You thought the Raiders had salary cap room last year? Get ready for this.
With Matt Schaub and LaMarr Woodley on the roster, Oakland heads into the offseason with upwards of $60 million in cap room. If Schaub and Woodley are cut, that figure jumps to roughly $70 million, according to overthecap.com.
The Raiders don’t anticipate losing any key players in free agency with the only exception potentially being center Stefen Wisniewski. If Wisniewski isn’t retained, it won’t be because of money – Oakland can easily match an offer he’d receive elsewhere.
As for positions of need (and the Raiders have many), here’s a list of free-agents-to-be… players likely to be franchise tagged have been left off the list.
Running Back
- Frank Gore, 32
- DeMarco Murray, 27
- Mark Ingram, 26
- C.J. Spiller, 28
- Knowshon Moreno, 28
Wide Receivers
- Jeremy Maclin
- Randall Cobb
- Torrey Smith
- Michael Crabtree
- Cecil Shorts
Tight End
- Julius Thomas, 27
- Charles Clay, 26
- Jordan Cameron, 27
- Jermaine Gresham, 27
- Niles Paul, 26
Outside Linebacker / Defensive End
- Jason Pierre-Paul, 26
- Brian Orakpo, 29
- Greg Hardy, 27
- Jason Worilds, 27
- Osi Umenyiora, 34
Defensive Tackle
- Ndamukong Suh, 28
- Jared Odrick, 28
- Dan Williams, 28
- Nick Fairley, 27
- Terrance Knighton, 29
Cornerback
- Brandon Flowers, 29
- Antonio Cromartie, 31
- Kareem Jackson, 27
- Byron Maxwell, 27
- Chris Culliver, 27
The Raiders will spend, but they aren’t the only team with substantial cap room. Overthecop.com projects 15 teams to have at least a $25 million cap cushion – and five teams with $40 million or more.
- Jaguars $61M
- Raiders $59M
- Browns $54M
- Jets $53M
- Titans $42M
It may be against his nature, but bargain shopping will be something McKenzie has to put in his rear view. He’d prefer to spend on home-grown players (at least that’s been his mantra), but at this point there’s no one in the building to spend on.
With the 4th pick in the draft and cap room, the Raiders should be able to give Carr much-needed weapons. Amari Cooper and Randall Cobb, anyone?
