HEADLINES

PFR Originals News & Rumors

2016 Cap Outlook: Miami Dolphins

October 23rd, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Through the 2015 NFL season, Pro Football Rumors will be looking ahead to the 2016 offseason, gauging the salary cap situation for each of the league’s 32 teams. The cap for 2016 hasn’t been set yet, but we can still assess the salary commitments made by a club and determine whether or not that club will be in good financial shape going forward.

In addition to evaluating each team’s overall cap situation, we’ll focus in on a few key players who may be candidates to be extended, restructured, or released by their current teams. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and depending on a player’s 2015 performance and health, he could drop off one of these lists – or be added to one – as the season goes on. For now though, these are some players to watch.

Using data from Over The Cap, we’re making our way through the 32 NFL teams in order of total salary commitments for 2016. Today’s team is the Dolphins, who currently have the third-most money on their ’16 cap.

Let’s dive in….

Top 10 cap hits for 2016:

  1. Ndamukong Suh, DT: $28,600,000
  2. Ryan Tannehill, QB: $11,640,000
  3. Branden Albert, LT: $10,150,000
  4. Mike Pouncey, C: $10,025,000
  5. Cameron Wake, DE: $9,800,000
  6. Jordan Cameron, TE: $9,500,000
  7. Brent Grimes, CB: $9,500,000
  8. Reshad Jones, S: $8,202,942
  9. Dion Jordan, DE: $6,202,377
  10. Greg Jennings, WR: $5,500,000
    Current 2016 cap number for top 51 players: $146,763,779

Nestled between Joe Flacco‘s $28.55MM cap charge and Drew Brees‘ staggering $30MM cap hit, Suh’s number for 2016 is one of the largest in the league, and contributes significantly to the Dolphins’ overall total for next year. Suh currently represents nearly 20% of Miami’s cap number for 2016, which is a huge percentage for any player, and particularly for a non-quarterback.

The rest of the Dolphins’ top 10 is populated by a combination of core contributors and players who may not be back on the roster next season, with Tannehill at the top of the list of players not named Suh. Miami isn’t necessarily locked into Tannehill as its long-term quarterback, but the team is unlikely to make a change before the end of the 2016 season — the 27-year-old’s salary for next year is fully guaranteed, and his cap charge doesn’t increase significantly until 2017, when it jumps over $20MM.

Candidates for extension:

  • Brent Grimes, CB
  • Cameron Wake, DE

Grimes and Wake are arguably the Dolphins’ two best defensive players besides Suh, and they’ll see their current contracts expire after the 2017 and 2016 seasons, respectively, which should make them extension candidates. However, it’s not clear how much longer Miami may want to keep the duo around. Grimes is 32 years old and Wake will turn 34 in January, so it’s not as if the team will be eager to tack on another three or four years to either player’s contract.

Still, both players are still very productive, and there’s some room to maneuver if the Dolphins want to lock either of them up to new deals. It probably makes sense to wait on Grimes, who remains under contract for two full years after 2015, but extending Wake’s pact by a year or two would allow Miami to reduce his $9.8MM cap charge for 2016 — the club would just have to avoid taking on a ton of dead money for any new years, since there’s certainly no guarantee Wake continues to rack up Pro Bowl appearances as he enters his mid-thirties.

Candidates for restructure:

  • Ndamukong Suh, DT
  • Mike Pouncey, C

As noted above, Suh’s $28.6MM cap number for 2016 is begging for a restructure, especially since his charge for 2017 is just $15.1MM — a pittance, by comparison. Despite the fact that Suh has yet to make the impact in South Beach that his new team expected, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon with so much guaranteed money left on his deal, so a restructure looks like the only logical move if the Dolphins need to reduce his cap hit.

As for Pouncey, he’s another player who signed a new contract this past spring that looks like a strong candidate for a restructuring. Like Suh’s deal, Pouncey’s pact features its largest cap number in year two, giving Miami the flexibility to rework it and spread some of that money out from 2017 to 2020, if necessary.

