With things feeling a little snug, the Raiders did something about it by restructuring the contract of center Rodney Hudson.
Hudson, being the Raiders' most reliable player, was the natural choice in that he's probably got the best shot of anyone on the roster of being around three years from now so extending his deal with void years won't dramatically affect their cap in future seasons.
The end of result is Hudson gets the same money in actual dollars he was going to get, but $11.6 million of his scheduled salary of more than $14 million guaranteed was converted to a roster bonus, according to ESPN's Field Yates.
Presto. Hudson's cap figure went from the third highest on the Raiders to No. 16, clearing more than $9 million.
Does that mean the Raiders can gear up for a run at the likes of defensive end Jadeveon Clowney or cornerback Logan Ryan? Not necessarily. According to overthecap.com have $5,214,932 in cap space. They'd probably have to renegotiate the contracts of quarterback Derek Carr ir tackle Trent Brown to make a truly big move. Both have cap numbers of $21.5 million, but tying themselves to either player in terms of cap acceleration beyond their present deals is the kind of move which put the Raiders in cap jail in the latter years Al Davis.
More than likely, aside from the 2020 draft class, what you see with the Raiders is what you're going to get aside from a few near-minimum veterans added by coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock.
With the numbers pretty much accounted for other than defensive tackle Daniel Ross, who should come in near the veteran minimum, a look at the Raiders class of unrestrcited free agents and what their cap numbers say about what is expected of them:
