Uncle_Hank
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I like to play around with the cap calculator at Over the Cap. The good news is, we're nowhere near as bad off as the Saints. The bad news is, it's going to be impossible to sign Dak and field a competitive team without several big contract restructures.
This isn't necessarily what I would do, but knowing how the front office thinks, here's how I could see it shaping up:
1. Restructures to Lawrence, Cooper, Martin, and Elliott's contracts will free up a ton of cap space this year, but obviously it will lower the cap over the next few years after that. Here's the thing: they are going to be on the team and they're going to get paid that money either now or later, period. Not ideal, but manageable.
2. Sign Dak to a 4-year deal averaging just shy of $40M/year. If I had to bet, I'd say they get the fourth year they're looking for at around $39.5 million per season. I don't think this will give us a ton of cap relief next year. Just look at the Deshaun Watson or Carson Wentz contracts. They might be able to pull off a slightly lower cap hit this year with a guaranteed restructure in 2022, but it's still going to be in the thirties for 2021.
3. Cut Chris Jones and make Anthony Brown a June 1 cut. These two moves will save over $6M. While I'm not a fan of gutting what little CB depth we have, it seems clear to me that we have to bring in a veteran starter, so Brown's money goes to him. We can replace Brown in the draft.
Those moves will leave us somewhere just north of $20M left over for free agency in the draft this year, and about $17M under the cap for 2022. I expect they'll convert some of Dak's base salary that year and possibly move on from pricey, injured vets like Tyron Smith as well as Jaylon Smith if he doesn't have a bounce-back year.
I know some of these are going to be controversial, but I don't see any other possibility. You can only manipulate numbers so many ways.
This isn't necessarily what I would do, but knowing how the front office thinks, here's how I could see it shaping up:
1. Restructures to Lawrence, Cooper, Martin, and Elliott's contracts will free up a ton of cap space this year, but obviously it will lower the cap over the next few years after that. Here's the thing: they are going to be on the team and they're going to get paid that money either now or later, period. Not ideal, but manageable.
2. Sign Dak to a 4-year deal averaging just shy of $40M/year. If I had to bet, I'd say they get the fourth year they're looking for at around $39.5 million per season. I don't think this will give us a ton of cap relief next year. Just look at the Deshaun Watson or Carson Wentz contracts. They might be able to pull off a slightly lower cap hit this year with a guaranteed restructure in 2022, but it's still going to be in the thirties for 2021.
3. Cut Chris Jones and make Anthony Brown a June 1 cut. These two moves will save over $6M. While I'm not a fan of gutting what little CB depth we have, it seems clear to me that we have to bring in a veteran starter, so Brown's money goes to him. We can replace Brown in the draft.
Those moves will leave us somewhere just north of $20M left over for free agency in the draft this year, and about $17M under the cap for 2022. I expect they'll convert some of Dak's base salary that year and possibly move on from pricey, injured vets like Tyron Smith as well as Jaylon Smith if he doesn't have a bounce-back year.
I know some of these are going to be controversial, but I don't see any other possibility. You can only manipulate numbers so many ways.