Candidates for pay cut or release:

  • Branden Albert, T
  • Jordan Cameron, TE
  • Dion Jordan, DE
  • Greg Jennings, WR
  • Brice McCain, CB

Of the players listed here, Albert is probably the least likely to be released by the Dolphins within the next few months. After all, it was only about a year and a half ago that he landed one of the top free agent contracts of 2014, signing a five-year, $47MM deal with Miami.

Still, the former Chiefs tackle has had problems staying healthy. After missing four games in his last year in Kansas City, Albert missed another seven in his first season with the Dolphins, and has been sidelined for two more this season. Assuming he finishes the 2015 campaign strong and heads into the offseason with a clean bill of health, Albert should be back in Miami in 2016, but if he continues to be plagued by injuries, that’s not quite a certainty. The 30-year-old has cap numbers exceeding $10MM in each season from 2016 to 2018, with no guaranteed salary left on his contract in those years.

Cameron and Jennings each signed two-year deals with the Dolphins that included large cap hits in year two, reducing the chances of them playing more than one year each in Miami. So far, they haven’t been a huge part of the Dolphins’ offense, combining for just 23 receptions in five games, and they’ll take up a total of $14MM on the 2016 cap if they stick around.

McCain, meanwhile, has a reasonable $3.5MM cap number for next year, but he hasn’t exactly impressed during the first few weeks of the 2015 season, and the Dolphins could create $2.5MM in cap savings by cutting ties with him in the offseason. As for Jordan, a draft bust selected by former GM Jeff Ireland, the club currently isn’t paying his full salary while he remains stashed on the reserve/suspended list — otherwise, it’s unlikely he’d still be a Dolphin. Jordan’s off-field issues and on-field ineffectiveness have all but guaranteed he’s not a part of Miami’s future.

Contract information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.

PUP, NFI Players Soon Eligible To Practice

October 19th, 2015 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

Week 6 of the NFL season will come to an end after Monday night’s game between the Giants and Eagles, and when teams begin preparing for Week 7, many clubs could be welcoming injured players back to practice. Six weeks into the NFL season, players who were placed on the physically unable to perform list or the non-football injury list prior to Week 1’s games will be eligible to return to the practice field.

Of course, just because those players are able to return to practice doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be healthy enough to do so. Players on the PUP list have a five-week window to begin practicing. Once they return to practice, they have three weeks to be added to their respective teams’ active rosters. In other words, a player currently on the PUP list could return to the field for his team’s Week 7 game, or could return as late as for his team’s Week 15 contest.

The rules for NFI players are similar to those for PUP players. If a player on either reserve list doesn’t return to practice or game action in time, his 2015 season will officially be over.

Here are the players currently on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list who can begin practicing as soon as this Tuesday:

And here are the players currently on their teams’ non-football injury or illness lists, who are also eligible to begin practicing this Tuesday:

  • Arizona Cardinals: WR Damond Powell
  • Buffalo Bills: CB Leodis McKelvin
  • Cincinnati Bengals: T Cedric Ogbuehi
  • Cleveland Browns: DB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, TE Randall Telfer, RB Glenn Winston
  • Dallas Cowboys: LB Mark Nzeocha
  • Houston Texans: T David Quessenberry
  • Kansas City Chiefs: QB Tyler Bray
  • San Francisco 49ers: WR DeAndre Smelter
  • Seattle Seahawks: DT Jesse Williams

In addition to monitoring players on the PUP and NFI lists, it’s worth keeping an eye on players who have been placed on the injured reserve list with the designation to return. Teams can use this IR-DTR spot on one player per season, placing him on the injured reserve list without necessarily ruling him out for the season. As we explained in an earlier post, players given this designation can begin practicing after six weeks and can return after eight weeks.

That means that a player who was placed on IR-DTR prior to Week 1 can begin practicing on Tuesday, though he won’t be eligible to return to game action until Week 9. A player who was placed on IR-DTR after Week 1 will have to wait until next Tuesday – October 27 – to return to practice, while other IR-DTR players will have to wait until November to practice.

