Shout out to Crazy Canuck!!

we had 11 mill on this years cap and already close to 7mill on next years cap in dead money i believe...

smoot is the biggest name without a contract for next year, most other guys are making near minimum...

Don't be afraid to check out CC's cap sheets

http://www.thewarpath.net/WarpathRedskinsCap.htm

One guy we really need to lock up long-term is Pierce.

pierce is gonna cost some money after this season...

pierce is gonna cost some money after this season...
Pierce seems to be comitted to this team. He opted to stay here for less money this year. I think he will want to stay here as long as Williams is the DC. He has become a semi-star (solid performer) in this D.

Samuels said he's open to redoing his deal after this season so that's a good sign at least.

Remember we came very close to dealing Smoot away? The fear was that he would be very tough to re-sign. With him dropping the Postons and his apparent dedication to the team it should be interesting to see what his contract demands will be. Especially if he ends up in Hawaii after this year, which I think he has a good shot at if he keeps playing the way he is now.

I personally believe Smoot will take the biggest contract he is offered. Yes he has been a good redskin. But there are gonna be a lot more teams that can offer more cash. Thats just the NFL today. The key is not to let him go (if he does) without getting anything for him. We should def. tag him if we can and put him on the trading block.

Personally I think losing Samuels would be devastating. A solid O-line is the foundation of any good football team. I don't want to lose either player but if the choice is Samuels or Smoot than I would have to choose Samuels. A solid LT is so hard to find. I would franchise Smoot and try and trade him if it comes to that. Hopefully they can find a way to keep both though.

I considered starting a 2005 Cap thread, but didn't want to appear like I've given up hope on 2004 (cuz I haven't). But since you guys brought it up here are a few interesting cap issues for 2005.

1. Samuels - His cap hit in 2005 will be close to $10M. IMO Samuels will have to restrucutre or he'll be gone. If I had to guess I would say he'll be gone. He is tradeable since the team that acquires him wouldn't have to worry about any dead money for him. His new team would sign him to a deal of their own. So I think he will have market value. Even if he restructures with us I'm still not sure we can afford him, given other guys we want to sign. Plus when Jansen comes back it would make the loss of Samuels a little easier to swallow. PS - cutting or trading Samuels next year would leave us with about $6M in dead money, which can all go to 2005 cap or be split up ($3M in 2005, $3m in 2006).

2. Smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot - His contract is up at the end of this year and I think most of us want to see him re-signed for the long-term. I figure we'll have to pay him somewhere between Springs and Champ (hopefully closer to Springs). I'd expect something in the neigbourhood of $2-3M cap hits for the first couple years, then around $5m in the later years. I don't think "franchise tagging" him makes much sense, since we'll have to offer him the average of the top CBs. Can't remember exactly what the tag price was for Bailey but I think it was in the $6-$7M range. Any deal we sign him to could be made much more cap friendly, at least in the short-term.

3. Ramsey - PR is signed through 2006 at a very affordable price. Getting Ramsey a new deal in 2005 probably isn't priority one for the Skins, but should definitely be considered IMO, especially given Brunell's play. Signing PR next year would also show the team's committment to him as the QB of the future. I guess a lot of this will be determined by Gibbs and the potential he sees (or doesn't see) in PR.

4. Gardner - Gardner stands to make about $2M in 2005, which is the final year on his contract. 50/50 seems to fit well in Gibbs offense, but I'd be surprised if we'd tried to re-sign him. I'm a big fan of Gardner but the fact is there are other young guys we want to sign and WR is probably the one position where we have a lot of depth. For that reason I see us trading Gardner next year, probably for draft picks. I'm hoping he can put up some big numbers this year to raise his market value. I think if he has a good year we could get a first rounder for him or maybe a 2 and a 3.

5. Wynn - He is scheduled to make $4M in 2005. The dead money if we release/trade him will be $1.75M, almost all of which can be pushed back to 2006 if we choose. I think Wynn will be gone after this year.

6. Pierce - His contract is up after this year. To be honest I'm not sure what he will demand in the offseason, or what we'd be willing to pay him. We'll have to wait and see. Other guys who fall into this category include Salave'a, Kenyatta, Sellers, Lott, Marshall.

7. Other - Some other potential 2005 cap casualties: Noble, Bowen, Rasby (gone), Raymer, Haley, Friedman, and maybe even Thrash.

Summary - According to my calculations, if we were to field the identical team we have now in 2005, we'd go about $4M over the cap, not including any new contracts we add (ie Smoot). So we will have to make some cuts somewhere. The first guys to go IMO will be: Samuels, Gardner, Wynn, and probably a few from #7. All in all I think we're ok for 2005, but 2006 will be tricky.

Also, you can add Hasselbeck to #6.

A quick question what kind of hit/relife would we get for loosing players like Morten, McCants and even Barlow next year?

For Morton, McCants, and Barrow, it will cost us more in dead money to release them than it will cost to keep them, so I see us keeping all 3, unless they don't factor into the team's plans at all.

Both Samuels and Smoot have been offered as trade bait in the past. I personally feel that smoot will stay if Williams stays at the end of the season. Samuels will stay if he's offered a good long term contract. Smoot wil also stay... he wouldn't be fanchised because of monster contracts of cb like Bailey has inflated the amount they are paid.
Pierce will stay because he florished in the system. plus we'll let go of Barrow