Panthers Cap figure for 2012. Pat Yasinskas

[R0CKnR0LLA]

all estimates ive seen are that it'll be 125 million

keep in mind that 128M figure doesnt count signing our rookies, which should add around 7M

so 10M over before we even look to resign our own FAs or bring in any outside help. yippee

[Delhommey]

Wharton will not get 8 million dollars, of that I'm sure.

[rmoneyg35]

Here are a couple of guys that I think might get cut.

Mike Goodson

Armanti Edwards

Jeff Otah

Eric Norwood

Ben Hartstock

Cletis Gordon

Sherrod Martin

Thomas Davis

Travelle Wharton

Seyi Ajirotutu

Guys that might get there contract restructure.

Jordan Gross

Chris Gamble

Deangelo Williams

Steve Smith

I don't think Wharton, Martin, Otah and Norwood will be cut. Norwood has the chance to not make the roster after preseason but I doubt it.

[Cape Fear Cat]

I agree with you guys, in that I believe a lot of guys who were sub-par this season will get their pink slips soon. Also, Hurney has shown great facility at restructuring to gt the wiggle room he needs to bring in who we want.

[tondi]

all estimates ive seen are that it'll be 125 million

keep in mind that 128M figure doesnt count signing our rookies, which should add around 7M

so 10M over before we even look to resign our own FAs or bring in any outside help. yippee

I wonder if the 128 is counting Thomas Davis' contract. I read somewhere that his contract would result in a 11.9mil cap hit in 2012 assuming he wasn't cut. Now that that appears to be imminent I wonder if that actually gets us back under the anticipated cap?

[carpanfan96]

Anybody know what the cap number will be for 2012?

The CBA guidelines gives an estimate of the Cap figures for 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.

In the CBA It's 125 for the upcoming season and then 130 for the one following that. Those numbers are based off the expectation of a set rate of increase in the NFL's revenue stream.

Likely you'll see something along the lines of 129 and 135 for those two seasons.

The really fun starts in the 2014-2015 season when the new ESPN tv deal kicks in and adds around 30 million to the cap number. So the rough estimates that league is using right now are the following.

2012 - 125-129

2013 - 130-134

2014 - 160-165

The 125 and 130 million dollar figures are from the CBA itself and are based off of NFL/NFLPA rough projections for those two seasons.

[carpanfan96]

I wonder if the 128 is counting Thomas Davis' contract. I read somewhere that his contract would result in a 11.9mil cap hit in 2012 assuming he wasn't cut. Now that that appears to be imminent I wonder if that actually gets us back under the anticipated cap?

It is, So once he's cut his cap hit drops to the original signing bonus he received last year (7 million) divided in half plus his base salary for next season.

He's not due a large base salary next season, it's all in bonus money that isn't earned yet and doesn't count against the team if he's cut. The bonus next season is a roster bonus if he's on the team after July 1st to the tune of 8 million dollars that would kick in and make his cap number sky rocket for next season.

His cap number is so high because of the bonus being a roster bonus (it kicks in for that year), plus his Base (2.25), Original signing bonus (7 over 5 years or 1.4 million) For a total cap hit of 11.65 million next season if he gets the roster bonus.

His base is 2.25 million , plus 3.5 million for his original signing bonus. If he's cut that 2.25 doesn't count against the team. So his cap hit for next season is 3.5 million and can be spread out if the team wants.

If the team cuts him, they save around 8.1 million on next years cap number.

[tondi]

It is, So once he's cut his cap hit drops to the original signing bonus he received last year (7 million) divided in half plus his base salary for next season.

He's not due a large base salary next season, it's all in bonus money that isn't earned yet and doesn't count against the team if he's cut. I believe it is a roster bonus if he's on the team after July 1st to the tune of 8 million dollars that would kick in and make his cap number sky rocket for next season.

I believe his base is around 2.25 million or so, plus 3.5 million for his original signing bonus. If he's cut that 2.25 doesn't count against the team. So his cap hit for next season is 3.5 million and can be spread out if the team wants.

If the team cuts him, they save around 8.4 million on next years cap number.

That sounds about right based on what I got from this site.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/thomas-davis/

It was the only one I could find with contract info so I don't know if it is correct. It also has everyone else on it as well.

[carpanfan96]

That sounds about right based on what I got from this site.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/thomas-davis/

It was the only one I could find with contract info so I don't know if it is correct. It also has everyone else on it as well.

You can also usually get the contract information from Roto world once it's been made public or from various other places that get that information. I also put in the rest of the information I couldn't remember into my original post.

[bleys]

if what most people are saying is true, this article isn't very indicative on our actual cap number..

also, restructuring doesn't simply mean we can go out whenever we want and lower the cap. there has to be room within the contract to do so.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

that's not correct, the option bonus works similar to a signing bonus in that it'll be spread over the remaining 4 years of his contract, meaning it'll count 2M per year against the cap

as i put in the other thread TDs 2012 cap hit if retained is 5.9M, if cut his signing bonus accelerates and counts 5.6M against the cap. once you figure in the cost of replacing the roster spot (even at a bare minimum) you actually have a larger cap in 2012 from cutting TD than keeping him. the only difference is that there's significant savings from 2013 on

[The_Mango55]

I don't understand how our cap is so high considering we haven't signed any players besides vet min and Mare in the past two years. I don't believe we are still playing players like Jake so how is our Cap this high? All I can say is if we don't restructure and cut some players then Hurney should be fired for putting us in this situation. No way a team that is coming off a 2-15,6-10 season with NO big free agent acquisitions have a team salary this high.

It's simple, we don't have a lot of key guys in contract years this year, not a big deal at all.

Other teams have more room to work with but also have to sign key players. Like New Orleans for example are going to be signing Brees to a monster deal that will eat up basically all of their free cap space.

That's why looking at the salary cap figures in a vacuum is a terrible way to measure things.

[carpanfan96]

if what most people are saying is true, this article isn't very indicative on our actual cap number..

also, restructuring doesn't simply mean we can go out whenever we want and lower the cap. there has to be room within the contract to do so.

Correct, that's why I said either restructure or extend. Smith could be extended, add in a bonus to move some salary from this season and the team would save potentially around 3-5 million this season by adding 3 more years on his deal.

With Wharton and Gross you could restructure those to be back loaded in 2014 (last year of their deals) or extend them for 2 more years so those deals run out in 2016.

Gamble's deal is a bit tricky, as he's already owed a lot of money base salary wise in 2012-2013. He's earned an extension though if you ask me.

That pushes all those deals into the ESPN TV deal cap area when the cap will skyrocket.

[MadHatter]

Thats people who were re-signed. I am talking about us signing new players to come to Carolina.

I think Wharton,Davis, and Otah should make a restructure. I know Davis and Otah don't make that much but every bit helps.

I would love to see us restructure Gamble but I don't know if he will take a pay cut with the kind of year he just had.

Re-signing your own players to large contracts counts exactly the same as signing a FA to a big contract.

THAT is how we have such a high cap number. This was discussed and was in many publications for the past 9 months.

Not sure how you missed it.

Perplexed as to how you think doing ANYTHING with Otah would be a positive to the cap. He is under a rookie contract. If anything, a new contract would INCREASE his hit. Do you actually understand how the Cap works?