Here’s the list of players currently on IR-DTR who can begin practicing as soon as Tuesday:

PFR Originals: 10/11/15 – 10/18/15

October 18th, 2015 at 2:44pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past seven days:

2015 Trade Deadline Candidates: AFC

October 17th, 2015 at 8:09pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The NFL’s November 3 trade deadline is the next major event on the league’s calendar, and with a bit over two weeks left for clubs to make deals, it makes sense to scour each team’s roster and identify which players might be on the block. The NFL certainly doesn’t see the amount of trade activity that does MLB or the NBA, but there have already been a fair number of deals worked this calendar year. Additionally, in 2014, there were four trades in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline — two of those four players were in the final year of their contracts, so for this exercise, we’ll mostly focus on players who are on expiring deals.

We’ll start off by taking a look at the AFC clubs, with an obvious focus on teams who aren’t currently, or don’t figure to remain, contenders…

Baltimore Ravens

  • Courtney Upshaw, LB: Upshaw is playing a larger role than the Ravens originally intended, as he’s been forced to step in as a starter due to Terrell Suggs‘ season-ending injury. However, Upshaw, strikes me as the type of player that Baltimore usually lets leave via free agency (see: Paul Kruger, Dannell Ellerbe, Pernell McPhee). If the 1-4 Ravens continue to fall further out of contention, it could make sense for them to trade Upshaw to a club looking for pass-rush help, and give that playing time to rookie Za’Darius Smith.

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Marcedes Lewis, TE: Though the Jaguars do try to run a good amount of two tight end sets, Lewis’ role will steadily decrease now that Julius Thomas has returned from injury. Given that Lewis, 31, is earning $2MM in base salary, and doesn’t figure to be re-signed, he could be an option to get traded in the coming weeks. He probably wouldn’t bring back much, but perhaps a team like the Saints could opt to bring in reinforcements at tight end as they try to claw back in the NFC South race. Elsewhere, the Jets, Cardinals, and Washington could all use some depth at tight end.

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Marcus Cooper, CB: As noted by Mike Reiss of ESPN.com earlier today, the 25-year-old Cooper could make sense as a trade target, specifically for a cornerback-depleted team like the Patriots. Cooper has only managed 77 defensive snaps on the season, and hasn’t played a single defensive snap in the two weeks since Sean Smith returned from suspension. The Chiefs have been utilizing a three-safety look in recent weeks, lessening the need for Cooper of fellow depth corner Jamell Fleming, so perhaps Cooper (and his minimum salary deal, which runs through 2016) could be on the move.
  • Mike DeVito, DL: A rotational 3-4 defensive end, DeVito probably wouldn’t bring back much in a trade, but he is cheap, as he’d be owed just the remainder of his $870K base salary. The Chiefs would probably be wise to deal the 31-year-old now, clearing out playing time for youngsters Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Nicholas Williams. Clubs such as the Patriots, Packers, Eagles, Cardinals, and Colts — all of whom employ a 3-4 look — could be interested.
  • Sean Smith, CB: Kansas City sits at 1-4 and just lost its best offensive player in Jamaal Charles to a season-ending injury, so if the club wants to “blow things up,” trading Smith becomes a consideration. Smith, 28, isn’t cheap, as an acquiring club would owe the rest of his $4.25MM base salary, but he’s an underrated player, and if the Chiefs have no intention of re-signing him, dealing him now could be the smart move. I’d guess only one of Smith or Cooper gets moved (if either does).

Miami Dolphins

  • Rishard Matthews, WR: If the Dolphins subscribe to the basic economic theory of “buy low, sell high,” there might never be a better time to trade Matthews, who is in the midst of his best season at age 26. There are a myriad of reasons to deal Matthews, but chief among them is probably that his current production is likely unsustainable. Additionally, he’s in the final season of his rookie contract, and with Miami already committed to Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker, there might not be room on the roster, or more specifically, in the salary cap, for Matthews.
  • Derrick Shelby, DE: Miami already has a large chunk of assets devoted to its defensive line, so Shelby, who is earning $2.56MM as a restricted free agent, could be on the trade block. He’s actually played in more than 50% of the club’s defensive snaps so far this season, but with Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake already earning sizeable money, and Olivier Vernon likely to follow, Shelby probably won’t be a priority in free agency.

