Is having cap space a good or bad thing?

Well run teams have cap flexibility most years, or in other words the option to add a missing piece in free agency and the ability to extend their current stars. That means it isn't so much about having cap space in any given year, as much as it is about how many large, multi year contracts you have given out, how many of those guys are performing up to those contracts and even how much dead cap are you eating to cut guys who didn't live up to their deals.

Managing the cap is a multi-year endeavor and cap hits in 2021 and 2022 affect what teams can do in 2020. That is why large QB contracts have such a huge impact on teams beyond the current season and why so many teams who have success with a certain QB on his rookie deal, almost immediately fall off once that QB gets his first big pay day.

Eventually every good team hits a point like the Vikings are hitting this year and next, where multiple contracts begin to really kick in and the team struggles after cutting or not extending good players. It is inevitable. You just hope that your team wins it all before that happens. Outside of NE, the NFL is about windows of opportunity for greatness. The Eagles recently had theirs and won it all, we had ours the same year and came up short. Now it is all falling apart for both teams and both teams will be average to bad until they start hitting on stars in the draft or they dump a bunch of salary and start over.