SetfreexX

Not true -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/ Cap Space (w/All) $-4,090,219 Cap Space (w/Top 51) $4,024,781 ____________________________________________________ It's possible they clear the space to add him, but the question is who will be on the team to play with him worth while, they've already restructured most of their main guys. I'd wonder who else they could look to after having to make room for him that they could then restructure to create actual cap space to address their other roster vacancies.

Let's not discuss the ''player'' let's look at the rumored destinations, and how these team's cap situations look as of today...3/16/22 New Orleans - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/ Cap Space (w/All) $-4,090,219 Cap Space (w/Top 51) $4,024,781 Cleveland Browns - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/cap/ Cap Space (w/All) $13,452,601 Cap Space (w/Top 51) $16,977,601 Atlanta Falcons - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/atlanta-falcons/cap/ Cap Space (w/All) $17,424,973 Cap Space (w/Top 51) $17,424,973 Carolina Panthers - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/ Cap Space (w/All) $26,162,673 Cap Space (w/Top 51) $30,392,673 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It's pretty clear Carolina would have the least amount of work to do to ''fit'' the salary (35M for 2022) and with an immediate extension as this would apply to all teams interested could lower his cap number to help with the transition. With the NTC available, it will be really interesting to see how these other destinations make the numbers work as they'd need to do the following... Cap Space Needed to be created: (Based on ''With All'' and round up) NO - 40M CLE - 23M ATL - 18M CAR - 10M ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ With factors like these in place the winning bid will have to do some cap gymnastics to make it work, it's been reported HOU prefers not to deal in the AFC, and the player prefers a warm weather location (SEA was not even given the opportunity to meet based on reports). With that in mind it feels more like CLE was brought in to drive up the cost for the out of conference bidders, NO / ATL / CAR. It's interesting that ATL is in this race considering Matt Ryan's contract -- it's unlikely he'd restructure to accommodate a deal to be traded elsewhere and IF released he has a dead cap hit of 55.25M -- Not to mention the cupboards are bare at the skill position, Ridley suspended for the year, Cordarell is a FA who could likely cash in elsewhere, and that just leaves Kyle Pitts. Looking at the situation in NO, just having to create the 40M in cap even with their history of cap navigation is a huge amount ''just to fit the player''; take into additional account filling out the roster, and draft picks. This effort would be a considerable challenge but obviously worth the trouble if they're the choice. Aside from that they are thin offensively as well; Armstead is a free agent, Kamara could be facing suspension after the issues in Vegas, the only established receiver is Michael Thomas and we've all seen the Diva he can be with no other real threats behind him, the TE position is also a ''?''. My question there is how would they build around him, and that defense is a bit older / expensive. This also goes without saying, as much as you may hate him, there's no Sean Payton; it's Dennis Allen, the consistency on offense at least that he provided won't be there. Finally, looking at Carolina, even if they're not the ''1st'' choice, we are probably the best landing spot for a chance to have success moving forward, we have the least amount of work to do to make the trade possible, and have more young talent to help offset the lack of draft capitol once a trade is completed. To me Rhule is not an attractive proposition much like Allen in New Orleans, at the very least I'd anticipate the Carolinas would embrace him given the Clemson ties. Depending on what we'd have to give up, I think we're in the best position to lose some pieces, but still be in position to add if we're able to sign ''the player'' as we have the most cap and would require the least work to fit him in. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ With some of these factors in mind, my head says Carolina makes the most sense, but these things are not always about that. I'm not for or against the move, as I think trading back and allocating assets for day two and a future 1st while adding a rookie this year makes the most sense in the long run. However I am not an owner with 4 straight losing seasons, nor a coach with just 10 wins in 2 years either. I still blame them for not taking IMO Fields who had the most upside between him and Jones last year as we could be in a position of BPA, trade back to offset the picks from the Darnold deal while continuing to build a roster with the value of a rookie contract at QB.

Those voidable years still become dead money, they just allow room in the current year. So even when the dead money starts to hit you just do this for the other contracts on the team to ''create'' more space. The cap essentially goes up EVERY year, and the NFL isn't ending anytime soon, so with those factors in mind, you could as we have seen with them do this EVERY year.

You just have to let some people remain ignorant... Haynes was a good signing as depth, 2yr / 2M is peanuts all things considered, when you look at his production over play time (aka spot duty) it is easy to see the value as a rotational rusher on passing downs. 2021 - 3 sacks 2020 - 4 sacks No reason to be upset about retaining a guy that can give you ''something'' off the bench and for cheap.

No, I'd rather draft a rookie, and keep the assets. For his situation, the price is too high. We're not a QB away, and trading any of our young defensive pieces while paying premium for a QB and no draft picks for a guy who ain't played in a year.... Miss me with that shiiiiii

Likely because they're prepping for Keenan to be gone in a year or two and projecting the value to some degree.

