Cooley Restructures
 

[url=http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7796664/]FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - 'Skins rework Cooley deal to save cap space[/url]

FOXSports.com has learned Washington converted an $11 million roster bonus Cooley was scheduled to receive into guaranteed money. The move is believed to have lowered Cooley's 2008 cap number from a team-high $12.2 million to $4.4 million.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Thats 8mil right there, and expect more of this to come. Are people still worried about cap hell?

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So wait, teams can restructure contracts and reduce cap numbers so there's no need to cry from the mountaintops that we're $20 million over the cap in the previous November? Does Peter King know about this?

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Sweet. Net cap space of almost 8 million. Now we can sign Zack Thomas, since he's available now ;)

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We do it every year. Seems like this year more and more star players want to do this because there is a feeling at Redskins Park we're contenders and very close to something special.

SO ALL THE DOOMSDAY SKINS FANS JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=hooskins;422228]Thats 8mil right there, and expect more of this to come. Are people still worried about cap hell?[/quote]

With Dan Snyder taking care of the cash, we're NEVER in cap trouble. :)

Thanks Cooley, for being a team guy.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Yeah, Cooley is a big time team guy. And that's a positive about our evil owner. He's got so much frickin money, he doesn't mind shelling out all of this cash.

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[quote=Soup's Uncle;422244]Yeah, Cooley is a big time team guy. And that's a positive about our evil owner. He's got so much frickin money, he doesn't mind shelling out all of this cash.[/quote]

That made no sense. Why is he evil? Because he's rich and good with money?

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

To the cap experts: With this latest restructure where do we now stand for cap room? Probably still in the red I'm guessing but getting a lot closer to the green.

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We are around 8-12mil in the red right?

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Buster;422232]With Dan Snyder taking care of the cash, we're NEVER in cap trouble. :)

Thanks Cooley, [B]for being a team guy[/B].[/quote]
why i agree with Cooley being a team guy, this kind of move doesn't really mean that. all it means is that Cooley's money is guaranteed. not a whole lot of guaranteed money in the nfl

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[QUOTE=Mattyk72;422257]To the cap experts: With this latest restructure where do we now stand for cap room? Probably still in the red I'm guessing but getting a lot closer to the green.[/QUOTE]

I'd guess we are about $12M in the red right now. I haven't had time to update the cap sheets but I will try to soon.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

What Cooley has done is typical of what many players have done on this team for several years, and we all appreciate it. It speaks volumes about the type players we have on the team who are willing to restructure, some on more than one ocasion.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Working off the familiar format I've been posting, note the moves that have already been made:

[QUOTE][B]Start: $20.4 million OVER cap[/B]

Potential Roster Cuts:
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved
Shawn Springs - $2.5 million saved
Pete Kendall - $1.8 million saved
Todd Wade - $700K saved
[B]Total Savings for Cuts: $11.4 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Randy Thomas - $3.7 million saved - EXECUTED
Clinton Portis - $3.2 million saved
Jon Jansen - $3.2 million saved
Chris Samuels - $2.8 million saved
Cornelius Griffin - $2.6 million saved
Santana Moss - $1.9 million saved
Casey Rabach - $1.4 million saved
[B]Total Salary Restructure Savings: $18.8 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved
Chris Cooley - $9.2 million saved - EXECUTED
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved - EXECUTED
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved
[B]Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $14.4 million[/B][/QUOTE]

Restructures that I'm aware of consist of Randy Thomas, Andre Carter, and Chris Cooley. There could be others I'm not aware of. Cooley shaved $9.2 million alone.

My numbers above are not official, but they follow the same logic the Skins have used in the past. Carter and Thomas shaved nearly $6 million between them. Cooley shaved $9.2.

So we should be down $15.2 million from the $20.4 million we started at. This means we're still in the red by $5.2 million. PCinOZ's numbers would have us at $4.0 million over the cap after the Cooley restructure. So it's fair to say we're right around $4.0 - $5.2 million over the cap right now.

