The Washington Redskins are pleased with their NFC East winning 9-7 season, but don't mistake the team's warm feelings for complacency. General manager Scot McCloughan knows there is still a long road ahead until the Redskins make a complete recovery from the futility that has plagued them over the last 20 or so years. That road begins with free agency.
Washington, as with every other team in the NFL, will benefit from being able to spend more money. The NFL's salary cap will jump from $143.28 million to somewhere between $150 million and $153.4 million in 2016. Given the NFL's tendency to lean conservative, we're going to assume it's closer to the latter figure.
But the Redskins, unlike some other teams around the league, actually have a higher "base cap number" as Rich Tandler of RealRedskins.com puts it, because they didn't spend all of their cap money last year. That means Skins fans can tack on an additional $6.1 million, according to OverTheCap.com, to their free agent wish list.
However, Washington won't be able to use the entirety of their salary cap space on reinforcements. The team has 50 players under contract in 2016, accounting for $145.5 million. They also have 19 players headed for some type of free agency this offseason, including starters Terrance Knighton, Alfred Morris, Kirk Cousins, Will Compton and Mason Foster. Then there's the $500,000 the team owes in dead cap money (cough, David Amerson, cough). Put it all together and it comes out to roughly $13.5 million in cap space.
Obviously, McCloughan can create more wiggle room by releasing certain players. The most obvious will presumably be Robert Griffin III, who currently counts $16.1 million against the cap after McCloughan exercised the fifth-year option on his deal last offseason. RGIII is all but assured not to return to D.C. next year, bumping the team's available cap space up to $29.6 million. Wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, along with defensive linemen Jason Hacther and Stephen Paea are all in danger of being released, if not restructured, to give the Skins more breathing room as well.
Yet no matter who the Skins move on from, the free agency of Cousins looms over everything. In today's quarterback starved market, keeping Cousins in burgundy and gold long-term could cost between $15 million and $20 million per season. Even the franchise tag for QBs is expected to settle around $20 million next year. Whichever route McCloughan chooses to go will be expensive.
So, yes, the Redskins will have some salary cap space to play with this offseason. But, it isn't the mountain of cash some fans are imagining. Expect focused and controlled spending from Washington in free agency.
