2008 Cap Update - $6,270,045 million under (10/23/08) *Post #195

[MichaelWinicki]

I'd be interested from Adam's perspective to know just how hard this is -- people paint Stephen as some sort of genius but I would think that anyone in a position like this who took the time to understand the cap rules and applied a consistent philosophy to the form and structure of contracts would be able to pull this off.

Of course...

It's really an elaborate credit card, where you're allowed to spend only so much per year, with the caveat of being able to transfer some payments to the future knowing full well that you'll have limits on how much money your credit card will have on it then also.

 

[acruther]

about $15.88 million under the cap

AdamJT13 - is my math correct?

Figure $2.5 tender for Barber (1st and 3rd), $2 for Canty (1st), and $3.5 for Hamlin. Then $5 million for the rookie pool. This all adds up to $13 million, leaving about $3 million left (probably more like $4 with the rule of 53 garbage).

This leaves us pretty thin. Not much to resign Adams, which is beginning to look a little doubtful. Cutting Roy Williams, which so many of us want to do, before June 1st would use up $3 million. I doubt we want to go into the season with no room to manuever.

I realize we can restructure some deals to get some things done, but this is not looking to be a big FA year from the looks of things.

 

[AdamJT13]

AdamJT13 - is my math correct?

Figure $2.5 tender for Barber (1st and 3rd), $2 for Canty (1st), and $3.5 for Hamlin. Then $5 million for the rookie pool. This all adds up to $13 million, leaving about $3 million left (probably more like $4 with the rule of 53 garbage).

This leaves us pretty thin. Not much to resign Adams, which is beginning to look a little doubtful. Cutting Roy Williams, which so many of us want to do, before June 1st would use up $3 million. I doubt we want to go into the season with no room to manuever.

I realize we can restructure some deals to get some things done, but this is not looking to be a big FA year from the looks of things.

We won't need $5 million of cap room for the rookies. Our rookie pool might be $5 million or more, but they'll use up only about $2.1 million of cap room (based on our current draft positions). And we won't need any cap room for the rookies until we start signing them (mid-July at the earliest). By that point, I expect Adams to have signed (if we do tender him) and probably Barber and/or Canty, as well, which should lower their cap numbers and give us more than enough room to sign the rookies.

There's no reason we shouldn't be able to keep Adams, Hamlin, Barber and Canty AND add a couple of free agents like we did last year -- if that's what we want to do. We have ways of easily creating enough cap room, if we don't already have it. And if we do keep those guys, considering that we also have two first-round draft picks, we won't exactly NEED to add more than a couple of top free agents.

 

[acruther]

We won't need $5 million of cap room for the rookies. Our rookie pool might be $5 million or more, but they'll use up only about $2.1 million of cap room (based on our current draft positions). And we won't need any cap room for the rookies until we start signing them (mid-July at the earliest). By that point, I expect Adams to have signed (if we do tender him) and probably Barber and/or Canty, as well, which should lower their cap numbers and give us more than enough room to sign the rookies.

There's no reason we shouldn't be able to keep Adams, Hamlin, Barber and Canty AND add a couple of free agents like we did last year -- if that's what we want to do. We have ways of easily creating enough cap room, if we don't already have it. And if we do keep those guys, considering that we also have two first-round draft picks, we won't exactly NEED to add more than a couple of top free agents.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Longboysfan]

There's no reason we shouldn't be able to keep Adams, Hamlin, Barber and Canty AND add a couple of free agents like we did last year -- if that's what we want to do. We have ways of easily creating enough cap room, if we don't already have it. And if we do keep those guys, considering that we also have two first-round draft picks, we won't exactly NEED to add more than a couple of top free agents.

The only issue I have with the last statement is there are teams in way better shape than we are.

With those teams in that good shape - will the FA market price in signing $$$$ be higher than in the past.

Does New England have a clause in the Randy Moss contract where he is tied to their offer?

 

[DCBoysfan]

Jerry has learned, its not nice to be in Cap Hell...LOL....

 

[14u2nv]

Wooooooow!!! Never seen it broken down like that before. Impressive!!

 

[noletime95]

Here's a quick update on our 2008 cap -- The cap hasn't been finalized yet, but it's expected to be about $116 million. We currently have 56 players under contract for 2008, with a total cap commitment of $102.7 million. This DOES NOT include any credits or charges leftover from 2007, DOES NOT include tenders for our remaining free agents and DOES NOT take into account the voided contracts for Marion Barber, Julius Jones and Chris Canty.

I'm guessing we'll get a cap adjustment of about $1.5 million (more cap room) after all of the leftover charges and credits from 2007 are applied -- the credit for Tony Curtis' bogus $3.5 million incentive, minus leftover incentive charges from this season (playing time incentives for Anthony Spencer and Ken Hamlin, as well as Flozell Adams' Pro Bowl incentive). And we'll add another $1.08 million in cap room when the contracts of Barber, Jones and Canty officially void.

Those changes would leave us about $15.88 million under the cap, if it's set at $116 million. Our cap room would be reduced by any tenders given to RFAs (Barber, Canty, Ladoucer, Berger, Thompson), EFAs (Curtis, Procter, Oglesby, Bowen) or possibly UFAs (such as Flozell Adams or Ken Hamlin).

ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER is that during the offseason, the only base salaries that count against the cap are those of the players with the 51 highest cap numbers on the team (including tenders). For anyone outside the top 51, only their bonus amounts count against the cap. Anytime you sign someone who qualifies for the top 51, they bump another player's base salary off the cap. Right now, our 51st-highest cap number is $295,000 (six players are tied). So if we sign a player with a 2008 cap number of $1 million, it doesn't reduce our cap room by $1 million, it reduces it by only $705,000, because that player knocks another player's $295,000 base salary off the cap. After the voids and tenders, we should be up to at least 51 players at $370,000 or more, which means each player signed will reduce our cap room by even less.

Adam, thanks for all the info.....3 questions:

1) I assume your numbers only account for the top 51 contracts for Dallas?
2) You suggested the rule of 51 only applies to the offseason? Not to the season as well? Or I guess there are roster limitations that take care of this anyway??
3) IF its not too much trouble, could you list the 56 players Dallas has under contract w/ their respective cap figures when you get a chance?

As always, the info you provide is much appreciated...

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Adam, what would the cap hit be if Dallas released Anthony Henry?




YAKUZA

 

[Teague31]

as always, thanks for the info Adam.

 

[aikemirv]

Would there be any cap savings on releasing TG?

 

[RGV1957]

Not necessarily. New England for instance, will either cut Stallworth or convert his 11 million dollar roster bonus to a signing bonus and pro rate it, saving themselves lots of money. A lot of teams have these kinds of things they can do to get under, remember that a lot of money you see can be "imaginary" numbers.

Edit: To quote from Miguel's Pats Cap page: "For the Patriots to retain Stallworth for the 2008 season, they must pay him an option bonus of $6 million by Feb. 25, 2008. There is a subsequent roster bonus of $2 million due on March 1, a second roster bonus of $1.6 million based on playing time, a base salary of $1 million and a $400,000 workout bonus." Works out to 11 million dollars in bonuses that can be converted to a signing bonus, or, probably, just cut out altogether.

I wonder if we know what magic numbers exist in the Cowboys cap structure? I wonder what cuts we can expect (or retirements); for example, Terry Glenn and what are the cap impacts of these expected departures? It seems there is a whole bunch more room under the cap than the number that appears to the available space.

 

[RGV1957]

Would there be any cap savings on releasing TG?

It seems to me that one can figure any savings as being the salary less the unprorated signing bonus. Therefore, we always gain by a starter that is cut, retired or even traded. Now, sometimes the unprorated signing bonus is more than the salary saved. In this case, you have a negative. Take Roy Williams, his unprorated is 4.4 and his salary is 3.7 or thereabouts. Point is that the cap number contemplates both of these amounts; if we cut him, we only have to suffer the dead space of the unprorated signing bonus. As for TG, we know he has a significant salary . . . we will save this, but we do have to count his unprorated signing bonus.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

NFL Network had us only 7 million under. I will take Adam's view over the NFL Network anyday

 

[Scotman]

NFL Network had us only 7 million under. I will take Adam's view over the NFL Network anyday

What gets me is that places like NFL network don't just get on here and check Adam's figures before they open their mouths.

I've never seen him miss by more than a pocket full of pennies. Not sure I've ever seen that.

 

[burmafrd]

yah, AdamJT13 is GOD where the cap is concerned.

 

[vicjagger]

NFL Network had us only 7 million under. I will take Adam's view over the NFL Network anyday

I will also always agree with Adam, but considering his post and the timing of yours, I'm thinking NFLN's numbers included our more recent FA activity.

Maybe we only have 7 million left after Flo, Zach Thomas, Barber/Canty Tenders, etc.?

 

[fan62]

Breer (DMN) is saying we only have $3.5 million left now. I just don't see that. What about it Adam?

 

[Cowboys22]

Breer (DMN) is saying we only have $3.5 million left now. I just don't see that. What about it Adam?

Do the math on all the moves made since Adam put us at $15.8 million and you get somewhere between 3 and 4 million left.

15.8 Starting cap space
-4.4 Hamlin
-2.5 Barber
-2.0 Canty
-1.25 Thomas
-.90 Berger
-.50? LP Longsnapper
-3.6 Flozell (this # may not be 100% correct)
+2.5 Trading Fergy

=3.15 Cap space left

Add in that the cap was $700,000 more than Adam thought and that puts us just under $4 million left at this point. Obviously, the team has many options to create more space so that really isn't a problem.

 

[ayjackson]

Do the math on all the moves made since Adam put us at $15.8 million and you get somewhere between 3 and 4 million left.

15.8 Starting cap space
-4.4 Hamlin
-2.5 Barber
-2.0 Canty
-1.25 Thomas
-.90 Berger
-.50? LP Longsnapper
-3.6 Flozell (this # may not be 100% correct)
+2.5 Trading Fergy

=3.15 Cap space left

Add in that the cap was $700,000 more than Adam thought and that puts us just under $4 million left at this point. Obviously, the team has many options to create more space so that really isn't a problem.

You haven't considered the rule of 51 either - did any of these signings bump someone out of consideration for the 51 top earners?