And you'll note there are plenty of moves listed above that don't have the word "EXECUTED" next to them, which means there are still plenty of ways to bring the cap number down. We're good to go.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Longtimefan;422274]What Cooley has done is typical of what many players have done on this team for several years, and we all appreciate it. It speaks volumes about the type players we have on the team who are willing to restructure, some on more than one ocasion.[/quote]

Like Dmek said, taking the guaranteed money is just good business sense. Everyone likes Cooley, but I'm not sure we should go sing the moral virtues of guys who are willing to take a check for $10 mil ... I think we'd all do that right? Not exactly a hardship, c'mon. The person you should feel sorry for is the drive thru teller who will have to deposit that thing ...

These aren't pay cuts (as they tried to get Springs to take last year) these are restructures and fancy accounting. Not saying its a bad thing, let's just not get too carried away about what the "volumes" it speaks about the players.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Schneed...Tell us about how Sean Taylor's cap numbers affect the total.

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[quote=Longtimefan;422283]Schneed...Tell us about how Sean Taylor's cap numbers affect the total.[/quote]

His signing bonus accelerates and hits us in 2008. We take a cap hit because of it and carry him as dead money in 2008 (brings an all-too-real meaning to that term, doesn't it). It's nothing major, just a million or two.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[QUOTE=SmootSmack;422226][url=http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7796664/]FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - 'Skins rework Cooley deal to save cap space[/url]

FOXSports.com has learned Washington converted an $11 million roster bonus Cooley was scheduled to receive into guaranteed money. The move is believed to have lowered Cooley's 2008 cap number from a team-high $12.2 million to $4.4 million.[/QUOTE]

We have to have the best cap people in the NFL. I swear every offseason we are egregiously over the cap, and somehow we get enough for free agents and draft picks.

If the cap was anything like the US national deficit, Snyder's people would be heroes (at least on a national scale, we still look to save us from the wake of a DS spending spree..haha).

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[QUOTE=SC Skins Fan;422282]Like Dmek said, taking the guaranteed money is just good business sense. Everyone likes Cooley, but I'm not sure we should go sing the moral virtues of guys who are willing to take a check for $10 mil ... I think we'd all do that right? Not exactly a hardship, c'mon. The person you should feel sorry for is the drive thru teller who will have to deposit that thing ...

These aren't pay cuts (as they tried to get Springs to take last year) these are restructures and fancy accounting. Not saying its a bad thing, let's just not get too carried away about what the "volumes" it speaks about the players.[/QUOTE]


Not all players are willing to restructure period. It's mostly done upon request for the sole purpose of helping the teams cap situation. I realize it's not a pay cut, rather a good faith gesture and we appreciate that.

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I've just learned that the Randle-El restructure I listed below did indeed take place as well. The $1.2 million in savings from his accounts for all of the difference between my numbers and the ones provided by PCinOZ. Because we're tying out, it's pretty much official, we're $4.0 million over the cap.

[QUOTE][B]Start: $20.4 million OVER cap[/B]

[B]Potential Roster Cuts:[/B]
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved
Shawn Springs - $2.5 million saved
Pete Kendall - $1.8 million saved
Todd Wade - $700K saved
[B]Total Savings for Cuts: $11.4 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Randy Thomas - $3.7 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Clinton Portis - $3.2 million saved
Jon Jansen - $3.2 million saved
Chris Samuels - $2.8 million saved
Cornelius Griffin - $2.6 million saved
Santana Moss - $1.9 million saved
Casey Rabach - $1.4 million saved
[B]Total Salary Restructure Savings: $18.8 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved
Chris Cooley - $9.2 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
[B]Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $14.4 million [/B][/QUOTE]

[B]AFTER EXECUTED TRANSACTIONS: $4.0 MILLION OVER[/B]

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=SkinsFanSince91;422293]We have to have the best cap people in the NFL. I swear every offseason we are egregiously over the cap, and somehow we get enough for free agents and draft picks.

If the cap was anything like the US national deficit, Snyder's people would be heroes (at least on a national scale, we still look to save us from the wake of a DS spending spree..haha).[/quote]

It's really not rocket science. Hell, I've had the plan mapped out on here for weeks.

