Roster Spots and Cap Room: A Review As We Start Free Agency
Free agency closes soon and the draft is just around the corner. Over that period each team in the league is going to be getting closer and closer to filling out a 55-man roster to take into 2007. But not every team has the same number of spots to fill or the same amount of money to spend.
Needing players and being able to afford players are two very different problems. Some teams have a stack of open spots and money to burn. Others are basically full already and are just window-shopping for value pickups. And a few unlucky clubs have plenty of holes and nothing in the bank to fill them.
It got me thinking – how do those roster spots and cap room issues converge at this point in the offseason. I decided to take a closer look to see what the landscape is across the league. A quick note before we dive in: Not everyone approaches their maximum of 55 spots the same. So it is an estimation based on the current rosters. I looked at a hypothetical 55-man max minus how many players a team currently has. The positional breakdowns lean on an assumed ideal depth chart at each spot — say, 5 receivers or 4 defensive tackles per team — which is a judgment call that'll vary by preference. And the cap numbers are a current snapshot; more moves are coming before the week is out. All of it is a little squishy. But squishy still tells a story.
Empty Rosters and Full Wallets
League-wide, thinner rosters tend to come with more cap space, which makes sense. Fewer players on the books usually means fewer big contracts eating the cap. The average team has about 14 open spots and $11.6M in room, but that average is hiding a real split between teams that get to shop for fun, teams shopping out of necessity, and teams that can barely shop at all.
Who Needs Bodies?
A few teams have LOTS of roster spots to fill. The Panthers lead the way — 20 open spots (tied for second-most in the league) and $35.81M in cap room (second-most, period). That's a team that can be aggressive in free agency without blinking. The Chargers and 49ers are right there too, tied with Carolina at 20 open spots, with $17.82M and $14.46M to spend respectively.
The Seahawks deserve their own shoutout: only 17 open spots, but the biggest cap cushion in football at $37.8M. They don't need to spend — which is exactly what makes them dangerous. The Texans ($16.6M, 17 spots) and Dolphins ($20.07M, 17 spots) round out the group with the most flexibility.
Roster Spots to Fill but Sitting in Cap Space Hell
Then there's the flip side. The Cardinals are in an interesting position — a league-worst -$9.07M in room, still stuck with 12 open spots. Needing bodies and being unable to buy them is about the worst spot in football, and it dumps a ton of pressure onto the draft to do the fixing instead.
The Rams (-$4.35M, 14 open spots) and Bengals (-$1.52M, 16 open) are in a similar bind, and the Falcons aren't far behind at -$0.31M with 15 spots open. For each of these teams, they likely have some moves planned, but they may also have to get creative.
No Need, No Problem
Some teams just don't have much left to fill, cash or no cash. The Buccaneers have the fewest open roster spots in football — just 5 — even sitting at -$2.27M. Not a great cap picture, but there's barely any roster left to fix, so it stings less. The Patriots (7 open, $3.75M) are in the same boat: mostly finished, not much extra to spend.
The better version of this tier is the Jaguars and Colts — 8 open spots apiece, tied for second-fewest, while carrying real cap room ($12.44M and $11.55M). Nearly full roster, money still in the tank: that's a team that gets to draft best-player-available and shop free agency for luxury, not necessity. The Raiders and Redskins (10 spots each, around $11.5M room) fit the same mold.
Which Positions Need to Be Filled
Looking at the open roster spots by position across the league tells an interesting story as well and may inform what positions might get targeted in FA and the draft. Position by position, Defensive Tackle is the deepest hole in the league by far — teams are only about 69% filled there (again, assuming each team keeps 4 DTs, which likely isn’t the case across the league), leaving roughly 40 open DT spots leaguewide, more than any other spot. Wide receiver (29 open), Offensive Tackle (28 ), and OG (26) aren't far behind, so expect the trenches and the receiver room to see the heaviest traffic. Quarterback is the surprise fourth — 22 open spots leaguewide, more than you'd guess for a position teams usually guard closely.
Cornerback, despite needing the most bodies per team on paper (5), is actually just middle-of-the-pack in scarcity at 89% filled — most rooms are already mostly stocked. Middle linebacker is the one spot where the league is over-filled relative to what teams say they want, which should make it the softest, most buyer-friendly market around.
Put it all together and the next ten days split the league into three camps: teams shopping because they can and should (Panthers, Chargers, Seahawks), teams shopping because they have to but can barely afford it (Cardinals, Rams, Bengals), and teams with the least shopping left to do either way (Buccaneers, Patriots, Jaguars, Colts).
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