Not long after signing his contract extension last year, Derek Carr talked about leaving money on the table for the Raiders to sign players around him. Some laughed because Carr had just signed the richest deal in history, but a year later his words don’t sound nearly as crazy.
Carr has a cap number of $25 million this year, but in the final four years of his deal, his average cap number is a very palatable $21.5 million. For comparisons sake, Aaron Rodgers just signed a deal with cap numbers over $32 million in three of the next five years. Overall, the average yearly cap hit on Rodgers’ new deal is $29.3 million.
Then there’s Khalil Mack, who isn’t a quarterback, and signed a deal worth more than Carr’s. Mack will carry a cap number in Chicago of more than $22 million in each of the six years included in his extension (an average cap hit of $23.5 million).
Does that mean Mack shouldn’t have taken the most money he could get?
No, but it’s noteworthy that Carr didn’t and he also took a different path to getting his contract. There were no threats, no holdouts, and no time boycotting the team.
Mack got the money he deserved and Carr’s contract is looking more like a bargain every day.
As of Tuesday morning, only six teams in the league have more salary cap room than the Raiders, according to OverTheCap.com. Also worth mentioning is that only one team in the league currently has less money allotted to their defense than the Raiders (the Colts).
53-Man Cap Spending: Defense
1. #Jaguars, $106M
2. #Vikings, $91M
3. #Rams, $89M
4. #Texans, $86M
5. #Broncos, $84M30. #Seahawks, $51M
31. #Raiders, $49M
32. #Colts, $36MFull List: https://t.co/lzOazOdwrB pic.twitter.com/4uLxTFhJiU
— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 4, 2018
Not ideal.
twitter: @raidersbeat
What no one is talking about is what the ramification would have been if they gave Mack what he wanted. That would put Derek and Mack taking up roughly 35% of the cap. The O Line takes up 20%. So that would have been 55% of the their salary cap on 5 players. (Carr, Mack, Hudson, KO, Jackson) that leaves 45% of their salary to sign 48 other players. Hudson has one more year of guaranteed money, so there will no doubt be extension, or restructure talks with him next year. KO has two more years on his contract, so you can expect extension talks in the next few years. They are both certainly young enough for O Linemen to warrant another extension. Jackson is locked up for a while. Then you have Cooper coming up, if he gets extended he will be probably $14 million or more to lock up, that’s another 5% (or so) of the cap. So they would have 60% of the cap put into 6 players. Then, don’t forget Bruce Irvin, he’s got one more year on his deal, so extension talks are going to happen and he’s at $9 million per year.
Carr+Mack+Cooper+Irvin+O Line = 64% of the Salary Cap. Leaving 36% of the cap for 45 players. It just doesn’t make sense to resign Mack. Especially considering there is no one being paid in the secondary, If Conley can ever be healthy he might be good. The linebacker position has no one being paid.
Best comment I’ve read regarding this, thank you. Look at the team’s depth chart, then stop worrying. It’s gonna be a tough division, can’t wait til the Rams game! Gonna miss Kahlil Mack so much, but we’re looking good. Go Raiders!!
Who do you think is going to pay for all this money these players are making????