As for the debate over whether a player should be applauded for a restructure, I know I sound like a broken record but it needs to be said again. In a simple restructure, the player still gets the same amount of money his contract says he will, he just gets it all up front instead of spread over the course of the season. The player has no incentive to turn this down, and all the incentive in the world to accept it. Players don't do it out of the goodness of their heart. They do it because it's the same money up front.

Now if you see a player agree to a pay cut, then you should applaud them.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Mattyk72;422257]To the cap experts: With this latest restructure where do we now stand for cap room? Probably still in the red I'm guessing but getting a lot closer to the green.[/quote]

Not that I really care, but when looking at accounting terms, it is actually the black not green. I have no idea why and probably should not be correcting a mod, but decided to let you know anyway. Also I need more posts as I am still below 200.. lol.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Schneed10;422295]
[B]AFTER EXECUTED TRANSACTIONS: $4.0 MILLION OVER[/B][/quote]
So if we make the below moves we should be $ 14M under the cap, correct?

[B]Start: $20.4 million OVER cap[/B]

[B]Potential Roster Cuts:[/B]
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved - keep
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved - [B]CUT[/B]
Shawn Springs - $2.5 million saved - keep
Pete Kendall - $1.8 million saved - keep
Todd Wade - $700K saved - [B]CUT[/B]
[B]Total Savings for Cuts: $11.4 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Randy Thomas - $3.7 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Clinton Portis - $3.2 million saved - yes
Jon Jansen - $3.2 million saved - no
Chris Samuels - $2.8 million saved - yes
Cornelius Griffin - $2.6 million saved - yes
Santana Moss - $1.9 million saved - yes
Casey Rabach - $1.4 million save - yes
[B]Total Salary Restructure Savings: $18.8 million[/B]

[B]Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:[/B]
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved - yes
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved - yes
Chris Cooley - $9.2 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved - [B]EXECUTED[/B]
[B]Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $14.4 million [/B]

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=hooskins;422228]Thats 8mil right there, and expect more of this to come. Are people still worried about cap hell?[/quote]

When is Cap Hell going to frezze over? I hear about it every year and it never seems to happen.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

So if I understand this correctly, an owner has the option to slash salary cap by converting cap money into guaranteed up front? If this is the case, what's the point of a salary cap? Not that I'm complaining (since this helps us) but theoretically, the cap can be loopholed as deep as an owner's pockets go... correct? I wonder why more owners don't do this... I guess Danny boy is just too rich to even care about parting with guaranteed money.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[QUOTE=itvnetop;422340]So if I understand this correctly, an owner has the option to slash salary cap by converting cap money into guaranteed up front? If this is the case, what's the point of a salary cap? Not that I'm complaining (since this helps us) but theoretically, the cap can be loopholed as deep as an owner's pockets go... correct? I wonder why more owners don't do this... I guess Danny boy is just too rich to even care about parting with guaranteed money.[/QUOTE]


For the reasons you state, should we be happy to have an owner like Dan Snyder, or would you rather John Cooke had bought the team?

For the sake of some owners, I'm sure they're most happy there is a salry cap because if there weren't Dan Snyder would really show them what he could do with his money. He'd field an all star team at every position from top to bottom.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[QUOTE=Schneed10;422298]It's really not rocket science. Hell, I've had the plan mapped out on here for weeks.

As for the debate over whether a player should be applauded for a restructure, I know I sound like a broken record but it needs to be said again. In a simple restructure, the player still gets the same amount of money his contract says he will, he just gets it all up front instead of spread over the course of the season. The player has no incentive to turn this down, and all the incentive in the world to accept it. Players don't do it out of the goodness of their heart. They do it because it's the same money up front.

Now if you see a player agree to a pay cut, then you should applaud them.[/QUOTE]

This sounds pretty rock solid. I wouldn't see any player refusing to restructure if a big chunk of change is converted to guaranteed money. Heck, it's like my company giving me my year's salary up front (of course not nearly as impressive as several million dollars!) This also appears to be an incentive in itself. What better way to keep your players than to say, "tell ya what, you're such a valuable player to us that we're just going to go ahead and give you a chunk of your contract now. I'm sure you'll earn it during the season!"

