All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Salary Cap and More
October 1, 2018
by Steve Thomas
Since we just made it through the bye week and there’s a lack of juicy Redskins news, it seemed like the perfect time to take a look at the team’s salary cap for next year and beyond. Strap in and let’s get into a whole bunch of numbers about where Washington stands for the foreseeable future.
First of all, if you aren’t aware, all of Washington’s salary cap data is on our website, projected out through 2022 (click here). We get our data from a variety of sites, all of which are listed on our salary cap page. Sometimes different sources have slightly different individual contract data, and sometimes a particular site is missing a contract altogether or has an obvious error. Our methodology in the event of a conflict is to use the numbers that are most disadvantageous to the team. We’re paying closer attention to the Redskins data than any of the national sites. For these reasons, we stand by our data as the most accurate that you’ll find.
The basics
Allow me to explain a few things for the NFL contract novice. Feel free to skip this part if you’re already well versed in this stuff. First of all, the salary cap calculations include the active 53 man roster, the practice squad, the injured reserve, and players on various other lists like the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list and the Reserve/Non-Football Related Injury list.
The term “cap hit” as applied to a player is the number that the player costs against that year’s salary cap, and it includes the base salary and any bonuses and guarantees that the CBA requires be included. In simple form (because it’s more complicated than this), bonuses that count against the cap include the pro-rated amount of a signing bonus and other bonuses that are considered “likely to be earned” (as opposed to “unlikely to be earned”). A signing bonus is pro-rated over the life of the contract.
The term “dead cap” is the amount that will be charged to the team’s salary cap in the event that a player is cut. Once again, this is far more complicated than I want to get into here, but in essence, the dead cap figure is the amount of the prorated guaranteed money and the “likely to be earned” bonuses that remains on the contract at the time the player is cut. A player cut with a “pre June 1 designation” has the full amount of the dead money assigned to the current year salary cap. A player cut with a “post-June 1 designation” has the dead money split between the current year and the follow year. The total salary cap effect of the cut/release of a player is the cap hit that is being deleted minus the dead cap hit. Therefore, releasing a player with a “post-June 1 designation” has the effect of lessening the cap hit for the current year. It doesn’t actually save the team any space overall since the rest is dumped into year 2, but it is a way of spreading the hurt, so to speak, when a team wants to cut a high dead money player.
For example, consider a hypothetical player who signs a 4 year contract with a total value of $26.5M that includes the following:
- $15M guaranteed at signing and $18M in total guarantees
- $12M signing bonus
- Base salaries of $1M in year 1, $2M in year 2, $3M in year 3, and $4M in year 4
- The first and second year base salaries are fully guaranteed
- The third year base salary becomes fully guaranteed on the 1st day of the league year for year 3
- The contract has likely to be earned bonuses of $500K in year 1, $1M in year 2, and $3M in year three
- Nothing is guaranteed at any time for year 4
In year one, my hypothetical player would have a cap hit of $15.5M ($1M base salary, the full signing bonus of $12M, the $500K likely to be earned year 1 bonus, and the $2M fully guaranteed year 2 base salary) and a dead cap figure of $19.5M (base salary, the full $12M signing bonus, $4.5M in likely to be earned bonuses and the fully guaranteed $2M year 2 base salary). For year two, this same player would have a cap hit of $12M (the $2M year 2 base salary, a pro-rated $9M of the signing bonus, and the $1M in likely to be earned bonuses) and a dead cap figure of $15M ($2M year 2 base salary, $9M of the pro-rated signing bonus, and $4M in likely to be earned bonuses). In year 3, this player would have a cap hit of $12M (year 3 base salary, a pro-rated $6M of the signing bonus, and $3M in likely to be earned bonuses) and a dead cap of $12M (same). In year 4, the player’s cap hit would be $7M (base salary plus the remaining $3M of pro-rated signing bonus) and a dead cap of $3M (just the prorated signing bonus).
