Take the full cap hit for Smith in 2019

[Riggo-toni]

Let's say it is confirmed that Alex Smith's injury is a career ender, or at the very least will sideline him for 2019. What should we do about the $41m in dead cap money (remaining guaranteed minus insurance coverage)?

Personally, I want us to absorb the entire hit in 2019. Colt McCoy won't last more than 6 games, and Josh Johnson isn't going to win more than 2. Is there really any difference between a 5 or 6 win team versus 2-14? Taking the hit all in one year will mean gutting the roster. The question must be asked for each player: Will this person be a significant contributer 2020 and beyond? Allow Crowder, Clinton-Dix, and Smith to walk in order to collect comp picks. Extend Scherff, Ioanaiddis. Cut Norman, Vernon Davis, all the FA DL we've picked up along the way.  Probably need to cut or try to trade Reed. Draft an edge rusher or LT in the first and second rounds. Grab as much OL in the draft as possible.

 

What Brucifer the Prince of Dimness will do:

 

A 3-13 season followed by a cleaned cap mess might provide the team with its best long-term outlook, but it would also provide the impetus for finally expelling Brucifer's demonic stench from Redskins Park, and Norv...er...Gruden along with him.  Sooo....they will keep Smith on the payroll with the intention of spreading his cap hit over 3 years - salary in 2019 followed by post-June 2019 cut so the dead cap is split between 2020 & 2021. Such a maneuver not only might provide just enough wins to calm Snyder's impulse to clean house - it will render the Skins cap position for 2020 so handicapped that they wouldn't be able to attract serious FO/Coaching talent to replace Lord Farquaad's current collection of minions.

[Renegade7]

@Riggo-toni please make a poll question, because I agree with taking full cap hit if he doesn't want to retire before this season starts. 

 

Think we'd have to wait until after March 5th(open correction here, this was from Akex Smith thread started ) to help limit damage to cap best we can from the dead money this will cause.  Far as I'm concerned, even if he stayed it might as well be dead money.

 

Get it over with already.

[CommDownMan]

Someone mentioned some he's hurt the would need to be an injury settlement not just a cut.   So there is more to it, but if he's done we need to find a way to get the pain out of the way, sooner rather than later. 

[method man]

I've been advocating for this as well. The other thing to think about is that, given the depth of the 2020 QB class, it would pay off here to suck as much as possible. 

[gooseneck]

hopefully, with this latest front office is move, Allen is being kicked upstairs and out of the football operation; wishful thinking, I know.  It is time we start doing things on the Brown's model.  We are 3 years away from being a competitive superbowl type team.  Keep the young talent.  Let Trent go to find his superbowl team to end his career( reward good vets by letting them go) Let go of Norman and other older vets and load up on undrafted free agents hoping to find a diamond in the rough.  This year start building an o-line comparable to our d-line, look for franchise qb next year or start trading down for future pics if one is not available

[TradeTheBeal!]

I am on the record for the 2019 mega-tank.

 

Give Sanchez the wheel!!

[markmills67]

I think I read the Redskins took out a 10m insurance policy on Smith, does that mean his cap hit would be 31m if released or he retired?. 

 

HTTR 

 

 

[OVCChairman]

I'd prefer to eat it all next year, but don't release him.  Rework the deal so that if he CAN come back and compete for a spot, he's still on the team.  If he CANT come back, he can remain on the roster until he can pass a physical.  Move most of the guaranteed money into 2019 but leave an additional $2-$4 mil for 2020.  I'd personally take next year on the chin... Accrue draft equity and look to draft a qb in 2020, a much deeper top tier class.  Keep Alex on for that season if he still WANTS to play with the up front understanding that he'll be a early season, transitional type role.  That way you're not throwing your rookie directly to the wolves, Alex has a whole additional season to rehab and evaluate his options, and he's still under the care of the team to cover his medical expenses.  Let Alex continue to play until your drafted QB is clearly the better option while learning from someone who's not new to training replacements.  If at any point Alex makes it known he'd like to be elsewhere, we can get out relatively clean.

[Riggo-toni]

29 minutes ago, markmills67 said:

I think I read the Redskins took out a 10m insurance policy on Smith, does that mean his cap hit would be 31m if released or he retired?. 

No. The 41m figure is with the $12m insurance coverage already figured in. Otherwise we would be on the hook for over $50m in guaranteed money not yet spent (prorated signing bonus + guaranteed salary).

[Unbias]

There's no way we can expect him to play in 2019, so what we are really talking about is 2020. The crazy part of his contract is that on the 5th day of the new league year his 2020 salary of $16M becomes guaranteed. 

 

There might be an injury settlement option that lowers that number a bit, but then again Alex Smith has all the leverage. 

 

So, let's do the math. After the trade the team extended a 34 year old quarterback and might ending up paying $71M ($13M 2018 salary + $27M signing bonus + $15M guaranteed 2019 salary + $16M soon to be guaranteed 2020 salary) for a grand total of 10 games of production where he was able to muster up: 

 

- 2180 yards (218 yards/game)

- 10 passing TDs (1/game)

- 5 Ints (0.5/game)

- 168 rushing yards (16.8/game)

- 1 rushing TD

- 1 lost fumble

 

I'll just let that sit in for a bit...

