Cutting WR Tyrell Williams gets Raiders out of negative salary-cap space, on way to being able to add players

Raiders could easily open anywhere between $70 and $90 mm in cap savings, depending on who exactly they release/trade. If one is to believe the Over-The-Cap and Spotrac, two main sites tracking the cap situations of all NFL teams, Raiders currently have almost $203 mm tied under contracts, so they are around $14.5 mm over the cap, rather than $9.7 mm. So, the cap savings above would facilitate signing FAs to contracts taking between $55 mm and $75 mm. How much of that would have to be spent as signing bonus cash is anybody’s guess, as it would depend on who exactly is signed.

However, if Raiders don’t spend what’s necessary to plug the main holes on defense with top veterans available in free agency, they certainly won’t be able to do so with rookies drafted in April. That would assure another year of mediocrity, and the goal of getting to Superbowl being pushed one more year down the road.

Considering the above, going after a wide receiver such as the Bear’s Robinson, as you’ve suggested in an earlier article Steve, would be a major misallocation of funds.

One player who would make a huge difference and should be the top target for the Raiders is Leonard Williams (27, 6’5″, 304), the NY Giants defensive tackle. He’s not only the best interior pass rusher in the league after Aaron Donald (62 QB pressures, at 12.3% rate, 13 sacks in 2020) but also an excellent run stopper (30 run stops, at 10.3% rate, only 4 missed tackles in 2020). Giants are just under the cap, but have too many problems to address, so he might be available. If so, analysts estimate that his contract would have a cap hit of around $20 mm. However, if the Giants tag him or otherwise sign him, Raiders should definitely bring back Mario Edwards, who had a couple of excellent seasons with the Bears as a rotational player, at around third of that cost.

Next, for around $12 mm against the cap, Raiders could possibly get Trey Hendrickson (27, 6’4″, 270), the Saints defensive end who’s an excellent pass rusher (50 QB pressures, at 13.3% rate, 14 sacks), as well as a very good run defender (23 run stops, at 12.6% rate, with only 3 missed tackles). The Saints are $84 mm over the cap (!) and most likely cannot find the way to keep him.

Those two additions (together with re-signed Hankins as a run stopper – he had 33 run stops, the third most stops among the nose tackles in 2020) could dramatically improve the Raiders defensive front, with possibly major transformative effect.

Next, a top young free safety should be a target, and Ray made a perfect suggestion in an earlier article. Rams, who are $27 mm over the cap will find it very difficult to keep John Johnson III (26), the best free safety available (since the Jets, with ton of cap space, will very likely re-signed Marcus Maye, as will Broncos and Vikings do with Simmons and Harris, respectively). He could be probably signed with a cap hit of no more than $15 mm.

So, with improved defensive coaching staff, spending around $47 mm of cap space on these three players could very likely push the ranking of the Raiders’ defense by performance into the league’s top half. Together with improved utilization of Ruggs and Edwards, that could make the Raiders a serious contender.