With 21 unrestricted free agents and a leaguewide salary cap that is shrinking, the Raiders face a challenging offseason in the front office.
A key will be deciding how much money to spend on re-signing their free agents while also creating enough salary-cap space to be active participants in the free-agent market.
Because of COVID-19 and its financial impact, the cap number for 2021, which has yet to be finalized, will decrease. The most recent projection pegs the ceiling at $176 million, which represents a $22 million drop from 2020.
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To put that in perspective, aside from the decrease in the salary cap from 2010 to 2011 because of a league lockout, the cap has increased every single year over the past 10 years. That includes the rise from $188.2 million in 2019 to $198.2 million in 2020.