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2023 NFL Cap Space, By Team

October 28th, 2023 at 8:42pm CST by Adam La Rose

The countdown to this year’s October 31 trade deadline continues, and a number of deals have already been made. More will follow in the coming days, though, as contending teams look to bolster their rosters for the stretch run and sellers seek to offload expiring contracts and gain future draft assets. Much will be driven, of course, by each squad’s financial situation.

Courtesy of Over the Cap, here’s a breakdown of every team’s cap space in advance of the deadline:

  1. San Francisco 49ers: $39.89MM
  2. Cleveland Browns: $33.99MM
  3. Arizona Cardinals: $11.1MM
  4. Cincinnati Bengals: $10.78MM
  5. Tennessee Titans: $10.55MM
  6. Las Vegas Raiders: $9.16MM
  7. Chicago Bears: $9.06MM
  8. Los Angeles Chargers: $9.05MM
  9. Indianapolis Colts: $8.78MM
  10. Minnesota Vikings: $7.96MM
  11. Green Bay Packers: $7.55MM
  12. New York Jets: $7.17MM
  13. Seattle Seahawks: $7.16MM
  14. Carolina Panthers: $7.07MM
  15. Dallas Cowboys: $7.03MM
  16. Baltimore Ravens: $6.83MM
  17. Atlanta Falcons: $6.76MM
  18. Detroit Lions: $6.62MM
  19. Jacksonville Jaguars: $6.42MM
  20. New Orleans Saints: $4.67MM
  21. Buffalo Bills: $4.58MM
  22. Los Angeles Rams: $4.37MM
  23. Houston Texans: $4.26MM
  24. Washington Commanders: $3.78MM
  25. Kansas City Chiefs: $3.7MM
  26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $3.63MM
  27. Miami Dolphins: $3.49MM
  28. New England Patriots: $2.87MM
  29. Philadelphia Eagles: $2.81MM
  30. Pittsburgh Steelers: $2.55MM
  31. Denver Broncos: $1.22MM
  32. New York Giants: $991K

The 49ers have carried considerable space throughout the season, but general manager John Lynch made it clear last month the team’s intention was to roll over most of their funds into next season. Still, with San Francisco sitting at 5-2 on the year, it would come as little surprise if at least one more depth addition (separate from the Randy Gregory move) were to be made in the near future.

Deals involving pick swaps for role players dominated the trade landscape for some time, but more noteworthy contributors have been connected to a potential swap recently. One of them – Titans safety Kevin Byard – has already been dealt. That has led to speculation Tennessee is open to dealing other big names as they look to 2024. Derrick Henry’s name has come up multiple times with respect to a deal sending him out of Nashville, but that now seems unlikely.

Several edge rushers are on the market, including Danielle Hunter (Vikings) and one or both of Montez Sweat and Chase Young (Commanders). Hunter nearly found himself with the Jaguars this offseason, and last year’s AFC South winners could be on the lookout for a pass rush boost. A mid-level addition in that regard would come as little surprise. In Minnesota and Washington’s case, however, it remains to be seen if they will be true sellers given their 3-4 records heading into tomorrow’s action.

A number of receivers could also be on the move soon. Both the Broncos’ pair of Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton and the Panthers’ Terrace Marshall have been involved heavily in trade talk. Jeudy and Sutton are on the books at an eight figure price tag next season, and the Broncos are unlikely to receive the draft capital they could have at prior points in their Denver tenures. Marshall, by contrast, is in the third season of his four-year rookie contract and could fit more comfortably into an acquiring team’s cap situation. The Panthers have allowed him to seek out a trade partner.

The Cowboys sit in the top half of the league in terms of spending power, but mixed signals initially came out with respect to their interest in making a splash. Owner Jerry Jones has insisted Dallas will not initiate negotiations on a trade, citing his confidence in a 4-2 roster which has been hit by a few notable injuries on defense in particular. Despite having more cap space than most other teams, the Bengals are likewise expected to be quiet on the trade front.  

The past few years have seen a notable uptick in trade activity around the league, and it would come as a surprise if that trend did not continue over the next few days. Last-minute restructures and cost-shedding moves would help the teams in need of flexibility pull off moves, though sellers will no doubt also be asked to retain salary if some of the higher-paid veterans on the trade block end up being dealt. Given the spending power of teams at the top of the list, there is plenty of potential for the league’s landscape to change ahead of the stretch run to the playoffs.

