Washington 2022 Roster and Salary Cap Update, Part 2
February 7, 2022
by Steve Thomas
Since Washington has entered into the infant stages of its 2022 offseason plan, it seemed like the right time to give a salary cap update for the coming season. The NFL and the NFLPA previously agreed that the 2022 salary cap would be fixed at $208.2M for the 2022 season. This isn’t the norm – this negotiation took place as a result of the severe drop in income during the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league and the players agreed to spread out the loss over a number of years in order to prevent the 2020 salary cap from being reduced to the point that it would have ruined the rosters of every team in the league.
Washington also has the benefit of what is at this moment is $4,080,239 in what is known as rollover cap space. Every team is required to calculate the amount of salary cap space it did not use during the prior season (i.e., 2021) and report that number to the NFL. The league is then required to audit that reported number. Washington recently reported the $4,080,239 figure. The final number – again, the team’s reported figure, as audited by the NFL – is then applied to the salary cap for the following year. Therefore, this number could change once the NFL’s audit is completed.
This means that right now, Washington has $212,280,239 in available cap space for the 2022 season. Various other adjustments are sometimes made to each team’s final cap number, so this final number will most likely eventually change by a relatively small amount.
In the offseason, the top 51 active contracts are counted against the team’s salary cap. This is called the “Rule of 51”. For the contracts below the Rule of 51 line, only the amounts that are beyond the NFL minimum are counted against the cap. In a practical sense, that means that draft picks and free agents with guaranteed money will have the amount of the guarantee applied to the cap, but not their base salaries. This rule is in place to allow teams to reach a full 90 man training camp roster without vastly exceeding the salary cap.
Washington signed a number of players to what are known as “futures contracts” shortly after the regular season ended. These are given to practice squad players, because the practice squad technically goes away after the season. They are called “futures contracts” because teams can’t sign players to new contracts until the new league year and free agency begins on March 16. A futures deal doesn’t technically begin until the new league year, but allows the team to continue to hold the players’ rights and allows the player to stay around the team and use the facilities.
Finally, Washington also holds the rights to number of young players who fall into a category known as “exclusive rights free agent”. Players in this category have less than three accrued NFL seasons plus have an expired contract. All the team has to do in order to keep the rights to these players is to make what’s known as a “tender offer”, which is essentially a one year minimum salary contract offer. These aren’t made until after the season ends, so Washington has not yet made its tender offers. Therefore, I have not counted these players against the 2022 salary cap.
With that said, let’s dive into Washington’s current salary cap status for the 2022 season. For this exercise, I’m treating the roster and cap as if we are already under the 2022 offseason rules, even though the 2021 playoffs are still ongoing and the 2021 league year won’t end until March. I’m going to review Washington’s cap status by position group. The team currently has 56 players signed to the roster, so five contracts don’t count against the cap.[1] Those 56 players have a combined cap hit of $184.97M, with $179.6M counting under the Rule of 51. Including almost $703K in left over dead money, Washington is about $31.9M under the cap under the Rule of 51.
This piece was originally one single column, but I broke it up into two parts because of length. I covered defense last week, so I’ll address the offense and specialists here.
Offense
In total, Washington has 28 offensive players signed for the 2022 season who occupy a combined total of 37.03% of the salary cap.[1]
Tight Ends
Washington only has 3 tight ends on the roster for 2022, Logan Thomas, who has a cap hit of $6.465M, 2021 rookie John Bates ($1.005M) and 2021 rookie undrafted free agent Sammis Reyes ($831K). Thomas and Bates are signed through 2024, and Reyes is signed through 2023. Tyrone Swoopes is technically also a part of this position group and would have a cap hit of $825K (which is under the Rule of 51 line) if he reports. In total, counting Swoopes, this group occupies 4.30% of available cap space.
