We must draft better...

[SmootSmack]

ESPN.com 8/31/00

"Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has the league abuzz by his $100-plus million spending spree this season. Capwise, they are in great shape for now. They have a $1 million cushion in this year's cap and are roughly only $700,000 over next season.

While most consider the cap window for a top team to be five years, the Redskins' window may only be three or four years because Snyder eventually faces tough cap consequences. Quarterback Brad Johnson, wide receiver Albert Connell and linebacker Greg Jones are free agents next year. Guard Tre Johnson, defensive end Kenard Lang and wide receiver Michael Westbrook are up after next year. Where the Redskins will run into cap trouble if Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith and Mark Carrier can't go longer than two seasons. The cap hits coupled with the high-priced re-signings could cause major cap problems for Snyder in 2002."

Pro Football Weekly 3/5/01

"The Redskins will be the next team in serious trouble. Loading up on veteran stars, Redskins owner Dan Snyder spent about $92 million last year. By deferring salary-cap obligations with various schemes, Snyder got under the $62 million ceiling, but the Redskins soon will face cap problems that will level them for several years. And what did Snyder get? A team that finished 8-8, out of the playoffs."

I think what Matty, Schneed and others are basically saying is that since the dawn of time we've heard that salary cap hell is just around the corner for Dan Snyder's Redskins. Yet, we keep working around it and we just remain in salary cap purgatory. It's like the NFL media experts who cried wolf. They keep saying we'll have to do a major purge but so far it really hasn't happened. So why should we believe it will?

[MTK]

Thanks for digging those up Tafkas, that's my point exactly.

[Schneed10]

56fanatic, since you have such a profound understanding of the salary cap, please go to the Cap Info section of the Warpath and tell me where you think the Skins are in danger. I want you to point out specific players in specific years and explain what they will do to our cap, and how it will hurt us so badly.

If you can't do that, you don't understand finance and you don't understand the salary cap. All the reading you do of "capologist" articles are great for building a general understanding of caponomics, but you have to be able to apply it to the Redskins' situation. That's your homework. No more talking in generalities. I want to discuss specifics, which contracts specifically are going to cause the Redskins to enter cap hell?

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Yes you do eventually have to pay. The question isn't about whether or not you have to pay. The question is can you afford to pay when you've mortgaged the future? The big cap hits are coming, but the Skins are positioned in such a way to be able to handle them.

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Nobody is saying the Skins operate the cap to perfection. Of course they will face some difficult decisions along the way just like they did last year with Pierce and Smoot.

But what we are saying is the Redskins have a plan in place, and they closely monitor how signing player X today is going to effect the cap down the road and how that will effect their ability to sign player Y.

Thank you Schneed, Matty. Nicely put.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Nobody is saying the Skins operate the cap to perfection. Of course they will face some difficult decisions along the way just like they did last year with Pierce and Smoot.

But what we are saying is the Redskins have a plan in place, and they closely monitor how signing player X today is going to effect the cap down the road and how that will effect their ability to sign player Y.

You're acting like all contracts suddenly come due all at once. The Skins have the contracts spread out and structured so in any given year they know what is going to come due and they plan accordingly.

The cap articles you referenced are true, but as someone said they are basically capology 101.

Answer me this one simple thing, back in '00 the Skins spent like crazy, so why did they not fall into cap hell from that record breaking spending spree like the media said they would??

Apparently when Marty took over, he rectified that by sending Dieon into retirement, Carrier gone, George gone. Marty cleaned house basically. those contracts never had a chance to make it to the large numbers.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

56fanatic, since you have such a profound understanding of the salary cap, please go to the Cap Info section of the Warpath and tell me where you think the Skins are in danger. I want you to point out specific players in specific years and explain what they will do to our cap, and how it will hurt us so badly.

If you can't do that, you don't understand finance and you don't understand the salary cap. All the reading you do of "capologist" articles are great for building a general understanding of caponomics, but you have to be able to apply it to the Redskins' situation. That's your homework. No more talking in generalities. I want to discuss specifics, which contracts specifically are going to cause the Redskins to enter cap hell?

I will go through them in a second, but the cap is a NFL wide thing. the Redskins dont have a different cap. the articles I posted are regarding the NFL cap. just like rules, the NFL, NBA, MLB all have rules. Certain teams dont have there own rules to operate, they operate under the same umbrella.