Bills CB Kaiir Elam On Trade Block?

October 28th, 2023 at 11:01am CST by Ben Levine

Kaiir Elam has struggled to carve out a role in Buffalo, and the cornerback may have to revive his career elsewhere. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Elam is a name worth watching heading into Tuesday’s trade deadline. Fowler notes that the former first-round pick has garnered interest from rival teams.

Elam started six games in 13 appearances as a rookie but failed to establish himself as a permanent starter heading into his sophomore campaign. The cornerback was a healthy scratch for the first month of the season, but as the Bills dealt with a number of injuries in their secondary, Elam was thrown into the starting lineup for Buffalo’s Week 5 matchup against the Jaguars.

The cornerback ended up getting pulled during that eventual loss. He earned another start in Week 6 but didn’t keep the job; he exclusively played special teams in Week 7 before once again being deemed inactive on Thursday night.

The other night, Elam was lapped on the depth chart by veteran Josh Norman, who was activated from the practice squad. After the game, coach Sean McDermott indicated that the second-year CB wasn’t helping Buffalo’s cause.

“Yeah, we want the players, at this point, and we feel like every decision we make is who can help us win,” McDermott said (h/t A to Z Sports). “We wanted to see what Josh (Norman) could do there.”

While Elam hasn’t clicked with the Bills, another team would surely take a chance on the defensive back. The Florida product was the 23rd-overall pick in the 2022 draft, and his draft pedigree will be enough to earn him an opportunity elsewhere.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/26/23

October 26th, 2023 at 7:11pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor moves around the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Reagor has been called up as a standard gameday elevation three times now for the Patriots, the maximum under a single practice squad contract. It remains to be seen if he will stick on the team’s active roster, but if he’s going to see any more game action this year, the promotion was a necessary one. He’s obviously able to play while on the active roster, but if the team were to release him and re-sign him to the practice squad, he would have the ability to be elevated three more times on the new deal.

The Bills and Buccaneers are making their standard gameday elevations for Thursday Night Football tonight. Veterans Isabella and Norman will both be making their season debuts if they see the field tonight in Buffalo, as will LeCounte and Senat for the Bucs. Norman has a good chance to see the field with Kaiir Elam out and Tre’Davious White still on injured reserve. Senat likewise should get a chance to rotate in for Tampa with Vita Vea currently inactive.

Bills TE Dawson Knox To Undergo Surgery, Expected To Be Placed On IR

October 26th, 2023 at 10:20am CST by Sam Robinson

OCTOBER 26: While a firm timeline is still not in place for Knox’s recovery, he could be in line to sit out an extended stretch. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Knox is expected to be placed on IR, a move which would require him to miss at least four weeks. That would open the door for Kincaid to see a sustained uptick in usage, but it would leave the Bills shorthanded on offense through an important midseason stretch. Buffalo has seven IR activations remaining this season.

OCTOBER 23: Injuries continue to remove key Bills pieces from the equation. After sustaining significant setbacks on defense this month, Buffalo’s latest major setback comes on offense.

Dawson Knox will undergo wrist surgery, according to Sean McDermott. While the seventh-year HC did not confirm a timetable, Knox will likely be in line to miss a stretch of games. This injury dates back to the Bills’ London matchup with the Jaguars, and although the veteran played in each of the past two games, the team will shut him down for the time being.

Knox has not missed a practice since the Bills returned from London, logging three limited sessions before Week 6 and practicing in full last week. He caught a two-point conversion toss from Josh Allen in the fourth quarter but also dropped a pass earlier in the stanza. For the season, Knox is at 15 receptions for just 102 yards and a touchdown. The 6.8-yard average is by far a career-low mark for the fifth-year pass catcher, whose per-game number (39.3) also checks in below his averages from 2019-22.

The Bills gave Knox a four-year, $52MM extension just before last season that at the time made the former third-round pick the NFL’s sixth-highest-paid tight end. With Darren Waller, Evan Engram and T.J. Hockenson signing new deals since, Knox now sits ninth in AAV at the position. While he remains a key Bills component, the team made the interesting move to invest its top offseason resource in the position by taking Dalton Kincaid in Round 1.

