Turning Zero Cap Space into an NFL Roster [Long Post]
![Turning Zero Cap Space into an NFL Roster [Long Post]](https://i0.wp.com/b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/cHeSRVTzotnTXuheFlGQd6HxJ1ZUdp5kSt1YW4NJQyw.jpg?w=800&ssl=1 "Turning Zero Cap Space into an NFL Roster [Long Post]") |
Before I start, here are some strategies I think we should follow: – For free agency, any player we sign, we should be able to get out of the contract in 2 years. Good franchises can be nimble and don’t get bogged down by bad contracts. – Don’t go crazy on void years. Where we are as a team, I’m not a huge fan of void years on short contracts. There are areas that make sense. Our Super Bowl window is open and void years will help us prolong it. But we still have to pay WAJ, Stroud, and Stingley in the next few years. Void years should be used on those contracts to extend our window as long as possible. – In Free Agency, fill every need with a player with the goal that we aren’t hamstrung by need and can go BPA in the draft. This draft is very deep in the 2nd – 3rd round range, so if we can trade down and accumulate picks instead of having to fix a glaring need, we’ll be in a much better spot 2-3 years down the road. – In the draft each year, we should be picking 7-9 times. Right now we only have 6 picks so we’ll need to make some moves to add another pick or two. We don’t want to pick too many times though. With a good NFL roster, too many picks would go to roster spots that don’t exist. As we stand right now, we have somewhere between -1.00MM and +1.00MM and 25 free agents. We will have to get creative to fill the roster out before the draft. We currently have about 94.00 MM in 2026 cap space. Some of that will get filled when we sign players and some will be borrowed from to make cap space in 2025. The goal will be to not completely mortgage the future as after next season, Derek Stingley Jr, Jalen Pitre will need extensions and we have 29 others that reach free agency. Quarterback Stroud still has 3 years (including his 5th year option) left on his rookie deal. It’s way too early to discuss an extension for him. That talk could happen after next season but will most likely happen after the 2026 season. Mills was resigned to a 1-year contract. I don’t see us doing anything else with him this offseason. He is a solid backup and I hope we are resigning him after 2025, but one of our minor needs will be finding a potential replacement for him. Case Keenum is a free agent. I hate to say it, but he doesn’t have much, if any, value as a player anymore. He will be 37 next season and seems destined for coaching. Running Back Mixon has two more years on his deal. We can get out of it after next season for only 2.00MM in dead cap. This year he proved he’s worth his cap hit and will be a key factor on the 2025 team. He’ll be 29 years old next year and we should look to find his eventual replacement. I see that happening in the draft as singing a 28-year-old free agent to take over in a year makes no sense. The Rams ran an almost equal amount of zone/gap scheme last season but have been trending towards more zone, which bodes well for Mixon as he has been more efficient in his career rushing behind zone concepts. Dameon Pierce is a free agent after 2025. He hasn’t had sustained success since his rookie year. Pierce has shown flashes of explosiveness and has excelled under gap blocking concepts. I expect we will run more gap than we did last year but I also think Pierce’s best value is not on this team. Teams like Las Vegas, New England, Arizona, and Dallas all need a running back. Trade Dameon Pierce to Las Vegas for 182 (R6.4) Dare Ogunbowale is a free agent and he’ll be 31 next year. He was a decent third down back and with trading Pierce, we only have two running back under contract (JJ Taylor and Jawhar Jordan) but both are practice squad quality players. Instead