New England Patriots

  • Aaron Dobson, WR: Dobson seems to be a complete afterthought in the Patriots’ offense, as he was a healthy scratch last week against the Cowboys, playing behind even special teamer Matthew Slater. Dobson’s removal from the offense only figures to accelerate once Brandon LaFell, New England’s No. 2 receiver a year ago, returns from the PUP list. A team with a need at receiver, such as the Browns or Panthers, could take a look at Dobson, who is signed through 2016 at cheap rates.

PFR Originals: 10/4/15 – 10/11/15

October 11th, 2015 at 2:38pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past seven days:

  • Buffalo has quite a bit of money committed to the defensive side of the ball going forward, Luke Adams points out in his 2016 Bills Cap Outlook. Nevertheless, Luke identifies two more defenders — corners Stephon Gilmore and Leodis McKelvin — as candidates for extensions.
  • Zach Links rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.

2016 Cap Outlook: Buffalo Bills

October 8th, 2015 at 10:25am CST by Luke Adams

Through the 2015 NFL season, Pro Football Rumors will be looking ahead to the 2016 offseason, gauging the salary cap situation for each of the league’s 32 teams. The cap for 2016 hasn’t been set yet, but we can still assess the salary commitments made by a club and determine whether or not that club will be in good financial shape going forward.

In addition to evaluating each team’s overall cap situation, we’ll focus in on a few key players who may be candidates to be extended, restructured, or released by their current teams. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and depending on a player’s 2015 performance and health, he could drop off one of these lists – or be added to one – as the season goes on. For now though, these are some players to watch.

Using data from Over The Cap, we’re making our way through the 32 NFL teams in order of total salary commitments for 2016. Today’s team is the Bills, who currently have the second-most money on their ’16 cap.

Let’s dive in….

Top 10 cap hits for 2016:

  1. Mario Williams, DE: $19,900,000
  2. Marcell Dareus, DT: $14,550,000
  3. Charles Clay, TE: $13,500,000
  4. Stephon Gilmore, CB: $11,082,000
  5. Kyle Williams, DT: $8,000,000
  6. LeSean McCoy, RB: $7,675,000
  7. Jerry Hughes, DE: $7,575,000
  8. Aaron Williams, S: $6,100,000
  9. Eric Wood, C: $6,075,000
  10. Sammy Watkins, WR: $5,436,983
    Current 2016 cap number for top 51 players: $149,880,615

The Bills’ cap commitments are incredibly defense-heavy going forward, with all four of their defensive linemen ranking among their top seven cap hits for 2016. In addition to those four players, two defensive backs – Gilmore and Aaron Williams – are in the top eight.

Without a franchise quarterback to take up a huge chunk of cap space, the Bills can afford to invest significant money on the defensive side of the ball, as well as devoting cap room to traditionally less expensive offensive positions like tight end, running back, and center. But even without a pricey quarterback, Buffalo finds itself with nearly $150MM cap commitments for next season, meaning moves will need to be made for the team to function in free agency and in the draft.

Candidates for extension:

While left tackle Cordy Glenn is perhaps the most noteworthy extension candidate on the Bills’ roster, signing him to a new contract wouldn’t help the team’s cap situation, since he’s not currently under contract at all for 2016 — a new deal for Glenn would only add to the club’s cap commitments for next year, rather than reducing them.

That’s not the case for Gilmore, who is currently on the books next year for a fifth-year option that exceeds $11MM. Gilmore has been a solid player for the Bills, but it seems highly unlikely that the club will want to carry him at that price. The most logical solution would be a multiyear contract that gives the 25-year-old cornerback a little more long-term security while perhaps slicing his 2016 cap number in half.

