Big offseason coming up (not even Cam/QB related)

[ImaginaryKev]

Shaq and McCoy are probably the top priorities and have been some of our most consistently good dudes. I think we can upgrade Bradberry (despite him playing well overall) with a draft pick and i think they should take the chance to save the money.  Also could afford to spend some money on another pass rusher in free agency, too. Maybe another WR. 

I actually agree with going cheaper at safety, and Eric Reid is the money guy there so we will probably address that other spot the same way they have since Mike Minter--throw a third round pick or a cheap FA at it. 

Edit: changed my mind, we might need to keep Bradberry since he could probably still be getting better and coverage is important, just as much as pass rush. Gotta find some cash for these three guys, imo. 

[ImaginaryKev]

Giving it more thought, Shaq might be the one to sacrifice if you gotta pay other guys a ton. He's been great but his replacement is theoretically already on the team. We might use that first round pick for a safety, who knows. 

[panthers55]

After going deep in the playoffs with a backup quarterback Rivera gets coach of the year nod over Payton and gets a 3 year extension. The huddle goes wild both for and against.  Hurney widely praised for his depth and great draft and free agent pickups.

[KB_fan]

11 hours ago, ColumbusCounty said:

How much $$ do we have again??

About 46 million. According to the OTC article referenced in the tweet at the start of this thread, that should be enough to resign most of our key free agents according to their estimated value... (Which is one reason I don't really get those who are clamoring to trade Cam to save 19 million).

It's going to be a HUGE off-season in so many ways for this team.

Tepper has the scenario where he could practically start from scratch around a few key guys like CMC and Luke. I hope it won't come to that, but it seems things are lining up for maximum flexibility.

[hepcat]

Going to depend on how the rest of the year pans out. Still have to face the Packers, Saints twice, and Seahawks, all who have very good offenses. No reason to spend a bunch of money on a defense that gets shredded in big games as we saw with the 49ers.

[Navy_football]

Bradberry has been huge in division games against some of the best WRs in the NFL - Evans, Thomas and Jones. He's probably more important than Shaq right now. Though I think Shaq could make a huge impact if we used him more as a blitzer

[Captain Morgan]

Like KB said, OTC says 46 mill.  The cap will go up about 10 mill, and 6 or 7 mill of that will go to our rookie class, so around 50 million dollars.  It's enough to work with.  League average is 51 mill per Spotrac.

[Captain Morgan]

something else to think about...if Greg retires, we'll get about 8 mill in space.  Say we move on from Wright and Moncrief, there's another 7 million.  Good chance we'll get 15 mill from those 3 players alone.

[Bartin]

15 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Bradberry > Shaq and I don't even think it's close.

My concern is the DL. McCoy is only on a one year deal, Love is only on a one year deal, Short is a potential cap casualty, and Butler is a FA. 

I’m of the opinion that playing LB next to Luke is the same as playing RB behind the Cowboys OL. Bradberry has to be the priority since you have to have strong CBs especially in our division.

Then you let Shaq go unless he is taking a big discount and spend that money on the DL. The drop off from Shaq next to Luke to JAG next to Luke will not even be close to the if we let our DL get to JAG/rookie level. Carter or Smith can handle LB fine.

[LinvilleGorge]

36 minutes ago, Bartin said:

I’m of the opinion that playing LB next to Luke is the same as playing RB behind the Cowboys OL. Bradberry has to be the priority since you have to have strong CBs especially in our division.

Then you let Shaq go unless he is taking a big discount and spend that money on the DL. The drop off from Shaq next to Luke to JAG next to Luke will not even be close to the if we let our DL get to JAG/rookie level. Carter or Smith can handle LB fine.

I agree. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to keep Shaq but if that means paying him top flight LB money then that gives me pause 

[Cpt slay a ho]

Looking at the FA class also makes cutting or trading cam a head scratcher.

46 mil in cap space plus a couple of cuts and the cap growing will put us in very good shape.

again Shaq is getting paid 9 mil currently, bumping him up 3-4 mil shouldn’t be a problem, but bradberry has prior obviously.

one of the dt will go imo because KK short is expected to return in 2020, Poe gives a good cap savings if released.

[Bartin]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I agree. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to keep Shaq but if that means paying him top flight LB money then that gives me pause 

Yeah, I mean no shade at Shaq. I think he is an extremely good LB and he would absolutely be better than anyone we replace him with, but in a league where the allocation of resources is of the utmost importance if we can save $10M/year and get 80-90% of Shaq due to Luke's presence then that is the correct decision. We have to reload the DL and just doing so in the draft won't cut it. We need vets there immediately as well and good DL are expensive.

If Shaq continues this level of play then he is likely looking at something in $12-15M range on the open market. He should go get paid as much as he can.

[JARROD]

16 hours ago, Forty-Eight said:

Trade Cam and Short. 
 

Bradberry, Shaq and Butler need to be back. 

Short can get traded. Cams not getting traded. The guy would just threaten retirement and take himself off the board and get released.

 

[panthers55]

The fact we had so many 1 year deals gives us flexibility but also cost us a lot of money in cap room given that everything was paid up front. A 15 million dollar 3 year contract with a 5 million signing bonus might cost you 3 million in cap room for year one given the signing bonus serves as the majority of his salary for year 1 but gets prorated over 3 years. So of course we can sign who we want but it will probably have to be on longer contracts rather than on continued 1 year deals. Unless they are a placeholder or stop gap like Williams.