NFL Salary Cap Expected to Rise to Somewhere Between $138.6 Million and $141.8 Million
Arif Hasan
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According to Jason La Canfora at CBS, owners were informed that the 2015 Salary Cap for the NFL will rise, possibly up to $142 million.
NFL Management Council informed teams at league meeting today ’15 cap projects b/n $138.6M-$141.8M. I bet it ends up higher. Often does
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) December 10, 2014
The fact that it could rise even higher than that means a lot when it comes to contracts. Because the amount of space a player takes up on a team’s overall payroll is the only thing worth caring about when it comes to player contracts (unless you have a moral objection to a particular player or group of players drawing large sums of money), this changes the 2015 landscape for a number of teams, including the Vikings.
Here’s a table (courtesy of OverTheCap.com) below with the 2015 cap hits for Vikings players and what percentage of the cap they take up. Next to the two different columns for the different caps is a column that looks at how much of the cap their average cap hit took up in the year they signed with Minnesota:
| Player | Signed | Cap Hit | Percent (138.6M Cap) | Percent (141.8M Cap) | Original Avg When Signed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Peterson | 2012 | $15,400,000 | 11.1% | 10.9% | 12.2% |
| Greg Jennings | 2013 | $11,000,000 | 7.9% | 7.8% | 7.3% |
| Chad Greenway | 2011 | $8,800,000 | 6.3% | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| Everson Griffen | 2014 | $8,200,000 | 5.9% | 5.8% | 6.4% |
| Phil Loadholt | 2013 | $6,750,000 | 4.9% | 4.8% | 5.1% |
| Kyle Rudolph | 2014 | $6,550,000 | 4.7% | 4.6% | 5.3% |
| Matt Kalil | 2012 | $6,290,644 | 4.5% | 4.4% | 4.1% |
| John Sullivan | 2012 | $5,750,000 | 4.1% | 4.1% | 3.9% |
| Brian Robison | 2011 | $5,450,000 | 3.9% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Matt Cassel | 2013 | $4,750,000 | 3.4% | 3.3% | 3.8% |
| Linval Joseph | 2014 | $4,600,000 | 3.3% | 3.2% | 4.7% |
| Captain Munnerlyn | 2014 | $3,833,333 | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.9% |
| Brandon Fusco | 2014 | $3,550,000 | 2.6% | 2.5% | 3.2% |
| Ben Tate | 2014 | $2,950,000 | 2.1% | 2.1% | 2.2% |
| Anthony Barr | 2014 | $2,896,272 | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2.4% |
| Charlie Johnson | 2011 | $2,500,000 | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2.4% |
| Jerome Felton | 2013 | $2,500,000 | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.8% |
| Harrison Smith | 2012 | $2,271,355 | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.5% |
| Sharrif Floyd | 2013 | $2,202,600 | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% |
| Xavier Rhodes | 2013 | $2,129,046 | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.6% |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | 2013 | $1,969,376 | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.5% |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 2014 | $1,556,705 | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.3% |
| Marcus Sherels | 2013 | $1,250,000 | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.9% |
| Andrew Sendejo | 2013 | $1,066,668 | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.7% |
| Josh Robinson | 2012 | $950,250 | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| Jarius Wright | 2012 | $765,027 | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| J’Marcus Webb | 2014 | $745,000 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.2% |
| Rhett Ellison | 2012 | $735,146 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.3% |
| Robert Blanton | 2012 | $712,763 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Scott Crichton | 2014 | $705,507 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| Gerald Hodges | 2013 | $690,027 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Blair Walsh | 2012 | $689,483 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Shaun Prater | 2013 | $660,000 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Audie Cole | 2013 | $660,000 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Jerick McKinnon | 2014 | $648,750 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Jeff Locke | 2013 | $631,048 | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Michael Mauti | 2013 | $600,682 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Chase Ford | 2013 | $585,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Joe Banyard | 2013 | $585,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Zach Line | 2013 | $585,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| David Yankey | 2014 | $561,725 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Antone Exum | 2014 | $538,947 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Shamar Stephen | 2014 | $526,287 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Brandon Watts | 2014 | $525,612 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Jabari Price | 2014 | $525,455 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Antonio Richardson | 2014 | $510,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Austin Wentworth | 2014 | $510,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Charles Johnson | 2014 | $510,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Adam Thielen | 2014 | $510,000 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
The total adds up to $129 million, which doesn’t account for the fact that perhaps half of the young players will end up cut cap-free or on the practice squad. the Vikings have a negligible dead space hit for 2015 (so far) at only $264,000. With new rookies coming in and some of these young players being pushed out, expect the cap number to be somewhere between $131-$133 million or so without any changes. That gives the Vikings somewhere between $5.6 million and $10.8 million. I’m not comfortable with that number, so expect to see some restructuring, trading or outright cutting when it comes to Adrian Peterson, Chad Greenway, Greg Jennings and perhaps Brian Robison.