This injury will thrust Kincaid into a larger role, it would appear. This year’s first tight end drafted, Kincaid entered Week 7 with only one 30-plus-yard receiving performance. He established a new career-best mark in New England, totaling 75 yards on five catches. The Bills traded up for Kincaid in April, and they will need to lean on the Utah alum during Knox’s absence. While the two had shared the field, Knox had seen more playing time (316 offensive snaps) than Kincaid (242) early this season.

Unlike Tre’Davious White, Matt Milano and DaQuan Jones, Knox may be a likely candidate to come off IR. It would appear the Bills will move Knox off their 53-man roster while he recovers, but even that is not certain yet.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/25/23

October 25th, 2023 at 7:11pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: LB Donavan Mutin

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/21/23

October 21st, 2023 at 8:30pm CST by Adam La Rose

Here are the minor moves made around the league in advance of the Week 7 slate of Sunday games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos 

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Restored to active roster (from suspension exemption): DE Charles Omenihu

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Giants 

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Dulcich already had one IR stint this season due to an aggravation of last year’s hamstring injury. The 2022 third-rounder has appeared in only two contests so far this season, and in the most recent one he suffered yet another setback. As a result, he will once again be shut down for at least four weeks.

The Giants’ decision to again promote DeVito points to starter Daniel Jones missing another game. Indeed, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports Jones is considered a “longshot” to play tomorrow against the Commanders. It will in all likelihood be Tyrod Taylor under center for New York in Week 7 while Jones continues to recover from his neck injury.

Bills Place RB Damien Harris On IR

October 20th, 2023 at 3:54pm CST by Adam La Rose

The neck injury Damien Harris suffered in Week 6 will keep him sidelined for an extended stretch. The Bills announced on Friday that the veteran running back has been placed on IR.

As a result of the move. Harris will miss at least the next four weeks. He was hospitalized after suffering a stinger, but initial indications suggested the worst-case scenario had been avoided. Still, the 26-year-old’s absence will be felt in the Bills’ backfield moving forward. Buffalo signed ex-Lions and Jets backup Ty Johnson to the active roster in a corresponding move.

Johnson’s continued presence in the organization led to a Leonard Fournette visit being canceled earlier this week. The latter remains unsigned and his addition would have given the Bills a veteran depth presence at the RB spot, but instead that will now fall to Johnson and Latavius Murray. The Bills are already without pass-catching specialist/returner Nyheim Hines, who was involved in a jet ski accident before the season started.

James Cook has, as expected, seen a major uptick in usage this season, his second in the NFL. The 2022 second-rounder’s snap share sits at 56% through six weeks, more than double that figure from his rookie campaign. Cook will continue to be leaned on with Harris (who has totaled 25 touches to date this year) no longer in the fold for the time being. Murray saw a season-high 12 carries last week when Harris was injured, and he is in line to handle RB2 duties moving forward.

Bringing Harris back will require using one of the team’s seven remaining IR activations. His return will be welcomed by a Bills offense looking to find a rhythm both on the ground and through the air. For the foreseeable future, though, the team will need to consider adjusting its snap share in the backfield with another Cook compliment no longer available.

RB Leonard Fournette Will Not Visit Bills

October 17th, 2023 at 8:30am CST by Ely Allen

OCTOBER 17: Fournette will not, in fact be heading to Buffalo today. Schultz notes that the Bills expected to lose Ty Johnson off their practice squad, but since that is not happening, they will not host Fournette for an audition. The latter has still received interest from a number of teams, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports, but he does not have any visits lined up at this point.

OCTOBER 16: After receiving some promising news about running back Damien Harris, who was taken off the field in an ambulance after suffering a “neck sprain” last night, according to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz, the team is still dealing with the fact that they may be without him for a period of time. With Nyheim Hines suffering a season-ending injury before the season even began, this leaves the Bills with only James Cook and Latavius Murray as healthy active roster running backs.

Enter free agent running back Leonard Fournette. Schultz claims that Fournette has informed him that he will be visiting the Bills‘ facility tomorrow. After three years each with the Jaguars and Buccaneers, Fournette has been a free agent since being released by Tampa Bay in February.

Fournette hasn’t been quiet in his free agency, fielding calls from the Patriots, who would end up signing Ezekiel Elliott, and Colts, who found a resurgent break out from Zack Moss. He’s been ready, though, staying in good enough shape to perform at workouts, the newest of which will be in Buffalo tomorrow.

