Notes: NFL cuts expected to be a ‘massacre,’ ‘bloodbath’ next week

Forgive some NFL pundits for being a little overdramatic, but the league is about to enter uncharted territory in the next couple weeks. With the start of the new league year less than two weeks away, teams will have to get under the mandated salary cap, which has yet to be set, but is expected to be somewhere between $180 and $185 million.

Because of this expected decrease in salary cap—it was $198.2 million last year—teams will almost certainly have to cut players they may not have been intending to part ways with in order to comply with the league’s limit. As a result, predictions for the future of the league are dire.

ESPN’s Diana Russini got a text from an NFL head coach who described the situation as follows:

“It’s going to be a massacre next week all around the league.”

Not to be outdone by the violent imagery, NFL insider John Clayton told 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, “It will be a bloodbath around the league.”

Given that the Detroit Lions are currently projected to be over the cap after assuming Matthew Stafford’s dead cap and Jared Goff’s contract, they are expected to cut several players in the upcoming days, and head coach Dan Campbell has already hinted that two cornerbacks could be released as early as this week.

Around the rest of the league, the damage has already started. Kyle Van Noy will not be back with the Dolphins. The Saints released both Jared Cook and Josh Hill on Wednesday. Oh, and this familiar face will be hitting free agency early:

• Both MLive and The Detroit News have good recaps of Dan Campbell’s appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show.” We wrote about what Campbell had to say about Sean Payton’s influence on his overall philosophy here. You can also watch his entire appearance here.

• T.J. Hockenson joined his friend and former Iowa teammate George Kittle on the Bussin with the Boys podcast. I can’t vouch for the appearance, as I haven’t watched it yet, but I have to say, I do enjoy the 1960s look from Hockenson.

• It’s going to be a hard sell to fans, but Justin Rogers of the Detroit News believes it does make some sense for the Lions to draft tight end Kyle Pitts in the top 10 (subscription required).

• Couple of interesting notes on soon-to-be Lions wide receiver Tyrell Williams. He’s a very similar threat to Marvin Jones Jr. in terms of where he’s most dangerous:

• Also, here’s Williams mic’d up from his time with the Raiders, facing off against his former team in the Chargers. He also had several other mic’d up appearances in the past few years.