Expansion draft

In Madden NFL 2002, there was an Expansion Draft for the Houston Texans, which joined the league in 2002.

I'm going to follow the 2002 expansion draft as an example. Each team offered five players, and the Texans could draft up to 30 players, or $27.2 million (38% of the salary cap at the time).  Kickers and punters were not allowed. Each team could list one veteran player with over 10 years experience.

In 2022, the salary cap was $208.2 million. 38 percent of that is $79 million.