Madden 21 Analytics: Looking at the Franchise Cap Situations

With the official ratings now released, I am continuing the Madden 21 Analytics series. This article covers the adjusted cap space for each team. Adjusted cap space looks out to the 2021 cap and adjusts for the amount of players on the team. Commonly, players incorrectly look at the year one cap number, however, it is the second year that is most important in Madden.

Madden 21 Analytics

Best Situations

• Jaguars: The Jaguars have some serious needs talent wise. Fortunately, they do possess the cap to acquire said talent. The Jaguars still need to make a decision on Yannick Ngakoue, one can imagine most Madden players will re-sign him, which would mean about $20 million would come off the starting number. Outside of that, the Jaguars are pretty open to make moves and acquire talent.
• Colts: Indianapolis is in a great position. Their young team is not in need of making a lot of re-signings early on. Decisions need to be made on Ryan Kelly, T.Y. Hilton, as well as Malik Hooker; however those shouldn’t eat up too much of the teams cap. The good news is, with the arrival of Phillip Rivers, the Colts should a couple of years to find a franchise QB.
• Chargers: While the Chargers have a lot of cap to work with for the second year, the amount of re-signings could very well limit them beyond. In the first year Melvin Ingram, Joey Bosa, Hunter Henry, Keenan Allen, and Denzel Perryman all are up for deals. Quick math tells me, assuming all but Perryman get upper tier deals, the cap situation will be around $20 million or so when it’s all said and done.
• Patriots: The benefactors of a large amount of dead cap coming off the books ($24 million), the Patriots will need to use the cap to replenish an aging roster. In terms of re-signs, it’ll be up to the owner on if you want to re-sign the likes of Joe Thuney, Dont’a Hightower, Muhammad Sanu, or Jason McCourty, non of which are great Madden investments at this point. The biggest question here will be the future of Cam Newton on this roster and what the next contract may look like for him in game.
• Redskins: Similar to the Colts, the Redskins are really young and well off in the cap department. Their two veterans they need to make decisions on are guard, Brandon Scherff, and defensive end, Ryan Kerrigan. Adrian Peterson most likely retires making that decisions a little easier, while the rest of the potential free agents are lower money players who won’t impact the cap too much.

Worst Situations

• Bears: One of the worst situations in last years game, the Bears are yet again in some trouble. While not as bad off as last year, the Bears do need to resign star wide receiver Allen Robinson and make a decision on quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The Bears owner in your league can manage, just don’t let them get too crazy with any potential Trubisky deal.
• Texans: The Texans are our first victim on the list of Madden not having the ability to restructure contracts. With only $5 Million in cap, they will need to make decisions on Will Fuller, Zach Cunningham, Dylan Cole, Gareon Conley, and Kenny Stills. Potential relief could come in the form of trading Duke Johnson and Angelo Blackson, or if they want to get crazy, J.J. Watt.
• Falcons: The Falcons are negatively projected for 2021, and that is not a good situation. With few cut-able players, the Falcons are in some trouble as they have a trove of players to re-sign. Alex Mack, Todd Gurley, Keanu Neal, and Tak McKinley are all looking for deals in the first year. A guy like Ricardo Allen would be on my radar to cut, and I’d potentially look to deal away Alex Mack if at all possible.
• Saints: The New Orleans situation appears slightly worse than it is because of Drew Brees. While not able to be cut until the second season, once into 2021, Brees is an immediate cut target to save $15 million in cap. With a large contingent to re-sign, including the likes of Alvin Kamara, Jared Cook, Demario Davis, and others, it would make sense for the Saints owner to try and offload older guys like Davis and Cook to open cap potentially for re-signings of younger players. Keep in mind, long term deals for 5th year option holders Lattimore and Ramcyzk before your franchise starts could relieve substantial amounts of cap.
• Eagles: The Eagles are in a really bad place inside of franchise. Not even getting into the re-signing piece, the Eagles simply don’t have have enough players who can gain enough cap by cutting them, even elite guys, to get positive cap wise. The Eagles rely on a restructure mechanic to make this cap strategy work, however without this mechanic in Franchise, league commissioners need to have a plan heading in to team selection on how this will be handled. I’d recommend allowing the owner to trade guys with heavy cap penalties for something then clearing their cap afterwards to make the roster manageable.

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