Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, September 4, five days before the Washington Redskins open their 2018 season against the Cardinals.

Talking points

The Redskins have enough cap space to get through the season, but they may not have much to spare or to carry over to 2019.

Washington currently has $11.3 million in salary cap space after the roster was reduced to 53 players (all cap information via OverTheCap.com). That is down from the $14.6 million they had before the process of reducing the roster to 53 began.

Where did the money go? They really didn’t spend any, it’s a matter of accounting. As of Saturday at 4 p.m. the way the cap is calculated changed from the offseason rules to the in-season rules.

In the offseason, the rule of 51 is in effect. That means that your cap number is the sum of the cap charges of the 51 most expensive players on the roster. That is how teams are able to carry 90 players under a salary cap designed for 53.

But after final cuts, all 53 of the players on the roster count against the cap. On top of that—and this is the big one—players who are on injured reserve go against the cap. That added $2.6 million to their cap charges. The biggest charge to the IR cap belongs to Derrius Guice's $826,000.

Teams not only get charged salaries for the players on injured reserve, they have to pay the players who replace the injured ones. This ate up a lot of the Redskins’ cap last year.

Even though the Redskins hope that their luck in the injury department is better this year, they still have to leave some cap room available for the inevitable issues that will pop up during the season.

The other reason the Redskins need some cushion is that they have to pay the practice squad. Their pay for 2018 is $7,600 per week. There are 10 players on the PS so that’s $76,000 per week or $1.292 million over the course of the 17-week season. That’s not a huge expenditure out of a $176 million cap, but they still have to account for it.

Whatever is left over can be rolled over into 2019. That should be about $5 million to $8 million. They will need it as they are tight on cap room for next year. As of now, they have just under $20 million to work with, not counting any rollover. That’s in the bottom 10 in the league.

There are adjustments that can be made, but we can take a look at those down the road.

Trending on social

Surprising that the #Redskins moved on from Lanier (5.0 sacks last year) with pass rush in high demand in the NFL and the fact that they will be looking for more pressure from the interior. — Rich Tandler (@TandlerNBCS) September 3, 2018

The agenda

Today: No media availability

Upcoming: Season opener @ Cardinals (Sept. 9) 5 days; Home opener vs. Colts (Sept. 16) 12 days; Packers @ Redskins (Sept. 23) 19

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