Peter King on The Skins - Future Cap Trouble

[Bill B]

Here is Peter king on Joe Gibbs and the Redskins. as good as we looked against Dallas the impending cap problems that King points out is what I am worried about. Maybe Schneed can give a better clarification, but being 19.5 million over the 2008 cap looks pretty gloomy.

SI.com - Writers - Monday Morning QB (cont.) - Monday November 19, 2007 9:05AM

Here is Peter Kings take on Gibbs:
"2. I think the second life of Joe Gibbs running the Redskins might not end well. Gibbs is 6-10, 10-6, 5-11 and now 5-5 in his four seasons in his second stint as Washington coach. A 26-32 regular-season record. One playoff win. Of the Redskins' final six games this year, five are against teams harboring playoff hopes. Gibbs turns 67 in six days. He doesn't answer the questions about how much longer he'll coach, but it won't be surprising to anyone at Redskins Park if this is it for him. I've gotten the sense that, regardless the outcome of this season, this is it for him.
If it is, there's a pretty big problem on the horizon for Washington. There is only one team with less than $5 million in 2008 cap room left as we stand right now, and that team, to no one's surprise, is Washington. It would be understandable if the 'Skins were a few bucks north or south of the $116-million cap figure for 2008, but the Redskins are miles away from that. They are $19.5 million OVER the 2008 cap as we sit here this morning. That means they're $25 million worse-off than any team in the NFL entering the offseason.
Some of this can be cosmetically addressed, like converting a sizable roster bonus due to tight end Chris Cooley in 2008, which would be payable all in 2008, to a signing bonus, which would pro-rate it over the life of his contract. That's fine, except all that does is continually push more and more financial obligation into the future. There's significant dead weight on this cap. If they choose to cut unimportant wideout Brandon Lloyd, that would cost them $7.1 million in cap charges on the '08 ledger.
Moral of the story: If Gibbs quits at season's end, would Bill Cowher, who'll likely want to make significant personnel changes wherever he goes to coach, want to go to a place where he's fighting 31 other teams plus the Redskins' bloated cap? (I think Cowher is likely to stay at CBS for another year anyway, but that's not set in stone.) The cap situation may contribute to owner Dan Snyder wanting to hire from within, with either Gregg Williams or Al Saunders. Williams is more likely if Snyder stays in-house.'

[SouperMeister]

This is what happens when you don't re-sign your own prior to their hitting free agency, then throwing huge dollars at garbage like Lloyd and Archuleta. The FO will have a busy offseason restructuring deals. The cap situation dictates that this offseason will be a very prudent (read quiet) free agency period for the Skins.

I've always preferred that they build more through the draft anyway - that's where you get players on the cheap if you draft well.

[squrrelco3]

Steve Czaban brought this up a few weeks ago on First Team...He used TO as an example...TO is obviously doing a good job with the Cowpukes right now...but more importantly as the years go by, his salary decreases...that's what good teams do.

Brandon Lloyd on the other hand has contributed 0 to the 'skins, yet the longer he hangs around he gets paid more...thats what bad teams do.

Our future sucks cap-wise...I hope Gibbs/Danny/Cerrato/whoever is in charge can find a way to get us out of this mess and learn from these mistakes the lack of Cap room could hurt us when we try to resign Campbell and some of these other good young guys we've discovered.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by squrrelco3

Steve Czaban brought this up a few weeks ago on First Team...He used TO as an example...TO is obviously doing a good job with the Cowpukes right now...but more importantly as the years go by, his salary decreases...that's what good teams do.

Brandon Lloyd on the other hand has contributed 0 to the 'skins, yet the longer he hangs around he gets paid more...thats what bad teams do.

Our future sucks cap-wise...I hope Gibbs/Danny/Cerrato/whoever is in charge can find a way to get us out of this mess and learn from these mistakes the lack of Cap room could hurt us when we try to resign Campbell and some of these other good young guys we've discovered.

The best way out of this mess is to suck it up and STOP throwing money at glitz. For all the free agents that Snyder/Gibbs have brought in, ZERO have made the Pro Bowl as Redskins. Fletcher may change that, but we need a profound change in how we approach the draft. It must be viewed as the primary way to build a team. I believe that we're finally starting to hold onto mid-round picks, but we still owe Denver a 2008 4th for Duckett.

