Salary Cap Status Update

why cut Todd Wade at 700k?

We certainly wouldn't have to. It's hard to say what the new regime will do. They may have different opinions of the players.

Wade struggled with some injury this past season, but also got totally owned at other times.

Nicely broke down. You should work for the organization.

Great work as always Schneed.

- For Cooley, PCinOz's site also lists him at an $11M roster bonus this year. This doesn't make much sense and the Skins will almost certainly convert the $11M into a signing bonus and spread it over the life of his deal. The info I had previously seen had his bonus broken down into two $7M signing bonuses, one in 2007, one in 2008. This makes a lot more sense so I've left my sheets intact with the two $7M signing bonuses.

- In your salary restructuring part your numbers are a little off. Keep in mind that you cannot prorate the entire salary since the player must still earn at least the league minimum for his years of service. So for Jansen for instance his 2008 salary is $5M. The min salary he can make is $720K but let's call it $1M to keep it simple. So $5M - $1M = $4M of base salary that can be prorated. There's 4 years left on his deal (including 2008), so the $4M gets spread over 4 years at $1M per year. This results in a net savings of $3M for 2008. Sorry to nitpick Schneedster.

- I've been thinking a lot about Jansen and Thomas too. I agree with your assessment that cutting them doesn't make much sense. I think they're both here for at least 2 more years assuming they can still play. But I think they warrant discussion since they represent our 2nd and 3rd largest cap hits and over $16M of cap space. This for 2 guys who hardly played this year, and in Jansen's case, an average lineman even when he does play. Don't get me wrong, I like both players a lot and our O-line can use all the help it can get. But I've been hard on Samuels for years cuz of his cap number and I think Jansen and Thomas deserve the same scrutiny.

- As for Kendall I see no reason to cut him. Yes his release fee is very small but so is his cap number (relatively). I thought he did a great job for us this year and helped save our season after all the injuries to our line. His 2008 cap hit is only $2.5M and he'll be playing for a new contract so I see no reason to let him go.

- I wanted to congratulate Brandon Lloyd on officially being the ugliest contract on our books. This coveted award has been held by the likes of Deion, Lavar, and most recently Archuleta. Though I'd love to cut him, his release fee is so high that the best solution is probably to keep him around one more year and see if we can get anything productive out of this guy.

- I wanted to congratulate Brandon Lloyd on officially being the ugliest contract on our books. This coveted award has been held by the likes of Deion, Lavar, and most recently Archuleta. Though I'd love to cut him, his release fee is so high that the best solution is probably to keep him around one more year and see if we can get anything productive out of this guy.I disagree. If we put the 3 million into dead cap for this season on Lloyd, it takes him off the books entirely for the remaining 4 years of his deal. That would be the most beneficial way to deal with him.

I disagree. If we put the 3 million into dead cap for this season on Lloyd, it takes him off the books entirely for the remaining 4 years of his deal. That would be the most beneficial way to deal with him.

There are 2 ways to cut Lloyd:

1. Cut him right away. This would give us a deadcap hit of $7.2M for 2008.

2. Cut him post June 2008. This would give us a deadcap hit of $1.8M in 2008 and a deadcap hit of $5.3M in 2009. The net savings to our 2008 cap would be $2.4M.

After further review I think a post June 2008 cut probably makes the most sense. The big reason is that Lloyd is due a $1.8M roster bonus in 2008 and I can't see Mr. Snyder cutting that check. So if I had to guess I'd say the Skins cut Lloyd soon and designate him a June release.

- For Cooley, PCinOz's site also lists him at an $11M roster bonus this year. This doesn't make much sense and the Skins will almost certainly convert the $11M into a signing bonus and spread it over the life of his deal. The info I had previously seen had his bonus broken down into two $7M signing bonuses, one in 2007, one in 2008. This makes a lot more sense so I've left my sheets intact with the two $7M signing bonuses.

Yeah I found the roster bonus structure pretty odd myself. Perhaps the team put $11 million in the form of roster bonus because putting too much of a signing bonus up front would have put the team over the 2007 cap? I can't remember what the numbers were.

Either way though, if you put the Cooley number back, we start at $14 million over the cap instead of P King's quoted $20 million.

