I posted a few weeks ago that I’m going to track the Chargers cap weekly this season.
For this week’s update, I gathered data on 10/12. I gather data from both OverTheCap and Spotrac. One thing that has been interesting doing this in season is that these sites are often lagging behind the NFL transactions. In OTC’s case, they sometimes lag for multiple days. I have found Spotrac to be more accurate with roster moves. I can’t really say which of them is more accurate on actual cap dollar figures, but Spotrac tends to be slightly higher, so using Spotrac is not only more likely up to date on transactions but also a bit more conservative, which fits my purpose. So I am tending to use Spotrac data for these updates.
For in-season tracking, I am not withholding any budget for in-season injury replacements, trades, free agent signings, or practice squad activations. I will just track those things as they hit the cap during the season.
Here is a breakdown of cap expenses (based on Spotrac data):
Active contracts – $190,144,133
Practice squad – $3,833,000
Reserve/PUP – $495,000
Reserve/Injured – $51,795,019
Dead cap money – $35,330,261
Total cap expenses – $281,867,413
With those total expenses, that leaves the team with $2,091,481 in functional/available cap space. That has to last the rest of the season. It would seem appropriate to assume most or all of that available cap space will be required for more in-season injury replacements and practice squad activations, just to be on the safe side.
It is worth noting here that each player who comes off IR (e.g., Mack, Hampton, Hand, Perryman, Harris) will push another player off the active roster, generating cap savings for those pushed off the roster on a pro-rated basis based on the transaction dates. I’m guessing this will generate another $2M or so, but that will be dependent on dates and the players pushed off the roster. It is also worth pointing out that more players going on IR could offset those savings.
Given the trade for Oweh, I am skeptical there will be another trade unless for a low salary vet RB. Even then, their cap situation is tight enough that it could require restructuring a veteran contract.
Thoughts?
It looks like we’ll get Alt and Pipkins back on the OL this week.
I’ve wondered what the snap count for Deculus is in regards to the trade and whether he gets Cut before they’d trigger that 7th rounder because as you lay out, there’s not much space left to make moves.
Would be wonderful if we got them back. What’s making you think they’ll be in this week?
Chargers went back to listing them as “unofficial” starters on the Roster while Perryman and Mack are still out. They just activated Mack for his 21-day window to return so while it’s “unofficial” and Alt got a DNP yesterday, it would seem to suggest they’ll start. IIRC its been 3-games without Alt, so getting him back this week would mean the team didn’t put him on IR so they can get him back sooner.