And any other backup is likely to be just as bad but cost more so...appreciate the input Not to mention that is a non-guaranteed contract there's no dead money tied to it. So uhhhh yea good talk my guy It's literally non cap impactful no matter what happens, but at the very least you have the position accounted for. Or would you rather a more experienced, more expensive, still shitty back up...oh wait that's Darnold

You really whining about this -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/phillip-walker-22025/ $895,000 to have a back up QB for CHEAP knowing that there are other cap allocations needed elsewhere? The PJ extension shouldn't even garner attention, we have a back up the end; yet people were freaking out like they set some kind of record retaining him.

No need to risk it either and be stuck with just Tremble and not other receiving threat at the position. People forget Ian looked pretty good back in 2018 filling in for an injured Olsen. Kyle, Teddy, and Darnold seemed to rarely look his way, not to mention the Brady offense seemed to devalue that position as a read.

If we're being smart about this, the BEST move is retain Cam because Jimmy G, and Kirk C are not vaulting us to ''playoff'' caliber teams. When was the last time the Vikings were in the playoffs, two years, or was it three years ago with Diggs? Looking at SF they have one of the better running games in the NFL, a top two TE, and an Deebo solidifying himself; add to that a great defensive front (Bosa, Armstead, Greenlaw, Warner) -- we can't boast that atm. So that brings you back to why waste draft capital on a guy that isn't a ''difference'' maker? Cam is the bridge QB if he returns, Sam becomes tradeable while we eat cap space. Sign some real quality OL, and let Brady man the LT spot and give the team a puncher's chance with a vet QB in Cam WHO has won in this league, and have the rookie (Willis my preference over Pitts due to upside) waiting and learning, and if / when the team is out of playoff contention the rookie closes out the season, and we keep all our picks heading into 2023.

You're missing the point, with the voidable years when we have over 100M, and 200M in 23, and 24. The point of that is in those years you will eat some dead money, but with the COVID cap hit issue you could not avoid that and teams, aka all teams had to account for it. No one is calling it a viable strategy, as bad as Elf was Matt played well prior to IR. People are reacting like we're decades into ''moving cap'' down the road. The team is in good financial shape, yes they botched Darnold's 5th yeat, BUT I can understand why they did it when the ONLY other QBs at the time were Grier, and PJ. Point being is, we have the cap to move it forward, and we couldn't go into 2021 w/o a C, his original deal was inked before anyone knew a thing about Covid in Cam's last season starting in 2019. There was not a lot of options in that regard.

One, I was referring to moving salary into 23, and 24 for Moton, and Shaq, secondly, that's still better than having all those things count towards the cap we had available prior to restructures. People need to also remember on extensions the big money DOES NOT have to be in the first year aka 2022, those guarantees can be spread out over the contract -- as bad as Shaq's deal was in some people's eyes, he never counted more than 10M, 7M and 8M were they other hits. This year the 1st year BIG money set in he could have been cut and saved 5-6M, instead he's restructured, is retained AND the team still saves that 5-6M. It's all about how the money is manipulated, and where it is manipulated, it's where Samir's value is felt the most, having an ''expert'' in that dept. I'm not a Rhule fan, but the way the team has operated in regard to money and where it is / goes under Fitterer and Samir has been fairly impressive. I mean in a cap strict year in 21 for the ENTIRE NFL, we added a good amount of FA's that worked, and others that did not (Erving / Elf) -- none the less, what's important is they maneuvered the cap efficiently.

Those years on Paradis' deal are voidable, aka he won't see that money.

My guy, those are voidable years, we did the same for Reddick -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/matt-paradis-14618/ So bringing up Paradis in this light doesn't really serve your comment very well. That is not a restructure -- it's ''fake money'' years to spread out a signing bonus. It's why they are referred to as ''voidable''. A voidable year is an ‘extra’ year on the length of the contract that the team and the player intend to void. In other words, it is a “dummy” year on the contract that the player will never play or get paid for, and it exists for the sole purpose of lowering the annual cap hit, especially in the first year of the contract.

Here's our estimated cap space in the upcoming years: 2023 - 110M -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/2023/ 2024 - 276M -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/2024/ Obviously signings / extensions / etc. will happen over the course of this year and moving forward, but moving calculated money down the road on cornerstone players isn't going to hurt. What you can't do like the Saints is do that while ALSO paying premium for a QB. IF we get lucky and draft a good QB the team / cap is in great shape.

I don't think people realize how much cap space we have since we're not paying 25, 30, 35M + for a QB, and if we add a rookie this draft or next, moving ''SOME'' money to 23, and 24 is NOT going to hurt anything.

Because he was about to count as 18M for the 2022 season after costing 10/7/8 the three prior years, IF he had been released it would have created 6M in cap. *Rounded numbers above for simplicity* Details here on his cap hit prior to this announcement -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/shaq-thompson-16749/ It'll be interesting to see the results of this.

https://www.panthers.com/news/panthers-restructure-shaq-thompson-contract-2022-offseason The Panthers continued to work with the numbers Monday, restructuring another deal for a veteran to create some more salary cap flexibility. The team restructured the contract of linebacker Shaq Thompson, clearing some more space under the cap for next year.

For an added bonus, Frankie Luvu had the following in spot duty -- https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3127273/frankie-luvu 11 Stuffs** 26 solo / 43 combined 1.5 sacks I'm not comparing them directly, just pointing to as a run defender Luvu would project to be better, I liked Hassan's Role and I think he excelled at it for us, but he's not a ''run stopper'' but he can ''hold up vs the run''.

