We’re in the slowest month of the year for the NFL – the dead period between the end of OTAs and the start of training camp. But it’s not as dead as usual this year, with DeAndre Hopkins and Dalvin Cook sitting on the open market. They’ll be starting in Week 1.
Some other possibly relevant players are also currently free agents, including Leonard Fournette, Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Carson Wentz, Mason Crosby and Robbie Gould. Some might put Kenny Golladay on that list.
Hopkins is 31 and doesn’t have elite speed, but he’s still among the best in the league in coming down with contested catches. He’s probably still better than the best receiver on most teams. He’s visited the Titans and Patriots, and Kansas City, Cleveland and Buffalo have shown some interest (possibly contributing to Stefon Diggs getting ticked off earlier in the week).
Similarly, the Vikings didn’t want to pay Cook $10.4 million, but he would be the best running back on most teams. Possibly complicating his situation is an August court date relating to incident involving assault with a former girlfriend. It’s a civil rather than criminal case (they’ve sued each other) making it seem unlikely the NFL will get involved with any discipline, but let’s see how it transpires.
Miami has been mentioned as a possibility for Cook, and Kirk Cousins said earlier in the week that he hoped the Vikings would re-sign him.
The next level of free agents – Hunt, Elliott, Fournette – seem more likely to be signing contracts in line with backups.
As things currently stand, the Bears, Panthers, Cowboys and Lions have the most cap room. There are three solid playoff contenders that have over $20 million in cap room (according to Spotrac.com): Dallas, Detroit and the Jets. That’s using the 51 largest contracts on each team.
There are five teams with less than $8 million in cap space, and four of them went to the playoff last year: Bucs, Bills, Giants and Kansas City.
To me, the Cowboys and Chargers stand out as the playoff-caliber teams that really need to add a viable running back (unless they feel really good about one of their younger, unproven backs). But tough to see them breaking the bank for Cook, given that they’ve already declined to commit to much to the backs they already have (Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler).
| SALARY CAP SPACE | |
|---|---|
| Team | Cap Room |
| Chicago | $32,372,824 |
| Carolina | $27,272,175 |
| Dallas | $24,130,354 |
| Detroit | $23,735,445 |
| Indianapolis | $23,351,371 |
| Arizona | $23,220,278 |
| NY Jets | $21,374,057 |
| Houston | $20,003,517 |
| Minnesota | $19,165,913 |
| Cleveland | $17,186,985 |
| Green Bay | $16,205,839 |
| Cincinnati | $15,380,029 |
| Pittsburgh | $14,779,700 |
| New Orleans | $14,288,421 |
| LA Rams | $13,777,354 |
| Miami | $13,413,229 |
| New England | $13,215,081 |
| Philadelphia | $12,692,155 |
| San Francisco | $11,879,516 |
| LA Chargers | $11,849,439 |
| Jacksonville | $10,704,365 |
| Baltimore | $10,547,328 |
| Washington | $10,221,958 |
| Atlanta | $9,752,220 |
| Denver | $9,325,827 |
| Seattle | $8,669,616 |
| Tennessee | $8,381,611 |
| NY Giants | $5,067,521 |
| Buffalo | $5,042,338 |
| Las Vegas | $3,231,903 |
| Kansas City | $1,099,803 |
| Tampa Bay | -$560,146 |
Source: Spotrac.com
—Ian Allan