Just doing the math, the Redskins could have lots of cap space if we get a CBA

[LetThePointsSoar]

Well said, Tris. I agree, and really think this will be an offseason (assuming the cuffs come off with a signed CBA) where we will make a lot of moves, but not the big splashy moves we've seen in the past. They will be strategic hole-filling additions that will really start to solidify a core we can build on. Really excited to see how this pans out, hope we're right...

[The Tris]

They will be strategic hole-filling additions that will really start to solidify a core we can build on. Really excited to see how this pans out, hope we're right...

Hopefully. I just worry that my idea of "strategic, hole-filling additions" is not the same as others.

Adding VJax, Cullen Jenkins, James Jones, Davin Joseph, and Ryan Kalil might be considered "hole-filling" by some, but it is in no way "strategic".

I hope our offseason mantra is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

[Dro89]

i think when i did the number and got around 53 mill also. BUT idk how the guaranteed money counts against us and stuff like that.

but with the 53 mill.

walk away with

Sidney Rice

Davin Joseph

Ryan Harris

Richard Marshall

Paul Soliai

Matt Roth

i hope to fit those guys into the team. plus correct drafting and we could be a monster of a team.. if we could land a FS..CB..Qb..LG..both DE although i think Carriker is ok.. what if we walked away with

Cameron Jordan

Locker

Burton

Hudson

Duante Williams

this draft.. i would **** bricks..

[CommDownMan]

That's not the point of the thread.

I think that it's amazing that we're NOT talking about cap hell or anything like that. Over $32 million under? That's unheard of for us, and that's exactly how you start getting pieces in place.

I think our top 3 or 4 contracts were restructured to pay the bulk of the cap hit last year, when there wasn't a cap.

Dead money was a big part of our "cap hell". The guys we cut and money we bumped forward would have killed us if the Cap hadn't expired. Now for us to be in "cap heaven" we need to hope that they don't penalize teams that used this strategy (I believe it was mentioned as a possibility, but can't seem to find anything on it). If not we should have some flexibility to sign a few pieces to speed along our 3-4 D and Shanny O.

[LetThePointsSoar]

Hopefully. I just worry that my idea of "strategic, hole-filling additions" is not the same as others.

Adding VJax, Cullen Jenkins, James Jones, Davin Joseph, and Ryan Kalil might be considered "hole-filling" by some, but it is in no way "strategic".

I hope our offseason mantra is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Agreed, I think instead you'll see moves that make you scratch your head until you look deeper. Shanny loves to play the cards close to the vest, so I think the majority of the moves we've been rumored to be associated with just because of our past, WON'T happen, while others that we've never heard of, will suddenly happen quickly once the ball starts rolling.

[wit33]

This year I have confidence that we will get guys that fit in with the Shanny's and Allen's philosophy. Character, history, age, and talent (that fits in with our O and D) will all be taken into account by this oranization. I will not be a fan that criticizes this new regime if they sign a big name player for a lot of money. I now have the belief that whoever that high dollar aquisition is will fit in with the new Redskin philosophy.

[chaz13]

I'm not usually for spending a ton in FA but this year is different. This is essentially a double class. There are some really good young names out there. We have positioned ourselves to be able to sign multiple top tier FA plus some middle of the road types. I don't think it's good for a team to bring in too many stars in one season but if we can find good young character players that fit our system then we need to go for it. This will be the most important year of the the Shanny/Allen rebuilding era. You will never see this many quality FA's again and our FO was very smart in the way they prepared for it. A great FA class and a good draft will turn this team around quickly. But again we need to be smart with the way we pick players which I believe this FO will be. Instead of just going after all the biggest names, we will actually look to see if they fit our system first (Trotter) and also pay attention to their age (B. Smith) so that when we are ready to make that SB run in 2 or 3 years these players will still be in their prime. HTTR!

