Agent’s Take: Salary cap ramifications of Davante Adams, Amari Cooper trades for Jets, Bills

Player movement is starting to pick up ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 5 trade deadline, especially for wide receivers. With three weeks left to go, it was an eventful day for the participants of Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. Davante Adams and Amari Cooper have new football homes.

Davante Adams

The trade request Adams made two weeks ago has been granted. The Las Vegas Raiders dealt Adams to the New York Jets, his preferred destination, for a conditional 2025 third-round pick. It becomes a 2025 second-round pick with Adams being named first or second team All-Pro by the Associated Press, or the Jets playing in the AFC Championship game or Super Bowl while Adams is on the active roster for that contest.

Adams missing the last three games because of a hamstring injury makes it more difficult to earn All-Pro honors. The Jets haven’t played for the AFC title since the 2010 season, which was the last time the playoffs were made.

The Jets are going “all in” to try to salvage a 2024 season off to a 2-4 start with the acquisition of the three-time first team All-Pro. Adams reunites with Aaron Rodgers, who was his quarterback during his eight seasons playing for the Green Bay Packers (2014 through 2021).

The Raiders didn’t get their initial asking price of a second-round pick and an additional asset for Adams. The other condition to part ways with Adams was met. The Raiders were adamant about not converting some portion of Adams’ 2024 salary into signing bonus prior to the trade to make it easier for the acquiring team to absorb his contract.

The Jets are assuming the remaining $11.59 million of Adams’ 2024 compensation. The $11.59 million consists of 12/18ths of Adams’ $16.89 million base salary ($11.26 million) and 11 games worth of his $510,000 of roster bonuses in which he gets $30,000 for each game that he is active ($330,000).

Adams, who will be 32 on Dec. 24, is also under contract for an additional two years running through the 2026 season for $72.5 million. He is making $36.25 million for both 2025 and 2026 consisting of a $35.64 million base salary, $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses and a $100,000 workout bonus. None of the $72.5 million is guaranteed.

Those salaries were included for cosmetic purposes in the deal Adams signed in March 2022 when the Packers traded him to the Raiders after designating him as a franchise player. The contract was artificially inflated to $140 million over five years so Adams could be the NFL’s highest paid wide receiver on paper at $28 million per year rather than having a three year, $67.5 million contract averaging $22.5 million per year.

The Jets’ immediately restructured Adams’ contract to decrease his $11.59 million 2024 cap number. Adams’ 2024 cap hit was reportedly lowered to $3.21 million where dummy/voiding 2027 and 2028 contract years were added in the process.

What likely occurred was $10,453,333 of Adams’ $11.26 million 2024 base salary getting converted into signing bonus and prorated through 2028. The other $806,667 represents the prorated amount of Adams’ league minimum $1.21 million 2024 base salary for 12 weeks. The $330,000 of roster bonuses ($50,000 for each game active) stays as a 2024 cap charge.

This maneuver frees up $8,362,667 of 2024 cap space. Adams’ new 2024 cap figure becomes $3,227,333 to be precise. Adams’ 2025 and 2026 cap numbers each increase by $2,090,666 to $38,340,666. Assuming this is interpretation is correct, the $38,340,666 is the NFL’s largest 2025 cap number for a non-quarterback.

There will have to be a renegotiation of Adams’ 2025 and 2026 salaries to a market value contract at some point to prevent him from being just a short term rental for the Jets. If Adams’ tenure is only for the rest of the 2024 season, the Jets will have $8,362,667 of dead money, a salary cap charge for a player no longer on a team’s roster, by releasing him in 2025 prior to June 2.

The Raiders have a net gain of $11.68 million in 2024 salary cap space with the trade. Adams had the Raiders’ second highest 2024 cap number at $25.35 million. His departure leaves the Raiders with $13.67 million in 2024 dead money. The $13.67 million consists of the $5.63 million in 2024 base salary (6/18ths of $16.89 million) and $90,000 of per game roster bonuses Adams earned this season prior to the trade as well as $3.85 million of signing bonus proration from his $19.25 million signing bonus and $4 million of bonus proration relating to a 2022 contract restructure done to create cap space.

The Raiders have $15.7 million of dead money for Adams in 2025. The 2025 cap savings is $28.4 million since Adams’ 2025 cap number was $44.1 million. His $44.1 million 2026 cap number was also be wiped off of Las Vegas’ books in the trade.

The Raiders are in great shape cap wise for 2025. Using NFLPA data, the Raiders have the second fewest 2025 cap commitments with just under $177.15 million. There are only 33 players under contract for next year while the top 51 players count with offseason salary cap accounting.

Amari Cooper

The Buffalo Bills expressed interest in acquiring Adams before he was dealt to the Jets. Only having $2.909 million of 2024 cap space, according to NFLPA data, and no realistic path to create more through restructuring contracts made a trade impossible given the Raiders’ unwillingness to eat salary to help consummate a deal.

The Bills quickly pivoted to Cooper. He was acquired from the Cleveland Browns for a 2025 third-round pick. There was also a swap of late-round picks with the Bills getting a 2025 sixth-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick going to the Browns.

It was clear that Cooper didn’t fit into Cleveland’s long-term plans. Cooper was part of the trade package the Browns offered the San Francisco 49ers during the preseason for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk while he was holding in for a new contract.

This was after Cooper unsuccessfully sought a new deal as 2024 is his contract year. The Browns adjusted Cooper’s existing contract year in July at the start of training camp. The addition of $5 million in not likely to be earned (NLTBE) incentives gives Cooper the opportunity to earn $25 million instead of his originally scheduled $20 million in 2024.

In the reworked contract, $18.79 million of the $20 million was turned into a signing bonus where dummy/voiding 2027 and 2028 contract years were inserted into the deal for proration purposes. Dummy/voiding 2025 and 2026 contract years were previously added during a 2022 contract restructure when Cooper was obtained from the Dallas Cowboys in a trade.

Josh Allen is the best quarterback the 30-year-old Cooper has played with during his 10-year NFL career. Cooper goes from arguably the NFL’s worst starting quarterback in Deshaun Watson to a signal-caller who is considered elite.

Cooper gives the Bills the true No. 1 wide receiver that has been missing in their wide receiver-by-committee approach ever since Stefon Diggs was dealt to the Houston Texans in early April. The draft choice compensation for Cooper is consistent with the Diggs trade. Diggs essentially went for a third-round pick. The Texans gave the Bills a 2025 second-round pick for Diggs and a 2024 sixth-round pick.

The July renegotiation of Cooper’s contract made the trade to the Bills possible given Buffalo’s cap constraints. The Bills are only responsible for the remaining $806,667 of Cooper’s $1.21 million 2024 base salary.

The Browns pick up a corresponding amount of 2024 cap space with the trade. There’s $7,937,333 of 2024 dead money consisting of the $403,333 of base salary Cooper made prior to the trade, $3.776 million of bonus proration relating to the 2022 restructure and $3.758 million of proration from the $18.79 million signing bonus in the July renegotiation. There’s also $22.584 million on Cleveland’s 2025 salary cap attributed to Cooper because of the bonus proration associated with his voiding 2025 through and 2028 contract years.