Santee_Panther

Well, we could have basically had Trubisky for free vs what we paid (in cash and picks) for Darnold. Would be curious to see the pro scout notes that led to that decision.

Nope, just missed it

I’m not suggesting this is what we will end up with, but these are the players currently under contract. I think we can all agree QB, OL, and LB are question marks. But there are some solid building blocks (skill positions on O, backfield of D). Currently under contract through ‘22-23 season: ‘22 Panthers: QB- Darnold, ? RB- CMC, Hubbard WR- DJ Moore, Anderson, Marshall, Smith TE- Tremble OT- Moton, Erving, Christensen OG- Daley, Brown, Moore, Jordan C- Elflein?, Tecklenburg DT- Brown, Roy, Nixon, Hoskins DE- Burns, Fox, YGM LB- Shaq, Martin, ??? DB- Horn, Henderson, Bouye, Pride, Taylor, Thomas-Oliver S- Chinn, Franklin, Hartsfield, Robinson Special teams: Fletcher, Charlton, K?

Looking at last year, the Titans lost two top free agents (Conklin $14mil and Mariota $9mil) and signed one (Beasley $10mil). Beasley offset the lower lost FA, so they picked up a third round comp pick. So if we lose Reddick (a likely 3rd) and D Jax, we could offset DJ with someone and not lose the 3rd. We just need to sign less than we lose.

According to OTC, they’ve already been using that for their estimates. So we will have about $30mil. https://overthecap.com/2022-nfl-salary-cap-expected-to-reach-208-2-million/

Unfortunately you can only spread bonus money. Guaranteed salary can’t be. Sam would have to agree to a restructuring, which is what the OP suggested.

I can enjoy the present and yet still save money and invest in my future. They aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s a Tuesday…not like we are worrying about this stuff mid game.

Agree to disagree, but to your point, in hindsight probably not as bad as we recall. 1) the overall cap was $30mil lower per team back then. 2) we had a much worse team cap situation then 3) opportunity cost of signing Khalil.

I used Overthecap, so whatever their assumptions are in change in cap.

No bonus…just the fully guaranteed contract.

Agree it sucks on Darnold, but it is a one year hold. Much better than the hell from Kalil contract, which hurt us for 3-4 years (ignoring the loss of 2nd round pick, which hurts more than the cap hit).

Franchise for a CB is $15mil, and CB is a position where we have a ton of depth. Seems like a luxury. Agree that off-season focus likely on OL, but typically better to address OL through draft than free agency.

Players currently under contract through ‘22 season: QB- Darnold (yuck) RB- CMC, Hubbard FB- obsolete? WR- DJ Moore, Anderson, Marshall, Smith, D. Moore TE- Tremble OT- Moton, Erving, Christensen OG- Daley, Brown, Moore C- Elflein DT- Brown, Roy, Nixon, Hoskins DE- Burns, Fox, YGM MLB- ???? OLB- Shaq, ??? DB- Horn, Henderson, Bouye, Pride, Taylor, Thomas-Oliver S- Chinn, Franklin, Hartsfield Special teams: Fletcher, Charlton Free Agents [potential replacement]: Cam (QB) [?] Reddick (OLB) [?] Paradis (C) [Elflein?] Burris (SS) [Hartsfield] D Jax & Gilmore (CB). [Bouye, Henderson] John Miller (RG). [Christensen/Brown] Ian Thomas (TE). [Tremble] J Carter (LB) [?] The OL is it’s own animal, but in a dream scenario Daley can hold down LT and Elflein is serviceable at C. (Big assumptions, sure). I’ve been of the opinion that interior play has been worse than the tackles. In that case, biggest remaining issues: - Glaring hole at QB1, perhaps that problem magically goes away if Cam plays well and takes a home team discount to extend - CB is loaded, not sure we can afford both D Jax and Reddick. If can only keep one, I’d prefer to keep Reddick. Good news is losing Jax could net a 3rd rounder in a ‘23 comp pick. - how much does it cost to keep Carter and/or upgrade MLB? I’d argue our cap is in pretty good shape. Yes, “only” $35 mil in ‘22, but over $100 mil in ‘23 and beyond. We can do some trickery with extensions of good, young players to make it through next year.