Everything you need to know about our cap, potential cuts and free agents.

[UNCrules2187]

did you figure in the roll over money from last year?

good read,btw.

Pretty sure he did, without the rollover we were projected to be something like $15m over the cap

[panther4life]

did you figure in the roll over money from last year?

good read,btw.

yes I did, well technically Clayton did and I used his info for reference.

[Growl]

Good post.

I look at that list of FA's and see nobody other than Munnerlyn, Neblett, and Senn (simply because I like him) that I really feel we need to keep. I say let them walk and bring them back if we need the depth.

[Ricky Spanish]

one of the best posts of the past year. Awesome job man.

[Doc Holiday]

All good info! Good stuff

[panther4life]

Good post.

I look at that list of FA's and see nobody other than Munnerlyn, Neblett, and Senn (simply because I like him) that I really feel we need to keep. I say let them walk and bring them back if we need the depth.

I see Ron Edwards as a sure fire cut, so if thats the case I think we need to find a way to retain Dwan at least another year. No way I want a rookie/Fua or Neblett starting at DT next year.

[Scrumtrilescent]

I promoted this to an article. Then it seemed to have copied the OP as well...

[Growl]

I like Neblett as a player and feel he has rook to grow, but yes, if that's the case with Ron, Whig I too feel is quite possible, than bring Dwan back.

[rayzor]

you could figure clausen in there, but that money would probably go right into paying for another backup.

that brings up another question i have, tho.

guys like clausen who have certain performance escalators built into their contracts have to have all potential money accounted for in the cap whether they actually hit it or not, correct? i'm just wondering what kind of effect their not being able to hit those escalators might have on the overall cap.

also more specifically about clausen, i saw this on rotoworld...

7/28/2010: Signed a four-year, $6.3 million contract. The deal includes $2.533 million guaranteed and a fourth-year escalator that could boost Clausen's 2013 base salary to $2.85 million. Even if Clausen does not activate the escalator, his 2013 salary is fully guaranteed. 2013: $630,000, 2014: Free Agent

i'm assuming that the 2.85 escalator won't be hit, but that money still has to be accounted for. are people leaving that out when looking at his cap hit?

[Floppin]

We also have draft picks to sign....so I think we need to get down even more to have room to sign them.

Yeah I added the rookie # guestimate he had to that cap figure, so it included signing the rookies.

Great info p4l.

A couple of things to remember about the cap in regards to rookies. When a drafted player signs his contract, the team is charged against its salary cap according to the Top 51 Rule, and it is charged against its rookie pool according to the rules in Article 7.

Let's consider a seventh-round draft pick who signs a four-year contract with minimum base salaries and a $44,000 signing bonus and who was selected by a team with its 51st-highest cap number being $480,000 (for a second-year player with a $465,000 base salary). The rookie's first-year cap number would be $401,000, consisting of his $390,000 base salary and his $11,000 bonus proration. Because he was drafted, the entire $401,000 would count against his team's rookie pool, replacing his automatic tender. But because he is below his team's top 51 cap numbers, only his $11,000 bonus proration counts against the salary cap during the offseason.

Now consider a third-round draft pick for the same team. He signs a four-year contract with minimum base salaries and a signing bonus of $700,000. His first-year cap number would be $565,000, consisting of his $310,000 base salary and his $175,000 bonus proration. All $565,000 would count against his team's rookie pool and against his team's salary cap. However, by assuming his place among the team's top 51 cap numbers, he knocks the player with a $480,000 cap number ($465,000 base salary) out of the team's top 51. For that player, his base salary no longer counts against the cap, leaving only the other $15,000 counting against the cap. The net result is that the team's cap room is reduced by only $100,000 — the draftee's $565,000 is charged against the cap, but the second-year player's $465,000 base salary no longer is.

As you can see, as long as his team already has at least 51 players signed or tendered, a draftee's effect on his team's salary cap is far less than his rookie pool charge. Most people forget this when they consider how much cap room must be "set aside" for rookies. You'll often see people say that, for example, if a team has $4 million of cap room and a rookie pool of $5 million, it will need to clear another $1 million from its cap in order to sign all of its draft choices. Of course, if the team already has close to or more than 51 players signed or tendered, that's wrong, because that team's rookies will reduce its salary cap by far less than $5 million, as shown above.

[CatMan72]

Cutting Gross right now sounds like a terrible idea to me, who do we have that's ready to step in at LT???

Gamble can go as far as I'm concerned. He's been giving us 75% effort for the last few years and we have some promising young guys on the roster.

[SCP]

Good info.

Man, I don't see a team picking anybody off of our free agent lists. That is some subpar talent right there. Good lord Hurney.

[Zod]

We are going into 2013 with a downgraded coaching staff and roster.

Thats all you really need to know. lol

[Floppin]

We are going into 2013 with a downgraded coaching staff and roster.

Thats all you really need to know. lol

Roster....maybe. We'll see.

Coaching staff - other than the uncertainty of Shula (whether he has learned and grown as an OC), our Coaching staff has upgraded at almost every new hire.