🚨 Five Elite Stars Set for Liberty Festivals!

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 4: Marlon Humphrey #44 of the Baltimore Ravens looks on during an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on January 04, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) | Getty Images Things are quieting down on the free agency market. While there are plenty of projected top-200 free agents still available to sign , and teams have nearly a collective billion dollars left in available cap space , per Over The Cap’s latest projections, clubs are now turning their attention to another matter: internal restructures.

If you’ve been paying attention in recent days, the restructures are coming in faster while the signings are slowing down. This is sort of the third wave of the free agency cycle. The first was the two-day legal tampering period (Monday and Tuesday), when the top free agents were all scooped up.

The second wave came when the first day of the new league year started on Wednesday, when teams needed to become cap-compliant for the first time in 2026 and executed their releases of cap casualties, who were then finally able to sign with other teams. Now, the third wave focuses on this staring contest between teams and their own players. There are more expenses to come for clubs, as they’ll need around a $7 million piggybank to make it through the season (the cost to go from the offseason 51-man salary cap to the in-season cost of the full 53-man roster, injured reserve, 17-man practice squad, signing their rookie draft class, plus some wiggle room) and have in-season extensions to pay for, too.

But, for now, teams are holding onto players whom they don’t want to pay at their current rate for 2026, but the players also aren’t being allowed to hit the open market while cap dollars are being depleted. That’s the strength of clubs’ leverage when they’re approaching these same players and asking them if they’re willing to take less to remain on the team. If the players say no, there’s a risk that the team will still end up releasing them down the line, but when other clubs have used up even more of their available cap space.