Salary Cap Calculations for 2014

[jterrell]

They are showing 57 players on that page. They only count 51 players against the cap in off-season.

If you think my numbers are off, you need to show it.

You didn't show any work so I can't correct your errors merely point out they exist because they aren't accurate.
I'll gladly show you what you missed when I see what all you include or leave out.

The practice squad players are generally 'free' in the off-season.
In that they usually aren't in the top 51
But spotrac actually only shows 50 ACTIVE contracts for next year.
The other 8 are Practice squad guys and the first player they keep costs a vet minimum NFL salary not a practice squad slot.
You can factor in another 495K in place of that 900K they account for in PS.

You are not counting any of the to be tendered free agents. Guys like Wynn are almost assuredly tendered the 495K.

I can easily detail why you've missed math on your cuts as you do not account for the escalated dead money.

The biggest errors you made last year were in timing.
You have June 2nd cuts where you spend the money day 1 and it doesn't work like that.

 

[LatinMind]

Cutting ware doesnt save 12.5. it saves a little over 7. i think it is.
Cutting Austin saves you something like 600,000 basically because of the money pushed back from the restructure. Or 3 mil if cut june 2

I dont know where youre getting your numbers but they are off, by alot.

 

[Stash]

That would be a 4.7M cap hit in 2014 and a 12.2M cap hit in 2015.

If they're keeping this scheme, I would rather take my lumps short term and move on rather than prolonging things.

They need to make the scheme fit the players. Kiffin indicated that he wanted his defense to be similar to Seattle's. Carr is a good fit for what Seattle does with their defense.

And I don't think Kiffin can do that. I agree that Carr would probably play well in Seattle's defense, but I don't think Kiffin is capable of running it. They may run a 4-3, but it looks nothing like Kiffin's version. In my opinion, nothing this man is doing is working.

I don't think the coverage that Kiffin is using this season is what he really wants to run if he has the correct players. I think he has Carr in zone, not because that's best for Carr, but to try to cover up deficiencies at other positions.

I don't see any plan or consistency at all, but more switching back and forth, trying this and that, and none of it working.

And keep in mind that this was a guy who told us all along that he had all the players he needed. So many, in fact, that we didn't need to draft any.

Kiffin was terrible at USC and he's proven to be terrible here. Everybody loses it eventually, it's just too bad that this team didn't see it beforehand.

 

[jterrell]

If they're keeping this scheme, I would rather take my lumps short term and move on rather than prolonging things.

They need to make the scheme fit the players. Kiffin indicated that he wanted his defense to be similar to Seattle's. Carr is a good fit for what Seattle does with their defense.

And I don't think Kiffin can do that. I agree that Carr would probably play well in Seattle's defense, but I don't think Kiffin is capable of running it. They may run a 4-3, but it looks nothing like Kiffin's version. In my opinion, nothing this man is doing is working.



I don't see any plan or consistency at all, but more switching back and forth, trying this and that, and none of it working.

And keep in mind that this was a guy who told us all along that he had all the players he needed. So many, in fact, that we didn't need to draft any.

Kiffin was terrible at USC and he's proven to be terrible here. Everybody loses it eventually, it's just too bad that this team didn't see it beforehand.

The big decision is do you keep Romo or not.

If you get rid of Romo you can do the re-build and expect to draft a QB next year to compete with Orton.
In that scenario you sack Witten/Carr/Ware and the obvious Miles.
Expect ot be very bad but to essentially 'correct' the cap in one off-season


I keep meaning to write up a long article about why it is so hard to win WITH a franchise QB under the current CBA but I suck and it would require actual work.

 

[xwalker]

Incredible work put in. Could we afford, Jared Allen and Linval Joseph??? I would love these two and they could bolster our Dline, Joseph would long term.

I don't know what those players will get in free agency.

It shouldn't be a problem to sign Joseph because they can give him a long-term contract with at small 1st year cap hit.

It's tricky with Allen because you don't want to sign him to a real long-term contract. They could do a 5 year contract with base salaries of 1M and a 10M signing bonus. After 2 years, he could be cut and they would have paid him 12M total for 2 years of service. The cap hit in year 1 would be 3M.

 

[jterrell]

Cutting ware doesnt save 12.5. it saves a little over 7. i think it is.
Cutting Austin saves you something like 600,000 basically because of the money pushed back from the restructure. Or 3 mil if cut june 2

I dont know where youre getting your numbers but they are off, by alot.

Cutting Ware:
In 2014 he has 8.57M in dead money to escalate. He also creates a charge of 495K for the next up roster spot under the rule of 51. ---this can be slightly lower but only if we cut a lot of other guys first and get down to less than 51 returning players with less a season of experience. So before June 2nd you can only save about 3.5m for cutting Ware.
After June 2nd your ~7m looks accurate but you are eating the entire cap hit until then if that is the plan... and that is a problem.

