Raiders free up more cap money with Henderson, Carlisle cuts

The Raiders made a couple more cap moves today. The two players who stood to save the Raiders the most money while leaving behind the least amount of dead money were defensive tackle John Henderson and right guard Cooper Carlisle. Both players were cut today.

The releasing of Henderson saves the Raiders $4 million in salary cap money while Carlisle's release frees up an additional $3 million for an added $7 million in cap savings.

The Raiders were a reported $640,000 under the cap at the beginning of free agency. They had been farther below the cap number but the free agent tenders placed on DT Desmond Bryant, Marcel Reece, Bryan McCann, and Mason Brodine cost the team took up a total of about $3.5 million away.

Then the team cut Kevin Boss to free up $2.5 million in cap room. That plus the $7 million saved today puts them at around $10 million under.

A lot of free agents have already signed but there are still a great deal of high value free agents still available at position of need for the team. And with the release of Carlisle, you can bump offensive guard up the list of priorities. Word from Carlisle's agent is that the team could look to bring him back. The thinking is that they will try to upgrade the position in free agency or perhaps the draft and if they can't, and Carlisle is still available, they will invite him back. That would be a smart move.