What Can Redskins Do to Clear More Salary-Cap Space for 2015 Offseason?

The Washington Redskins need a lot of help with their roster as they transition from the team Mike Shanahan assembled to the team Jay Gruden feels he needs. With the offseason the only thing in their future, it is high time the Redskins start looking at trimming the fat where they can.

With just over $15 million in cap space according to Over The Cap, the Redskins will need to make some moves to improve their spending potential for the 2015 offseason.

There is a very simple way for the Redskins to double their cap room, and that is by cutting Stephen Bowen, Barry Cofield, Chris Chester, Tracy Porter, DeAngelo Hall and Logan Paulsen.

Without getting into the intricacies of dead money, cutting those six players opens up an extra $20 million in cap space for the 2015 offseason.

Why those six? Chester has been disappointing over the past two seasons. Porter, Hall, Bowen and Cofield were not healthy for the 2014 season. And Paulsen, once Washington's best blocking tight end, incurred numerous false starts and missed several blocks throughout the season.

That is the easy route, though the Redskins aren't likely to take it given the aforementioned dead money, which may prove to outweigh the benefit of cutting Cofield and Bowen in particular.

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There isn't a lot of trade fodder to be had on the Redskins roster, which means the best options are either cutting players or restructuring contracts.

Perhaps the best possible trade candidate would be wide receiver Pierre Garcon. Not that he has been a disappointment, nor has he expressed a desire to be traded, but he may be frustrated at the drop in passes coming his way.

In 2013, Garcon was targeted 184 times and hauled in a franchise-record 113 passes. In 2014, with DeSean Jackson getting 94 targets, Garcon was targeted 105 times.

It was to be expected, with Jackson coming off of a career year in 2013, but it should be chalked up as an adjustment period in Gruden's first year.

Garcon would garner plenty of interest in the open market, and he would net the Redskins much-needed draft picks while also giving them upwards of $5 million in cap room.

If they make the cuts and trade Garcon, they're looking at over $41 million in cap space for the 2015 offseason.

Granted, there is no way all of those players get cut, and the odds of the team parting with Garcon for anything less than a collection of picks are slim.

At the very least, expect to see the older veterans, like Cofield and Bowen, become potential cap casualties given their production on the field paling in comparison to their contracts.

It remains to be seen if the newly hired GM, Scot McCloughan, will have any impact on contracts or if he will be more of a scouting specialist, but it may change the direction of the roster entirely. Depending on how closely he works with Bruce Allen, who is a noted cap specialist, it could be a busy offseason just clearing cap space.