The Washington Redskins started their offseason with a little over $63 million in salary Cap Space to build their roster with. The dollar total seemed like a lot at the time, but now in the aftermath, it seems like not enough.
Coming into this offseason, the Redskins were in desperate need of upgrades in several areas including defensive line and secondary. During the first few days of Free Agency, the team lost their two top receivers Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson, mainly because they could not afford to match the more lucrative offers made to them.
Redskins address long time needs and fill new hole
Losing Jackson and Garcon at the same time hurts, but doesn’t cripple the team. The Redskins were bracing for the loss of at least one of them, if not both, for months now. The team would have liked to have seen more of Josh Doctson in his rookie year before calling on him to start, but now needs him to step up and prove himself after being injured all of the last year.
With the signing of former Cleveland Browns receiver Terrelle Pryor, now the Redskins can line Doctson up at the number 2 receiver spot, giving him obvious mismatches if he can stay healthy. The Redskins, a team without a receiver over 6-1 before last year, now have three and feature two tight ends over 6-2.
That’s a lot of sizes to work with in the red zone for whoever the quarterback is in Washington in 2017. The even better news is that Pryor, who had 77 catches and over 1000 yards in his first season as a receiver last year, will only count for $6 million against the cap in 2017.Jackson signed a deal with Tampa Bay for $12 million a year, and Garcon’s first year in San Francisco will bring him $16 million, meaning the team essentially saved $22 million by moving on.
The biggest chunk of cap space Washington used went to signing Kirk Cousins to his franchise tag worth $23.94 million (counts against the cap as soon as it’s applied). Cousins signed the deal on Friday. The Redskins have signed five free agents so far this year, including re-signing Vernon Davis. They also tendered offers to two restricted free agents, Will Compton and Chris Thompson.
The team also began the task of addressing the defensive line by signing run-stuffing defensive lineman Terrell McClain and Stacy McGee.
The cap charges of those signed free agents are below:
- Vernon Davis $3.3 million
- Terrell McClain $3.7 million
- Stacy McGee $3.2 million
- D.J. Swearinger $3.3 million
- Chris Thompson $2.7 million
- Will Compton $1.8 million
- Terrelle Pryor $6 million
That leaves the Redskins with $14,994,505 in cap space. They will need approximately $2 million to sign their ten draft picks to contracts. They’ll need to set aside about $6 million to pursue another defensive lineman (example Bennie Logan who just signed with KC after visiting Washington), or inside linebacker like former Buffalo Bills LB Zach Brown.
Teams also like to have a $5 million window that will cover players on injured reserve and the teams practice squad. That would leave them with about $2 million to work with at this point.
Redskins could create more cap space
Washington could choose to create more space by cutting/reworking deals with some players including defensive back DeAngelo Hall, who is set to make $4.25 million in 2017. Hall has already said he would restructure his current deal to be more team friendly. The team could also move on from guard Shawn Lauvao and save $4 million, although they may have reservations about doing so until they have a replacement they're confident in.
The biggest savings could come from reworking left tackle Trent Williams deal, or signing quarterback Kirk Cousins to a long term contract. Either of those two could save the team $8 million or more, although messing with Williams contract would make him more expensive in coming years versus cheaper now.
