They've still got a window but they're going to start piling up the big contracts now and then you'll see how hard it is for a team to have that kind of rotation and depth when they're actually paying the stars star money.
They're in great cap shape. They've been managing the cap as good as any team out there.
They often structure contracts differently than the traditional backloaded fashion and I think it gives them a number of advantages, while also creating a play-for-pay type system because they usually have modest signing bonuses so they can ditch bad contracts sooner.
I'm not sure if many other teams structure contracts similar to Seattle because I haven't looked but I wouldn't be shocked if they start. Tampa does some unique things with contracts, I know that much.
Consider this.
Looking at Bennett, Sherman, and Thomas. Next year each of their cap charges increases a good amount. The total cap space taken by those 3 is about $27.6M. From there, the cap charges for those three gradually increases until it maxes out at $33.5M in 2017.
They currently have $109M committed to the 2015 salary cap, which puts them somewhere in the range of maybe $25M to $30M under. From 2015 to 2016 the total for those three guys increases $4M, and from 2016 to 2017 it increases $2M. The salary cap itself is projected to increase possibly more than 3X the amount of that $6M overall increase from 2015 to 2017.
But here's the kicker. Even though they just gave out $40M, $25M, and $16M in guarantees for a total of $81M, the could cut all three of those guys before hitting that high point of $33.5M and only have a little over $15.2M in dead money, $9.4M of which is Sherman. That would avoid $18M in cap charges just three seasons after signing those guys.
Anyone waiting for Seattle to lose all their talent because they can't afford to pay them might be waiting a while. They're presently $10M under so they'll likely carry over about $5M to next season. They could free up another $10.5M by releasing Zach Miller and Marshawn if he slows down this year. Start next year at like $40M under the cap and none of the big contracts they signed this year have substantial increases moving forward? Pretty crazy, really.
