Projected 2007 NFL Salary Cap Space for Each Team ~ ~ ~

[Bang]

Will Snyder maneuver his way around the cap to get players? Most likely. But that still doesn't erase how much money we've spent and how little we've got.

Most are forgetting that every other team can free up more space too. With so many other teams with 20+ mil under, how can we possibly sign the players we want, even with Snyder's genius?

Even if he could, compare how much money we've spent to other teams, teams with winning percentages. Money spent doesn't equal wins, and Snyder still seems to think that he can buy his team.

If football was a one man sport then Snyder could easily buy the best player and we'd be champions. But it's not. It's a team sport, and in order to win, you have to be a team, not a bunch of miscellaneous parts assembled from other teams' trash.

Everyone buys their team. Everyone deals with free agents. Everyone goes after players and everyone misses out on some. everyone has high priced players on their team that cost them .. the Colts are in the Super Bowl, but a few years ago when they signed Peyton Manning to his 100 million dollar deal, they had to cut a lot of quality players to make it work. Thank that for Marcus washington.

How will we get who we need? Same way we always have. Typically we look at how much they've been offered, and outbid it by a LOT. we can argue how smart that is til the cows come home,, it hasn't bitten them in the ass yet, and it's been supposedly going to every year now since 2001..

Players are interchangeable mercenaries now. they have to assimilate into new teams quickly. Look at the Saints. New coach, 4 out of 5 new offensive linemen, new interior DL, new QB, 3 new wide receivers,, and a trip to the NFC championship game. (And #1 offense in the NFL to boot.)

Chemistry can be created very quickly. Players either can adapt to new schemes fast, or they are worthless. It hinges on the coaches.

~Bang

[Art]

Madd,

The simple fact remains, as long as the rules remain in place and Snyder doesn't cut off the cash, no one is mortgaging anything of the future. You can always push and push and push. The bill comes due only when the owner no longer pays the financing charges .

This happened in San Fran. New ownership couldn't afford to do it, so they got busted. That said, this team has operated under a "big money" offseason followed by a smaller one to balance the future costs and make it sustainable. This offseason would, by design, be one we pay out less in free agency than this year. Next year is the year we can opt to go bigger because of how the deals are all structured.

The numbers for cap room provided above, unfortunately, do not seem to mention the Redskins have 21 of 22 starters from last year under contract now, with key backups in place. The team doesn't HAVE to do a ton. It does have to add depth and a key piece to the secondary. My guess is it will also opt to do something at linebacker, but, in general, the moves the team has to make are reasonably limited.

The offense is in tact. Many here will push to sign Dockery for further continuity and I love Dockery, but, he is not an ideal fit for Saunders' offense. As Portis correctly pointed out, Dockery can't pull. You move him and he falls down. This means only Thomas can do that for this team. That limits what we can run. I will predict we don't resign Dockery but do add an offensive lineman who is better pulling. I'm not sure I'll like it, but, I'll understand it.

In the end, the question is whether this team has the ability to improve and be dangerous again without being blown up or not. We certainly have fewer reasons for hope than we did before the 2005 season. This team has a troubling thread running inside it that makes it harder to see it getting better. There's poison there and there are no signs it will be removed. Still, the team has the ability to compete with one big signing on defense, one draft pick on defense and one mid-level signing on defense. The money is there for that.

[DieHardWSHfan]

Everyone buys their team. Everyone deals with free agents. Everyone goes after players and everyone misses out on some. everyone has high priced players on their team that cost them .. the Colts are in the Super Bowl, but a few years ago when they signed Peyton Manning to his 100 million dollar deal, they had to cut a lot of quality players to make it work. Thank that for Marcus washington.

How will we get who we need? Same way we always have. Typically we look at how much they've been offered, and outbid it by a LOT. we can argue how smart that is til the cows come home,, it hasn't bitten them in the ass yet, and it's been supposedly going to every year now since 2001..

Players are interchangeable mercenaries now. they have to assimilate into new teams quickly. Look at the Saints. New coach, 4 out of 5 new offensive linemen, new interior DL, new QB, 3 new wide receivers,, and a trip to the NFC championship game. (And #1 offense in the NFL to boot.)