of bringing back Dare, I would look for a younger and proven option in free agency. JK Dobbins (26.1) – 2 years, 3.5MM APY, 4.0 GTD Nick Chubb (29.1) – 1 year, 3.0MM APY, 1.25 GTD Alexander Mattison (26.6) – 2-year, 1.6 MM APY, 1.5 GTD Ty Johnson (27.3) – 3-year, 2.7 MM APY, 3.0 GTD Elijah Mitchell (26.8) – 1 year, 1.4 MM APY, 0.25 GTD Kenneth Gainwell (25.8) – 2-year, 1.6 MM APY, 1.5 GTD For our 3rd down back, I’m signing Elijah Mitchell to a 2-year, 3.200 MM contract with 500k at signing and 1.0MM guaranteed. Mitchell missed all of 2024 with a hamstring injury. In 2023, he was Christian McCaffrey’s backup and averaged 3.7 APY. He’s a reliable pass catcher and comes cheap due to his injury, relative age, and position. He’s primarily run behind zone schemes and he’s a better receiver and blocker than Dare. Wide Receiver Nico got an extension last offseason, but he’s a prime restructure candidate. Restructuring 9.00MM of 2025 salary saves 6.00 MM on the 2025 cap but increases his 2026 and 2027 cap hits by 3.0 MM. Restructure 9.00 MM of 2025 Salary for Nico Collins John Metchie has one more year on his rookie deal and Xavier Hutchinson has two more. With Tank Dell’s injury, we shouldn’t count on him to do anything in 2025. We’ll have practice squad level players on the roster in Jared Wayne, Xavier Johnson, Johnny Johnson and Kearis Jackson. Stefon Diggs was brought in and reworked his deal to a 1-year deal. We added 4 void years totaling 16.644 MM that hits the 2025 cap if he signs elsewhere, or we don’t resign him by February 17th. Just to look at what other options could be available in the 12-20 MM APY range: Chris Godwin (28.9) – 3 years, 20.00 APY, 40. GTD [Spotrac – 22.5 APY] Amari Cooper (30.6) – 2 years, 17.50 APY, 25.0 GTD [Spotrac – 14.2 APY] Stefon Diggs (31.2) – 1 year, 16.00 APY, 16.0 GTD [Spotrac – 13.5 APY] DeAndre Hopkins (32.6) – 2 years, 13.47 APY, 15.0 GTD [Spotrac – 15.2 APY] Keenan Allen (32.7) – 2 years, 12.50 APY, 13 GTD [Spotrac – 11.1 APY] Each of the wide receivers in this range bring their own benefits and risks. In a vacuum, an extra 4-7 MM APY for Chris Godwin would be worth it. But given our salary cap position, we can’t afford that. And no one gives us more value than Diggs. We’re going to be paying him a minimum of 16.00 against the cap, we might as well have him on the roster. He was great in 2024 before he was hurt and will be slightly cheaper with his injury and age. To resign him, the contract will get complicated. Resign Stefon Diggs to a 3-year, 48.25 MM contract with 10.00MM at signing, 23.00 GTD. This is effectively a 2-year contract with incentives. Diggs will receive a 100k bonus each game he is active in 2025/2026 and has the following incentives and he can achieve them in 2025 and 2026. If he achieves a combined total of 5/6 of these, a 2027 option bonus automatically vests worth 20.0 MM. – 0.500 MM for 1,000 receiving yards – 0.500 MM for 60 catches – 0.500 MM for 10 TDs * includes all potential incentives With Tank’s injury, I think we need to find another vetren option that can come in and compete with Metchie and Hutchinson for WR3. We could resign Robert Woods but I think we should move on from the almost 33 year old. Trent Sherfield (28.9) – 1.7 APY TuTu Atwell (25.3) – 4.0 APY Noah Brown (29.1) – 1.5 APY Van Jefferson (28.5) – 1.8 APY Tyler Johnson (26.4) – 1.6 APY Greg Dorch (26.7) – 3.3 APY KJ Osborn (27.7) – 2.4 APY For me it came down to TuTu Atwell and Tyler Johnson. TuTu has been better overall but at 165 lbs, his long term durability concerns me. Having two outliers doesn’t seem like a smart bet. We are very cap constrained and Tyler Johnson being half the price wins out for me. Johnson has been a bit of a journey man throughout the early part of his career. He has been getting better and has worked with Caley for the last two years Sign Tyler Johnson to a 2 year, 3.75 MM contract, 1.00 MM signing