The Las Vegas Raiders made it clear at the end of last season that they are done with Derek Carr. Head coach Josh McDaniels benched him for the final two games of last season, and now they are looking for a trade and may have to release him outright. With the win-now talent on the Raiders roster, though, the team needs to bring in a veteran at quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. The issue is, how do you get the Aaron Rodgers contract into the Raiders' current cap space?
Here we will look at what the Raiders' cap space looks like now and what moves the team has to make in order to fit the Aaron Rodgers contract in. Because with the right moves, a Rodgers trade is possible in the 2023 NFL offseason for the Raiders.
How to free up Raiders cap space for the Aaron Rodgers contract
The Aaron Rodgers contract is the largest in the NFL in terms of total cash in 2023. Whichever team pays him, they will shell out over $59.5 million. From a salary cap perspective, the deal isn’t that bad, though. Rodgers’ cap hit is just $36.1 million in 2023, which is actually about $3 million less than Derek Carr’s contract would have counted against the cap in 2023.
Heading into the offseason, the Raiders' cap space situation isn’t bad at all. The team has approximately $17.4 million in cap space, which is ninth-best in the NFL right now.
With a few moves, the team can easily free enough room to get Rodgers on the roster.
The first thing the team has to do is cut Carr before February 15. If the team does that, it will save $29.2 million. That move right there, combined with the Raiders cap space the team already has, is enough to get Rodgers in the door.
Additionally, the team can restructure the contracts of Maxx Crosby, Chandler Jones, Kolton Miller, Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, Darren Waller, Daniel Carlson, and A.J. Cole, and that will free an additional $32.8 million in cap space. Without losing players or doign all that much, the Raiders can save a lot of cap space, which means they have a lot of financial flexibility in trades.
This last piece is good news for the Raiders, because the team may not release Carr before the February 15 deadline. The Raiders are desperate to trade the QB and get something back for him. They really don’t want to let him walk for free.
However, the team also hasn’t found a trade partner yet, with the deadline looming. If the team does keep him past the deadline to look for a trade, the Raiders can still bring Rodgers in by restructuring the eight players above. That's huge for the Raiders. If they can get a pick for Carr, it will ease the burden of the draft capital they have to give up in a Rodgers deal.
And just as interesting as Aaron Rodgers and the Raiders' cap space situation is the QB and the Green Bay Packers cap.
The Packers have a big decision to make about trading Rodgers. If they do it before June 1, it will absolutely crush their salary cap. However, it will allow them to get picks for him in the 2023 NFL Draft. If they trade him after June 1, the cap situation is a lot easier, but picks won’t come until 2024.
Trading Rodgers before June 1 comes with a $40.3 million dead cap hit for the Packers. That’s $8.6 million more than the QB would cost against the Packers' cap if they kept him for next season.
If the move came after June 1, the Packers could break the dead cap up into two different seasons. In this scenario, $15.8 million would go on the 2023 ledger (for a $15.7 million savings), and $24.4 million will be on the 2024 cap.
This is important because the Packers aren’t in a great salary cap spot heading into 2023. The team has -$17.5 million in cap space, which is the eighth-worst in the NFL right now. Even with all the restructuring and cutting veteran players they can do, taking a $40 million cap hit for Rodgers next season will be tough.
In the end, there is enough Raiders cap space to fit the Aaron Rodgers contract. That means that if Vegas wants to get a deal done and is willing to give up (likely) two first-round picks for the signal-caller, it can happen. It won’t be an easy pill for the Packers to swallow, financially, but it is what they have to do so that they can end the Aaron Rodgers Era and finally start the Jordan Love Era.
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