Oakland Raiders Updated Salary Cap Space Breakdown

An updated and detailed breakdown of the available cap space at the disposal of Reggie McKenzie and the Oakland Raiders.

The Oakland Raiders haven’t been big spenders in free agency, but that should have been expected from the beginning. With a contract extension for franchise quarterback Derek Carr looming, as well as other future extensions down the line, Reggie McKenzie is playing free agency tight to the vest.

After two weeks of free agency, here is an updated breakdown of how much money McKenzie and the Raiders have at their disposal.

Per Over The Cap, the Raiders $32,937,363 in salary cap space. But taking some things into consideration, that number is actually a lot different.

To start, the Raiders have 64 players under contract — 27 of which have zero dead money hit if released. Many of those zero dead money hits are the likes of Ryan O’Malley, Kenneth Durden and other players who are signed to non-guaranteed deals worth somewhere in the ballpark of $500,000, give or take. Many of those contracts are of players who will be camp invites to fight for a spot on the 90-man roster.

Taking a rough glance over the roster, there are roughly $6M worth of contracts that have little to no shot of making the 53-man roster, and will surely be released before the start of the regular season. So that $32.9 million is more like just below $40 million, if you take that into account.

Releasing Dan Williams would add another $4.5 million to the cap space, and if needed, McKenzie could free up some cash with other cuts (like Reggie Nelson and his $6 million) or via contract restructures, such as with Sean Smith. But the most realistic of those options would be releasing Big Dan.

So if we assume Dan will be gone and if we assume that the majority of those camp-invite level players will eventually be released, that puts the Raiders in the neighborhood of $45 million to work with — give or take.

Now, let’s go in the opposite direction. Let’s chip away at the cap space.

Derek Carr is going to sign an extension at some point this offseason. We previously reached out to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap for an explanation on how Carr’s deal (as well as if Gabe Jackson gets extended) will affect the cap space this year.

Here is what Jason from OTC replied with:

"“Any contracts that are signed by the players you mentioned [Carr and Jackson] will contain cap hits that will be strictly related to the type of contract that is signed. It will depend on what base salary and signing bonus they agree to. The Raiders don’t really do signing bonuses, workout or roster bonuses, so that may not factor in for their players.For a player of Carr’s stature, the expected first new year contract payout (meaning money earned on top of his existing salary between now and the end of the 2018 season) would be in the ballpark of probably $45 million. So if the Raiders did not use a signing bonus, that would likely equate to something like a $23M cap charge in each of the next two seasons. If they used a signing bonus, those totals could be lower, but on the backend of the contract you may get some years in the $25M+ category.”"

So basically, the bottom line is that for Carr’s new deal, the Raiders could be on the hook for a $23M cap hit this offseason. The new money doesn’t start after the final year of his rookie deal — it starts right away.

Look at Andrew Luck’s deal for comparison. His fifth season was still technically a contracted rookie year due to his fifth-year option, but his cap hit in his fifth season was $18.4 million.

Regarding Gabe, here is what Jason had to say:

"“Gabe Jackson definitely would not get a signing bonus. I can’t say that I’m completely up on where he would rank in the hierarchy, but that’s probably a first-year of around $14M for him on top of the existing salary. So a rough estimate would be an $8M cap number this year and another $8M next year.So somewhere in the ballpark of $30M in additional charges if they extended those players using the typical Raider formula. Less if they do something different with Carr.”"

So for Gabe, the Raiders could be on the hook for another $8M this offseason, if they choose to extend him.

Again, that’s a $23M cap hit this offseason for Carr and potentially another $8M for Gabe. $31M total.

Operating with the $45 million in cap space we talked about, this drops the Raiders down to $11 million. The total cost of their 2017 NFL Draft picks will be somewhere between $5 or $6 million.

That drops the Raiders to about $5 or $6 million in total cap space to work with this offseason. And around $13 or $14 million if they decide to wait to extend Gabe. But again, if McKenzie wants to free up more cash, releasing Reggie Nelson or some other low-dollar players can do that, as could restructuring contracts.

Whatever happens, don’t expect McKenzie to get locked into any long-term financial commitments. Zach Brown is still out there and the Raiders are still in the mix, so keep an eye on that. But he’s reportedly looking for a deal in the ballpark of $6 million per year, which could end up being all that the Raiders have left to spend this offseason, depending on what happens.

Therefore, McKenzie is probably offering something in the neighborhood of $4 or $5 million per season. Of if he is offering $6 million, he surely is offering limited or no guarantees after the first season.

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The Raiders will have to extend Khalil Mack next offseason and then Amari Cooper the year after that. With big money being doled out all the homegrown talent, expect the bargain shopping approach from here on out.