I'm pretty sure sacks are apart of that equation, the metric you'd want to know is TFL's in the run game aside from those that were a TFL due to a sack. Since he had 11 sacks, 11 of those TFL's could be contributed to the sacks. He is credited with 8.5 ''stuffs'' (I am guessing this refers to actual run related tackles for loss) per ESPN.com -- https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2980504/haason-reddick Yet as a guy in the box only tallied 37 solo tackles, and 68 combined tackles (Chinn broke 100 for the 2nd year in a row combined, and he had split duty), so while the pressure & sack production was there; some of the other stats leave you at the very least with questions about Reddick's game as a whole; which is why a team very well may over-pay him due to ''sacks'' but I could also see him not having a crazy market like last year, and that is likely what Fitterer is betting on.

He did, he basically mirrored his rookie season, contrary to popular belief he still spent time near the LOS, he just ALSO had MORE deep middle responsibility this year with injuries / personnel issues at at that spot. Sean Chandler spent a good amount of time as FS as did Burris when not injured.

To me 9/10 times a 6th round pick is somewhat a throw away pick, of course there are examples every year of a 6th or 7th having a good year, but good guys that fall that far generally have red flags. I don't have an issue with the trade, we took a calculated risk in this case, monitor his health up close, and how he fit in here with first crack at re-signing him. If we don't it's not a huge deal to me. IMO the trade that NEEDS to work out is Henderson, a 9th overall selection that we gave up the 3rd for, and a TE. I think we got a 4th or 5th back, but the point is THAT is the scenario to have your eyes on. IF he can reach his potential alongside Horn, that is a hell of a duo, both with size, and the ability to cover 1 on 1 and not be outmatched physically....see Donte' similar to Reddick he's a niche corner, I think he's good in coverage, but not a true #1 given he's 5'10, and a buck 80. He was a 2nd round pick for a reason, he's BEST suited for the sub 6' WR's. You can't ask him to defend a Metcalf, Evans, Thomas type as we've seen they man handled him...he's too small for that at the catch point.

Heavier, and likely stronger.... Seems you're a fan of ''the kid'' and that's fine, but you can't ignore, or well I suppose you can simple things like his size disadvantage. He's not worth a top 10 pick; could he be a good Center sure, but this isn't 1970 from a size perspective.

Until he's facing a NT in a 3-4 that is 320, 330, 340+ that is also strong in his own right, and out weighs ''the kid'' by 20, 30, or 40+ pounds. You asking him to block a guy like Derrick Brown 1v1 It's not metric obsessed, I didn't mention his arm length as a concern, and even consider him a first two days prospect, but being that light in the a** while being asked to anchor an IOL on an NFL team at ''that weight'' and being worth the #6 pick....nah.

As you all know the primary FA's are - Reddick (12-15M) / Gilmore (18M) / Jackson (7-8M) Those are just my rough estimates based on things I've seen over the years -- feel free to check Spotrac or OTC for estimates, I just wanted to provide a point of reference as after the Moton restructure, we are around 26M in cap space. With that in mind, here's what we have left: DL - Brown / Roy / Fox / Nixon DE / Edge - Burns / Yetur Gross-Matos Off Ball LB - Shaq / Luvu Corner - Horn / Henderson / Bouye / Taylor -- Pride / Hartsfield / STO III Safety - Chinn _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ That is not a bad ''cornerback'' room, plenty of young talent with a veteran presence for stability, not to mention the ''low key'' return of Steve Wilks -- IMO that was a great hire. Edge / LB'er are thin as far as depth, but those are positions that are normally relatively cheap when looking at reserves ''if'' you think Yetur is ready to step into a full-time position year three which should to some degree be an expectation as he's built similar to Hardy for those that aren't aware, a little longer maybe just looking at him and tested as a better athlete overall. Interior DL / Safety to me still remain my bigger concerns, we have to find a partner for Chinn, and could use more on the IDL to help support Brown. I do think we will retain one of those three guys mentioned at the top, and I hope it's Reddick, I think him with the group above has the ''most'' sensible impact / fit. I have a hard time seeing him getting Von Miller type money on the open market, no one was willing to offer it last year, and the staff here knows his skill set best, he's been kind of a volume guy (he gets sacks in bunches) then can sometimes feel less impactful. I think that will hurt him (see the 5 sack game vs NYG in 2020 as an example of this) that one game was almost half his sacks in his final season with ARI. He had a game or two like that for us as well which led to some ''where is he moments'' he had ''7'' games with no sacks, but he had ''5'' games with 1.5 - 2 sacks. Games he had no sacks -- DAL / MIN / NYG / MIA / ATL / both TB games Common theme in those games, all losses, in the five games he had the 1.5-2 sacks -- we won them all except versus PHI. I say all that to say that I believe he's worth re-signing, BUT he's not THE guy as far as a pass rusher is concerned IMO weight added or not, he's a niche player and teams usually pay them less, not to mention guys his size / skill set are usually littered throughout the draft.