[pram11]

Here's a different view of the matter...

http://redskinshogheaven.com/2010-articles/june/salary-cap-analysis-redskins-wont-have-to-mortgage-the-future-in-2011-to-buy-a-new-team.html

One of the expected outcomes of any new NFL-NFLPA collective bargaining agreement is the re-institution of the NFL salary cap, because of it's value to overall league parity, and how it works hand in hand with the NFL draft in forcing teams to build organically. It is not yet known exactly where the new salary cap total will be placed (this is a negotiation point), but we do know that in 2009, the cap sat at $127 million thanks to an exemption for the uncapped year. We can safely estimate that the 2011 NFL salary cap (or 2012 NFL salary cap if there is no 2011 season) at somewhere between $130-$135 million per team.

Thanks to some leaky faucet repairing by GM Bruce Allen, and some creative contract leveraging by cap maven Eric Shaffer, the Redskins do not have very much committed money for the 2011 season. In fact, they would be paying just over 91 million to 31 different players, causing them to have nearly $40 million in available cash to spread to fill up the rest of the roster.

Click the link to read the entire article

A couple things:

1. The link you provided is done by a fan, who like myself and other cap-fanatics, don't have access to NFLPA documents. A lot of his figures are no doubt accurate based on info gathered through media leaks, or at least in the ballpark. But it's impossible, without NFLPA access, to have the real numbers of the team. A guy like Halsell, who worked for the Redskins and still has NFLPA access, is going to provide accuracy on his numbers. I'll trust him over any fan's numbers any day, including my own.

2. The guy who did the calculating in the link you provided has an odd way of looking at numbers. For purposes of seeing what cuts/trades will save/cost, you don't take the reduction in salary commitment and then deduct/add that from the dead cap hit the team will take. It's much simpler -- you merely take a player's cap number for 2011 and compare that to the cap hit the team would take by releasing/trading said player pre and post-June. If Player A has a cap number of $10 million and by cutting him prior to June, the team would incur a $5 million hit against the cap, that move would save the team $5 million even though the team would carry the $5 million dead cap hit. You take all the individual players savings of the players I mentioned, which came from Halsell's list, add them together and you're going to save $20.6 million from the current cap position of $97.6 million. That would have the Redskins with only $77 million committed toward the 2011 cap, which would give us $53 million to $58 million in space on a cap of $130 million to $135 million.

[jthor99]

That list is a total joke how could you get rid of London Fletcher & D Hall come on now thats two of the best players on defense.I agree with some on the list but some just make me laugh

You take away Cutlers 4 INT gifts that he gave D Hall early in the year and the guy ends up with a whopping 2 INT's. I've never understood why some people think this guy is Deion Sanders he is getting paid a lot of money, and personally I don't see how his contract numbers equate to his value on this football team. I realize he's a fan favorite, but if you step away and really look at his body of work theres no way hes worth his current structured contract

[pram11]

You take away Cutlers 4 INT gifts that he gave D Hall early in the year and the guy ends up with a whopping 2 INT's. I've never understood why some people think this guy is Deion Sanders he is getting paid a lot of money, and personally I don't see how his contract numbers equate to his value on this football team. I realize he's a fan favorite, but if you step away and really look at his body of work theres no way hes worth his current structured contract

I'm not a big Hall guy, but realistically, I don't think he's going anywhere; just given the fact that Rogers is a free agent and what it would cost contractually to sign two starting CBs. Bruce reworked his contract last year in a way that he's not costing the team much for a solid starting CB from 2011 through the end of his deal. Could the team trade him and in the process get a mid-round pick and maybe make a run at a better player, like Joseph or Nnamdi? Yes, given the amount of space it looks like we'll have. I just don't think it's going to happen.

[Dro89]

id love have even more if we had a great coverage guy to play over the top of him.. allow him to gamble more with more of a saftey net.. but i put together something right quick for a draft and FA...

