2014 NFL Free Agency: San Diego Chargers- Potential Cuts and Free Agents
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

Currently, the San Diego Chargers are projected to be a couple of million dollars over the 2014 salary cap. They’ll have rookies to sign, and holes to fill. It will take some maneuvering for the Bolts to improve their roster in 2014.

Here are the fantasy relevant players who could leave via free agency, or may be candidates to be cut or restructured-

Free Agents:

Danario Alexander (WR)- UFA
Ronnie Brown (RB)– UFA
Lavelle Hawkins (WR)– UFA

Candidates to be cut or restructured:

Philip Rivers (QB)– Obviously, San Diego won’t be cutting their franchise QB. They could save over $12M if they did, and would only absorb about $4M in dead money. But, with Rivers’ contract expiring after the 2015 season- this could be the time to do an extension and get his $16M cap number down a bit. He’s shown he has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Antonio Gates (TE)– Clearly on the decline, there is no way GM Tom Telesco can justify a $7.3M cap number for A-Gates in 2014, or $8.3M in 2015- when he has stud youngster Ladarius Green on the books for only $682K. Gates will either restructure, or be cut this year or next.

Eddie Royal (WR)– He had some freaky games in 2013, but it was very sporadic. He’s not a core a player. He’s a luxury. Royal will almost certainly be cut or restructured. A cut projects to clear up $4.5M in cap space. Royal’s $6M cap number for 2014 is unacceptable.

Vincent Brown (WR)– Cutting the oft-injured Brown would save the Bolts about $1.5M against the cap in 2014. The emergence of Keenan Allen makes this a real possibility, even though Brown has shown real flashes of potential when healthy.