bonus, 1.50 MM guaranteed at signing. Signing Johnson adds some veteran depth to our receiving corps and does not preclude us from taking a wide receiver in the draft. But the combination of Collins, Diggs, Johnson, Metchie, and Hutchinson would be good enough to go into the year and we could focus more on a developmental WR instead of one that would need to come in and produce from day 1. Tight End Last year we resigned Dalton Schultz to a big contract and that doesn’t look good right now. He has a high salary next year and is a contract restructure candidate. However, I really don’t want to do this. If Schultz doesn’t improve in 2025, he needs to be cut. If we restructure his contract, that will be less impactful. We resigned Brevin Jordan to a 1-year deal and drafted Cade Stover. We could use a blocking heavy tight end, but I don’t see us making any moves to bolster the position group. Offensive Line The offensive line, specifically the interior, was our weakest area and something we must fix this offseason. With as cap constrained as we are, we will still make plenty of moves. I don’t want to restructure any of Tytus Howard’s contract as he could be a cut candidate after 2025 if he doesn’t prove he’s an elite right tackle. I think he’s good, but he has cap hits of 23 MM in 2025 and 25 MM in 2026 and saves us between 12.85 and 18.00 MM in 2026 if he’s cut. Patterson, Fisher, and Scruggs are all on their rookie deals. Kendrick Green and Zach Thomas are free agents. Neither move the needle much. We have practice squad level players in Nick Broeker, Austin Deculus, LaDarius Henderson, Jaylon Thomas, Tremayne Anchrum, and Jerom Carvin. So what moves do we make. Extend Laremy Tunsil 1 year, 25.000 MM in new money, 1 void year Tunsil has 2 years left on his deal and no guaranteed money in 2026. Which means he’ll hold out of camp, sign a last-minute deal and start off the season poorly. We should get ahead of that and use this as an opportunity to move around cap. Add 1 year, 26.00 MM salary in 2027 and convert 12.00 MM of 2025 salary to a signing bonus, fully guarantee 2025 (+0.950 MM), guarantee 15.00 MM in 2026 (+5.00 MM) and guarantee 10.00 MM in 2027. We also add a void year in 2028 He’s still an elite left tackle and has a few more years of that performance in him. He’ll want top of the market salary and lots of guaranteed money. This give him that and helps us out in 2025. Trade Kenyon Green to Chicago for 242 (R7.24) Kenyon Green has been a disappointment. Chicago has 8 draft picks and a big need at guard, both starting quality and depth. Green was a first-round pick with tools that never developed. Chicago, or another team, could convince themselves that he can be fixed with good line coaching. To their credit, Green has never had a great coach. Maybe a change of scenery is helpful. He’s still only 24 and a trade saves us an extra 2.0 MM per year. Chicago has lots of cap room to take him on and he’ll only count for 2.880 MM on their cap. It’s a low risk, potential reward for Chicago. For a late round 7th, we’ll take what we can get. Trade Shaq Mason and R6.182 to New England R7.219 We can pre-J1 cut Mason to save 2.117 MM, post-J1 cut him to save 9.441 MM or pre-J1 trade him to save 3.161 MM. A post J1 cut hurts us more in 2026. New England has picks, salary cap and big needs at guard. We end up having to lose a little value on the pick swap to move Mason but trading instead of cutting Mason saves us a lot in 2026. Teven Jenkins (26.9) – 3 years, 13.33 APY, 24.0 GTD [Spotrac 10.3 APY] Kevin Zeitler (34.9) – 1 year. 6.25 APY. 6.25 GTD [Spotrac 9.2 APY] James Daniels (27.4) – 1 year, 5.5 APY, 3.0 GTD [Spotrac 7.8 APY] Mekhi Becton (25.8) – 3 years, 9.0 APY, 17.0 GTD [Spotrac 10.2 APY] Will Hernandez (29.4) – 2 years, 4.75 APY, 3,0 GTD [Spotrac 4.3 APY] Sign Teven Jenkins to a 3-year, 31.0 MM contract, 12.0 Signing Bonus, 24.0 GTD Sign Will Hernandez