Cardinals lead the NFL with largest rookie salary-cap pool of over $19 million
Since 2011, when the collective bargaining agreement between NFL players and management was fashioned following a six-month lockout, the signing of draft picks has been a seamless process.
A slotting system was devised that provides teams with little wiggle room for the financial terms of those deals. In addition, once the draft is complete, each team has a rookie pool that includes undrafted players and can’t exceed a dollar amount for both the salary cap and the total maximum compensation.
With the draft now six days in the books, the Ravens have gotten a jump on everyone by signing four of their draft picks, including first-round cornerback Nate Wiggins (30th overall).
Most important locally is that by virtue of their league-high 12 selections and with two in the first round, the Cardinals are far and away the clear leader with a rookie pool of $19.276 million and a maximum real-dollar total of $106.018 million.
The next-highest team is Washington with $16.057/$88.315 million. The other teams with top-five picks aren’t far behind the Commanders: Chicago $14.251/$78.378 million, L.A. Chargers $14.208/$78.143 million and New England $14.041/$77.225 million.
Overall, there are 17 teams with rookie pools of at least $10 million. The team with the lowest rookie pool is Cleveland, which had only six draft picks and none in the first round. The Browns’ rookie pool is $5.680 million with max compensation of $31.239 million.
It’s important to note for the Cardinals and all teams that a significant percentage of space won’t be charged immediately against the cap as draft picks sign.
Only the top 51 players count against the cap in the offseason and the current cutoff for the Cardinals is $985,000. Several of those above the cutoff line are a shade over $1 million. When a draft choice is signed and is included in the top 51, that bumps a player out of the top 51.
Thus, picks in the third round will be close to a cap wash, while those in the fourth round on won’t be in the top 51. Those players receive four-year contracts with minimum salaries and s signing bonus prorated against the cap for those four years. The rookie minimum this year is $795,000.
That $19.276 million pool for the Cardinals will result in a total net cap addition of about $10 million.
Once the roster is set at 53 plus the practice squad and players on injured reserve as of the opening game, all will count against the cap of $255.4 million.
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