starfrombirth;1988666 said:
Adam, where do you get that number from about signing our rookies? The 2 1st rounders alone are going to eat that up. I'm not saying your wrong but I sure would like it if you could edjumicate me. Last I heard 1st round picks cost at least 2 mill a year. Doesn't that whole 2 mill count against the cap? Well, look forward to hearing from you.
The average value of their contracts is irrelevant. What matters is their cap number this year. And because of the Rule of 51, the cap room we need to sign all of our rookies is far less than their combined cap numbers for this year.
Right now, our picks in the first three rounds are Nos. 22, 28, 58 and 91. After the comp picks are awarded, our picks in the last four rounds should be Nos. 125, 162, 169 and 236.
These were the cap numbers for those picks last year --
22 = $1.147 million
28 = $1.02 million
58 = $495,000
91 = $443,500
125 = $388,620
162 = $325,550
169 = $321,690
236 = $295,000
The rookie pool goes up 5 percent this year, so on average, draft picks should have a cap number 5 percent higher than the player at the same pick last year.
Here's the approximate cap numbers for those picks this year --
22 = $1.205 million
28 = $1.07 million
58 = $520,000
91 = $465,500
125 = $408,000
162 = $341,800
169 = $331,750
236 = $309,750
The Rule of 51 says that the only base salaries that count in the offseason are those for the players with the 51-highest cap numbers on the team. Right now, only the first five picks would make our top 51. They'd each bump out a player with a base salary of $370,000. So when we sign one of them, they'd start counting against our cap, but another player's $370,000 base salary would stop counting. When we sign our last three picks, their base salaries ($295,000 each) won't count against the cap -- only their bonus proration will.
So here's the approximate net cap impact of each draft pick --
22 -- $1.205 million - $370,000 = $835,000
28 -- $1.07 million - $370,000 = $700,000
58 -- $520,000 - $370,000 = $150,000
91 -- $465,500 - $370,000 = $95,500
125 -- $408,000 - $370,000 = $38,000
162 -- $341,800 - $295,000 = $46,800
169 -- $331,750 - $295,000 = $36,750
236 -- $309,750 - $295,000 = $14,750
Each undrafted rookie will count against the cap in the same manner as the late-round draft picks -- their prorated bonus will count against the cap, but their base salary will not because they won't be in our top 51.
The combined cap impact of the eight draft picks as listed above is $1,916,800. But those numbers (particularly for the first two or three picks) could be higher, if we have room in our rookie pool. So we'll add $125,000 just to be safe, which brings the total to $2,041,800. We typically spend between $80,000 and $120,000 of our rookie pool on undrafted free agents. We'll play it safe and say they'll count $125,000, which brings the total to $2,166,800. That's a little less than the $2.2 million total I said we'd probably need to sign all of our rookies, and that's even with adding a little bit extra to be safe.
