The NFL’s free agent period doesn’t officially start until March 17. That doesn’t mean teams aren’t making moves, however.
Between the franchise tag window, roster cuts, and contract restructuring front offices across the league will spend this quiet time figuring out exactly what and who they can afford this spring. We already have a good idea of who will and won’t be available even before semi-productive veterans wind up released and pending free agents are tied up with franchise tags.
The Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals, all led by quarterbacks on inexpensive rookie contracts, each have boatloads of cash to throw at potential difference-makers. The Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints will have much less fun scouring for bargains and performing some accounting acrobatics thanks to unenviable cap situations.
Here’s the amount of space each NFL team currently has against an expected salary cap of $208.2 million. All numbers here are provided by the excellent Over the Cap, which is a wonderful resource for all things contract-related in the NFL.