Under typical Stephen dealing...
You hand Ware 11.5m to reduce his base to 1m as Cap accounting begins. Reduce Cap hit by 80% of 11.5m which is MORE than the 7m you could save by cutting him after June 1st.

Best case scenario you talk Ware into taking a pay cut, still hand him his money this year at once and he saves you about the same without pushing nearly as much into the future.

 

[LatinMind]

Cutting Ware:
In 2014 he has 8.57M in dead money to escalate. He also creates a charge of 495K for the next up roster spot under the rule of 51. ---this can be slightly lower but only if we cut a lot of other guys first and get down to less than 51 returning players with less a season of experience. So before June 2nd you can only save about 3.5m for cutting Ware.
After June 2nd your ~7m looks accurate but you are eating the entire cap hit until then if that is the plan... and that is a problem.

Under typical Stephen dealing...
You hand Ware 11.5m to reduce his base to 1m as Cap accounting begins. Reduce Cap hit by 80% of 11.5m which is MORE than the 7m you could save by cutting him after June 1st.

Best case scenario you talk Ware into taking a pay cut, still hand him his money this year at once and he saves you about the same without pushing nearly as much into the future.

Thats might be the best way to restructure, but its the bad way because Ware is giving you nothing. Its time to get rid of that era of the Dallas Cowboys. His body is just not there anymore. You cant even use the excuse of "he's better then anything else they have" because with how his body is right now he's the same as everybody else they have right now.

 

[xwalker]

And I don't think Kiffin can do that. I agree that Carr would probably play well in Seattle's defense, but I don't think Kiffin is capable of running it. They may run a 4-3, but it looks nothing like Kiffin's version. In my opinion, nothing this man is doing is working.

Kiffin was terrible at USC and he's proven to be terrible here. Everybody loses it eventually, it's just too bad that this team didn't see it beforehand.

I don't know why he couldn't do what Seattle does if he had their players.

USC was on probation and was lacking talent.

If Kiffin really can't utilize Carr, properly, then Kiffin should be the one to go, not Carr.

 

[jterrell]

I don't know what those players will get in free agency.

It shouldn't be a problem to sign Joseph because they can give him a long-term contract with at small 1st year cap hit.

It's tricky with Allen because you don't want to sign him to a real long-term contract. They could do a 5 year contract with base salaries of 1M and a 10M signing bonus. After 2 years, he could be cut and they would have paid him 12M total for 2 years of service. The cap hit in year 1 would be 3M.

No, they really couldn't.
Jared Allen is probably worth more than 12m over 2 years and he knows it.
But even if he didn't in your scenario you pay a guy all hsi money up front then expect him to pour out heart and soul for 2 years with minimum salaries coming back with zero financial incentive... bad plan.

The Carr deal you oh so love to discuss wasn't at all like that.
Dallas GUARANTEED a big portion of money coming AFTER year 1.
We HAD to restructure him and essentially hand him a big signing bonus 2 seasons in a row.
That's how we got him in here for 3m in cap hits year 1.

 

[Stash]

The big decision is do you keep Romo or not.

If you get rid of Romo you can do the re-build and expect to draft a QB next year to compete with Orton.
In that scenario you sack Witten/Carr/Ware and the obvious Miles.
Expect ot be very bad but to essentially 'correct' the cap in one off-season

In all honesty, I had broached the subject of taking our limos last year and trading away both Romo and Spencer while we could still get value rather than committing the money and resources into guys we weren't winning with anyway.

Went over like a fart in church...

At this point, given the contract now involved, I'm not sure what you could get for Romo.

I keep meaning to write up a long article about why it is so hard to win WITH a franchise QB under the current CBA but I suck and it would require actual work.

If it's any incentive, I'd love to read it!

 

[xwalker]

The big decision is do you keep Romo or not.

If you get rid of Romo you can do the re-build and expect to draft a QB next year to compete with Orton.
In that scenario you sack Witten/Carr/Ware and the obvious Miles.
Expect ot be very bad but to essentially 'correct' the cap in one off-season


I keep meaning to write up a long article about why it is so hard to win WITH a franchise QB under the current CBA but I suck and it would require actual work.

It would be a 41M cap hit in 2014 to cut Romo. They can't make him a June 1st cut because he has a 7.5M additional guarantee that is triggered in March.

 

[jterrell]

Thats might be the best way to restructure, but its the bad way because Ware is giving you nothing. Its time to get rid of that era of the Dallas Cowboys. His body is just not there anymore. You cant even use the excuse of "he's better then anything else they have" because with how his body is right now he's the same as everybody else they have right now.

I understand what you are saying but again the issue is do you cut him and save 3m or you do carry 16m in cap hits until June 2nd?
This team doesn't have 16m in cap space. Its' well over.
It will get under of course but Ware is the 2nd most likely target to help after Romo.

Ware has 6 sacks on the year which is a career low. Perhaps it's all age but he had 11.5 sacks last year.

Maybe he doesn't need to play every down with his hand in the dirt.
Last game they were splitting him as wide as any 3-4 OLB.
Maybe a return to that scheme assists him.
I seriously doubt he lost it all this quickly.

