Salary Cap Info

[AU-panther]

I've seen quite a few questions lately about certain salary cap scenarios concerning some of our players if they were cut so I thought I would consolidate some of the info here. Also I will try to give everyone an idea of what we are looking at next year as a team.

I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff so if something is wrong feel free to let me know.

All of this info is from http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/carolina-panthers.

As of right now we have roughly 6m in cap space.

For 2015 we have 130m committed, this is only for 40 players though.

To get a true idea of where we stand we have to add 13more players, practice squad, IR, and some for next years rookies.

130m 40 players under contract

6.5m 13 players at 500k

2.0m IR (going off of what we have right now, this number could be more or less)

1.0m Practice squad

2.0m Rookies (this number could changed based on where we pick in the draft)

141.5m

Salary cap is 133m this year, most expect it to go up next year. If it goes up to 140m we are a little bit over. Good news is whatever we are under this year will roll over. Like I said earlier we have roughly 6m right now. Based on injuries and any acquisitions this number could change.

If we assume we roll over 6m that would put us around 4.5m in available space next year.

Here are some notable free agents the next few years.

2015 - Hardy, Cole, Edwards, Cason

2016 - Cam, Olsen, TD, Alexander, Tolbert, Luke (we can pick up a 5th year option on him)

2017 - CJ, Kalil, Short, Star (we can pick up a 5th year option on him)

Several people have asked about the implications of cutting various players next year. All of these assume June 1st cuts. Also I rounded the numbers to make the math a little easier.

I know the format isn't the best so I'll use Stewart to explain the chart.

If we keep Stewart the next 2 years his cap hit will be 8.3m in 2015 and 9.6m in 2016.

If we cut Stewart next year as a June 1st cut his cap hit will be 6.3m in 2015 and 7.3m in 2016. This would be carried as dead money on the books.

This would free up 2m in 2015 and 2.3m in 2016

Cap hit if kept Cap hit if cut Savings

2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016

CJ 20.0m 15.0m 10.0m 4.0m 10m 11m

Kalil 11.8m 10.3m 6.2m 5.9m 5.6m 4.4m

TD 9.9m 3.0m 2.4m 3.0m 7.5m 0m

Williams 6.3m 2.2m 4.4m 2.2m 1.9m 0m

Stewart 8.3m 9.6m 6.3m 7.3m 2m 2.3m

Olsen 7.8m 1.2m 2.3m 1.2m 5.5m 0m

Godfrey 7.1m 6.4m 2.0m 1.0m 5.1m 5.4m

Tolbert 3.4m 1m 2.4m

Decoud 2.2m 250k 2.0m

The numbers that are bolded are actually voidable years. That cap hit is with out them playing. That would be TD, Olsen, and Williams in 2016.

Once you get past these guys there really is anyone to cut to create any substantial cap space. Also remember whenever you cut a guy his spot on the roster is replaced by someone else so you have to account for that salary.

For example in our Stewart example we would create 2m in cap space by cutting him but he would at least be replaced by someone making around 500k. So in reality we have only created 1.5m that we can use elsewhere.

Hopefully this will give everyone a better understanding of the decisions that our front office faces.

[AU-panther]

Could a mod please delete the extra 2 post.  Computer issues.