Raiders in salary cap trouble already

Earlier this week reports surfaced that the new collective bargaining agreement might spell very bad news for the Oakland Raiders. While Al Davis has not been grasping at straws via free agency recently, he was very aggressive earlier this offseason re-signing eight players to a total of $85.48 million in contracts. Now, all of that money is not going to be in the current year’s salary cap, but it still puts the Raiders in a questionable circumstance in the upcoming year.

The big issue on the table is: Are the Raiders in salary cap trouble already?

The low estimate on the next salary cap is $120 million. I say that is low because in 2009, it was actually $127 million. Typically, it tends to go up yearly, not down. According to the 2009 CBA rules, NFL clubs had to spend at least 86 percent of that total cap space. But some owners cheated the system and accounted for incentives that would be nearly impossible to reach – therefore they would account for that 86 percent, but not really be paying that much actual cash during the year and end up pocketing the difference.

On March 11, 2011, the owners were willing to set the floor at 90 percent of the salary cap in cash without incentives. Now they are willing to make the floor close to 98 percent of the salary cap in cash not including incentives because they are so pressed for time.

In 2010, Al Davis went all out for his football team in an uncapped year and spent the most money in the league at over $150 million in player salaries. That is easily the most money ever spent on a team in the history of the NFL. And since they only produced an 8-8 record, you can certainly imagine why he was so frustrated by Tom Cable’s “not losers any more” jibber jabber.

Now, according to the leaked information earlier this week about the new CBA, the players are expected to receive 48 percent of the NFL’s income. If you figure the NFL makes the reported $9 billion per year, you take 48 percent of that and divide it by the 32 teams – this means that the 2011 cap should actually be closer to $135 million – not $120 million.

Still, that puts the Raiders in a tight squeeze, considering they want to fit the same (or similar) roster to what last year cost them $150 million. Basically, after Stanford Routt and Kamerion Wimbley get their huge raises this year, the Raiders will only have enough cap room to re-sign Zach Miller and Michael Bush (who may also get huge raises), their 2011 rookies, and some scrap players in free agency.

But according to a report, the Raiders have close to $26 million in “dead” money based on players whose contracts were released or voided to make them free agents over the last several seasons. If the new accounting rules in the CBA account for that money, the Raiders could be in serious trouble and may be forced to release some of their more talented players. At the present time, the Raiders reportedly have about $103.2 million already signed up for 2011.

Despite the fact that both Bay Area teams are in the NFL’s fifth largest market, both teams are in the lower 25 percent of the league in terms of actual earned revenue. A lot of that is due to poor ticket sales from putting less than desirable product on the field. Still, the Raiders have never had an issue paying their players, as Al Davis has never been one to shy away from giving his players perhaps more money than they are worth. But recent debacles like JaMarcus Russell, DeAngelo Hall, and Javon Walker may end up costing the Raiders further in the coming season. Talk about skeletons in the closet.

A lot of things remain to be seen as far as what the cap will look like and what the accounting rules are going to be, but if the Raiders have to re-sign Zach Miller and Michael Bush rather than slapping them with the highest restricted free agency tags that they are currently signed up for, they could be in serious trouble making the available cap space work for them without cutting some salaries. If that is the case, they may as well say goodbye to Nnamdi Asomugha right now.

It also remains to be seen if somebody like Kamerion Wimbley would consider re-signing to a longer term deal for less money this year to help the Raiders get some free space. Earlier this offseason, Wimbley’s agent said that he would sign the franchise tag contract and would not be re-signing this year.

One thing we know for sure is that Al Davis made his own bed here and whether that is good or bad, he must lie in it.