Somehow, the Oakland Raiders are still under the offseason salary spending limit.

Per Nancy Gay of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Raiders were nearly $4.6 million under the cap the day before acquiring cornerback DeAngelo Hall.  With Hall’s contract costing less than $2 million against the cap in 2008, the Raiders till have more than $2.6 million in cap space.

But keep in mind that, during the offseason, only the top 51 salary-cap numbers count toward the cap.  During the season, at least 53 player salaries must be accounted for, and as players land on injured reserve and new ones are signed to replace them, money has to be available under the cap to accommodate these transactions.

So the Raiders will have to find ways to trim some cap room, especially with the fourth overall pick in the draft.  One way to reduce the number will be to sign cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to a long-term deal, since his exclusive franchise tender will consume close to $10 million in cap room.

A problem, however, will come in future years.  Keeping Hall’s cap number under $2 million in 2008 only means that $68 million of the deal will hit the cap in 2009 through 2014.

In our view, however, owner Al Davis doesn’t care about 2009 through 2014.  He knows that he only has so many years left to try to restore the glory of the franchise.  So he’s pushing all of the chips — and all of the cash — into the middle of the table right now.

It might not lead to a Super Bowl trophy, but it should be fun to watch.