QB - R.Grossman, J.Locker, J.Beck

RB - R.Torain,K.Williams,D.Brown

FB - M.Sellers, D.Young

WR - S.Rice, S.Moss, A.Armstrong, M.Kelly, T.Austin, B.Banks

TE - C.Cooley, F,Davis, L.Paulsen

LT - T.Williams, J.King

LG - R.Hudson, K.Lichtensteiger

OC - S.Wisniewski, E.Cook

RG - D.Joseph, W. Montgomery

RT - R.Harris, J.King

RE - Cameron Jordan,R,Jackson,L.Guy

NT - P.soliai, A.Bryant,

LE - A.Carriker, J.Jarmon

LOLB - M.Roth,S.Friday

LILB - L.Fletcher,R.Henson

RILB - P.Riley,

ROLB - B. Orakpo,K.Rowe

RCB - D.Hall,P.Buchanon

FS - D.Williams,K.Barnes

SS - L.Landry,M.Harris

LCB - K.Barnes,B.Burton

Trade #10 to NE for #28 + #33

Trade A. Haynseworth + Mcnabb to Minny for a 2nd and 4th

Round 1 #28 - Cameron Jordan DE

Round 2 #33 - Stefen Wisniewski OC

Round 2 #42 - Jake Locker QB

Round 2 #44 - Brandon Burton CB

Round 4 #108 - Deunta Williams FS

Round 5 #138 - Steven Friday OLB

Round 5 #152 - Chris Neild NT

Round 6 #170 - Lawrence Guy DE

Round 7 #202 - Kenny Rowe OLB

Round 7 #214 - Jarriel King OT

FA - Sidney Rice WR, Paul Soliai NT, Davin Joseph RG, Ryan Harris RT, Richard Marshall CB, Matt Roth LOLB.

[The Robert Griffin Experience]

The problem isn't signing free agents - it's signing free agents who FIT. Past Redskins teams didn't do that, because they didn't have an identity or a vision. Thus, they flopped more often than not. And the fact is, we have a lot of holes to fill and limited holes to fill them with. Not to mention that most of the top FAs are young (under 26 for the most part).

With that said, an offseason of Rice, Davin and Jonathan Joseph, and Solai, all signed to hopefully reasonable deals (though unless he wants 50 million over 7, with a 25m signing bonus, I'm in favor of slightly overpaying a potential franchise nose tackle like Solai) with a solid draft is my dream scenario.

[Conn]

The fact is, we have a lot of holes to fill and limited holes to fill them with

Yes. That is a fact.

[The Tris]

When a team such as ours attempts to fill every hole in one offseason, it is doomed to fail.

[Hitman21ST]

You take away Cutlers 4 INT gifts that he gave D Hall early in the year and the guy ends up with a whopping 2 INT's. I've never understood why some people think this guy is Deion Sanders he is getting paid a lot of money, and personally I don't see how his contract numbers equate to his value on this football team. I realize he's a fan favorite, but if you step away and really look at his body of work theres no way hes worth his current structured contract

You make all the INTs he dropped into real INTs and he's got about the same amount. It works both ways.

In fewer years, he has more INTs than Troy Polamalu, a player known for getting INTs.

[pram11]

Looking at Wilfork's contract of 5-years/$40 million ($8 million average per season) with $25 million guaranteed and $18 million signing bonus, I'll take a shot and say Soliai, given the demand for his services and lack of quality Nose Tackles available, will command something like: 6-Years/$39 million ($6.5 million average per season) with $20 million guaranteed, $15 million to sign and a 2011 cap number of about $5.5 million ($3.0 million prorated bonus and $2.5 million salary). But that's just a guess of what it might take to get him.

Something to keep in mind: Bruce Allen is not Vinny Cerrato. He does not adhere to the "credit card" philosophy with regards to the cap, where contracts are back-loaded with large signing bonuses, small base salaries in the first 3-years of contracts and balloon salaries on the back-end of the deal. Allen is very creative when it comes to the cap, evidenced by the manner in which he exposed clauses in the CBA to rework the contracts of Haynesworth and Hall to push their big money into the uncapped 2010. Due to that, we are in great position with the cap. The dude also has league-wide contract clauses named after some of his creative work. He'll find ways to structure contracts to not only maximize our cap room now, but also not push the brunt of the money into the back-end years of contracts.