So far this season, the Bills have essentially used Cook as a workhorse, utilizing Harris and Murray to spell Cook for short periods. Murray has proven to be plenty serviceable as a backup running back over the years, but at 33 years old, he doesn’t have quite the same tread remaining as the 28-year-old Fournette.

Fournette could come in and provide the Bills with a true RB2 who can do a bit more than just give Cook a breather. Fournette would have a chance at coming in and actually earning snaps in certain situations. As for the likelihood of this opportunity, Schultz claims that “there’s a good chance (Fournette) signs in Buffalo if all goes well.”

Injury Notes: Harris, Tannehill, Garoppolo, Montgomery

October 15th, 2023 at 9:57pm CST by Ely Allen

Another scary scene in a Bills‘ regular season game, this time on their own home turf. Shortly before halftime in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game, Bills running back Damien Harris went down after an awkward-looking stinger and laid motionless on the turf, per Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN, requiring Buffalo’s award-winning medical staff to leap into action once again.

Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News reported that Harris was able to give the stadium a thumbs up as he was loaded into the ambulance in the middle of the field, providing a bit of comfort in a terrifying situation. Reports quickly followed that Harris was ruled out for the remainder of the contest with a neck injury but that he had movement in his arms and legs as he was being taken to the hospital for further testing, according to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia.

While James Cook has shouldered most of the load at running back in Buffalo so far this year, Harris has worked in tandem with Latavius Muray to spell Cook here and there. Harris came into the game as the team’s second-leading rusher in the running backs room. Hopefully, Harris will be able to make a quick and strong return to the field and retake his role in the Bills’ backfield.

Here are a few other injury rumors from around the NFL today:

  • Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill suffered a right ankle injury in today’s loss to the Ravens in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. After the initial injury, when a Ravens defender rolled over the back of Tannehill’s legs on a sack, the veteran quarterback attempted to return to the game. He found it difficult to step into throws and subsequently threw an interception. He told the media after the game that he felt he couldn’t be effective with the injury, leading to the entry of backup quarterback Malik Willis. According to ESPN’s Turron Davenport, Tannehill was on crutches after the game with plans to undergo an MRI once back in Tennessee. He missed the last three games of the season last year due to an injury to that same ankle, so there may be some concern about further damage to a previous injury. Despite the early hype, second-round rookie Will Levis has not been active for recent games, leading to the use of Willis. With a bye week coming up, there are myriad possibilities in the quarterbacks room. Tannehill could have plenty of time to heal, Willis could have ample time to prepare, or Levis could use the time to earn the staff’s trust, along with his first start.
  • The Raiders played the second half of today’s win over New England without starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after the former Patriot left the game with a back injury. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Las Vegas chose to “err on the side of caution” with their 31-year-old quarterback, sending him to the hospital mid-game for some precautionary tests.
  • Lions running back David Montgomery was knocked out of today’s win over the Buccaneers with a rib injury, according to Schefter. With Jahmyr Gibbs already ruled out while nursing a hamstring injury, Detroit turned to third- and fourth-string backs Craig Reynolds and Devine Ozigbo. X-rays came back negative on Montgomery’s ribs, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, a good sign that Montgomery may have avoided serious injury to his ribs. If neither Montgomery nor Gibbs are able to return for next week’s trip to Baltimore, expect more of Reynolds and Ozigbo.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/14/23

October 14th, 2023 at 9:51pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor transactions heading into the Week 6 weekend:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Dean took the starting role the Eagles had in store for him in Week 1, but a foot injury interrupted his second NFL campaign. The 22-year-old was poised to return ahead of Sunday’s game by returning to practice earlier this week, though, and a first-team role is expected to await him upon suiting up. Dean taking on a heavy workload will relegate Nicholas Morrow (who was promoted from the practice squad) to backup duty despite the latter’s strong performances so far.

Seattle has seen fellow corners Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen enjoy considerable success, but the team’s secondary will be shorthanded without Bryant. The latter will miss at least the next four weeks as a result of the IR move as he recovers from a toe injury. The 2022 fourth-rounder, who has seen his defensive snap share jump from 65% to 77% this year, has not played since Week 2.

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