Panthers 2012 Free Agents, Players Under Contract & Cap Space

[Ruff]

Unrestricted Free Agents

Jeremy Shockey, TE

Geoff Hangartner, OG

Dan Connor, MLB

Derek Anderson, QB

Legedu Naanee, WR

Antwan Applewhite, OLB

J.J. Jansen, LS

Jordan Senn, OLB

Gary Barnidge, TE

Mackenzy Bernadeau, OG

Richie Brockel, TE

Jerome Felton, FB

Cletis Gordon, DB

Reggie Wells, OG

Resign those in bold.

[Swarly]

Look on the bright side.

At least we got #1 overall after the rookie cap. If not Cam would be sitting with an $80 million dollar+ contract.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Cam is still making a decent chunk of change but it's worlds better than what Bradford got just a year earlier.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

no one would be complaining if cam was making 80+ million.

[unicar15]

Build through the draft. The only position I would want an upgrade at through FA would be DT and that isn't going to happen with Fua and McClain holding onto their starting spots.

Find ways to upgrade CB and LB and we'll be good to go next year.

[panthers55]

A couple questions.

1. This year they talked about a soft cap with actual spending higher. So does that mean the projected cap for next year may actually be lower than the actual cap.

2.We know that Davis has already said he will voluntarily restructure his deal so he will cost little to nothing. How much does that save?

3.Finally I imagine Hurney knew these numbers when he negotiated these contracts. I can't believe he hasn't already taken all of this into account and knows things we don't. So why all he worry about next June already?? I aalso figure he knew exactly what he was doing with Wiliams and had it all figured out.

4.As for free agents, how many of those big names have we picked up lately??

[carpanfan96]

A couple questions.

1. This year they talked about a soft cap with actual spending higher. So does that mean the projected cap for next year may actually be lower than the actual cap.

2.We know that Davis has already said he will voluntarily restructure his deal so he will cost little to nothing. How much does that save?

3.Finally I imagine Hurney knew these numbers when he negotiated these contracts. I can't believe he hasn't already taken all of this into account and knows things we don't. So why all he worry about next June already?? I aalso figure he knew exactly what he was doing with Wiliams and had it all figured out.

4.As for free agents, how many of those big names have we picked up lately??

1. The 125 number is from the CBA document itself, it's the NFL and NFLPA estimate for next seasons cap number. The soft cap was a couple of loopholes included to allow teams to get under the cap. Cut moves, saving caps... ext Such as the 3 million cap exception.

This season teams can still save 3 million with an exception, it just can't be on one player. The cap savings has to be spread out over 3 players and can be pushed back one season.

2. His current cap number is 5.6 million, but that sky rockets up 8 million more because of his signing bonus that's automatic for still being on the team as of July 1st. Now if Davis has his deal restructured to be more incentive based and that's turned into a regular signing bonus or so forth. Then the team could cut his cap number from around 14 million to probably under 3-4 million.

3. I'm positive he knew those numbers and the plan is probably to extend Smith, Gross and Gambles contracts. Also the estimate of 125 could be low because of higher revenue, which isn't out of the question.

4. Not many that I can think of since the Lucas signing.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Thomas Davis' contract breakdown if we keep him without changing anything

2.25 million base salary

250K workout bonus

1.4 million from pro-rated signing bonus

2 million from pro-rated option bonus

Total: 5.9 million cap hit for 2012

I have a feeling if they restructure they will just remove the 8 million dollar option bonus and leave the rest in place. If so this would give us 2 million in extra cap space for 2012.

If they removed all bonuses, dropped his salary to the league minimum his cap hit would end up being $2,225,000, giving you an extra $3,675,000 in cap space. That would be the absolute maximum amount of space that could be created by a restructure.

[Swarly]

Cam is still making a decent chunk of change but it's worlds better than what Bradford got just a year earlier.

yeah he's making what, like $4 million? high, but given what we're getting out of him it's, IMO, the best contract in the NFL value wise and it's not even close.

no one would be complaining if cam was making 80+ million.

true, but look at this

Mark Sanchez - $17,753,125

Matt Stafford - $16,098,750

Sam Bradford - $12,465,000

BTW Rocknrolla, while looking for those numbers I stumbled upon this:

“The Lions took that $9 million salary for this season, reduced it to the minimum for a third-year player ($525,000), then paid the difference ($8.475 million) as a bonus so it could be prorated for cap purposes, saving $6,356,250 of cap room,” the source said.

Who do we have that can restructure to save us money like this? I'm not sure what Gross/Gamble/Wharton's deals look like, but they're making an awful lot of money.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Yes, any team can restructure like that to create cap space for the current season. This is actually beneficial to the player too, as it makes their base salary fully guaranteed and they receive a big check up front instead of 16 game checks over the course of the season.

But this doesn't magically create cap space out of thin air, it simply pushes current cap hits onto future seasons and you have to deal with them then. I expect a few of these type of restructures to happen, though not too many as we already around 100M toward 2013 and 14.

[TruCatzFan]

Marty is gonna be a busy bee restructuring a lot of these deals.

They need to do something so that we can add a couple if not at least one big name to the D.

The bright future we all keep talking about doesn't look so bright, after looking at that!!

[Swarly]

Yes, any team can restructure like that to create cap space for the current season. This is actually beneficial to the player too, as it makes their base salary fully guaranteed and they receive a big check up front instead of 16 game checks over the course of the season.

But this doesn't magically create cap space out of thin air, it simply pushes current cap hits onto next season and then you have to deal with them then.

if we can just keep holding off until that TV rights deal hits, we should be fine.

any ideas on what the cap will be when that hits?

[SauceBoss]

Solution? FIRE HURNEY!!! CAP HELL!!!

[nosuchthingasapanther]

Who do we have that can restructure to save us money like this? I'm not sure what Gross/Gamble/Wharton's deals look like, but they're making an awful lot of money.

deangelo williams would be the most effective candidate.

it looks like no matter what they do with him, his contract is going to hurt.