150M already committed to 2015 cap

[Cowboy Brian]

Highest in the league by about 20m (130M, NOLA). Resigning both Dez and Tyron doesn't seem easy without a Ware retirement.

 

[Zordon]

all for an 8-8 product....

 

[Tabascocat]

Dallas can re-sign anyone they want too. Heck, they could even go after FA's if they wanted. There will always be a way to find the cap room......just keep kicking the tab down the road.............................eventually, it might catch up or they could just keep rolling it over. Not the best way to do it but it is an option.

 

[Nirvana]

You keep restructuring contracts (convert salary into signing bonus so it's prorated) to make cap space. You offer Ware an incentive laden contract (sack totals for one thing) that lowers his cap hit.

Revenues are growing and with the CBS deal alone that should bump each team's cap about 5 mill next year. That will ease things up. You just keep kicking the can down the road, strangely it does work in this scenario. But you still have to manage it well and avoid mistakes...

 

[CyberB0b]

We still have quite a few restructures to do just to get under this year, so I suspect that number goes up quite a bit.

But you still have to manage it well and avoid mistakes...

That's the rub, with guys like TO, Barber, Hamlin, Austin, and Ratliff in recent memory.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

smh.

I know Austin's contract goes ballistic for 2015 which will be obviously not a concern. I know Ware's amount goes to $18m. Romo and Lee have built in restructures. Its already been established that we won't be able to build the team in FA but we will be able to sign or own guys.

OH NOES!!!! PANIC!!! FACTS AND FIGURES ARE MEANINGLESS!!!!

 

[LatinMind]

http://i1195.***BLOCKED***/albums/aa383/CowboysRemix/DC14/2015cap_zpsf82fbed5.jpg

Highest in the league by about 20m (130M, NOLA). Resigning both Dez and Tyron doesn't seem easy without a Ware retirement.

where did you get 150mil? $130,589,523 Right now they are 4.5 mil over the cap

 

[Idgit]

smh.

I know Austin's contract goes ballistic for 2015 which will be obviously not a concern. I know Ware's amount goes to $18m. Romo and Lee have built in restructures. Its already been established that we won't be able to build the team in FA but we will be able to sign or own guys.

OH NOES!!!! PANIC!!! FACTS AND FIGURES ARE MEANINGLESS!!!!

You mean, that snapshot of what two years from now might look like without regard for the players who will actually be on the roster at that point, or any restructures between now and then or any contracts that might be jettisoned, when compared to 31 other snapshots which are all equally likely to change doesn't compare favorably to our own best guess of what it should look like? And we're going to have to let Dez and Tyron walk as a result? Assuming, of course that the OP's number is right in the first place? Somebody start a thread.

 

[Hoofbite]

You keep restructuring contracts (convert salary into signing bonus so it's prorated) to make cap space. You offer Ware an incentive laden contract (sack totals for one thing) that lowers his cap hit.

And Ware says, "no thanks, cut me and deal with dead money while filling yet another hole". He'd still get a decent contract and would make more through free agency than he would a cut. Little incentive on his part except for playing the role of "good guy".

Revenues are growing and with the CBS deal alone that should bump each team's cap about 5 mill next year. That will ease things up. You just keep kicking the can down the road, strangely it does work in this scenario. But you still have to manage it well and avoid mistakes...

Looks like it's going up a little over $3M.

Teams were informed at the NFL meetings this week the projected salary cap for 2014 is $126.3 million, a person informed of the number told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/12/11/2104-nfl-salary-cap/3994927/

That amount is already likely spoken for just based on salary increase for players currently on the roster.

 

[DavidS]

Romo2Austin shouldn't be allowed to make threads anymore

 

[logan]

Look at that cap room in 2020. You can see Jerry's master plan coming into focus.

 

[Hoofbite]

where did you get 150mil? $130,589,523 Right now they are 4.5 mil over the cap

I like that site.

Here's something I think will be very interesting. I posted a thread about it a while back and haven't seen any discussion on it so I don't know if I have a complete understanding of it but here goes.

See the number down at the bottom that says "Prorated Bonus", totaling of $38,026,316?

From 2013 through 2016 (and 2017 through 2020) teams have to spend 89% of the total combined cap in cash. They can be over or under in any given year so long as they are cap compliant but any difference must be made up in the other three years.

Pretending the cap would be $130M in 2015, 89% in cash spending would equal about $116M. Because "Prorated Bonus" money has already been paid it doesn't even count towards the year in which it is slated, only for the year in which it was paid.

To be cap compliant with $38M in "Prorated Bonus", it would seem Dallas would only have $92M in cash available to spend in order to remain under the salary cap itself. Restructuring doesn't help this because that is just base salary money that would have been paid throughout the course of the season anyway. The only real way that I could see to reach that cash floor would be to make up the difference in signing bonus money given to free agents that you could then spread over the next few years.

Slowing down a bit for 2014, Dallas has $43M in "Prorated Bonus" which would be 34% of the total cap number. They did hit over 95% in 2013 largely because of $25M given to Romo as a bonus but that only bought them about $8.3M in excess.

If you take the $126M cap number, 89% is just about $112M which means to hit 89% for this single year teams could only have $14M in cap dollars that aren't cash payments. With the $8.3M overage in 2013 Dallas effectively has $23M in money that they could fall short of the floor.

