*ALL INFORMATION IS GATHERED VIA WWW.SPOTRAC.COM *

I took a quick look at the 2013, 2014, and 2015 cap hits as well as free agents of the Oakland Raiders.

This year, 24 players on our team are free agents. And we're still 4 million over the cap number Here's the things we as Raider Nation all know:

Seymour's contact is voided; that helped us out ALL TOO WELL. McClain, Huff, and Kelly command some huge cap hits in 2013 AND 2014. We all know McClain (6+million and 8+million respectively) is gone. ALL of us. We all know that Kelly (9+ million and 7+ million respectively), HAS to go - he has to..you cannot PAY those numbers to him.

Even with this, there are some few things, however, that can change, and that can make this cap year, which is a GREAT cap year, very beneficial to us.

One of the keys is Michael Huff. Branch's cap hit is 11 Mil this year, but 6 mil next year. Huff is getting paid 11+ mill for 2 years. He has to be traded and or cut, especially because we cannot afford it. THIS is where Branch at FS and Mitchell at SS comes in. Will it be a shortage of a roster? Hell yeah it will be. But, that's managing the roster and cap.

Next, some have contracts that are huge this year, but are free agents NEXT YEAR. DHB has a hit for 10 million this year, but is a FA next year. Either cut him or restructure him, lowering those numbers for a great amount. DMC has a hit of 8+ million this year, but is also a FA next year; an extension is the best thing to do - lowering his cap number as low as possible, only to let it rise the years after this one. Same goes for Seabass this year (at just below 5 million.)

Finally, it's Carson Palmer. Carson has the HIGHEST cap hit this and next year: 17 Million this year, and 19 Million next year. This is a huge problem, and it needs to be fixed. I would suggest an extension for 2-3 more years, that SOMEHOW lowers this cap hit to about 10-12 million from 2013 to 2017; If Terrelle Pryor is ready to take over anytime between 2014 and 2016, his value becomes that which we can get some sort of draft pick for.


All in all, it's up to Reggie and his math men to fix this. Because getting the cap low enough so that we can get 2-3 big name free agents is possible in my eyes. Unfortunately, I don't know the full numbers, and most of us all know how much we need a #1 WR, a star DT, a O-Linemen that can start immediately, and 2 Starting caliber corners.

Get to work, Reggie. A better future can be realized......starting this year.....I hope.