to a 2-year, 8.7 MM contract, 2.0 Signing Bonus, 3.5 GTD Will Hernandez is affordable depth at guard. Tytus Howard is not a guard. He shouldn’t be playing guard. Every time he plays guard, he plays bad. We need to avoid at all costs Tytus Howard playing guard. With our cap situation, we can’t afford to spend much. With trading both our guards, we need to fill one of the starting roles and have someone who can compete for the other. Jenkins and Hernandez fill that role. Patterson and Scruggs both improved this year. Patterson had a nice stretch to end the year, and I think he’ll take another step in year 3 as many offensive linemen do. Leaving Scruggs and Hernandez to compete for the other spot. We’ll most likely throw a rookie into the mix. Best case, Hernandez and Scruggs are backups on the line along with Fisher. I feel much better about that situation than I did going into 2024. Edge Will Anderson Jr has 3 more years of team control. With his contract being fully guaranteed, nothing will happen with his contract this off season. We signed Danielle Hunter to a 2 year deal last year and he proved to be worth it. With only 1 year left, we should sign him to an extension that keeps him here an extra year and moves some salary cap around. Extend Danielle Hunter to a 2-year, 52 MM extension with 39.00 MM guaranteed. The structure of this extension is what matters. It’s really a 1 year, 25 MM contract but it’s announced as a 2 year for two reasons: 1 to effectively add a void year, and 2 give the agent and a player a big number to boast about. Here’s how the contract will be structured. We convert 10.00 MM of 2025 money into a signing bonus. Add 25.00 MM in 2026 salary (20.00 GTD) and a 2027 option bonus for 25.00 MM that vests with more than 25 sacks in 2025 and 2026 combined. This deal fully guarantees his 2025 salary. It’s not ideal but it kicks the can down the road one year Denico Autry was given a lot of money last year and didn’t perform anywhere close to expectations. I don’t think he should be back next year. Cutting him post J1 saves us 8.974 MM. Post June 1st Cut Denico Autry Resign Derek Barnett to a 2 year, 8.50 MM contract, 2.5 MM at signing, 4.500 GTD. Defensive Tackle Milton Williams (25.9) – 3 year, 21.0 APY, 37.5 GTD [Spotrac 12.0 APY] Levi Onwuzurike (26.9) – 2 years, 8.25 APY, 10.0 GTD [Spotrac 4.5 APY] BJ Hill (29.8) – 2 years, 10.25 APY, 12.0 GTD [Spotrac 9.0 APY] Calais Campbell – 1 year, 3.0 APY, 3.0 GTD [Spotrac 7.1 APY] Poona Ford (29.2) – 1 year, 3.5 APY, 1.5 GTD [Spotrac 6.6 APY] DJ Jones (30.0) – 2 years, 9.0 APY, 10.0 GTD [Spotrac 11.2 APY] Mike Pennell (33.8) – 1 year, 2.0 APY Bobby Brown III (24.5) – 2 years, 1.5 APY Spotrac and PFF seem to be very off on DT valuations. For my projections, I will use the average of both. Someone like Milton Williams at 16.5 APY would be amazing to add to our DL. But we can’t afford him. Instead, I’d bring in Levi Onwuzurike who was an overall solid DT against the run and pass rushing as well as run stuffers in Mike Pennell and Bobby Brown III. Sign Levi Onwuzurike to a 3-year, 20.25 MM contract, 9.00 MM at signing, 14.00 GTD Sign Bobby Brown III to a 2-year, 3.50 MM contract, 1.00 MM at signing, 1.75 GTD Sign Mike Pennel to a 2-year, 3.10 MM contract, 0.600 MM at signing, 0.400 GTD Linebackers On paper we should be pretty set on linebackers. Jake Hansen, Nevill Hewitt, Devin White and DelShawn Phillips are free agents. Hewitt played well behind Al-Shaair. Spotrac has him valued at 1.4 MM a year. Resign Nevill Hewett to a 2-year, 2.85 MM contract, 0.200 MM at signing, 0.400 GTD Jake Hummel has been a solid backup in limited opportunities but has excelled in special teams. He'll replace Jake Hansen and provide us better play on special teams. Sign Jake Hummel to a 2-year, 2.515 MM contract, 0.200 MM at signing, 0.200 GTD As for the rest of our linebackers, we could go into 2025 with