In this situation, the team would lose $4.5M by cutting the hypothetical player as a “pre June 1 cut” in year 1 ($15.5M cap hit savings minus the $19.5M dead cap hit). If he was designated as a “post June 1 cut”, the $19.5M dead cap hit would be spread between years 1 and 2, which would appear as first glance to make this player cutable if the team was desperate enough, because the year 1 dead cap upon release for year 1 would drop below the $15.5M cap hit, the downside being that the team must take on the rest of the dead money as a cap hit on its year 2 salary cap with the player having been gone an entire year already. If the team cut this player in year 2, they would lose a total of $3M ($12M cap hit savings minus $15M dead cap hit) for a pre-June 1 designation. If the team cut this player after the second year season ended but prior to the start of year three, then the cap savings would be $12M, but the dead cap hit would be only $9M because in my hypothetical, the year 3 salary doesn’t guarantee until the start of the league year. Therefore, this player could be cut prior to year 3 starting at a savings – if you read that a team has an “out” of a player’s contract in a certain year, this is what they mean. If the team waits to cut this player until after the start of the league year, the savings becomes zero in my scenario ($12M cap hit and $12M dead cap), although, again, a post-June 1 cut designation would allow the team to spread the cap hit over two years, allowing the team to save money in year 3. The team would save $4M by cutting this player in year 4 ($7M cap hit minus $3M cap hit).
Still with me? I sincerely apologize for going through all of that.
2018
Right now, the Redskins cap number stands at about $169.6M. The available cap space is $178.7, which includes the league’s base salary cap of $177.2M and the Redskins 2017 rollover cap space of $1.5M. Available cap space right now is therefore approximately $9M.
The largest veteran contracts on the books this year include Alex Smith, who has a $18.4 hit, Josh Norman, who is at $16.9M, Trent Williams at $13.7M, Ryan Kerrigan, who has a $12.4M cap hit this year, Jordan Reed at $10.1M, Vernon Davis at $5.3M, and Paul Richardson, Jr., who has a $4M hit this season. Brandon Scherff has a $6.75M hit in the 4th year of his rookie deal.
Of the veterans (meaning, ignoring the first round draft picks on rookie deals such as Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Josh Doctson, and Brandon Scherff and second round pick Ryan Anderson), Alex Smith, Paul Richardson, Jr., Zach Brown, Quinton Dunbar, Josh Norman, D.J. Swearinger, Jordan Reed, and Morgan Moses all have dead cap figures that are greater than their cap hits, meaning that the Redskins would lose money by cutting any of them at this point.
Not including the players currently on injured reserve, team has the most money tied up in the offensive line position group this year, with a total of $33.7M in cap space, followed by defensive backs ($28.3M), linebackers ($23.4M), quarterbacks ($22M), tight ends ($16.1M), wide receivers ($10.7M), defensive line ($8.8M), running backs ($5.1M), and specialists ($4.2M).
Not including injured reserve, the defense as a whole takes $60.4M in cap space, and the offense takes $87.6M.
2019
The Redskins currently have $170.3M obligated towards the salary cap in the 2019 season. If the NFL’s salary cap increases another $10M next year (which is just a rough guess), then the base salary cap would be approximately $187M. The Redskins rollover cap would be the amount that the team is below the cap this year, which, as I said above is at about $9M right now, making the total salary cap for the Redskins in 2019 approximately $196M, with $25.7M in available space.
Ignoring those on rookie contracts, in 2019, the veterans with the biggest cap hits include Smith ($20.4M), Williams ($14.95M) Kerrigan ($13.95M), Norman ($14.5M), Reed ($9.7M), Richardson ($7.5M), Brown ($8.75M), Moses ($6.9M), Davis ($6.3M), Swearinger ($5.8M), Stacy McGee ($4.8M), Dunbar ($4.25M), and Chris Thompson ($4M).
With the exception of the rookie contracts, only Smith and Richardson have 2019 dead cap figures that are greater than their cap hits, meaning that those are the only two players who cannot be cut at a cap savings. In Richardson’s case, his cap hit is $7.5M and his dead cap figure is $9M, meaning that if the team really, really wants to get rid of him before 2019, they could release him as a post-June 1 designation and split up the dead cap hit between 2019 and 2020, which would have the effect of making the 2019 hit appear to be a savings – in other words, it wouldn’t be the best thing to do because of the accompanying 2020 cap hit, but Richardson is cutable if necessary. Only Smith, who has a $42M dead cap figure in 2019, isn’t cutable under any circumstances.
The Redskins exercised their fifth year option on Brandon Scherff, so he will count for $12.5M against the salary cap.
The highest-profile free agent for 2019 (meaning, his contract expires at the end of the 2018 season) is Jamison Crowder. As a point of reference, former Dolphins’ slot receiver Jarvis Landry received a $75.5M contract from the Cleveland Browns and has a 2018 cap hit of $15.5M. To be sure, Crowder hasn’t produced close to Landry’s level, so he isn’t going to get a contract at that level, but you should definitely be thinking Paul Richardson money or better for Crowder. Richardson got $40M total and has a $4M cap hit in 2018 and $7.5M in 2019.