- In your salary restructuring part your numbers are a little off. Keep in mind that you cannot prorate the entire salary since the player must still earn at least the league minimum for his years of service. So for Jansen for instance his 2008 salary is $5M. The min salary he can make is $720K but let's call it $1M to keep it simple. So $5M - $1M = $4M of base salary that can be prorated. There's 4 years left on his deal (including 2008), so the $4M gets spread over 4 years at $1M per year. This results in a net savings of $3M for 2008. Sorry to nitpick Schneedster.

That's definitely not a nitpick, that'd make a difference in the numbers. I tried to account for that, but maybe I have to go back and check. Looking at Griffin, he's got a base salary of $4.2 million in 2008. Figure you take $3.5 million of that and spread it over the life of the deal (4 years including '08) as signing bonus, so the hit on the bonus is $875K. Then layer back in the $700K in base salary. So $875 + $700K comes to approximately $1.6 million. So the hit on his salary drops from $4.2 million to $1.6 million, which is a savings of $2.8 million. So I guess I accounted for it in his case, but I'll go back and check the other guys though to be sure I did that right for all of them.

- As for Kendall I see no reason to cut him. Yes his release fee is very small but so is his cap number (relatively). I thought he did a great job for us this year and helped save our season after all the injuries to our line. His 2008 cap hit is only $2.5M and he'll be playing for a new contract so I see no reason to let him go.

Yeah I'd agree. Cutting Kendall would make no sense given that we don't have a viable starting G behind him.

- I wanted to congratulate Brandon Lloyd on officially being the ugliest contract on our books. This coveted award has been held by the likes of Deion, Lavar, and most recently Archuleta. Though I'd love to cut him, his release fee is so high that the best solution is probably to keep him around one more year and see if we can get anything productive out of this guy.

Once again, agreed (*Sigh*). I sigh because I hate his effing guts.

PS Thanks for the good work on the cap sheets. You're my hero.

Yeah I found the roster bonus structure pretty odd myself. Perhaps the team put $11 million in the form of roster bonus because putting too much of a signing bonus up front would have put the team over the 2007 cap? I can't remember what the numbers were.

I have a feeling it was set up that way to account for the Deion rule. This rule basically says you can only have so much signing bonus as a percentage of the total contract value, limiting the amount of money you can push to the future. Perhaps by setting the $11M as a roster bonus, they can restructure it without violating the Deion rule.

That's definitely not a nitpick, that'd make a difference in the numbers. I tried to account for that, but maybe I have to go back and check. Looking at Griffin, he's got a base salary of $4.2 million in 2008. Figure you take $3.5 million of that and spread it over the life of the deal (4 years including '08) as signing bonus, so the hit on the bonus is $875K. Then layer back in the $700K in base salary. So $875 + $700K comes to approximately $1.6 million. So the hit on his salary drops from $4.2 million to $1.6 million, which is a savings of $2.8 million. So I guess I accounted for it in his case, but I'll go back and check the other guys though to be sure I did that right for all of them.

The numbers above are right on, maybe you just forgot on a couple guys. Either way it's a negligible difference and doesn't affect the discussion.

EDIT: "So the hit on his salary drops from $4.2 million to $1.6 million, which is a savings of $2.8 million." It's actually a savings of $2.6 million. :)

I have a feeling it was set up that way to account for the Deion rule. This rule basically says you can only have so much signing bonus as a percentage of the total contract value, limiting the amount of money you can push to the future. Perhaps by setting the $11M as a roster bonus, they can restructure it without violating the Deion rule.



The numbers above are right on, maybe you just forgot on a couple guys. Either way it's a negligible difference and doesn't affect the discussion.


thats good to know, thanks for the info. Salary in the NFl is so flexible. Snyder keeps us otu of trouble by giving guaranteed money. its amazing how many different ways you could give someone 10 million over 4 years between signing bonuses, workout bonuses, roster bonuses...

anyone think they will ever be more strict about salary? do something like in basketball where rookies salaries are capped for teh first four years? make it so you have to honor teh contract as a player and as an owner, you cant just cut someone and not pay them. theres no point to long term deals in the nfl. we restructure so many salaries every year

Schneed - isn't Sean Taylor's cap hit also in 2008?

Schneed - isn't Sean Taylor's cap hit also in 2008?

Yes he represents $2.1M of our deadcap amount.