I don't ever see the Redskins getting into cap trouble as long as Danny has deep pockets. My question is, what would happen if this "share the wealth" program between owners in the league goes sour, and we have an uncapped year? I've heard we'd have to dump players left and right, but I guess I just don't understand the whole process.

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That's awesome Cooley restructured his deal. Thanks Chris. Hopefully, the management won't let you down and get some quality players.

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[QUOTE=SkinsFanSince91;422293]We have to have the best cap people in the NFL. I swear every offseason we are egregiously over the cap, and somehow we get enough for free agents and draft picks.

If the cap was anything like the US national deficit, Snyder's people would be heroes (at least on a national scale, we still look to save us from the wake of a DS spending spree..haha).[/QUOTE]

As Schneed said it is not that they are all that great although I do think they do a good job. There are basically two ways to handle the cap.

Straight forward
Cash over cap

Straight forward is as it seems. Not a ton of things like roster bonuses but they do have gradually escalating salaries. Put a good signing bonus on and you have players from the Eagles for example.

Cash over cap means you pay a somewhat smaller signing bonus but have two or three roster bonuses down the line and pretty low salaries to start with pretty high salaries in the end.

Example:

straight forward:
5 year deal
sb of 5 mil
salaries
500k 1mil 1mil 1.5mil 1.5mil = 5.5mil

cap numbers
1.5mil 2mil 2mil 2.5mil 2.5mil = 10.5mil

cash over cap:
5 year deal
sb of 3mil
salaries
500k 500k 500k 1mil 3mil = 5.5mil
rb
yr2-1mil yr3-1mil = 2mil

cap numbers
1.1mil 2.1mil 2.1mil 1.6mil 3.6mil = 10.5mil

so the cap numbers are slightly different but overall the salaries are the same and guaranteed money is the same.

then what happens in cash over cap is the roster bonuses get converted to signing bonuses which allows them to prorate so the cap numbers change to.
1.1mil 1.350mil 1.683mil 2.183mil 4.183mil

so most of the money gets pushed forward. as the expensive years come up salaries are turned into bonuses and get prorated also and restuctures change some other stuff but in the end the only actual expensive year for a guy is his last. if you keep your expensive guys per year to just a couple it is very manageable in the end. Some would say you have more flexibility with the cash over cap method if you execute it well. It kills you thiugh if you have bad talent evaluation because you become more "stuck" with a guy.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Mattyk72;422257]To the cap experts: With this latest restructure where do we now stand for cap room? Probably still in the red I'm guessing but getting a lot closer to the green.[/quote]4 million ish in the red.

Has Todd Wade been released already?

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[quote=QBall;422231]We do it every year. Seems like this year more and more star players want to do this because there is a feeling at Redskins Park we're contenders and very close to something special.

SO ALL THE DOOMSDAY SKINS FANS JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH[/quote]

I'm not one of the doomsday guys, however I think we shall see if your theory is right...hopefully soon enough. If they can talk Springs in to helping out (because he refused last yr) then you can tell the future. lol.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=itvnetop;422340]So if I understand this correctly, an owner has the option to slash salary cap by converting cap money into guaranteed up front? If this is the case, what's the point of a salary cap? Not that I'm complaining (since this helps us) but theoretically, the cap can be loopholed as deep as an owner's pockets go... correct? I wonder why more owners don't do this... I guess Danny boy is just too rich to even care about parting with guaranteed money.[/quote]
Sort of.....NFL contracts are not guaranteed. The only guarantee is the signing bonus and the current year's salary. What a restructure does is "guarantee" (by paying the player up front) money that would have been due in later years of his contract. However if the player is released or traded this "guaranteed" money must be accounted for against the next year's salary cap. This is the "dead cap" cost or release fee.