As for McKelvin, his future in Buffalo relies on how he comes back from an ankle injury. McKelvin, who remains on the non-football injury list for now, is entering his early-30s, and his contract expires after the 2016 season. His $4.9MM cap charge for next year isn’t unwieldy, but if the Bills determine he won’t be the same player he was before the injury, he’s a candidate to be released — if he comes back strong, the Bills could reduce his ’16 cap number by adding a couple years to his contract.

Candidates for restructure:

  • Charles Clay, TE
  • LeSean McCoy, RB
  • Mario Williams, DE

A pair of these players just signed new contracts with the Bills this offseason, and Clay’s looks like it was practically designed to be restructured — his cap hit spikes to $13.5MM next season, but doesn’t exceed $6.5MM in any of the subsequent three years.. Of course, the sizable second-year cap charge was initially designed to prevent Miami from matching Buffalo’s offer sheet, but reducing that figure and smoothing out Clay’s cap hits a little should help out the Bills in 2016.

McCoy’s new extension doesn’t include a similar year-two spike, and at $7.675MM, his 2016 cap number is manageable. But he got off to a slow start in Buffalo, and is now sidelined with a hamstring injury. At age 27, McCoy should still have plenty of gas in the tank, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Bills move forward at the running back position if Karlos Williams continues to impress. Through four weeks, the rookie has averaged 5.4 yards per carry, compared to 3.4 for McCoy.

Elsewhere, Mario Williams remains a key contributor to the team’s pass rush and shouldn’t be in danger of losing his roster spot, despite the rising cost of the defensive line. But at $19.9MM, his cap number is one of the largest in the NFL, so the Bills may try to find a way to cut it down a little.

Candidates for pay cut or release:

Manuel has already lost his starting job in Buffalo, and Carpenter could lose his soon. If Billy Cundiff assumes the team’s kicking duties within the next few weeks, Carpenter is unlikely to remain on the roster into the offseason, and even if he holds onto his job, the Bills could explore a cheaper alternative in 2016. Manuel, on the other hand, should still be with the team at season’s end, as he nears the final year of his rookie contract.

At this point, it’s a virtual certainty that the Bills won’t exercise their 2017 fifth-year option on Manuel, but would they keep him for 2016? At about $2.827MM, Manuel doesn’t cost a ton for a backup. Still, it’s not clear if Rex Ryan and the team’s new coaching staff has much confidence in the former first-rounder, even as the club’s No. 2 option, so he’s no lock to make the 2016 roster.

As for Williams and Wood, both players have been productive veterans over the years in Buffalo — particularly Williams, who has been a Pro Bowler in each of the last three seasons. It’s possible that the team will simply keep both players on its roster without adjusting their contracts, but at $8MM and $6MM respectively, neither player will be cheap. If they struggle at all down the stretch and the Bills have the opportunity to bring in inexpensive young talent at their positions next year, the veterans may be asked to rework their deals in order to stick around.

Contract information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.

PFR Originals: 9/27/15 – 10/4/15

October 4th, 2015 at 3:44pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past seven days:

  • Zach Links rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.
  • In our Community Tailgate series, we post topics for discussion and encourage readers to voice their thoughts in the comments section. This issues discussed by Luke Adams last week:
    • Which winless team will turn things around? (link)
    • Will the Bears keep trading away players? (link)

PFR Originals: 9/20/15 – 9/27/15

September 27th, 2015 at 2:37pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The original content and analysis produced by the PFR staff during the past seven days:

  • Luke Adams kicked off our 2016 Cap Outlook series by taking a look at the Saints, examining candidates for extensions, restructures, and release.
  • Slightly less than half the league has used its injured reserve/designated to return slot, and Luke went over which clubs have utilized the designation.
  • Zach Links rounded up the best of the football blogs in the latest edition of Pigskin Links.
  • In our Community Tailgate series, we post topics for discussion and encourage readers to relay their thoughts in the comments section. The issues covered by Luke last week:
    • How will the NFC East play out? (link)
    • How will the AFC South play out? (link)
    • Which underdogs will win in Week 3? (link)

2016 Cap Outlook: New Orleans Saints

September 25th, 2015 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Through the 2015 NFL season, Pro Football Rumors will be looking ahead to the 2016 offseason, gauging the salary cap situation for each of the league’s 32 teams. The cap for 2016 hasn’t been set yet, but we can still assess the salary commitments made by a club and determine whether or not that club will be in good financial shape going forward.