 

[Common Sense]

I don't know if it's age/injury or if Ware is a bad scheme fit now or a combination of both, but it's hard to justify ANY player at his 2014 salary. A restructure would be the epitome of incompetence, but I can't imagine the Joneses doing anything else.

 

[LatinMind]

I understand what you are saying but again the issue is do you cut him and save 3m or you do carry 16m in cap hits until June 2nd?
This team doesn't have 16m in cap space. Its' well over.
It will get under of course but Ware is the 2nd most likely target to help after Romo.

Ware has 6 sacks on the year which is a career low. Perhaps it's all age but he had 11.5 sacks last year.

Maybe he doesn't need to play every down with his hand in the dirt.
Last game they were splitting him as wide as any 3-4 OLB.
Maybe a return to that scheme assists him.
I seriously doubt he lost it all this quickly.

Well if you cut im right off the bat you save what 7 mil? You restructure and save more but still end up paying more in the long run which keeps you from moving on and your younger players end up getting older and you have to go thru this all over again.

 

[jterrell]

It would be a 41M cap hit in 2014 to cut Romo. They can't make him a June 1st cut because he has a 7.5M additional guarantee that is triggered in March.

Yes, it would be heinously expensive.
But it wouldn't cost 41m. It would cost 41m minus his 13.5m base.
Still insane but again that's why they'd be essentially dumping everyone else with a large base too and probably any vet with a pulse.

But that 7.5 more guaranteed is coming if you keep him so if you don't dump him now you essentially hand him 20m more just this year. 13.5 base but 7.5m guaranteed future.

They won't do it because that's the TNT plan but you don't keep Romo around and tear it down around him.
That's throwing worse money after bad money.

 

[Stash]

I don't know why he couldn't do what Seattle does if he had their players.

USC was on probation and was lacking talent.

If Kiffin really can't utilize Carr, properly, then Kiffin should be the one to go, not Carr.

Oh, I completely agree. And he can take his passive schemes with him, that's my point.

You can keep Carr, or keep Kiffin. I don't think you do both.

 

[jterrell]

Well if you cut im right off the bat you save what 7 mil? You restructure and save more but still end up paying more in the long run which keeps you from moving on and your younger players end up getting older and you have to go thru this all over again.

right off the bat only saves about 3.5m
7m is post june 1st.

best bet is to get him to take a pay cut.

 

[xwalker]

Cutting Ware:
In 2014 he has 8.57M in dead money to escalate. He also creates a charge of 495K for the next up roster spot under the rule of 51. ---this can be slightly lower but only if we cut a lot of other guys first and get down to less than 51 returning players with less a season of experience. So before June 2nd you can only save about 3.5m for cutting Ware.
After June 2nd your ~7m looks accurate but you are eating the entire cap hit until then if that is the plan... and that is a problem.

Under typical Stephen dealing...
You hand Ware 11.5m to reduce his base to 1m as Cap accounting begins. Reduce Cap hit by 80% of 11.5m which is MORE than the 7m you could save by cutting him after June 1st.

Best case scenario you talk Ware into taking a pay cut, still hand him his money this year at once and he saves you about the same without pushing nearly as much into the future.

If he is cut immediately (before June 1st), then all of the numbers in the Misc. column add together and equal the number in the Dead column (8.57M).

If he is a June 1st cut, then the 2014 Misc. number (3.75M) hits the 2014 cap and the remaining Misc. numbers add together and hit the 2015 cap.

If they keep him without a restructure, then his cap hit is 16M.

June 1st cap hit in 2014: 3.75M
Cap hit without restructure: 16M

Difference = 16M - 3.75M = 12.25M

In other words, they "save" 12.25M in 2014 if he is a June 1st cut.

 

[xwalker]

Yes, it would be heinously expensive.
But it wouldn't cost 41m. It would cost 41m minus his 13.5m base.
Still insane but again that's why they'd be essentially dumping everyone else with a large base too and probably any vet with a pulse.

But that 7.5 more guaranteed is coming if you keep him so if you don't dump him now you essentially hand him 20m more just this year. 13.5 base but 7.5m guaranteed future.

They won't do it because that's the TNT plan but you don't keep Romo around and tear it down around him.
That's throwing worse money after bad money.

His 2014 base (13.5M) is guaranteed.

 

[LatinMind]

If he is cut immediately (before June 1st), then all of the numbers in the Misc. column add together and equal the number in the Dead column (8.57M).

If he is a June 1st cut, then the 2014 Misc. number (3.75M) hits the 2014 cap and the remaining Misc. numbers add together and hit the 2015 cap.

If they keep him without a restructure, then his cap hit is 16M.

June 1st cap hit in 2014: 3.75M
Cap hit without restructure: 16M

Difference = 16M - 3.75M = 12.25M

In other words, they "save" 12.25M in 2014 if he is a June 1st cut.