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By hiring Ron Rivera on Dec. 31, Washington got a head start on its evaluation of the roster. That led to Friday’s roster moves, with the team cutting receiver Paul Richardson, cornerback Josh Norman, defensive lineman Chris Odom and safety Kenny Ladler.

It freed up some $16 million in cap space.

“The biggest thing that we did in terms of evaluation was we literally came together on Feb. 10 as a coaching staff and as a pro scouting department and personnel department, and we evaluated our entire roster,” Rivera said this weekend, via Ben Standig of TheAthletic.com. “Based off of that, we started making the moves.”

More decisions remain, with more transactions expected.

Washington is expected to move on from tight end Jordan Reed, who missed all of 2019 with a seventh known concussion. Reed’s release would create $8.5 million in cap space.

Pass rusher Ryan Kerrigan has an $11.5 million cap hit, with Washington expected to use the No. 2 overall choice on Chase Young. The team also must decide whether to exercise the final year of running back Adrian Peterson‘s deal.

“We’re evaluating all of our options,” Rivera said. “We have a good young group of guys, and we’re just looking at things and deciding whether or not we want to go that way, continue to get younger — or, do we have to sit there and sprinkle in some veteran guys?”