With all the space we seem to have, you may see him use roster bonuses in the place of signing bonuses. It's the same effect for the player, as they'll get their money in the same up-front form; what it does, however, instead of that bonus being prorated, it will be allocated vs. the cap in full the year it's given so that it's not prorated against future caps. You may also see him take advantage of the LTBE clause that teams like Philly has been using for years, in order to create cap space for future seasons. In that scenario, a team will insert ridiculous LTBE incentive into a contract that will never be met by the player, and when it's not, the team is issued a cap credit for the following year in the amount of the incentive not earned. For example: You have a $10 million LTBE incentive in a player's contract that isn't met, and the club's cap number is increased by that amount the following year over what the league cap is set at. So if the cap is $130 million and you successfully utilize this LTBE loophole in the amount of $10 million, your cap will actually be "adjusted" to $140 million. The Redskins have done so in the past, but for very small amounts, usually no more than $1 million. In the case of Joe Banner with the Eagles, he's used it to create millions more in cap space for future years. The more cap space you have, the more creative you can be with it.

I wouldn't expect just your standard contract with Allen, in which players get a signing bonus, maybe a roster bonus in year 2 or 3, and base salaries that increase each year. I would look for more creativity from one of the best cap guys in the league, the utilization of clauses we may never have heard about and base salaries that are more flat-lined with more minimal increases from year-to-year, as opposed to huge base salaries in the later years, which often forces teams to cut players; which, in turn, results in a load of dead cap space that we've been famous for over the past 10 years or so.

[LetThePointsSoar]

Dro - I like your thinking, but you're flat out dreaming if you think Locker is falling to #42 in the draft...not gonna happen...

[Dro89]

Dro - I like your thinking, but you're flat out dreaming if you think Locker is falling to #42 in the draft...not gonna happen...

some mocks have him falling out of the first.. hell walter has him in the 3rd.. i wouldn't say its dreaming.. I would say its a70/30 chance.. only team i could see stopping this would be Seattle.

[ouvan59]

The problem isn't signing free agents - it's signing free agents who FIT. Past Redskins teams didn't do that, because they didn't have an identity or a vision.

Bingo. That was one of the biggest factors in the Redskins failures over the last decade. We did well with some (Randy Thomas-Coles/Moss) but whiffed big time on others (Trotter-Haynesworth-Archuleta-Lloyd). Jeremiah Trotter is the prime example of this.

[justice98]

I'm not usually for spending a ton in FA but this year is different. This is essentially a double class. There are some really good young names out there. We have positioned ourselves to be able to sign multiple top tier FA plus some middle of the road types. I don't think it's good for a team to bring in too many stars in one season but if we can find good young character players that fit our system then we need to go for it. This will be the most important year of the the Shanny/Allen rebuilding era. You will never see this many quality FA's again and our FO was very smart in the way they prepared for it. A great FA class and a good draft will turn this team around quickly. But again we need to be smart with the way we pick players which I believe this FO will be. Instead of just going after all the biggest names, we will actually look to see if they fit our system first (Trotter) and also pay attention to their age (B. Smith) so that when we are ready to make that SB run in 2 or 3 years these players will still be in their prime. HTTR!

It'll be interesting to see how free agency pans out if the new CBA isn't ratified until August or some time late like that. It'll be the wild west.

[LetThePointsSoar]

some mocks have him falling out of the first.. hell walter has him in the 3rd.. i wouldn't say its dreaming.. I would say its a70/30 chance.. only team i could see stopping this would be Seattle.

Maybe "dreaming" was a little extreme....I like your optimism, hope you're right, he's a STEAL at #42...