Other free agents of note include Adrian Peterson, Preston Smith (whose status will depend largely on how 2018 goes for him), Ziggy Hood, who probably won’t be re-signed, Shawn Lauvao (who knows; I didn’t think he’d be back for 2018, much less 2019), Ty Nsekhe, who will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, Colt McCoy, Rob Kelley, and Maurice Harris.
2020
The Redskins have $138.6M obligated towards the 2020 salary cap. If the cap increases by another $10M, the cap should rise to approximately $197M, plus the amount of the Redskins rollover cap from 2019 (who knows what that will be).
The largest cap hits in 2020 are Smith ($21.4M cap hit/$20.25M dead cap), Norman ($15.5M cap hit/$3M dead cap), Williams ($14.75M cap hit/$2M dead cap), Kerrigan ($11.75M cap hit/$0 dead cap), Reed ($10.3M cap hit/$1.8M dead cap), Brown ($9.5M cap hit/$3M dead cap), Richardson ($8.5M cap hit/$6M dead cap), Moses ($6.9M cap hit/$3.8M dead cap), and Stacy McGee ($5.8M cap hit/$1.6M dead cap).
The good news is that the Redskins currently have no veterans whose dead cap figure exceeds their cap hit for 2020, meaning everyone except the rookie first round picks (who all have fully guaranteed contracts) can be cut without penalty. The closest thing to an uncutable player is Alex Smith – I can’t imagine the Redskins would want such a huge dead cap figure on their books even despite the small savings ($1.15M) unless things truly take a turn towards the awful for Alex, and that’s unlikely.
The biggest free agent for 2020 (again, meaning, his contract expires after the 2019 season) is without a doubt Brandon Scherff. If things go as expected for Scherff, the Redskins will probably have to make Scherff the highest paid guard in NFL history in order to keep him. Right now, Dallas’ Zach Martin has the biggest contract for his position ($84M/$32M guaranteed/$15M cap hit for 2020), and the Redskins need to think that amount plus 2 years of contract inflation. There’s no getting around the fact that Scherff is going to be a huge cap hit, even if Washington ends up franchise tagging him, which is an option.
Other 2020 free agents of note include Matt Ioannidis, Mason Foster, Deshazor Everett, Vernon Davis, Josh Doctson, and Chris Thompson.
2021
The Redskins currently have $71.3M obligated towards the salary cap for the 2021 season. If the cap increases another $10M, the cap should rise to around $207M; add the Redskins rollover cap, whatever it will be, to that number.
The largest cap hits for 2021 are currently Smith ($24.4M cap hit/$13.5 dead cap), Richardson ($10M cap hit/$4M dead cap), Moses ($9.65M cap hit/$1.9M dead cap), Reed ($9M cap hit/$0 dead cap), McGee ($6.3M cap hit/$800K dead cap), and Daron Payne ($4.6M cap hit/$4.6M dead cap). Once again, no veteran has a dead cap hit that exceeds his cap hit, meaning everyone but essentially Daron Payne is cutable.
Key free agents for 2021 (meaning, their contracts will expire at the end of the 2020 season) are Allen, Brown, Ryan Anderson, Kerrigan, Dunbar, Fabian Moreau, Norman, Montae Nicholson, Chase Rouiller, Williams, and all of the specialists, Dustin Hopkins, Tress Way, and Nick Sundberg.
2022
Believe it or not, the Redskins actually do have money obligated in 2022, $44.15M. The salary cap should be in the $217M range.
The only players currently under contract for 2022 are Smith ($26.4M cap hit/$6.75M dead cap), Richardson ($10M cap hit/$2M dead cap), and Moses ($7.75M cap hit/$0 dead cap).
Key free agents after the 2021 season are Reed, Payne, Tim Settle, and the rest of the 2018 draft class.
Conclusion
I realize that this is a whole lot of information, mostly boring numbers, but I hope you found it useful. The conclusion to all of this is that the Redskins are in pretty darn good shape for the foreseeable future in terms of contracts and the salary cap. The Redskins will have adequate ability to make moves to help the team in 2019.
Do you have any thoughts on the salary cap? Let me know in the comment section below.