Arizona Cardinals running out of cap space quickly with moves in free agency

With the moving and shaking going on in free agency it is time to take a step back and take a look at where the Arizona Cardinals stand.

Without Sam Bradford officially under contract, the NFLPA has the Arizona Cardinals with $27.2 million in cap space remaining.

That means, once Bradford is signed, that number drops to $12.2 with his $15 million guaranteed money number and his base salary pushes it down to $9.2 million.

That isn’t much when you factor in rookie pool money, signing undrafted free agents and miscellaneous contracts that will come up within the season.

The question is, who is going to get cut and or take a pay cut to get the Cardinals a little more breathing room?

Jared Veldheer being released would immediately give the Cardinals another $6.9 million, giving the team $16.1 million.

Deone Bucannon is the next logical choice to see a restructure of salary. His $8.7 million cap hit in 2018 is the seventh highest in the NFL for an inside linebacker. Cutting that down to a more palatable four year, $20 million contract with around $12 million in guaranteed money. That would get the Cardinals to $19.8 million.

Finally, cutting two veteran work horses in Josh Mauro ($2.8 million in savings) and A.Q. Shipley ($2 million in savings) gives the Cardinals right around $25 million in cap space. Enough to add a Justin Pugh, or a Terrelle Pryor or a Jordan Matthews or Pugh and one of the receivers and fill out the roster with some smaller deals.

The Cardinals have been aggressive early in free agency, but if they want to continue that, they’ll have to make some moves soon.