The Philadelphia Eagles will designate S Darius Slay a Post 6/1 release next week, moving on from the 6x Pro Bowler before the final year of his contract. The 34-year-old was set to earn $16M in 2025, after reeling in $23.15M over the past two seasons.

Instead, Philly will keep his $13.78M cap hit on the books into June, then take on dead hits of $9.456M in 2025, and another $13.294M in 2026. The move will free up $4.324M of cap space once June gets here, but Slay will become a free agent as soon as the designation is processed (next week).

The Eagles currently carry around $17M of Top 51 cap space into March.

The Cincinnati Bengals made a significant move Monday, releasing starting guard Alex Cappa before the start of the 2025 league year. The 30-year-old was slated to earn $8M in the final year of his contract.

Instead, Cincy takes on a $2.25M dead cap hit, freeing up that $8M in space. The Bengals now boast just under $70M of Top 51 Cap space this offseason.

Joe Highsmith wins Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Highsmith earns $1.66 million million bringing his 2025 on-course earnings to $1.77 million and his career on-course earnings to $3.11 million. 

Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches Top 10 Payouts

The 49ers are prepared to make the first big splash of the offseason, agreeing to a trade that will send WR Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a 2025 5th round pick (projected to be #148 overall). We’ll dive into a few of the facts, figures, & conditions here.

NOTE: We won’t be processing this trade on Spotrac until it becomes official. (likely March 12th).

The Traded Contract

Samuel brings a 1 year, $17,550,529 contract with him to Washington. This includes a minimum $1.17M base salary, per game active bonuses up to $750,000, a $200,000 workout bonus, and a $15,430,525 option bonus. This option bonus must be exercised by March 21st in order to keep the cap hits spread out over 5 seasons. Assuming this occurs, Samuel will carry a $5.206M cap hit in Washington for the upcoming season, with $12.34M of voidable dead cap pushed into 2026.

If the Commanders choose to decline the $15.4M option bonus, that entire amount will be added to his $1.17M base salary, raising his 2025 cap hit to $17,550,525.

All of this of course assumes that Washington and Samuel don’t agree to a new or restructured contract once the move becomes official.

Cap Hits (Option Exercised)
2025: $5,206,105
2026: $12,344,420 (void dead cap)

Cap Hit (Option Declined)
2025: $17,550,525

The Commanders enter March with around $83M of Top 51 cap space, so they certainly have the means to choose either path here. It’s perfectly plausible that the two sides agree on some form of mini-extension to lock in some guaranteed money, and make this more of a small-term marriage than just a quick date.

San Francisco’s Dead Cap

The 49ers will assume $31,020,600 of dead cap in 2025 once the trade processes. All of this cap stems from previously paid out bonuses (an original 2022 signing bonus, a 2023 option bonus, & a 2024 salary conversion).

This represents a $15,195,095 loss of cap space for San Francisco this season, as they previously had Samuel on the books for $15,825,505 (now $31,020,600). The highest cap hit on the 49ers books for 2025 is currently Fred Warner, at $29,174,000. There’s a very good chance Samuel holds that belt when the dust settles this offseason.

Prior to the trade, the 49ers entered March with around $51M of Top 51 cap space. That stands to drop to around $36M once this trade is processed (-$15M).

Anthony Edwards receives a one-game suspension for receiving his 16th technical foul during the Timberwolves-Lakers game on Feb 27th, 2025.

Edwards will lose $242,939 for the one-game suspension.

Since the ratification of the 2020 CBA, NFL 1st Rd 5th-Year option values have been tied to Playing Time & Pro Bowl selections. We'll take a run down the entire first round, making note of the player's status in terms of 3-year playing time (see below), any (initial) Pro Bowl selections, & a projected cost for their 2026 option salary. All 5th-year options must be decided by May 2025. Per this latest CBA, the salary becomes fully guaranteed as soon as it's exercised.

TIER 1: A player is selected to two or more Pro Bowls. The 5th-Year Option price is the same as the franchise tag salary at their position from the previous year.

TIER 2: A player is selected to one Pro Bowl. The 5th-Year Option price is the same amount as the transition tag salary from the previous year.