In addition to evaluating each team’s overall cap situation, we’ll focus in on a few key players who may be candidates to be extended, restructured, or released by their current teams. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and depending on a player’s 2015 performance and health, he could drop off one of these lists – or be added to one – as the season goes on. For now though, these are some players to watch.

Using data from Over The Cap, we’ll make our way through the 32 NFL teams in order of total salary commitments for 2016. As such, we’ll get underway today by examining the Saints, who have the most salary committed to ’16 for now.

Let’s dive in….

Top 10 cap hits for 2016:

  1. Drew Brees, QB: $27,400,000
  2. Cameron Jordan, DE: $12,800,000
  3. Junior Galette, OLB: $12,100,000 (dead money)
  4. Jairus Byrd, S: $10,900,000
  5. Jahri Evans, G: $8,200,000
  6. Keenan Lewis, CB: $6,350,000
  7. Brandon Browner, CB: $6,300,000
  8. Max Unger, C: $6,000,000
  9. Marques Colston, WR: $5,900,000
  10. Dannell Ellerbe, LB: $5,900,000
    Current 2016 cap number for top 51 players: $151,532,625

Over the Cap’s data assumes that 2016’s cap will sit at exactly $150MM, which is a reasonable estimate for now, though I’d expect the actual number to be even higher. Using that figure, the Saints are the only team already projected to be over the cap, with an excess of about $1.532MM for just 41 players.

Part of the problem for the Saints is the amount of dead money on the 2016 cap — even before making next year’s cuts, the club is already carrying nearly $15MM in dead money, with the majority of that coming from Galette’s contract. New Orleans parted ways Galette so soon after he signed a new extension that he counts for $5.45MM in dead money against the team’s 2015 cap, plus another $12.1MM against the 2016 cap. That’s not good.

Candidates for extension:

While the Saints would probably love to lock up Armstead, a 2013 draft pick that has worked out splendidly for the team so far, doing so in 2016 as he enters the final year of his rookie contract could be tricky. Extensions can often reduce a player’s current-year cap number, pushing the larger cap hits to later years of the new contract, but Armstead’s 2016 cap hit will be just $859K. If he gets extended and gets any sort of signing bonus, his ’16 cap number will increase, not decrease.

That’s what makes it so important that the Saints figure something out for Brees. The veteran quarterback is already battling a shoulder injury this season and will turn 37 in January, but he has still led the league in passing yards in three of the last four seasons, and has earned seven consecutive Pro Bowl nods. Does the club intend to keep him as its starting quarterback beyond 2016? If so, he needs to be extended in order to reduce his massive cap hit.

Currently, Brees is set to earn a $19.75MM base salary in ’16, with a cap hit of $27.4MM. With, say, a two-year extension, those figures could be massively reduced, with Brees getting a decent chunk of guaranteed money and some longer-term security, giving him a chance to finish his career with the Saints.

Depending on how the 2015 season plays out, we might be talking about Brees as a release candidate rather than an extension candidate, or New Orleans simply may simply let his contract expire and move onto a younger, cheaper signal-caller for 2017. Whatever the team chooses, Brees represents a key figure in making sure the cap situation doesn’t get any messier moving forward.

Candidates for restructure:

Byrd and Evans had their contracts reworked this past offseason, and if the team intends to keep them beyond 2016, those deals may have to be tweaked again. Byrd’s cap hit jumps up to $10.9MM next year, and there’s still so much bonus money on it that it doesn’t really make sense for New Orleans to release him unless he’s designated as a post-June 1 cut.

