So you basically have $14M to sign a player who made $14.25M last year. How are you going to fill-out the rest of your roster which, oh btw, is now down a pretty good starting DE? I don't have #s in front of me but we have to be realistic about what they can actually accomplish. It looks like, at the very least, they'll need to get creative.
Dallas will sign an impact FA, even being 19 million over. Good teams work the cap and make appropriate cuts. The Texans on the other hand use the cap and the media to forge built in excuses in the weakest balled media market in the country.
I am so ready for this agreement to get reached I have spent wayyy too much time following the NFL network and following twitter. They have been close for nearly 3 weeks now. Players just vote and approve the deal already...
I'm not advocating cutting Smith, as it would be a huge gamble, but if it netted a solid corner AND safety in free agency it might be worth it. I've seen some things showing that with exceptions and whatnot, the cap will "feel" like $130 million (Schefter said this). But who knows how that will work with this FA class. I'm not setting my expectations high...I think Sensabaugh and a marginal CB might be all we come up with. If that CB is Rogers, well, better than nothing. I'll be thrilled if we got any one of Weddle, Joseph, Nnamdi, Landry, or even Ike Taylor instead. But my hopes aren't high with this front office. Perhaps we can front-load a signing bonus with any big FA signing to lower their cap figure, giving us another year to balance out the team salaries.
Reordering: Players: Arizona $37.3 million under Buffalo $35.9 million under Carolina $30.6 million under Chicago $37. million under Cincinnati $35.9 million under Cleveland $33.3 million under Jacksonville $31.4 million under Kansas City $34.3 million under Seattle $39 million under St. Louis $35.6 million under Tampa Bay $59.2 million under Middle Class Shopping Atlanta $13.9 million under Detroit $16.6 million under Miami $13.6 million under New Orleans $11.7 million under Philadelphia $13 million under San Diego $19.4 million under San Francisco $18.9 million under Pocket Change Baltimore $5.33 million under Houston $7.6 million under Minnesota $5.1 million over New England $7.57 million under Tennessee $10.3 million under Washington $10.6 million under Oh Noes! Dallas $18.9 million over Denver $1 million under Green Bay $62,600 under Indianapolis $2.7 million over N.Y. Giants $11.3 million over N.Y. Jets $1.2 million over Oakland $10 million over Pittsburgh $10 million over
What'll also be interesting is the rumored 90% cap floor. Notorious cheapskate owners are going to have to spend more dough than normal. All of sudden, you may have small dollar franchises offering huge front loaded deals to meet the requirements. Have to Spend at Least: Arizona $25M Buffalo $24M Carolina $18.5M Chicago $25M Cincinnati $24M Cleveland $21M Jacksonville $19.5M Kansas City $22M Seattle $27M St. Louis $23.5M Tampa Bay $47M It may end up being a very good August for Vonta, Sensabaugh, and anyone else in a "pay me" place. Seattle may give Leach that "richest fullback contract in NFL history" just to help get their salary floor met.
I will not be "mad" if they make some moves and go after impact players. What will irritate me to no end is if they limit themselves to bargain basement signings and say they tried their best. There's no "building something" left in me personally and I hope there isn't any left with McNair. I won't be happy if they sign a few mediocre players, have a mediocre defense and miss the playoffs by one game. I won't want to hear how "close" they are at that point.
$6 million for a steady but non-impactful player to play DE in a 3-4. (Originally signed as a non-pass rushing end in the 4-3) He should restructure or be cut for sure imo. Way too much money for a player of his caliber.
Smith is overpaid but he isn't cuttable. He's one of the only consistent linemen the texans have. A restructuring would be nice though but doubtful. Amobi could be restructered but i have a feeling they will let it slide this season. I think slaton almost has to be cut if they bring back ward and tate is 100%.
Amobi has no business being kept. He doesn't even have a rotation spot going in with Wade. Wade has talked about Cody and Mitchell as his DTs. Amobi is useless.
I have a feeling that they aren't going to require that to be hit in a 3-day free agency period. maybe it'll be something like 75-80% and then 90% next offseason. I haven't kept up with everything regarding the negotiations but I don't see why the players or owners would go for that if it had to be done immediately ... that gives 2011 free agents a clear advantage over any other year, and also causes the owners to potentially destroy their roster balance and cap situation for the future. I think it's still too early to tell whether we'll be able to make significant offers in free agency. We just don't know the intricacies and the workarounds possible with the new CBA, nor does anybody have any precise information on how our current players contracts are structured.
With some of the NFL's most powerful and richest owners at the forefront of these lockout negotiations... I'm having a hard time believing that the likes of Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder, etc would be in favor of and vote for an agreement that would handicap them in free agency this way and SO SOON. The Texans, among other teams with high cap numbers, WILL be able to be serious players in free agency. How? We'll just have to wait for the official agreement to surface to see.
maybe, but i still think they will give him one last shot this season. I'm not saying it's right, but it's likely.
+1 We always have excuses for this team. Good teams draft well or manage their cap well. If we don't have enough to sign help and improve our team then that's a problem, considering our team is mediocore.
what's the voting rule? 2/3rds? 3/4ers? i would have a hard time those owners would allow this as well, but maybe they were simply outvoted
Did DM post a link? I read this several times and would be pretty surprised if the Bears were $37M under - I'm wondering if that should have been $3.7M under? The good news is that among the "players" - I can't see any of those teams attracting Asomugha - unless Chicago really is $37M under.
After the NFLPA votes and approves, it goes to the owners. And the owners have to get 75% approval, or 24 owners have to be on board. That's as much as I've gathered from today's NFL live.