TIER 3: A player takes 75% of the team’s offensive or defensive snaps in 2 of their first 3 seasons, OR 50% of the snaps played in each of the 3 seasons, OR a 75% average over all three seasons. The 5th-Year Option price is the 5-year average of the 3rd-20th highest paid players at their position.

TIER 4: A player does not meet any of the above criteria. The 5th-Year Option price is the 5-year average of the 3rd-25th highest paid players at their position.

RELATED:
2022 NFL Draft Tracker

The Kansas City Chiefs appear poised to place a $23.4M franchise tag on pending free agent guard Trey Smith. This figure usurps Landon Dickerson's current $21M APY as tops among guards, setting Smith up to sign a record-setting multi-year extension this offseason. The deadline to extend tagged players is July 15th (even if the player is traded in the meantime).

The Chiefs enter March with around $8M of Top 51 cap space, so they'll have work to do to fit in this tag figure alone.

The NFL has announced that the 2025 Salary Cap will be set at $279.2M, a 9.32% increase ($23.8M) over last year's number. 

Related Links:
2025 Team Salary Cap Tracker
NFL Cap History

The MLS released the 2025 Club Roster Profiles which include squad (Senior, Supplemental) and roster designations (Designated, U-22, TAM).

View full roster profile via MLS here.

Spotrac's MLB Offseason recap series continues with a look at the AL West, that features a largely rebuilt Rangers roster, the pitching-heavy Mariners, a potentially backsliding Astros, the suddenly prodigal A's, & an Angels team that won't say uncle.

RELATED
MLB Offseason Tracker
2025 Tax Payrolls
Available Free Agents

Athletics

The Athletics finished 4th in the AL West, posting 69 wins against a 30th ranked $84M tax payroll. With a little more pressure on them to spend this time around, the Athletics have now raised their projected 2025 payroll near $100M, 27th in the league right now.

2025 Projections

76 wins, 4th in the AL West

Notable Subtractions

The A's saw a few notable pieces to their pitching rotation/bullpen walk in free agency, but aggressively replaced a few of these roles with their own (unusual) offseason spending.

(SS) Nick Allen
(SP) Joe Boyle, Alex Wood
(RP) Ross Stripling, Scott Alexander, Trevor Gott

Notable Additions

Luis Severino's 3 year, $67M deal is the highest total value/APY contract in the history of the franchise. Tie that into a 5 year, $60M extension for Brent Rooker & a $10M deal for Jose Leclerc and it's not hard to understand just how different this offseason has been for this organization. The Athletics spent $43.6M in free agency this season, 18th in the league.

Via Free Agency
(SP) Luis Severino, $23.3M
(RP) Jose Leclerc, $10M
(3B) Gio Urshela, $2.15M
(RP) TJ McFarland, $1.8M

Via Trade
(SP) Jeffrey Springs

Prospects/Farm System

The Athletics' farm system currently ranks 11th according to Baseball America, led by top prospect Nick Kurtz (1B), and 2023 1st Rounder Jacob Wilson (SS). Hitting on their last two top draft picks is a big step forward for a franchise trying to find a strong foothold for the first time in a decade.

Top 100 Prospects
(1B) Nick Kurtz, (SS) Jacob Wilson

2025 Storylines

• The MLB Union essentially forced the A's to increase their spending this offseason (or risk losing their revenue share). It's more of a consequence of a COVID/Relocation agreement than it was a disciplinary action, but it got the job done (sort of). Will this be a one-off, or will the spending lead to more wins, which in turn forces the team to continue spending, etc...
• The A's 40-man roster consists of 6 veteran contracts, 3 arbitration-level salaries, and 31 pre-arbitration salaries. This is an incredibly young team that could develop into a legitimate core unit over the next calendar year.
• Speedster Esteury Ruiz battled injuries in 2024 that derailed his production/impact. He enters 2025 healthy and could be a legitimate x-factor for the A's with a new (old) onus on speed within the game.

Houston Astros

Despite a slow start, the Astros won the AL West in 2024 against a 6th-ranked $264M tax payroll, putting them about $30M over the threshold. They've trimmed back significantly this offseason, now projecting toward a $229M payroll to begin the 2025 season (about $12M under the $241M threshold).