What it boils down to is; if you have confidence the team will not be releasing the player and he is a solid performer a restructure is a good strategy. Where it kills you is if you pay a large signing bonus or restructure a player and he gets injured or his production declines (Brandon Lloyd, Arch last year) and you want to get rid of the player the cost against that year's salary cap hurts you. For example to release Brandon Lloyd it will cost about $ 7M against the 2008 cap. He'll be gone but the guaranteed money he was paid has to be accounted for in the salary cap.

I may be off on a couple of details but that is pretty much how it works. Schneed & Crazy Canuck do some great work on salary cap info. If you search the site there is a link to our current salary cap sheets.

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[quote=GTripp0012;422402]4 million ish in the red.

Has Todd Wade been released already?[/quote]

No he's still on the books as of right now.

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[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;422326]So if we make the below moves we should be $ 14M under the cap, correct?[/quote]

That's right, you've got the math.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=itvnetop;422340]So if I understand this correctly, an owner has the option to slash salary cap by converting cap money into guaranteed up front? If this is the case, what's the point of a salary cap? Not that I'm complaining (since this helps us) but theoretically, the cap can be loopholed as deep as an owner's pockets go... correct? I wonder why more owners don't do this... I guess Danny boy is just too rich to even care about parting with guaranteed money.[/quote]

There's definitely a point to the cap, it's just not a straightforward cap on the amount of money you're paying players in a given season.

You can pay your players $120 million one year, and the cap can be $100 million, and it still be perfectly legal.

Signing bonuses get spread over the life of the contract. So if I give you $10 million to sign for a five year deal (congrats, you're rich), even though I'm paying you all $10 million of your bonus this year, I can spread it over the life of your contract, meaning that signing bonus counts for $2 million in each of your five years.

If you play three years and then I decide you suck and I cut you, then I still have two years worth of signing bonus to recognize on my cap books. I already recognized the first 3 years, but I've got to carry your last two years as dead cap.

But even though I'm carrying your deadcap bonus money, I don't have to pay you the base salary for this season (base salaries aren't guaranteed), so that's where the cap savings come from. If the cap savings on the base salaries are greater than the cap hit from the dead bonus money, then I'll save cap money by cutting you (Phillip Daniels, Todd Wade). If the dead bonus money is greater than the savings on base salary, I eat a cap hit on you (Brandon Lloyd).

So there's a cost to handing out big bonuses. If the player ends up sucking (Lloyd), it's tough to get rid of him without crippling your cap. You usually need to let the guy play halfway through his contract or so before it becomes feasible to cut him.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

[quote=Buster;422232]With Dan Snyder taking care of the cash, we're NEVER in cap trouble. :)

Thanks Cooley, for being a team guy.[/quote]

what's "team" about getting more money guaranteed?

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[QUOTE=BrunellMVP?;422441]what's "team" about getting more money guaranteed?[/QUOTE]

Changing his contract to get under the cap so the team can get more players. I know it's no sacrifice or anything like that, but not all players do it.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

I just updated the cap sheets. Matty will post them in the next day or two when he's done locking duplicate threads.

I included the restructures of Thomas, ARE, and Carter. I've already accounted for Cooley's restructure but my numbers may be slightly off.

I have us at $8.75M in the red, but I still have Brunell on the roster and cutting him will save about $3.5M, bringing us to about $5.25M over the 2008 cap.

We can still restructure about $25M in salary and another $5M in roster bonuses, so I think it's safe to say we are not in cap hell for 2008.

In fact... bring on free agency. :towel:

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Thanks 33 and Schneed... now it makes sense to me.

Re: Cooley Restructures
 

Fantastic posts by Schneed and 33.

The Skins used another trick with the resturcutures of ARE, Thomas, and Carter - the extra year.

All 3 of them got an extra year (2013) added to their contracts. So not only did the Skins push money into the future, they extended the future.

It's unlikely that Randy Thomas will be playing here in 2013 in what would be his 14th NFL season, but by adding the extra year the Skins can push some of the new signing bonus money to 2013. This allows the $4.65M restructured amount to be divided by 6 remaining years of the contract instead of 5, which helps the cap in 2008 (though only slightly).

When Thomas likely restructures next year they can push some of that money to 2013, or even add another year and repeat the process.