 

Anyway, I don't really care if he's cut or not. We've got to be looking towards the 2020 season and beyond and with the way unused cap space passes over from year to year it really doesn't matter too much. It would be better to do a 'scorched earth' type rebuild, but that would mean Bruce/Dan will at the controls mapping out the future...

 

This gif perfectly captures my mood: 

 

 

I try to laugh, but then, well, the feelings get the better of me. 

[Riggo-toni]

1 hour ago, jsharrin55 said:

Someone mentioned some he's hurt the would need to be an injury settlement not just a cut.   So there is more to it, but if he's done we need to find a way to get the pain out of the way, sooner rather than later. 

Whether it's an injury settlement or just a cut, he still gets the same guaranteed money. The difference is if he can pass a physical but still gets cut, we would forfeit the insurance coverage and are on the hook for another $12m.

This could conceivably happen only if we gave him 2019 to recover and he is then healthy enough to be cleared to play in 2020, but has digressed too far and is thus too awful to make the roster.

[Wildbunny]

I'm split here.

 

First Id rather have us eat our crows now as we're not gonna do anything serious next year. Team is in shambles and often injured. Coaching staff is close to the end...

 

So we're not gonna do anything relevant next year. Might as well tank 2019.

 

Still, that wouldn't be fair to Alex. Guy was all class here and don't deserve that. I'd love to see him throw another ball in a Redskins' uniform.

[Unbias]

Duplicate post. 

[Idaho fan]

Its gonna hurt no matter what... I mostly agree with those here saying to take the pain sooner rather than later... What will happen will be a different story IMO.  They are brining back all the same old same so they are planning to be competitive (or at least their version of it).  They won't tank they will spend some money and bring in a few players to hopefully energize this disgruntled fan base.  They will push the hit out as far as possible.  The skins will win 4-7 games.  Its their MO.

 

This owner and GM won't do what the Eagles did after Chip and build something.

[Unbias]

This contract should open up another school of thought - Which players will be done/worse in 2020 that we can trade now? I mean, if we have no QB or $ for a QB for the next couple years why not load up on draft picks? 

 

- Trent Williams - 2 years left on his deal and someone would want him. 

- Josh Norman - Not sure if anyone wants to pay the $11.5 and $12.5M for the next two seasons, but he'd be available. 

- Ryan Kerrigan - This one would hurt the most for me, but he'd probably get you the most. 

- Zach Brown - He really played us for a nice sized extension. Might someone want the deal after the signing bonus is absorbed by us? 

 

For me the only players I wouldn't trade are Scherff, Allen and Payne. Everyone else is available for not too much in compensation (it's more about opening up cap space for following seasons while locking down 2-3 years of high draft picks). 

[Est.1974]

I'm not sure that we can spread dead cap out past 2020 due to that being the final year of the CBA. I think if cut or released, the hit will have to go through 2019 and 2020 in some capacity.

[Riggo-toni]

35 minutes ago, Wildbunny said:

Still, that wouldn't be fair to Alex. Guy was all class here and don't deserve that. I'd love to see him throw another ball in a Redskins' uniform.

It does suck for Alex, and I agree he is a very classy guy, but he has enough millions to get over it, and if he can still play in 2020, he'd have his choice of where to go.

[kleese]

What happens if he just says “I’m done” and officially retires?

[FrFan]

7 minutes ago, kleese said:

What happens if he just says “I’m done” and officially retires?

 

[RVAskins]

Maybe we can trade him!

[WelshSkinsFan]

15 minutes ago, kleese said:

What happens if he just says “I’m done” and officially retires?

 

Best case scenario for us but honestly he has zero motivation to do this.  He gains nothing by doing this and forfeits millions, he may be classy but he isn't stupid so he is not going to do us any favors and why should he.  It is not his fault that Bruce was so desperate to put lipstick on a pig that he gave away a stupid contract extension before even seeing Alex is a skins uniform.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

...salary cap expert Joel Corry said that the team is facing a bill of $31 million over the next two years.

 

"His contract is structured like any other quarterback contract at his magntitude," he said. "The extension averaged 22.5 million per year. So his 2019 $15 million base salary was fully guaranteed at signing. That was to be expected.

 

"Now, when you have contracts like this, the 2020 season sometimes is guaranteed at signing ...  $16 million, 2020 the base salary, it was guaranteed at signing and it becomes fully guaranteed if he's on the roster as of the fifth day of the 2019 league year which is this upcoming St. Patrick's Day. So that's $31 million over the next two years that it's almost impossible for the Redskins to get out of. But that's the nature of the beast of a contract of this magnitude for a quarterback. "

 

If Smith decided to retire, Corry said, the Redskins could recoup some of that money. But he doesn't see Smith giving them the chance to do so.

[DJD2]

If they can do it all in 2019, then go ahead and rip the band-aid off.

[Renegade7]

I chose to split over this year and next, give chance to not be totally uncompetitive in 2019, I really do believe that's the worst possible thing we could do given his lasy year ended.  We need to know what our future is and be clear its not Alex, for his own good.  Hell get just again playing for us and it will be harder for him to get away from people first getting back.

[Unbias]

43 minutes ago, FrFan said:

 

 

So his retirement would hurt the Skins more?