Interior offensive line
The team has 8 guards and centers signed for 2022 at a total cap hit of $30.135M and $28.6M under the Rule of 51. Two players, guard Ereck Flowers and center Chose Roullier, have large cap hits of $10M and $10.06M, respectively. Flowers’ contract is only through 2022, although Roullier is signed through 2024. Guard/center Wes Schweitzer is in the final year of his contract and has a cap hit of $6M. The remaining 4 players in this position group, Zack Bailey, Beau Benzschawel, Deion Calhoun, and Nolan Laufenberg, are all practice squad-level players on futures deals. Laufenberg’s contract is below the current Rule of 51 line. The eighth player would be Najee Toran at an $825K cap hit (which is under the Rule of 51 line), should he report. In total, this position group occupies 13.81% of the 2022 salary cap.
Tackles
Washington currently only has 3 tackles on the roster for the 2022 season, Saahdiq Charles, Samuel Cosmi, and Charles Leno. Charles’ rookie contract runs through 2023, and his 2022 cap hit is $1.094M. Cosmi is entering the second year of his rookie deal, which runs through 2024, and he’ll cost $1.5M against the cap in 2022. Leno recently signed an extension through 2024 and will count for $8.5M in 2022. In total, the tackle group counts for $11.1M accounts for 5.23% of the salary cap. The entire offensive line has a combined cap hit of $41.2M and $39.7M under the Rule of 51, which is a total of 19.43% of the salary cap.
Wide receivers
Seven receivers are on the roster for 2022. The big money player is Curtis Samuel, whose contract runs through 2023 (he also has voidable years in 2024 and 2025), will count for $12.9M. Budding superstar Terry McLaurin is entering the final year of his rookie deal and will count for $3.04M in 2022. McLaurin will be eligible for a contract extension this offseason, and if Washington’s front office has more than two active brain cells between them, they will offer him a 5 year, max-value contract without delay. Second year player Dyami Brown will count for $1.1M in 2022, and his rookie deal runs through 2024. Dax Milne is also entering year 2 of his rookie deal, which runs through 2024, and will count for $823K. The remainder of the group, Antonio Gandy-Golden, Kelvin Harmon, and Marken Michel, are all on minimum value one year futures contracts. In total, this group currently counts for $20.4M in cap space, which is 9.64% of the salary cap.
Running backs
Washington currently has five running backs on the roster for the 2022 season who count for a combined $4.9M in cap space, which is 2.31% of available cap space. Antonio Gibson and Jaret Patterson are both signed through 2023 at cap hits of $1.345M and $836K, respectively. The remaining three, including fullback Alex Armah, Reggie Bonnafon, and Jonathan Williams, are all on minimum-value one year futures contracts.
Quarterbacks
As was the case with the middle linebacker group, this one is very easy. Washington’s only quarterback currently on the roster for 2022 is Taylor Heinicke, who is entering the final year of his two year contract. He’s going to count for $2.875M in cap space, which is 1.35% of available cap space.
Specialists
Washington’s only two specialists on the roster for 2022 are long snapper Cameron Cheeseman, whose rookie contract runs through 2024, and punter Tress Way, who is also signed through 2024. They will count for $857K and $3.085M against the 2022 cap, respectively, for a combined 1.86% in available cap space. Washington does not have a kicker on the roster.
That’s where the team currently stands. Let me know in the comment section if you have any roster or salary cap questions.
[1] Last year, two players, TE Tyrone Swoopes and guard Najee Toran, were signed to the roster for 2021 on futures deals but failed to report to camp. Washington requested roster exemptions for both players. Those exemptions were granted and they were placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list for the 2021 season and did not count against the 2021 salary cap. Technically, those contracts should now roll over to 2022, but we have no information indicating that either man intends to report. Regardless, their contracts are both under the Rule of 51 line, so they are irrelevant in any case for purposes of the offseason salary cap. I will include them in this analysis for the sake of completeness, so technically, the team has 56 players on the roster for 2022, although the number is 54 in a practical sense.