The problem is, that leaves $20M in money that must be made up between the years of 2015 and 2016.

Overthecap has Dallas at $38M for 2015 (18% over the cash floor for a projected $130M cap), and Dallas has $23M (6% over the cash floor on a cap of $135M). Where exactly do they make it up? Signing Dez helps as single year but increases "Prorated Bonus" money in the following years. Signing Tyron also helps in a single year but does the same for the following years.

Using $130M and $135M for 2015 and 2016 (which I think is an optimistic number), teams will have had to spend $457M in cash payouts. If their numbers are correct that leaves only $56.5M of the combined cap for those years that can actually be "Prorated Bonus".

Dallas was slotted for $124 in cash spending in 2013, leaving $390M which much be spent for 2014, 2015, and 2016.

With $43M in 2014, $38M in 2015, and $23M in 2016 for a grand total of $104M, Dallas is effectively at $96M after deducting the wiggle room that they bought in 2013.

That's $40M over what a team could have accumulated as non-cash cap dollars over the 4 year span. "Prorated Bonus" money does not come off the books. It will be charged.

If the team restructures Romo in 2014, they'll do so in 2015. Cash spent in 2014 doesn't go up because he would have earned that money after 16 games anyway. Cap figures for 2015 and 2016 go up as a result of non-cash cap charges that increase 2015 and 2016 "Prorated Bonus" dollars. If they go down to $1.5M base for 2014 it will add $2.4M to the "Prorated Bonus" for 2015 and 2016. If they go down to $2M base in 2015 it will add another $3M to 2016. Grand total of almost $11M so now we're at $51M under the 89% cash floor.

Both Dez and Tyron get new contracts soon. For simplicity sake, they both receive $10M as a signing bonus prior to 2015. That adds $4M to 2015 and $4M to 2016 in "Prorated Bonus", but also reduces the overall sum of cash spending by the combined $20M. That still puts Dallas at $39M under the 89% cash floor for the 4 year span.

So I guess the question is, how can they meet the cash floor? You'd seem to have to give out bonus money to do so. Reducing Ware's base salary actually HURTS in this regard because he's slotted to count for $12.5M of the cash spending and even at a reduced salary his overall cap number is still very high and the team doesn't get a lot of relief and will still have to restructure.

I dunno. Like I said, cap discussion always hinges on the salary cap ceiling but the new CBA threw in the cash floor and nobody has mentioned that yet so I'm not sure if I grasp the situation entirely. If I do, I fear that Dallas will be forced to replace mid-tier players with young vet minimum players just so they can free up enough cash to make big free agent signings. That seems like one of the only ways out. You have to reduce your current cap dollars without having the offsetting increase in future cap dollars AND pay out more money just to make up for the amount that you shorted in the previous years.

Just a thought.

I'm not sure what the penalty would be for failing to be cap compliant in this manner but I do know that whatever amount a team falls short must be paid regardless. If you come up $50M short in cash spending you have to cut a check for $50M to the NFLPA, I believe.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

stuff

If I am not mistaken the cash floor is not calculated on a year by year basis. I think it's four years.

 

[Alexander]

No issue. We can do whatever we want in regards to the cap.

 

[dreghorn2]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/02/18/durkin-explaining-the-nfls-salary-cap/

Each individual team is required to spend a minimum of 89%, also known as the “cap floor.” When individual teams don’t meet the minimum team cash spending of 89%, a shortfall payment will be made directly to players who were on that roster for the applicable season.

http://www.draftbrowns.com/2012/12/the-myth-of-the-nfl-salary-cap-floor/

There are also 4 year periods to base the 89% cap floor on, 2013-2016 and 2017-2020.

It appears that the floor is defined by two specific four year intervals.

 

[burmafrd]

the cap is not going to go up as some people think ($150 million) - a lot of the new TV money is scheduled to go to medical benefits, pensions, and I think some of that has to go to the lawsuits as well - not sure on that.

I think it will go up around $10 million in 2015 and a steady $5 million or so each year after that for a while.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

http://i1195.***BLOCKED***/albums/aa383/CowboysRemix/DC14/2015cap_zpsf82fbed5.jpg

where did you get 150mil? $130,589,523 Right now they are 4.5 mil over the cap

the year is 2014 sir, not 2015.

 

[whynot]

PANIC!!!!!!

 

[whynot]

We still have quite a few restructures to do just to get under this year, so I suspect that number goes up quite a bit.



That's the rub, with guys like TO, Barber, Hamlin, Austin, and Ratliff in recent memory.

At the time, they were our best WR, RB, S, WR and DL. Wrong? Perhaps. But at the time they were the best we had.

 

[starfrombirth]

And Ware says, "no thanks, cut me and deal with dead money while filling yet another hole". He'd still get a decent contract and would make more through free agency than he would a cut. Little incentive on his part except for playing the role of "good guy".



Looks like it's going up a little over $3M.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/12/11/2104-nfl-salary-cap/3994927/

That amount is already likely spoken for just based on salary increase for players currently on the roster.

Dead money isnt the same as counting against the cap. I don't give a crap how much a billionaire like JJ spends. What I care about is how much money we can use to keep and get the players that we need. So yeah.... cut ware unless he takes a massive incentive laden paycut