If the Raiders Need More Cap Room, These are the Players That Could Potentially Not Make it to Las Vegas

The Raiders are about a month away from entering free agency and seem to be well-equipped with about $51 million in salary cap room.

At face value that sounds like a lot, but player salaries are going up and 10 teams actually have more cap room than the Raiders. Furthermore, Jon Gruden and company have a lot of holes to fill on the roster, so don’t be surprised if the Raiders have to do a little shuffling around to add cap room at some point.

If they do decide to cut loose a couple contracts, the Raiders don’t actually have a lot of options – at least not a lot of great options. Let’s look at the contracts the Raiders might consider dumping to gain a little more salary cap room should they happen to need it.

The polka-dotted elephant in the room right now is the contract Gabe Jackson is sitting on. An offensive guard making $9.6 million should be one of the best in the league. Jackson is good, but the Raiders have another Good that plays the same position and is on the books for just $2.5 million. There’s a decent chance Denzelle Good played well enough last year that the Raiders might think about trusting him in a starting role this year.

If the Raiders do cut Jackson, they aren’t on the hook for any dead money. They would instantly get $9.6 million in cap room.

Tahir Whitehead’s contract might not qualify as the elephant in the room. But his contract is at least an orange ostrich in the room.

Whitehead’s deal counts nearly $7.3 million against the salary cap in 2020 and $6.25 million of that can be saved by cutting him. The Raiders don’t have any depth at linebacker, but once they add a few linebackers in the offseason, Whitehead’s deal could quickly become expendable.

The next few potential cuts wouldn’t come with the same kind savings, but could end up happening if the Raiders are in a pinch.

Erik Harris is a player Gruden (and everyone else) likes a lot, but with Lamarcus Joyner moving back to safety, will the Raiders choose to pay Harris $2.5 million this year? Especially since the $2.5 million cut would result in no dead money.

Or how about this… just cut Lamarcus Joyner and bite the bullet on his $6.75 million in dead money in exchange for $2.45 million in cap savings.

The last three potential cap casualties are Deshone Kizer ($1.14 million), Derek Carrier ($1.85 million), and Zay Jones ($1.39 million). All of whom carry no dead money if they were cut. Carrier seems the least likely, but he is the no. 3 tight end on the roster.

To be clear, this isn’t a list of players that shouldn’t have roles with the team in 2020, but if the Raiders decide to get aggressive in free agency (which they most likely will), these are the players that could be in trouble if the Raiders need a little extra room under the cap.

twitter: @raidersbeat

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12 thoughts on “If the Raiders Need More Cap Room, These are the Players That Could Potentially Not Make it to Las Vegas

  1. Keep them all ! Stop with the revolving door … Build your team with depth so injuries don’t derail your season … Please …

  2. Jackson+Kizer+Carrier+Jones=16.88mil in saving. All can be replaced in the draft. Jackson can be traded the rest will be released and resigned to the practice squad if available. 16.9+51=67.9 in cap space
    This is how I would spend it
    Robby Anderson WR 4yrs/48mil (12mil)
    Shaquil Barrett OLB 4yrs/60mil (15mil)
    Karl Joseph SS 4yrs/24mil ( 6mill)
    Chris Harris Jr. CB 2yrs/22mil (11mil)
    Robert Quinn DE 3yrs/33mil (11mil)

    1. I say get Carr 2 receivers one in free agency…one in the first round. .then go defense with all the other draft picks… because we have been in the bottom end of the league in defense for years..it’s sucks to see our stats in defense every year… defense got it…it makes me mad when a average team rolls over our defense every week and we blame Carr for everything…he doesn’t play on defense…so let’s get real and start building a good defense…..I’m sick and tired of watching our defense getting rolled over all the time

  3. Been following The Shield going back to The snake, Tatum Atkins Alzado, we’ve been down so long, that no where to go but up.
    Go Raider’s

  4. Wow finally an article that doesn’t involve, cutting, or trading Carr! 👏👏👏👏
    Carr 202p

  5. By all means RAIDERS do what’s needed to bring a championship to Vegas me personally have faith in our front office I didnt b4 but the staff we have in place now its showing ,look we had the best draft in years the money is right books our right it’s all due to the new people all the front office now i trust in the organization today so to the vegas RAIDERS I say do ur thing and but the RAIDERS back on the map “GO RAIDERS”as al Davis would say JUST WIN BABY

  6. Lets get two wr1 , and three linebackers and two corners utah state quarterback, to play backup for tannyhill, and glide into the playoffs

  7. Cutting isn’t the only solution, restructuring some of these contracts (Jackson and Joyner mostly) could achieve the same results.
    I’m still for out right cutting Whitehead though
    The others I’d wait and see on, but if Gruden wants to keep them then I’d try to restructure them too

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