To’oTo’o, Shaair, and Harris as our starters and feel pretty good about it. I would strongly consider bringing in Dre Greenlaw for a 1 year, 6.00 MM contract. He returned late last year from an Achilles injury and should be back to full strength in 2025. His best years came with Ryans as his defensive coordinator. Harris missed all last year with a calf injury and throughout his career he has put up PFF grades of 28.3, 65.0, and 39.1. He has been hot and cold with either being elite or almost unplayable. If he doesn’t return healthy and have a career year, our linebacking corps look a lot weaker. It’s too big of a risk for me to not fortify the linebacker unit. Greenlaw can drastically change our defense. Harris still has a spot on this team as we can never have enough depth but if he doesn’t have a great training camp, he's an ideal cut candidate saving us 3.355 MM. Sign Dre Greenlaw to a 1-year, 6.00 MM contract, 2.000 MM at signing, 6.000 GTD Secondary For free agents, Ka’dar Hollman, Myles Bryant, Kris Boyd, and Jeff Okudah are free agents at corner and MJ Stewart and Eric Murray are free agents at safety. Stewart was good in his limited time this year, Hollman, Bryant and Murray were slightly below average and Boyd wasn’t very good. He did have some stand out plays on special teams but if none were on the roster next year, we wouldn’t be missing much. Resign MJ Stewart, 1-year, 1.50 MM contract, 0.250 MM at signing, 0.500 GTD Resign Eric Murray, 2-year, 3.100 MM contract, 0.250 at signing, 0.400 GTD These contracts are cheap, near the veteran minimum and fill depth needs for us. None are all that bad to move on from if the player does not perform in the preseason. Low risk, low rewards. Sign Tavierre Thomas, 1 year, 1.255 MM contract, 0.00 at signing, 0.100 GTD Sign Markquise Bell, 1 year, 1.255 MM contract, 0.00 at signing, 0.100 GTD Thomas and Bell are both special teamers who had down years on defense in 2024. Both were much better on defense in 2023 and come in as cheap, experienced depth on defense and improve our special teams. Thomas replaces Kris Boyd who was a below average backup and below average special teamer. We need to add a mid-tire corner that will really bolster our corner depth and give us flexibility for different alignments and injuries. Stephon Gilmore (34.4) – 1 year, 6.0 APY, 6.0 GTD [Spotrac 5.3 APY] Jonathan Jones (31.4) – 1 year, 3.0 APY, 1.5 GTD [Spotrac 2.8 APY] Nate Hobbs (25.6) – 1 year, 4.0 APY, 2.0 GTD [Spotrac 2.9 APY] Elijah Molden (26.1) – 6.2 APY Kristian Fulton (26.5) – 3.4 APY Sign Kristian Fulton, 3 year, 10.000 MM contract, 3.000 at signing, 4.500 GTD Long Snapper Jon Weeks is a free agent and he’s 38 so I can see him retiring. If he doesn’t and we want him back, or someone else, most long snapper contracts are the same. I’m assuming he’ll retire so we’ll need a new one. Mitchell Fraboni to a 2-year, 2.80 MM contract, 250k at signing, 500k guaranteed. Draft For the draft I’m making two trades: Trade 25 to Las Vegas for 37 and 73 Vegas has 10 picks and moves up into the first round to take another top talent. We do this trade because I think there is a fall off after the top 12 and there isn’t much difference between player 25 and player 75. Trade 140 to Minnesota for 219, 242, 243 With what we did in free agency, we don’t need to be filling much depth on the roster. Minnesota only has four picks. We move up to get a slightly better prospect at the expense of three 7th round picks that would struggle to make the roster. #37 Overall – Greg Zabel, iOL, North Dakota State University Zabel went to the senior bowl and dominated. He moved in front of Wyatt Milum as the number two iOL in my rankings (Will Campbell is number one). He showed he can come in day 1 and lock down a starting spot. He will be a rookie on the iOL and will definitely have some struggles. He will be a massive upgrade from Kenyon Green. #58 Overall – Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State University Higgins is a 6’4”, 215 lb wide receiver with great hands and great route running. He needs to improve on his run blocking but has the size and strength to develop this. For me, he is in the 2nd tier of wide receivers in this draft. This pick is looking more at 2026 than 2025 as I think he will take some time to develop. He will be better than Hutchinson day 1 and will replace him on the roster, unless we decide to keep 6 wide receivers. #73 Overall – Cam Skattebo, RB, Arizona State University Skattebo showed the country what he can do in the playoffs. He was the Arizona State offense and did his best to drag them along. He was better in gap concepts than zone but was great in both. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. The one area I’d like to see him improve would be in pass protection. I’m not sure if he has the high end talent to be a number one running back, but he’ll be an excellent compliment to our backfield. #89 Overall – Zy Alexander, CB, Louisiana State University Zy is my favorite corner in the draft that isn’t a first round talent. He plays better in zone concepts but has the size and strength to play press man; although that’s one area he could improve. With the depth we have in the secondary, he’ll come in as a rotational backup and have a year or two for development. He provides some injury insurance in the short term and long term insurance if we cannot get a long term extension with Stingley done. #127 Overall – Aeneas Peebles, DT, Virginia Tech Peebles is a 290 lb pass rushing defensive tackle. He has a great first pass rush step but struggles with setting an anchor and getting pushed back against the run. He’ll be a great rotational piece that will predominantly play on pass rushing snaps as a rookie but has the athleticism to develop into an all around solid interior defender. He reminds me of a less refined Jer’Zhan Newton #140 Overall – Riley Leonard, QB, Notre Dame With Keenum retiring, our only option for QB3 is Kendon Slovis. If it comes to that, the season is over. Leonard is very athletic, very competitive and needs some refinement. I’d bet on him to develop into a backup QB. He hopefully wont play in 2025 and will provide us 2026 insurance if Mills leaves in free agency #167 Overall – Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas Bryant is a small CB weighing in at 165 lbs. He'd be an outlier if he makes it in the NFL. He's tough and doesn't back down from a challenge. He's got great cover skills and if he were 190 lbs, he'd be a second round pick. It's worth the gamble at 167 overall. We won't be relying on him to play 900 snaps a year but he has the potential to give us solid play for 250. Nick Bet on Tank Dell and that paid off. Hopefully, Bryant is the Tank Dell of CBs Some UDFAs I like are QB Max Brosmer, RB ShunDerrick Powell and RB Ja'Quinden Jackson. Summary I ended up spending 14.105 MM more than I saved on the 2025 cap. This is fine right now as the offseason we just have to be cap compliant with out Top-51 players. This puts up with about 4.00 MM in Top-51 salary cap in 2025 and 12.00 MM in 2026. This will barely be enough to sign players to our practice squad and become cap compliant by week 1. Our total cap sits at 296.62 MM which after making cuts to get to 53 players, brings us to about 2.5 MM under the cap (this is calculated cutting the lowest cap hits to get us to a minimum of 53 players, so it will likely be higher). With the way I see the roster unfolding, we’ll either cut Christian Harris (saves 3.0MM), Xavier Hutchinson (saves 1.0 MM) or Tommy Togiai (saves 1.0 MM) to get to 53 players. We might have to restructure a contract and save 2-4 MM more, depending on in season signings. My plan leaves us with 78 total players. 12-16 will end up on the practice squad and the rest will be cut. submitted by /u/DrewTip |
