Lance Briggs - Potential Free Agent

But the 23 million over the cap figure also contains a roster bonus to Cooley that is worth like 12 million, and he's going to receive it as a signing bonus, which will shave 10 million dollars off that 23 million number.

Realistically, we are working 13 million over right now.

A simple restructure puts money in the players' pocket today vs. in the future. Why would a player say no to that?

Ok,and you're right but if that player can make that money anyway,why?

Moss a great reciever,Randel El......if they don't restructure would you cut them,No.If I'm them I take my money now (salary) and look for bigger money next season.Andre Carter can get much bigger money than what the skins are paying him...Justin Tuck in NY just got 30 million...he is as good.

Ok,and you're right but if that player can make that money anyway,why?

Moss a great reciever,Randel El......if they don't restructure would you cut them,No.If I'm them I take my money now (salary) and look for bigger money next season.Andre Carter can get much bigger money than what the skins are paying him...Justin Tuck in NY just got 30 million...he is as good.

say what??

Ok,and you're right but if that player can make that money anyway,why?

Moss a great reciever,Randel El......if they don't restructure would you cut them,No.If I'm them I take my money now (salary) and look for bigger money next season.Andre Carter can get much bigger money than what the skins are paying him...Justin Tuck in NY just got 30 million...he is as good.Tuck's probably better than AC, but that's not my point.

Carter's deal is just about to get rich for him. Sure he got the 12 million SB, but he's been playing on potatoes for salary. Carter's got every incentive to want to be here. Exact same situation with ARE.

Moss is signed through 2011 with cap numbers of 5 million, 6 million, 6 million, and 4 million over the next few years. He's not going anywhere either.

Great.......so according to you your going to have $11.8 million to sign everyone you draft and free agents,ok. I don't think it can be done but hey I'm only a guy on a message board.............like you.

You're a guy on the message board who doesn't understand accounting. I'm a guy on a message board who does, that's the difference.

First, GTripp is right, we may not make every move I listed. Which I also note that it's probably not wise to do so.

But just to give you an idea how the cap works, last year the Skins signed London Fletcher for 5 years and $25 million, of which $10.5 million came in the form of signing bonus. Last year, he counted $3.0 million on our 2007 cap. If you'd like me to explain why his cap number is seemingly so low despite the fact that he signed a deal worth $5 million per year, I will gladly do so. But them's the facts.

Last year, our rookies took up less than $3.0 million between all of them. And that included a very high pick in Landry. This year, we pick 21st and won't dole out anywhere near the bonus that Landry got.

So this year, we'll easily fit our rookies under $3.0 million. We won't need to clear every bit of space I laid out. If we need to clear more to sign a free agent or two, we can.

And just a personal note, I don't mind being questioned at all. I like to edumacate anybody who's interested in the workings of the cap. But it was a little ridiculous for you to tell us we needed to go back and revisit the cap when you clearly don't understand how signing bonuses and base salaries are allocated.

But the 23 million over the cap figure also contains a roster bonus to Cooley that is worth like 12 million, and he's going to receive it as a signing bonus, which will shave 10 million dollars off that 23 million number.

Realistically, we are working 13 million over right now.

Excellent point. The last time I ran that cap analysis, Cooley's new contract wasn't yet reflected in Canuck's cap sheets, and yet I was still going off King's number of $20 million over which included the $12 million roster bonus.

Long story short, I need to update my numbers. I'll do so in a new thread. The picture just got singificantly better.

Ok,and you're right but if that player can make that money anyway,why?

Moss a great reciever,Randel El......if they don't restructure would you cut them,No.If I'm them I take my money now (salary) and look for bigger money next season.Andre Carter can get much bigger money than what the skins are paying him...Justin Tuck in NY just got 30 million...he is as good.

Because you're under contract and you can't just arbitrarily just walk away.

You would have to be a douche of GIGANTIC proportions to say, "I can make this type of money elsewhere. Cut me."

Not only are you saying that you want out over money, you're also leaving the team with an ENORMOUS cap hit. I would hope that the coaches have done a little research over the years to know that we don't have any people like that.

For the life of me, I can only think of TO who would do something like that.

In reality, the ONLY two numbers that count towards the salary cap is a) money that is guarenteed, and b) money that has been earned.

Everything else is just a projection of salary to be earned and has no tangible value on the cap itself.

As Schneed just mentioned, $25 million dollars over five years was the deal that Fletcher signed to play here. However, Fletcher received 10.5 million of that as a SB, and earned $900,000 in base salary last year. Add the 900,000 to the 10.5 mil and Fletcher has EARNED 11.4 ish million as a Redskin. So that 25 million dollar contract is only worth 11.4 million if Fletcher never plays another down of football as a Redskin.

Now, out of that 11.4 million, only 3 million has been recorded to the cap in a prior year. So if the Redskins were to release Fletcher, they would owe the remaining 8.4 million to the 2008 cap. That is to say the Redskins have no way of not paying that 8.4 million at some point. It's being spread over the life of the contract, but the Redskins are on the hook for 8.4 million to Fletcher no matter what.

Now, when Fletcher gets paid for the 2008 season, the Redskins will owe him another 1.3 million in base salary. That, as well as another portion of his SB, is scheduled to hit the cap this year. Assuming no restructuring, that's 3.5 million against the 2008 cap, and then Fletcher is owed the remaining EARNED 6.3 million over the final three years of the deal.

But yeah, that's the rough n' simple version.

Ok,and you're right but if that player can make that money anyway,why?
NFL contracts are not like NBA, MLB. They are not guaranteed. For example; Moss has about 20M coming in the next four years, but if he just sucks, slows down, or gets injured the Skins would look to cut him. He would not be paid the rest of the 20M. But, if the Skins pay him a portion of the 10M now and leave 10M in the out years, the 10M now is paid and counts against the cap if he is released in a later year. So restructuring not only pays a player now, it provided more security because he is more costly against the cap to cut.

I may be a little off on this but this is just a "Reader's Digest" of the basic concept of how the restructure works. Again, Schneed and Canuck are extremely sharp on this stuff. If you look through the site, Canucks cap sheets are available.

NFL contracts are not like NBA, MLB. They are not guaranteed. For example; Moss has about 20M coming in the next four years, but if he just sucks, slows down, or gets injured the Skins would look to cut him. He would not be paid the rest of the 20M. But, if the Skins pay him a portion of the 10M now and leave 10M in the out years, the 10M now is paid and counts against the cap if he is released in a later year. So restructuring not only pays a player now, it provided more security because he is more costly against the cap to cut.

I may be a little off on this but this is just a "Reader's Digest" of the basic concept of how the restructure works. Again, Schneed and Canuck are extremely sharp on this stuff. If you look through the site, Canucks cap sheets are available.

You've got the gyst. GTripp has it mastered too.