Chemistry can be created very quickly. Players either can adapt to new schemes fast, or they are worthless. It hinges on the coaches.

~Bang

Basing an arguement on one example doesn't show your arguement is right; it shows that there is one team, one year, that fits your arguement. They are most definitely the exception, not the rule. Is it possible to restructure half the team and win? Yes. Likely? No. I have no problem with Snyder aggresively pursuing FAs, and I have no problem if he pays them a lot of money, but a player should only receive a lot of money if he contributes a lot. The one-size-fits-all huge deal Snyder dished out to Carter, Archuleta, Lloyd, and El wasn't given to each player on the Saints to come last year. In fact, the only really big contracts were Bush's, Brees', and MAYBE a couple others.

Also, the example with Manning: he is one of the best, if not the best quarterback in the league and in recent history. If he wins the superbowl, he will most likely go down in the HOF. He is worth signing a huge deal. Going from 10-6 to 5-11 isn't worth the money we paid AA, AC, BL, and ARE.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Other teams like Denver and Tennessee routinely screw up their cap. Look at last offseason for an example.. tennessee so badly screwed up with McNair by not asking him to renegotiate suddenly they were faced with a huge dilemma, and ended up handing him to Baltimore. (A move that in my opinion made the Ravens a playoff team from a team that looked like they could go 6-10 at best) Denver screws their numbers so bad that the second it even looked like the CBA might not be extended they cut three valuable starters... Mike Anderson, Trevor Pryce and Jeb Putzier. (Pryce and Anderson were huge blows to them when you look at how their defense gassed out after t5he mid-point, and their unsettled RB position.)

Please, Denver's cap was far from screwed up last year, or any time in the past few years. In fact, Denver routinely does what the Skins do, convert salary to bonus and push money back to later years. Last season was the first time under Shanahan they chose not to restructure any of their larger base-salaried players (Champ, Plummer, Rod Smith, and Al Wilson). They could have had a ton more cap room if they'd chosen to. The three cuts also had nothing to do with the new CBA, they were moves that the Broncos had decided to make regardless of an extension or not. Kudos to Pryce on his great season in Baltimore, but the guy hadn't done dick in Denver since the '02 season and was still getting paid like he was a top 5 DL.

[MRMADD]

Players are interchangeable mercenaries now. they have to assimilate into new teams quickly. Look at the Saints. New coach, 4 out of 5 new offensive linemen, new interior DL, new QB, 3 new wide receivers,, and a trip to the NFC championship game. (And #1 offense in the NFL to boot.)

Chemistry can be created very quickly. Players either can adapt to new schemes fast, or they are worthless. It hinges on the coaches.

~Bang

This is the "pure luck" theory: because some other team turned around quickly, it'll happen to us. Well, the Saints aren't a very good example for you to use.

- First of all, they started last offseason with $20 million in cap room. The Skins start this offseason with negative $2 million in cap room.

- One of their stars was a rookie 7th round pick. One starter was a rookie 4th round pick. The Skins don't draft well, don't have any picks between rounds 1 and 5, and they don't play rookies.

- Of their 2006 free agents, they had two tight ends, a linebacker, and a safety (other than Brees). All of them were cheap, not the expensive big-name stars the Skins chase. Finding cheap players who perform well means your FO knows what they're doing. Ours doesn't.

- 10 of the Saints 22 starters were drafted. If the Skins are lucky, 7 of their 22 starters in 2007 will be.

