Yasinskas puts Carolina's 'purge' into perspective

[Dpantherman]

There was a lot of outrage in the Carolinas early in the offseason when the Panthers pulled off what some fans called a purge and some called a bloodletting.

The Panthers let go of seven popular veterans and I’m not even counting the fact they simply let Julius Peppers walk into free agency. The cries back in February were that the team was being cheap and dumping salaries. I never truly bought into that because it looked to me like the Panthers were just getting rid of some old guys who they didn’t think were worth their contracts anymore, although I admit I wasn’t a big fan of seeing Brad Hoover pushed out the door.

I stand by all that, but now I feel even stronger that this wasn’t purely a case of owner Jerry Richardson trying to save money. I’ve had a chance to look at and crunch some numbers and I think we can put what Carolina did in the offseason into better perspective.

First off, let’s remember there is no salary cap for 2010. If there was, the Panthers would be sitting at $124 million right now. Here’s the part that’s highly significant -- $29.2 million of that is in what would be called “dead money’’ in a capped year.

What the Panthers did was to decide essentially to dump a lot of future big-cap figures in a year in which there are no cap consequences for that. No one -- not even Richardson, who is heavily involved in the negotiations -- knows what’s going to happen with the labor situation going forward. There’s the possibility of a lockout in 2011. There’s also the possibility an agreement will be reached and a salary cap will be in place.

If that happens, the Panthers are sitting in very good shape. Even if coach John Fox, who is beginning the final year of his contract is gone, whoever is running the show likely will have a ton of cap room to work with...

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[Dpantherman]

Should have posted the next 2 paragraphs for those that don't want to click the link:

As it stands right now, the Panthers have just about $70 million committed toward a 2011 cap. Only the Chiefs, Raiders and Buccaneers have less committed and none of them are dramatically below the Panthers. The league average teams have committed toward the salary cap right now is $96 million.

If there’s a cap in place for 2011, I'll guess and say it's likely to be somewhere around $130 million to $140 million and those numbers could be on the low end. That means the Panthers will have at least $60 million to re-sign some of their own key players and go out and get some new ones. That’s not a bad spot to be in.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/12281/putting-carolinas-purge-into-perspective

[carpanfan96]

But Harris, and all the others, are off the books for 2011, when the Panthers conceivably could go out and buy about half an NFL team.

That does sound nice. lol

[Udogg]

As I have been saying... looking at our situation on the business and professional level and not at the fan level, JR is a genius. Probably why he has waaaaaaayyyyyyy more money than anyone on this board...

Unless you count piggly wiggly dollars and porn clips as real money, then he would be a pauper on this board.

[Chaos]

The purge makes tons of financial sense. Not to belabor a point, but giving Jake that ridiculous contract in the first place was moronic.

[tim]

There's also going to be two seasons worth of free agents hitting the free market at once due to the number of would-be UFA's being restricted this year. Makes next season a great year to have that much cap space if a new agreement is in place.

[Argus Plexus]

It all makes sense now. And if all of these rookie investments work out to at least make an even 8-8 team, we may just be in a position to kick some serious ass for years to come. This doesn't sound so bad after all.

Big cat pulled a fast one on the NFL! Way to go JR! I love having a smart owner.

[TarPanther9180]

That sounds good actually. Go ahead and lock up our core players for long term deals, and bring up some stud FA's. Next year will be flooded with good talent (assuming there is football and a cap) on the free agent market.

[Fiz]

haloti ngata to the panthers in 2011

[PantherBrew]

haloti ngata to the panthers in 2011

That would be very 'Maake Kemoeatu signing of us'.

[IceWhiteice]

dont throw the season JR

[Panthro]

haloti ngata to the panthers in 2011

:iamwithstupid:

[panthers55]

His logic assumes we go out and sign all the core players like Williams, Beason, Davis, Moore, Kalil and a bunch more to long term contracts. And if we do that Richardson will have to guarantee something on the order of 120 million not counting yearly salaries. That might be spot on or a big assumption. We will have to see what he does down the road.

Right now with the fourth lowest payroll it was a salary dump. The question is whether we continue to do a Tampa Bay or spend the money if and when a new cap is put in place. At this point there is no cap and unless one is put into the new CBA there is no floor either.

[PantherBrew]

His logic assumes we go out and sign all the core players like Williams, Beason, Davis, Moore, Kalil and a bunch more to long term contracts. And if we do that Richardson will have to guarantee something on the order of 120 million not counting yearly salaries. That might be spot on or a big assumption. We will have to see what he does down the road.

Right now with the fourth lowest payroll it was a salary dump. The question is whether we continue to do a Tampa Bay or spend the money if and when a new cap is put in place. At this point there is no cap and unless one is put into the new CBA there is no floor either.

Before this season, Richardson has spent the money to attempt to field a good team.

We seem to always hang around the salary cap ceiling.