[#56fanatic]

Schneed10, where am I to go and get the info on the players contracts and yearly impact throughout the contract? The cap info is basic cap info, not any specifics.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

Apparently when Marty took over, he rectified that by sending Dieon into retirement, Carrier gone, George gone. Marty cleaned house basically. those contracts never had a chance to make it to the large numbers.

ARRRGGHHHH. Don't you see? It was the housecleaning that was supposed to send us into cap hell. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Supposedly, when we cut Carrier, Deion, Bruce Smith and George it was going to cause such a large cap hit because their prorated bonuses would be accelerated. In turn, the accelerated bonuses would cause such a big cap hit that we would be forced to make wholesale cuts to get under the cap. HOW MANY PLAYERS WERE CUT B/C OF THE "CAP HELL" CAUSED BY DEION, CARRIER AND SMITH???

Do you even understand the articles you posted??? Could you at least try for some consistency in your arguments? I know that seems to be asking for a lot, but others in this thread seem to manage it.

[offiss]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

ARRRGGHHHH. Don't you see? It was the housecleaning that was supposed to send us into cap hell. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Supposedly, when we cut Carrier, Deion, Bruce Smith and George it was going to cause such a large cap hit because their prorated bonuses would be accelerated. In turn, the accelerated bonuses would cause such a big cap hit that we would be forced to make wholesale cuts to get under the cap. HOW MANY PLAYERS WERE CUT B/C OF THE "CAP HELL" CAUSED BY DEION, CARRIER AND SMITH???

Do you even understand the articles you posted??? Could you at least try for some consistency in your arguments? I know that seems to be asking for a lot, but others in this thread seem to manage it.

In all due respect Marty deserves a big thank you for basically taking care of that situation, he took the hit and stabilized our roster fiscally in 1 year.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by offiss

In all due respect Marty deserves a big thank you for basically taking care of that situation, he took the hit and stabilized our roster fiscally in 1 year.

I agree. He took a hit and, as Matty pointed out, we weren't particularly active that year. BUT we weren't forced to basically destroy our roster as the Ravens were two years after their SB. As Schneed pointed out, we took the hit BUT we then managed it w/out total roster destruction.

[Riggo44]

I agree. Marty did nothing but help the REDSKINS! If we had kept him around we would have been to the playoffs by now.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Still waiting for that cap hell...

"Cap Hell" may not be what everybody perceives it to be -- everyone uses San Fransisco as the ultimate example. They had to purge their roster, now look at them.

While the Skins haven't fallen to that point, our version of Cap Hell might be less debilitating, but still negates our ability to keep the players once they become free agents -- Smoot and Pierce are the most recent examples. Can you imagine how retaining those players could have helped us out now?

[MTK]

Cap hell is not being limited to making tough choices like the Skins did with Smoot and Pierce. Every team is faced with decisions like that, you can't just sign everyone.

When the media talks of the Skins headed towards cap hell each offseason, they're referring to what teams like the Titans went through last year, where they have to sell off players just to be able to field a full roster and they are severely limited in what they can do personnel wise.

C'mon Beems, are you telling me the Skins are in cap hell right now?

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Cap hell is not being limited to making tough choices like the Skins did with Smoot and Pierce. Every team is faced with decisions like that, you can't just sign everyone.

When the media talks of the Skins headed towards cap hell each offseason, they're referring to what teams like the Titans went through last year, where they have to sell off players just to be able to field a full roster and they are severely limited in what they can do personnel wise.

C'mon Beems, are you telling me the Skins are in cap hell right now?

I think we can safely say that cap constraints were a factor in our inability to retain Fred Smoot and Antonio Pierce.

Look, if this everything's coming up roses with regard to personnel decision-making and cap management as some here seem to imply, are you telling me that we wouldn't be in any better of a situation than we're in right now?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

I will go through them in a second, but the cap is a NFL wide thing. the Redskins dont have a different cap. the articles I posted are regarding the NFL cap. just like rules, the NFL, NBA, MLB all have rules. Certain teams dont have there own rules to operate, they operate under the same umbrella.

On the Warpath's main page you'll see a link to the left hand side of the screen for Salary Cap Info. Click that and you'll get a set of spreadsheets with tabs at the bottom. Click on the cap summary sheet to see the players' cap figures for each season. These sheets are managed by CrazyCanuck.

I'm not saying there are different rules for the Redskins. I'm saying that the Redskins have not put themselves in the precarious situation that you are making them out to be in. When you examine the numbers, you can tell me where the major problems are that will cause us to dismantle our squad. Because I don't see it.