As for Evans, he’s in a similar boat — the Saints are extremely unlikely to keep him at his current $8.2MM cap number for 2016, but dropping him would result in $7.1MM in dead money, so a restructure or a pay cut seems more likely at the moment.

Jordan’s contracts looked like a candidate to be restructured in 2016 from the moment it was signed, since he has a $6MM roster bonus due next year. It would be shocking if that isn’t turned into a signing bonus, prorating it over five years and creating $4.8MM in cap space for ’16.

Meanwhile, as effective as Morstead has been in New Orleans, no cap-strapped team should be carrying a punter with a cap charge of $4.45MM, so that will certainly be reduced in some way.

Candidates for pay cut or release:

Colston and Hawthrone were viewed as release candidates for the Saints this past offseason before they agreed to take pay cuts. The same could be said for Ellerbe and Unger before they were traded by the Dolphins and Seahawks, respectively. All four players earned another year on their current contracts by taking a pay cut or getting traded, but the reprieve could be brief.

All four players are slated to count against the cap for at least $4.5MM next season, with Unger at $6MM, and Colston and Ellerbe not far behind. Once again, their 2015 performances will play a significant role in what the Saints decide to do with them in the offseason, but it’s unlikely that any of these veterans still has his best days ahead of him.

Contract information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.

17 NFL Teams Still Have IR-DTR Slot Available

September 24th, 2015 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

We’re about two and a half weeks into the NFL season, and 15 players have landed on the injured reserve list with the designation to return, including Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and Jaguars receiver and return man Rashad Greene this week. Unlike the usual IR list, which keeps a player inactive all season or until he reaches an injury settlement with his team, this IR-DTR slot allows a player to begin practicing after six weeks and to begin playing in games after eight weeks.

Of course, whereas the standard injured reserve list can accommodate several players at once, NFL teams can only use the designation to return on one player, so teams must be cautious about how to fire that single bullet. Given the eight-week timetable for the IR-DTR slot, most clubs will use it during the season’s first few weeks if they need to use it at all.

Prior to the Week 3 games in 2014, 17 teams had used their IR-DTR designation, so the fact that 15 clubs have used it so far in 2015 sounds about right. By the end of the 2014 season, all but five NFL teams had used their short-term IR slot, meaning we should expect to continue seeing clubs make use of it in the next few weeks.

Here’s a breakdown of how teams have used the IR-DTR spot so far, and which teams still have it available:

Eligible to return after Week 8:

  1. Baltimore Ravens: DE Brent Urban
  2. Cleveland Browns: CB Charles Gaines
  3. Detroit Lions: CB Alex Carter
  4. Miami Dolphins: RB Jay Ajayi
  5. Minnesota Vikings: C John Sullivan
  6. New England Patriots: C Bryan Stork
  7. New York Jets: CB Dee Milliner
  8. Pittsburgh Steelers: C Maurkice Pouncey
  9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: T Demar Dotson
  10. Tennessee Titans: RB David Cobb

Eligible to return after Week 9:

  1. Houston Texans: TE Ryan Griffin
  2. Indianapolis Colts: CB D’Joun Smith
  3. Oakland Raiders: S Nate Allen

Eligible to return after Week 10:

  1. Dallas Cowboys: QB Tony Romo
  2. Jacksonville Jaguars: WR/KR Rashad Greene

Teams with unused IR-DTR slots:

  1. Arizona Cardinals
  2. Atlanta Falcons
  3. Buffalo Bills
  4. Carolina Panthers
  5. Chicago Bears
  6. Cincinnati Bengals
  7. Denver Broncos
  8. Green Bay Packers
  9. Kansas City Chiefs
  10. New Orleans Saints
  11. New York Giants
  12. Philadelphia Eagles
  13. San Diego Chargers
  14. San Francisco 49ers
  15. Seattle Seahawks
  16. St. Louis Rams
  17. Washington
Load More Posts