Pos Name Age NFL Exp How Acquired

--- ---- --- -------- ------------

QB Drew Brees 28 6th year Unrestricted free agent, 2006

RB Deuce McAllister 28 6th year 1st round pick, 2001

RB Reggie Bush 21 Rookie 1st round pick, 2006

FB Mike Karney 25 3rd year 5th round pick, 2004

WR Marques Colston 23 Rookie 7th round pick, 2006

WR Devery Henderson 24 3rd year 2nd round pick, 2004

WR Joe Horn 36 11th year Unrestricted free agent, 2000

TE Mark Campbell 31 9th year Unrestricted free agent, 2006

TE Billy Miller 29 7th year Unrestricted free agent, 2006

LT Jammal Brown 25 2nd year 1st round pick, 2005

LG Jamar Nesbit 30 8th year Unrestricted free agent, 2004

C Jeff Faine 25 4th year Trade from Cleveland, 2006

RG Jahri Evans 23 Rookie 4th round pick, 2006

RT Jon Stinchcomb 27 4th year 2nd round pick, 2003

Defense

=======

Pos Name Age NFL Exp How Acquired

--- ---- --- -------- ------------

LE Charles Grant 28 5th year 1st round pick, 2002

NT Hollis Thomas 34 11th year Trade from Philadelphia, 2006

DT Brian Young 29 7th year Unrestrticted free agent, 2004

RE Wil Smith 25 3rd year 1st round pick, 2004

SLB Scott Fujita 27 5th year Unrestricted free agent, 2006

MLB Mark Simoneau 30 7th year Trade from Philadelphia, 2006

WLB Scott Shanle 27 4th year Trade from Dallas, 2006

LCB Mike McKenzie 30 8th year Trade from Green Bay, 2004

RCB Fred Thomas 33 11th year Unrestricted free agent, 2000

SS Omar Stoutmire 32 10th year Unrestricted free agent, 2006

FS Josh Bullocks 23 2nd year 2nd round pick, 2005

NB Jason Craft 30 8th year Trade from Jacksonville, 2004

The bottom line is that there are no miracle cures. The Skins can't just wait and hope for "their turn".

[Bang]

Please, Denver's cap was far from screwed up last year, or any time in the past few years. In fact, Denver routinely does what the Skins do, convert salary to bonus and push money back to later years. Last season was the first time under Shanahan they chose not to restructure any of their larger base-salaried players (Champ, Plummer, Rod Smith, and Al Wilson). They could have had a ton more cap room if they'd chosen to. The three cuts also had nothing to do with the new CBA, they were moves that the Broncos had decided to make regardless of an extension or not. Kudos to Pryce on his great season in Baltimore, but the guy hadn't done dick in Denver since the '02 season and was still getting paid like he was a top 5 DL.

Denver has made plenty of mistakes.. Chester McGlockton, Dale Carter,, Brian Griese got an 11 million dollar raise after his rookie year, and they ate a 7 million dollar hit to get him out of town a year later.

Now they've got Jake Plummer likely leaving town.

But, my overall point is not to say tit for tat, they're just examples of how some errors in this league (namely Snyder's) are more magnified in the public eye than others.

My overal bottom line is being 2.7 Mil over the cap is peanuts, and that the original figure is misleading at best.

And to Mr Clown, you can call the Saints pure luck all you want, You can even infer that i am 'relying' on the same such luck. Neither can be further from the truth. No one lucks their way into a championship game in the NFL. There are no flukes at that level.

They are a prime example that this thing called chemistry can be achieved quickly.

And, I don't see us as relying on lightning striking in a bottle. we're relying on an age old tried and true formula.. patiently matriculate a young QB to lead the team. If i truly believed what you think I do, I'd say sign every guy tha comes down the pike. I like our direction, I think our choice for QB is looking pretty good based on what i've seen out of him on the field. Couple him with a good OL (3/5ths of which are home-grown) a good running attack, and some defense, and we can be a much better team in 07.

Most of the teams that have been consistently successful over the last five or so years have had their franchise QB that they can rely on. We haven't, but now we have an opportunity to develop one. They certainly didn't draft him and sit him for this long so they can throw him on the scrap heap when the next glamorous free agent comes along.

As I've said numerous times, it depends on Campbell and whether he can be that kind of player. (He doesn't need to be Manning or Brady.. but a leader in the most important position with some consistency would go a long way to making us better.) But, considering the defensive collapse that no one anticipated, now there's pressure on that side of the ball to get back up to snuff, and fast. It won't require any massive overhauls.. it will require some changes in philosophy (namely getting the DBs on the same page so we can get back to blitzing from all over the field), it will require an upgrade at MLB in my opinion, and some work on the DL. Considering the prospects at both DT and DE positions in this year's draft, I see us using our first rounder on one of them.

~Bang

[Hauss]

I know that Snyder and staff will sharpen their pencils. It's just depressing to see all those holes that need to be filled on defense and how far removed from the other teams in handling the cap we are--on top of that we are coming off of an 11 loss season.