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A look at the salary cap situation


Chrisbob74

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Seeing as the main Redskin related topics amongst us the past few weeks have involved trades and bringing in or getting rid of certain players I thought I would make a few comments and post some info about our current cap situation.

Now, as far as the cap is at this minute, we are approximately $6.4 under the cap for 2004. Teams have to be under the cap by March 1st (and then can not go above it at all). The current figure will decrease slighty as player incentives from last season are not factored in until March 1st. This amount should not be too much though as we didn't make the play-off, have many Pro bowlers or many players on contacts with escalators. I don't have a figure for what we will pay out in incentives but I'm guessing it will be arounds the $0.5 million mark.

Dead money is counted within the cap figure I quoted but just for

interest, the dead money comes from the following players:

DT Dan Wilkinson: $3.94 million

G/T Rod Jones: $166,000

CB Alex Molden: $100,000

TE Zeron Flemister: $233,000

QB Rob Johnson: $125,000

Total of dead money counting on the cap $4.6M

Players curently under contract who could be cut to create cap room include:

Lional Dalton ($1.4M, no cap hit)

Trung Canidate ($915K, no cap hit)

Byron Chamberlain ($660K, $100k cap hit, saving $560k)

Larry Moore ($1.3M, $167k cap hit, saving approx $1.1M)

Bruce Smith ($8.835M, $2.335 cap hit, saving $6.500M)

Jesse Armstead ($1.500M, $417k cap hit, saving approx $1.05M)

Bryan Barker ($800K, $167k cap hit, saving $533k)

Those seven players alone bring a saving to the cap of approx $12 million. That figure drops slighty when the players below the highest paid 51 (only your highest paid 51 count against the cap) move into salary cap consideration, but it does not effect the figures greatly and depends on how many of the above seven are cut.

I'm not saying these players will be released (ie, I don't want Armstead released) but they are likely targets due to/or because of their salaries, position on the team or low cap hit figures (due to nearing the end of their contracts).

Other players could be targeted (I'm not saying they will be cut, but they could be targeted by the FO or cut in camp because of competition) for the June 1st cuts (spreading any cap hit over two years, pro rated bonus counts this year, remainder counts on next seasons cap), the follow implications would happen "if" they were to be cut on or after June 1st.

Renaldo Wynn ($2M salary, 585k cap hit in '04, $1.75 cap hit in '05, gives $1.415M cap space for '04)

-Team could ask him to rework his deal, if he refuses, could be cut.

Dave Fiore ($1.1M salary, 300k cap hit in '04, $900k cap hit in '05, gives $800k cap space for '04)

-If he continues to have problems staying healthy team could cut him.

Brandon Noble ($1M salary for '04, cap hit $360k cap hit in '04, $1.08 cap hit in '05, gives $640k cap space for '04)

-Team could cut him once he is offically fit, or pay an injury settlement if he does not recover, any extra payment in the form of a injury settlement would count against the cap.

Regan Upshaw ($1M salary in '04, $400k cap hit in '04, $1.2M cap hit in '05, gives $600k cap room for '04)

-Could miss out in numbers game if we add DL players, unlikely he is cut but not impossible.

Jermaine Haley ($650K salary in '04, $160k cap hit in '04, $325k cap hit in '05, gives $490k cap room for '04)

-Could miss out on roster spot if DT position upgraded (likely!)

Cliff Russell $439K ($380K salary in '04, $146k cap hit in '04, no hit in '05 as in last year of contract)

-Gibbs won't keep 7 receivers like Spurrier, so good chance he misses out in camp.

Some info on minimum salaries for next year:

2004 Minimum Salaries (based on years of experience):

0 years - $230K 1 year - $305K 2 years - $380K 3 years - $455K

4 to 6 years - $535K 7 to 9 years - $660K 10 or more years -$760K

Anyway, assuming we make some cuts and get to about $15-18M under the cap we then have to address our own FA's. Franchising Champ costs $6,8M

RFA's tenders for McCants, Bryan Johnson, Franz, Pierce and Ohalete (depends on the type of tenders offered, but total will be between $2.5-4M counting on cap as long as tender stands, amount counting on cap will adjust if

they sign a long term deal instead of tender)

EFA's, only one of these, Lamar Marshall, tender is $380k

Rookie pool is approx $4.3M this year, but varies on amount of picks (I think!)

That's between $13-15M of cap room eaten up without signing any of our FA's or anyone of other teams. Baileys figure is key here, if he stays franchised it effects our position to make any moves, if he is traded that $6.8 million becomes available and we can move more freely, if he signs a long term deal with us his cap figure will be less than the $6.8M, arounds $3-4M as a guess, depending on signing bonus and length of deal, his salary would probably be the vets minimum in '04. The rookie pool doesn't count against the cap as such and we could wait until after June when some players are cut to sign our draft picks. Another way of making cap room could be to target certain players for restructing. Wynn would be a good player to target as

he can be cut in June without a major effect, Trotter and Samuels are others (Samuels has so far said he won't) but these players hold the upper hand as they are near impossible to cut due to the cap hit we would receive (if we cut/trade Samuels we would only gain $1M in cap space, if done after June 1st it would be a bigger saving but a big cap hit in '05, Trotter would cost more against the cap if cut now, $5.5M compared to a cap hit at the moment of $3.8!!)

Of our UFA's I would like us to resign Lenny Friedman, Ethan Albright and Patrick Johnson who should all be fairly cheap, about the vets minimum or maybe a bit more, but nothing excessive.

As for FA's to target, all depends on the FO/Gibbs stratergy but as long as the Champ situation drags on it ties our hands a lot!

Looking ahead to future years, as things stand now:

For 2005, we have approximately $44M tied up in 31 players, of course, this includes the likes of Dalton on a $3M salary (not going to be here, at least not on that type of money!) and as players are signed to long term deals or players with long term contracts are cut this figure adjusts dramatically.For 2006 we have $56.5M tied up in contracts for 19 players. (Lavar has a cap hit of $12.6M that year!!).

Edit: Cap has gone up to $80.5M, approx $2M more room now this year!! (which is good).

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Originally posted by Chrisbob74

Seeing as the main Redskin related topics amongst us the past few weeks have involved trades and bringing in or getting rid of certain players I thought I would make a few comments and post some info about our current cap situation.

Now, as far as the cap is at this minute, we are approximately $6.4 under the cap for 2004. Teams have to be under the cap by March 1st (and then can not go above it at all). The current figure will decrease slighty as player incentives from last season are not factored in until March 1st. This amount should not be too much though as we didn't make the play-off, have many Pro bowlers or many players on contacts with escalators. I don't have a figure for what we will pay out in incentives but I'm guessing it will be arounds the $0.5 million mark.

Great post, Chrisbob. You indicated that player incentives and escalators are not factored in until March 1. There is one player that has a significant escalator based on his playing time last year, Ramsey. His escalator will increase his salary from $0.5 million to $2.5 million in 2004. Do you know if this increase is factored into the quoted cap room of $6.4 mil? If not, this would take $2 mil off of our available cap space as of March 1.

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Good post- seems like you did your homework.

I would post stuff like this too much, though:

Yes, Bailey is the key, we can afford the franchise tag but we can't afford to let the situation develop into a stalemate or it really affects what we can do with regards to signing FA's.

I said something similar last week and it made Art really cranky.

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Originally posted by carlsbadd

I was wondering if you counted "dead cap money" that we would gain from players we had lost that were still on the payroll. Great job!

It's all counted in the original figure, $6.4M under the cap which includes last years dead cap hits that count this year.

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