With the NFL’s legal tampering period opening up on Monday, the Raiders are clearing their books in order to be aggressive once again in free agency. The team has already released several veterans from the 2019 free-agent class, including Lamarcus Joyner and Tyrell Williams and trading away Trent Brown to open up space on their books.
On Friday, the team made another big as they saved $7.1 million in cap space by restructuring the contracts of two linebacker signings from the 2020 offseason; Nick Kwiatkoski and Cory Littleton. That report is via the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter:
Contract restructures to create cap space as the league year looms:
— #Saints WR Michael Thomas did a restructure, creating $8.7M of space.
— The #Raiders did the same with LBs Nick Kwiatkoski ($2.7M) and Cory Littleton (4.4M).
— The #Ravens restructured CB Marcus Peters (3.5M).— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2021
It doesn’t appear the team did a “full” restructure of Littleton and Kwiatkoski, which is smart as the Raiders could easily move on from either of them after the 2022 or 2023 season. Still, this frees up space in order for the Raiders to sign one or two more impact defensive players.
Look for the Raiders to continue to find ways to create cap space over the next couple of days as they prepare for free agency.