2025 Projections

84 wins, 3rd in the AL West

Notable Subtractions

Bregman and Tucker are gigantic losses (obviously) while both the starting rotation and bullpen are in early stages of turning over new leaves as well. The roster is still very much strung up by long-term deals for Jose Altuve and Josh Hader, but for the most part, the Astros are in a bit of transition and could be very fluid throughout the 2025 season.

(3B) Alex Bregman
(OF) Kyle Tucker, Jason Heyward
(SP) Justin Verlander, Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Urquidy
(RP) Ryan Pressly, Kendall Graveman, Hector Neris, Caleb Ferguson

Notable Additions

Houston made an early splash to bring in 1B Christian Walker on a 3/60 free agent deal, and filled two needs in 1 move in sending Tucker to the Cubs for 3B Paredes & SP Wesneski. But this was clearly an offseason of subtraction, not addition. The Astros spent $61.2M total in free agency, 14th in MLB.

Via Free Agency
(1B) Christian Walker, $20M
(OF) Ben Gamel, $1.2M

Via Trade
(3B) Isaac Paredes, (SP) Hayden Wesneski, (OF) Taylor Trammell

Prospects/Farm System

The Astros' farm system currently ranks 29th according to Baseball America, led by top prospect Cam Smith (3B). Houston has operating with a near bottom of the league ranked farm for the better part of a decade, but have also successfully gotten more out of "middle-tier" talent than most organizations. It's not a trend that can continue for too long, but there's chance they have another 4-6 players ready to impact the MLB roster in the next calendar year.

Top 100 Prospects
(3B) Cam Smith

2025 Storylines

• It's a step-back/subtraction year for the Astros with a financial goal to remain under the tax-threshold and escape repeater status. But they'll enter 2025 in the Wildcard conversation until further notice.
• How will the positional-puzzle sort out? There appear to be a lot of changing/interchangable parts to open the season. Could it prompt even further subtraction?
• If the team starts to slide in the win column, having the highest paid closer in baseball may prove inefficient.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels finished in the AL West in 2024 despite a 15th-ranked $190M tax payroll. A somewhat aggressive winter has their 2025 number projected toward $212M, 11th in MLB.

2025 Projections

75 wins, 5th in the AL West

Notable Subtractions

The Angels started the offseason off with a bang, non-tendering two of their starting pitchers (Sandoval/Canning) and staking their claim to the league that change was coming.

(OF) Kevin Pillar
(C) Matt Thaiss
(SP) Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning
(RP) Matt Moore, Hunter Strickland

Notable Additions

The Angels made an early splash, signing SP Kikuchi away from Toronto on a 3 year, $64M deal. They've backed that up with smaller additions all around their roster, looking for stopgap upgrades in every positional group this season. The Angels spent $96M in free agency, 9th in MLB.

Via Free Agency
(SP) Yusei Kikuchi, $21.225M
(SP) Kenley Jansen, $10M
(C) Travis d’Arnaud, $6M
(3B) Yoan Moncada, $5M
(SS) Kevin Newman, $2.75M
(SP) Kyle Hendricks, $2.5M

Via Trade
(DH) Jorge Soler

Prospects/Farm System

The Angels' farm system currently ranks 30th according to Baseball America, led by top prospect Caden Dana (RHP). LAA is regularly one of the lower rated systems in the league, mostly because they aggressively call-up players to the MLB roster before they ever have time to rate highly in the minor league systems, but also because they've had a poor track record of drafting and developing for quite some time. That coincides with an aggressive free agency, despite another projected last-place finish.

Top 100 Prospects
(2B) Christian Moore, (P) Caden Dana

2025 Storylines

• Anthony Rendon's latest injury is likely a killshot to his career, despite the fact that he's owed $70M across this and next season. Will the Angels just buy him out and end this misery?
• The Angels have had early season success each of the past few years before injuries took them off of the tracks. Will conscious moves to protect Trout and depth additions this offseason help alleviate that?

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners won 85 games in 2024, good enough for 2nd in the AL West against a $167M tax payroll, 17th in MLB. They're on track to match these figures again in 2025, projecting toward a $160M payroll next season.

2025 Projections

84 wins, 2nd in the AL West

Notable Subtractions

Garcia is the most notable loss here as he moves on to help boslter the back-end of the Blue Jays bullpen. But the Mariners are about as deep internally with arms (especially starters) as any team in the league right now.

