Our cap space and why we can afford a top tier free agent

[AU-panther]

With free agency upon us I'm starting to a lot of comments about how much cap space we do or do not have.  A lot of people around here already understand all of this but for those that don't, maybe this will help in the future.  I'm far from an expert and I don't have access to the contract so I can't be 100% on all of the numbers but it should be close.

Spotrac.com has our cap as $181.6m, this is the same amount as the NFLPA had listed in a recent tweet so we'll start with that number. Overthecap.com had a bit higher number but I think it might be wrong or not updated yet.

Spotrac.com has our top 51 commitment at $157m, Overthecap.com has us at 154.4m.  From what I can tell the difference is mostly because of TD's contract.  I'm not sure who is right so I am just going to split the difference, $151.8m 

Quick note about top 51.  During the off season a teams salary cap is based off of the top 51 salaries on the roster.  Most numbers you see this time year are top 51 numbers.  During the season your salary cap also include players 52 and 53, practice squad and IR.  The last two players on your roster are usually cheap, we'll go with 500k to make the math easy and practice squad will cost you about $1m.  IR is the reason a lot of team try to leave some cushion going into the season.  We don't really need a huge cushion this year because we have several players with high base salaries that could easily be converted to bonuses if we need to free up some cap during the season.

 

Top 51                     $155.7m

players 52 & 53           $1m

practice squad            $1m

cushion                         $5m

Total                           $162.7m

Draft picks - According to https://overthecap.com/draft  the total cost of our draft picks will be 6.4m, but you have to remember that those players will be replacing players that are already counting against your cap.  So if they replace 8 players that are making 480k then you really only need $2.6m.  That puts us at $165.3m

Total Cap:                      181.6m

used cap:                       165.3m

Available cap space:      $16.3m

We've already resigned Gano.  I haven't seen the contract details yet but I would guess his first year cap hit is around $3m, that leaves us $13.3m

Maybe we pay Peppers $6m.  New total: $7.3m (Peppers might be difficult because if it is just a one year deal you can't really backload it unless you want to add dummy years)

Lets go big on a free agent receiver, 5yr/60m.  You could easily have a $5m cap hit the first year.  New total $2.3m

Maybe one more cheaper free agent, 3yr/10m.  $2m cap hit first year.  New total $.3m

As you can see we can easily pay for one of the high dollar free agent this year.  Weather or not that is the best use of cap space is a different discussion.

Some people will wonder about the following years, especially since we back loaded a few contracts.  According to overthecap.com we have $72m in space next year.  That total is for only 25 players, but even after you fill out the roster and account for the contracts that you added this year, along with the new rookies, you will probably be around $30-40m in cap space next year.

Speaking of back loaded contracts, they aren't necessarily bad,   The problem arises when teams do too many of them and don't plan for the future and you back yourself into a corner and have to cut players to free up space.

5yr/50m contract with 15m signing bonus (not back loaded)

            Salary               Prorated bonus           Cap hit

year 1      7m                           3m                            10m

year 2      7m                           3m                            10m

year 3       7m                          3m                            10m

year 4       7m                          3m                            10m

year 5       7m                          3m                            10m

5yr/50m contract with 15m signing bonus ( back loaded)

              Salary               Prorated bonus           Cap hit

year 1      1m                           3m                            4m

year 2      6m                           3m                            9m

year 3       8m                          3m                          11m

year 4       9m                          3m                          12m

year 5       11m                        3m                          14m

advantages of back loading:

You even out your cash expenditure, have to remember that signing bonuses are paid upfront.  In the back loaded example the player  will get $16m in the first year.  By having increasing yearly salaries the player is less likely to fall behind other players as inflation sets in.  If you frontloaded a contract a player might be more apt to sit out at the end of the contract if they are making a lot less then their peers. 

Also if you release the player before the contract is over you usually save yourself some cap.  4 year cost of the non back loaded contract would be $43m.  the 4 year cost of the back loaded one would be $39m.

Running total as we add players this off season

Available cap space:     $16.3m

adding Torrey Smith      - $5.0m

                                          $11.3m

 

[RoaringRiot]

[Smithers]

I’m pretty sure we will cut Shep if we sign a WR, so there’s another 2 million.

[Jangler]

 

[brandon_87]

God write up, but payers don't like or want back loaded contracts anymore. It's all about the up front money now

[Snake]

38 minutes ago, brandon_87 said:

God write up, but payers don't like or want back loaded contracts anymore. It's all about the up front money now

That's a complete lie and I don't think you understand what a back loaded contract consists of. 

 

Also we have 24 million with the new Gano contract if I'm not mistaken. It was reported by voth. 

[TheCasillas]

GREAT F*CKING POST!

[RumHam]

At this rate I don't see us doing poo.

[Adb6368]

I don't think Pep will request $6M. He was paid somewhere around $4M last year when including incentives. I'd expect him to come on for the exact same deal again.

[Cyberjag]

This is a great analysis.  It's worth noting that despite everyone's criticism of him, Hurney started in scouting as an assistant under Bobby Beathard but then made his name as a capologist.  He's made some decisions that a lot of us think are stupid, but there should be no doubt that he knows how to navigate the salary cap.

If a random guy on a message board  (sorry @AU-panther) can quickly demonstrate how we can afford a 12 million per year WR without killing our roster, I'm sure Hurney and his staff can go one better.

[imminent rogaine]

Great post. What I took from it was that we should be able to target Hakeem Nicks with little issue. Make it happen, Hurney!

[Moo Daeng]

21 minutes ago, RumHam said:

At this rate I don't see us doing poo.

It's preposterous why we don't sign players before free agency starts.

 

[The Lobo]

Well done. There is hope, but based off of previous seasons and new owner ship, I just don’t see us doing much. 

[RoaringRiot]

The issue is that you’re not getting a quality WR at $12/year.