracts that will look outlandish. And we can also expect that some top veterans who are under contract will start complaining about the need to renegotiate after seeing some of this offseason's big deals.

What really stands out here is how much money the Cadinals have to spend. Arizona may be losing coordinators and hearing from grumpy wide receivers, but if the Cardinals want to keep linebacker Karlos Dansby and Warner, $40 million in cap room means they have the money to spend. The Titans are another playoff team with lots of cap room. They have to try to lock up Albert Haynesworth, Bo Scaife and Kerry Collins before they reach free agency later this month, but at least they won't have to struggle to find the cap room to do it.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-12-2009 @ 12:40AM

Adam said...

Typical Redskins. I was looking at a chart with all the contract details, and it looked like some of the highest paid guys are expendable. Our o-line is old and broke down halfway through the season, and a few of them end up a bigger hit to the cap than Portis and Santana Moss. We have an oft-injured and under-performing linebacker getting $6.5 million, and Shawn Springs, while a good CB, is on the downside of his career, only played in half of last season and is due $8.4 million. Not to mention Jason Taylor ($8.5 million...)

I hope the Skins front office has the sense to cut, trade or restructure some of these deals...but then again, it is the Redskins.

2-12-2009 @ 1:58AM

Stephen said...

I agree with you man. I love marcus washington and his game play but he could be a guy the redskins could cut and shawn springs (another good cb) but hes getting old. And jason taylor....I donkt know if he will benefit the redskins for long. They should cut a few more players.

2-12-2009 @ 11:31AM

bowlofchili07 said...

I agree, cut or trade washington, he's always injured, springs, too much money for too old of a player, our o line needs to be younger. Heyer can be that player if he steps his game up but jansens old, so is kendall and thomas, keep samuels and rabach. ditch J.T. clear up some space and sign carlos rodgers and deangelo hall to long term deals. Our d- line can make it another year, but o-line has to be a top priority. How can we expect J.C. to be a legitimate nfl quarterback if he has no one to block for him?

2-12-2009 @ 12:48PM

Philip Recchia said...

Ima Big-Time Redskins fan and I agree with you guys. I've watched a ton of old tapes on the great "Sean Taylor' and in alot of Sean's BIG Hits Marcus was right there giving all he had. At the same time With Sean gone I don't see the explosiveness in Marcus anymore. Especially since you rarely see him on the field. Another name I think we should think about cutting is Chris Samuels. His previous years have been great but at his current salary he's just not cutting it.. I don't think we need to worry about our defensive backs.. With Landry, Horton, Hall, Rogers, smoot, and Springs "If we still have him" our Db's are a strong point on the team.. Portis and Cooley have to stay if we have a chance to go anywhere.. We need to shape up our D-line and i think we can start in the draft. You should look up a guy by the name of "Orapko" He's a DE and would bring great fire to the team, I've heard if needed he could also play as a outside "Speed/power" LB. Utility player on D.. As for Jason Taylor I just don't know. I'm willing to give him one more year, I think thats all he's willing to give us so it works out nicely:).. If we were to get rid of some of our oldies we might even have a chance at Julias Peppers!! Let me know what you think ppl, pbrecchia24@hotmail.com

Oh and another thing, I don't think we have to wry about our QB situation for awhile cuz as much as I'm liking Jason campbell I don't see us signing him next year, So I see Colt Brennen stepping up in our future!!

2-12-2009 @ 9:37PM

Moss Rules 89 said...

you know what our problem is(redskins)? our owner dan snyder doesnt go after the GOOD players, he goes after the BIG NAME players. I hate to say it but until we get a new owner the skins wont make super bowl, its a sad but known fact

2-12-2009 @ 10:40PM

It isn't even that Cerrato and Snyder go after big name players, they go after overrated big name players and then over pay them. And they give away draft picks like candy to get these guys. If you look at our best players, only Chris Samuels and Chris Cooley were drafted by the Redskins. The rest were trades or FAs.

Cerrato and Snyder don't believe in developing young talent, so we're constantly going through cycles of bringing in big name veterans and then trying to replace them with more big name veterans.