(3B) Josh Rojas
(DH) Justin Turner
(RP) Yimi Garcia, Austin Voth

Notable Additions

Polanco figures to start the year as the Mariners Opening Day 3B, while Solano will slot into a depth/utility role for Seattle in 2025. Obviously, this has been a quite winter for adding in Seattle. The Mariners spent $11.25M in free agency, 24th in MLB.

Via Free Agency
(2B) Jorge Polanco, $7.75M
(INF) Donovan Solano, $3.5M

Via Trade
N/A

Prospects/Farm System

The Mariners' farm system currently ranks 5th according to Baseball America, led by top prospect Colt Emerson (SS). After hitting a few home runs with pitching prospects, Seattle turned its attention to bolstering their bats, and they have a group of 3-4 players that are approaching the next level (2026/2027 most likely).

Top 100 Prospects
(SS) Colt Emerson, (OF) Lazaro Montes, (SS) Cole Young, (C) Harry Ford, (S S) Felnin Celesten, (OF) Jonny Farmelo, (2B) Michael Arroyo

2025 Storylines

• From the outside looking in, this is a team that can pitch as well as any in the game - but lacks the ability t score runs on any consistent basis. Are they sitting on their hands waiting for their young prospects to develop into MLB-ready players? A quiet offseason lends itself to that thought.
• After 2-straight Top 10 MVP vote finishes, Julio Rodriguez fell off a bit in 2024 (battling an ankle injury as well). With limited impact players in the lineup from the onset, Rodriguez being an alpha player day in and out is as important to this roster as anything.
• SP Luis Castillo has been rumored in trade talks since Halloween. With 3 years, $45.5M remaining on his contract, Seattle could acquire MLB-ready bats and then some. Is this still on the table?

Texas Rangers

The Rangers disappointing 2024 saw them win 78 games (3rd in the AL West) against a 5th-ranked $268M tax payroll. Things have dialed back a bit this offseason, as Texas now projects toward a $230M payroll for 2025, about $11M under the first threshold. Remaining out of tax-repeater status is a likely goal this season.

2025 Projections

85 wins, 1st in the AL West

Notable Subtractions

A disappointing 2024 led to a pretty aggressive purge either via free agency, or in Lowe's case, a good sized trade out of town. However, as noted below here, the Rangers were just as aggressive in adding as they were in subtracting. This is a classic stir-the-pot scenario that could quickly put them back near the top of the AL in 2025.

(1B) Nate Lowe
(C) Carson Kelly
(DH) Travis Jankowski
(SP) Max Scherzer, Andrew Heaney, Jose Urena
(RP) Kirby Yates, Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, Andrew Chafin, Chase Anderson

Notable Additions

Texas put together an offseason that included retaining a few players, and bringing in a few notable faces at basically every position group across the roster. Eovaldi returning on a 3 year $75M deal is the big swing here, but adding Pederson and Burger's bat to the mix could really make for an explosive offense at times. The Rangers spent $137.5M in free agency, 8th in MLB.

Via Free Agency
(SP) Nathan Eovaldi, $25M
(DH) Joc Pederson, $18.5M
(C) Kyle Higashioka, $6.75M
(RP) Chris Martin, $5.5M
(RP) Hoby Milner, $2.5M
(RP) Shawn Armstrong, $1.25M
(RP) Jacob Webb, $1.25M

Via Trade
(DH) Jake Burger
(RP) Robert Garcia

Prospects/Farm System

The Rangers' farm system currently ranks 19th according to Baseball America, led by top prospect Kumar Rocker (SP). Texas could see as many as 5 of their top prospects hit the big league roster in 2025, with infielder Sebastian Walcott not far behind.

Top 100 Prospects
(SS) Sebastian Walcott, (P) Kumar Rocker, (P) Alejandro Rosario

2025 Storylines

• Will the roster shakeups/upgrades lead to an immediate bounceback season? The division is especially winnable this year, and Texas could be in the clear driver's seat by the trade deadline.
• The group to watch here will be the bullpen, where the majority of the projected starters are new to the organization in 2025.
• The Rangers would probably like to delay Kumar Rocker's addition to the rotation, but health (especially with deGrom) could force their hand.
• Year 2 of Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter as everyday players could prove extremely fruitful (and financially valuable) to the immediate success of this team.