Oakland Raiders: 6 Questions That Need Answers Ahead of the Draft
By Kevin Saito
Sep 30, 2014; Alameda, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie at a press conference to introduce Tony Sparano (not pictured) as Raiders interim coach at the Raiders practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
How Will They Get to the Salary Cap Floor?
Under the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is a hard salary cap. But there is also a salary cap floor, meaning a minimum amount of money a club must spend.
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The Raiders entered the offseason second only to Jacksonville in salary cap space with more than $60 million dollars to spend. So far, they’ve added Rodney Hudson, Dan Williams, Curtis Lofton, Malcolm Smith, Roy Helu, Trent Richardson, Nate Allen, James Dockery, Lee Smith, and yes, Christian Ponder.
And after that haul of warm bodies, the Raiders still have roughly $21 million dollars to spend just to get to the minimum spending requirement. Of course, estimates put the money they will be spending on the incoming rookie class somewhere between $7-$10 million, so in essence, the Raiders still have roughly $11-$14 million dollars to spend.
But who will they spend it on?
The team isn’t worried about it at this point, believing they’ll make the deadline to meet the cap floor. And they very well may. With a number of veteran players finding themselves cut and out of work – victims of the salary cap – it stands to reason that there will be some pretty solid players looking for a new job. And that money can likely be earmarked for them.
Assuming that is, that McKenzie can find somebody willing to take his money.
Next: Help in the Backfield?