There is a bit of house cleaning that needs to happen this offseason for the Raiders. Currently they have around $38.8 million in cap space. That lands them at 12th most in the league. But they can do better.
Cuts aren’t always about cap savings, to be clear. But sometimes it’s either the main reason for the cut or a nice byproduct. Should they make all five of the cuts below, the Raiders would save an additional $13.86 million to bring their space under the cap to $52.64 million. That would jump them up to 8th in the league as it currently stands.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo
Cap savings: $20K
Dead money: $28.3M
They don’t save anything by cutting Jimmy G. At least not before free agency in March. And it seems unlikely any team is going to be interested in a trade. The best they could do is make him a post-June 1 cut which would spread his cap hit over two seasons, which would save them about $13 million on this year’s cap. But, again, they wouldn’t see that savings kick in until June.
WR Hunter Renfrow
Cap savings: $8.2M
Dead money: $5.5M
You’d like to see the new offensive coordinator see th value in Renfrow and actually make him part of the offense as he was before Josh McDaniels relegating him to ghost status. If not, you’d like to see some team out there who thinks they can us the former Pro Bowl slot receiver and send something to the Raiders in a trade. Cut or trade, it wouldn’t change the numbers.
CB Brandon Facyson
Cap savings: $3.25M
Dead money: $550K
Facyson was signed last offseason and given a shot to be the starter. Then he got injured. And even when he returned late in the season, the Raiders had moved on to Jack Jones and Amik Robertson as outside starters. Facyson was never an ideal option regardless and his release would save them a decent chunk of change.
DT Jerry Tillery
Cap savings: $2.3M
Dead money: $1.87M
Still trying to figure out what this staff sees in Tillery that had them bring him back on a two-year deal. But I suppose his contract was somewhat affordable and they thought it was worth a shot with the former first round pick. If he’s on the roster after the third day of the league year, his 2024 base salary becomes guaranteed, so they should decide before that what they want to do.
QB Brian Hoyer
Cap savings: $92K
Dead money: $2.6M
Another contract that won’t save the Raiders much if he’s cut, but who they need to move on from. Hoyer started one game this season. He was absolutely terrible and was rendered inactive the remainder of the season. Retirement is probably the play here.
