An outlier among teams with the most cap space

[Icebox]

I'm struggling to understand the point. Yeah, we are awash in cap space due to rookie contracts and under-market contracts with stars at key positions... But all this extra cap room does us no good if we don't use it. This coming season is one of our best chances in franchise history to win the Super Bowl. I hope we don't squander that chance to save a few dimes.

[SIGCHI222]

These are the salad days...

 

 

[TheSpecialJuan]

41 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Kalil is taking up $10m.  Heck, Ed Dickson is the 12th highest paid player on the team--we have never been in better shape.

Exactly. Our pass defense will take a step back this year without Josh. But that 14mil will step us up nicely for years to come.

If Gman gets this right, we can become the NFC's version of the Patriots:

A consistent Super Bowl threat every single season.  

[ctrcat]

1 hour ago, Icebox said:

I'm struggling to understand the point. Yeah, we are awash in cap space due to rookie contracts and under-market contracts with stars at key positions... But all this extra cap room does us no good if we don't use it. This coming season is one of our best chances in franchise history to win the Super Bowl. I hope we don't squander that chance to save a few dimes.

Do yourself a favor and WATCH THE PRESSER.  GMan, $14 mil can do "a lot".  And "I don't subscribe to the window theory."  

[Floppin]

1 hour ago, Icebox said:

I'm struggling to understand the point. Yeah, we are awash in cap space due to rookie contracts and under-market contracts with stars at key positions... But all this extra cap room does us no good if we don't use it. This coming season is one of our best chances in franchise history to win the Super Bowl. I hope we don't squander that chance to save a few dimes.

Meh, our cornerstones on both sides are both locked up long term and neither have reached what's traditionally considered to be their peak years of age. Our window of success is pretty large.

[Icebox]

I think you guys are missing the point. A team is more likely to win if that team has more talent. Sure, there are other factors in play (system, coaching, scheduling, luck), but talent is one of the biggest determinants. We can all agree on that, right?

Right now, we are very fortunate in that we have several players at undermarket rates, for a myriad of reasons. Cam and Luke are bargains because we had good timing. Short and Benjamin and several others are bargains because they are still on their rookie contracts. Oher and Coleman are bargains because they were successful reclamation projects. We can all agree on that, too, right?

Well, right now, all that cap room we now have because of those undermarket contracts puts us in a position to have EVEN MORE talent this year. Call that a "window theory" if you want, but it is pretty self-evident, isn't it? Granted, you don't want to spend money for the sake of spending money. Granted, you don't want to take on a bunch of albatross contracts. But in this league, every team is talented. If you have the means to improve your team, you damn well better do it.

It does us no good - no good whatsoever - to bank that $31 million in cap space and not use a good chunk of it to upgrade the team.

BTW, I don't disagree that we have a large window of success. But that window probably won't ever be as "open" as it is this coming year because of our flexibility to improve the talent on the field. And CTRcat, what - exactly - are we going to use that $14 million on, considering we have another $17 million on top of that we could have used?

[rayzor]

1 hour ago, Icebox said:

I'm struggling to understand the point. Yeah, we are awash in cap space due to rookie contracts and under-market contracts with stars at key positions... But all this extra cap room does us no good if we don't use it. This coming season is one of our best chances in franchise history to win the Super Bowl. I hope we don't squander that chance to save a few dimes.

we'll be using a significant portion of it to lock up a couple incredible cogs long term that will be far more valuable to long term success than a corner...kk and star. and it will be money well spent.

[Floppin]

@Icebox the off season is far from over. We will spend more of that money on contracts and signings post draft and through the league wide roster trimming process during camp like we do every year by signing bargain players cut for cap reasons and such.

[Carolina Crazy V2]

3 hours ago, Floppin said:

@Icebox the off season is far from over. We will spend more of that money on contracts and signings post draft and through the league wide roster trimming process during camp like we do every year by signing bargain players cut for cap reasons and such.

Exactly. This will only give DG more flexibility down the line in the offseason. 

[Norway]

Amazing what Gettleman has been able to do cap wise, and still not only keep this team competetive, but actually raise the talent level significantly while on a budget. I'm hoping for extensions for Short, Kalil, Norwell and Oher this summer. No need to have a large cap space for the sake of it.

[johnnydefence]

5 hours ago, Icebox said:

I think you guys are missing the point. A team is more likely to win if that team has more talent. Sure, there are other factors in play (system, coaching, scheduling, luck), but talent is one of the biggest determinants. We can all agree on that, right?

Right now, we are very fortunate in that we have several players at undermarket rates, for a myriad of reasons. Cam and Luke are bargains because we had good timing. Short and Benjamin and several others are bargains because they are still on their rookie contracts. Oher and Coleman are bargains because they were successful reclamation projects. We can all agree on that, too, right?

Well, right now, all that cap room we now have because of those undermarket contracts puts us in a position to have EVEN MORE talent this year. Call that a "window theory" if you want, but it is pretty self-evident, isn't it? Granted, you don't want to spend money for the sake of spending money. Granted, you don't want to take on a bunch of albatross contracts. But in this league, every team is talented. If you have the means to improve your team, you damn well better do it.

It does us no good - no good whatsoever - to bank that $31 million in cap space and not use a good chunk of it to upgrade the team.

BTW, I don't disagree that we have a large window of success. But that window probably won't ever be as "open" as it is this coming year because of our flexibility to improve the talent on the field. And CTRcat, what - exactly - are we going to use that $14 million on, considering we have another $17 million on top of that we could have used?

Money doesn't upgrade a team, talent does. G-man teams will always have a back log of opportunity signings. 

[The Lobo]

Says a lot about our front office that we are in great cap situation and are competitive consistently. 3  division titles and a super bowl appearance with not much cap. Shows we can draft and sign really well. Just think how good we will be after this season with all the cap space we will have. 

[Snake]

A good bit of that will go to signing KK and Star. But at least we will have the money to do that. 

[tiger7_88]

10 hours ago, Icebox said:

I think you guys are missing the point. A team is more likely to win if that team has more talent. Sure, there are other factors in play (system, coaching, scheduling, luck), but talent is one of the biggest determinants. We can all agree on that, right?

What does "more talent" mean?  Four or five players paid the highest salary at their positions in the NFL because we're afraid to "lose" them and then just filling in the rest of the positions on the team for pennies?

Or making sure you keep the core of the team (QB-OL-DL-LB) happy with good contracts and doing your best to draft talented (and lower salaried) replacements at the edge positions?

The first scenario (above) is the Falcons.  The second?  That's us.  You seem to prefer the Falcon's Method of Salary and Talent Management.  Me?  I'll take Dave Gettleman.

A Nippleshort's Team is *never* going to overpay for edge players.  The Gettleman Philosophy is you win with big, fast men making up the core of your team.  Edge players can always be replaced.  Remember when edge player KB went down last year and almost everybody panicked demanding a high dollar replacement to give us a "chance"?  Yeah...

(P.S. KB has 3 more years under contract with the Panthers.  If/when the day comes and he wants to be "the highest paid WR in the NFL"?  Yeah, he'll be allowed to leave too.  Bookmark it.)

(P.S.S. The above was a hypothetical and not a prediction.  I have no idea what Kelvin Benjamin and his agent's attitudes will be come contract time.)