[Daseal]

We haven't been building a team for the future for quite some time. Even with Gibbs he's been going after a lot of veterans that require big money and don't have a ton of tread left on the tires. The skins management massages the cap perhaps better than any NFL team, but eventually we're either going to have to totally break the ship down and rebuild, or start soon with frugal moves and the draft.

[MTK]

I'd rather hear from some of our cap heads on this before I start getting too worked up about it.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I'd rather hear from some of our cap heads on this before I start getting too worked up about it.

agreed...there really isn't anything wrong with the Snyder system AT FACE VALUE (not advocating for it, just making a point)...you can continue to pay a lot of money (hopefully wiser moving forward), if you can get players to defer payment this year for guaranteed future payments. Synder can continue this scheme into perpetuity so long as he owns the team- we get into trouble when we get a regime/strategy change (which doesn't seem likely)...

[12thMan]

Definitely not getting too worked up over this right now. That being said, I think guys like Griffin and Daniels are on the bubble next year. Those two alone will free up some dollars I would imagine.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

Definitely not getting too worked up over this right now. That being said, I think guys like Griffin and Daniels are on the bubble next year. Those two alone will free up some dollars I would imagine.

At least Griffin and Daniels contribute still. We have guys like Lloyd and Brunell eating significant cap while sitting on the bench. I'd prefer to clean house of high priced non-contributors (which would force additional cuts), take our lumps for a year, then start with a much healthier cap situation.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

At least Griffin and Daniels contribute still. We have guys like Lloyd and Brunell eating significant cap while sitting on the bench. I'd prefer to clean house of high priced non-contributors (which would force additional cuts), take our lumps for a year, then start with a much healthier cap situation.

Forgot about him. Brunell is definitley gone. Or at least he'd better be.

[firstdown]

I think this was just reprint of what he said last year and the year before just changed a few of the names.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I think this was just reprint of what he said last year and the year before just changed a few of the names.

LOL yeah probably, don't we hear this same crap every year?

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I think this was just reprint of what he said last year and the year before just changed a few of the names.

I agree it is the same crap over and over but yet we still are able to get the people we want.

[Schneed10]

I'm going to list the ways to get the cap number down. You can debate the merit of making certain moves on this list, but if we don't cut a certain player, you can bet we'd restructure them, which would also save some money.

Expected Roster Cuts:
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved
Total Savings for Cuts: $6.4 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Randy Thomas - $4.3 million saved
Clinton Portis - $3.8 million saved
Jon Jansen - $3.7 million saved
Chris Samuels - $3.4 million saved
Cornelius Griffin - $2.8 million saved
Santana Moss - $2.4 million saved
Casey Rabach - $1.8 million saved
Total Salary Restructure Savings: $22.2 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved
Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $5.2 million

So I see ways to reduce our 2008 cap number by about $34 million. So do I think armageddon is coming next year? NO.

But I wouldn't go making ALL of the moves I listed above, either. We're starting to push a little too much into the future. And if we get rid of Brandon Lloyd, that move will eat up some more space.

Bottom line, we won't have to dismantle the team, but we won't have lots of flexibility, either. We'll need to draft very well.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I'm going to list the ways to get the cap number down. You can debate the merit of making certain moves on this list, but if we don't cut a certain player, you can bet we'd restructure them, which would also save some money.

Expected Roster Cuts:
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved
Total Savings for Cuts: $6.4 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Randy Thomas - $4.3 million saved
Clinton Portis - $3.8 million saved
Jon Jansen - $3.7 million saved
Chris Samuels - $3.4 million saved
Cornelius Griffin - $2.8 million saved
Santana Moss - $2.4 million saved
Casey Rabach - $1.8 million saved
Total Salary Restructure Savings: $22.2 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved
Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $5.2 million

So I see ways to reduce our 2008 cap number by about $34 million. So do I think armageddon is coming next year? NO.

But I wouldn't go making ALL of the moves I listed above, either. We're starting to push a little too much into the future. And if we get rid of Brandon Lloyd, that move will eat up some more space.

Bottom line, we won't have to dismantle the team, but we won't have lots of flexibility, either. We'll need to draft very well.

Sounds like a typical Redskins offseason.