Cap question

[BeastsoftheNFCeast]

I'm trying to see what moves the skins should/could make in terms of the salary cap (ie what players to cut, whose contracts can be restructured and to what extent, how much money we can spend in FA, ect). I have a few question about the cap.

1. When a player is put on IR, and a new player is signed to the team, what money gets counted towards the cap when a new player is signed? Lets say if someone with an 8 mil hit gets put on IR with 8 games left in the season, and someone else signs to a .5 mil contract. Is the hit towards the cap that year 8.5, or does only the IR players signing bonus that year get counted, or does only the percentage of games that he played get counted, or whats the deal with that? Also, it seems kinda unfair that someone who gets paid .5 mil is on the team half the time and is worth less than someone who mad the team in the beginning, do they really get all the money?

2. Hypothetically, if enough players get injured, is it possible to not be able to sign more players because you will go over the cap?

3. I have truely only followed football very seriously for about a year now, about how many players contracts are restructured a year, and how much is saved when contracts are restructured (I know this is a broad question, but if someone could give 2-3 examples, that would be great)

Thank you

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

I'm trying to see what moves the skins should/could make in terms of the salary cap (ie what players to cut, whose contracts can be restructured and to what extent, how much money we can spend in FA, ect). I have a few question about the cap.

1. When a player is put on IR, and a new player is signed to the team, what money gets counted towards the cap when a new player is signed? Lets say if someone with an 8 mil hit gets put on IR with 8 games left in the season, and someone else signs to a .5 mil contract. Is the hit towards the cap that year 8.5, or does only the IR players signing bonus that year get counted, or does only the percentage of games that he played get counted, or whats the deal with that? Also, it seems kinda unfair that someone who gets paid .5 mil is on the team half the time and is worth less than someone who mad the team in the beginning, do they really get all the money?

2. Hypothetically, if enough players get injured, is it possible to not be able to sign more players because you will go over the cap?

3. I have truely only followed football very seriously for about a year now, about how many players contracts are restructured a year, and how much is saved when contracts are restructured (I know this is a broad question, but if someone could give 2-3 examples, that would be great)

Thank you

#1 Only the top 51 players' salary count towards the cap. So if both the IR player and the new can count towards the cap. But SOMEONE on the roster now no longer counts towards it.

#2, Yeah, it can get to that point, but you can always add a guy for a rookie minimum, and still only 51 players count towards the cap. So you will always field a team if that is your question.

#3 It depends team to team, but for a team like us, Oakland, or Denver, we probably restructure 5-6 contracts a year. Restructuring usually involves taking any roster bonus or base salary, and converting it into guarenteed money. How much is saved depends on how long the deal is. If its for 6 more seasons, then only 1/6 of the money owed due to resturcturing counts towards the cap that season. If its for 3 more years, the money is only spread over 3 years.

The problem once you spread the money over the life of the deal, you cannot EVER get that money back. If the player gets cut, it becomes dead cap.

[BeastsoftheNFCeast]

I know you already answered this question, but I'm gonna ask it again in disbelief. So, if I get signed on the team with one game left in the season, the least amount of money I can get is the minimum for one year? That's a ridiculous amount, they should change it to games that you're on the team.

Also, I don't think the answer to number one is right, I think the rule of 51 players only applies to the offseason.

Edit: I have 2 more questions...

1.When a player is fined, does that money come out of the cap?

2.What are cap credits?

[CrazyCanuck]

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

1. When a player is put on IR, and a new player is signed to the team, what money gets counted towards the cap when a new player is signed? Lets say if someone with an 8 mil hit gets put on IR with 8 games left in the season, and someone else signs to a .5 mil contract. Is the hit towards the cap that year 8.5, or does only the IR players signing bonus that year get counted, or does only the percentage of games that he played get counted, or whats the deal with that? Also, it seems kinda unfair that someone who gets paid .5 mil is on the team half the time and is worth less than someone who mad the team in the beginning, do they really get all the money?

- The player placed on IR and the new player signed both count in full against the cap. In your example the total cap hit for both players would be $8.5M. Here's a good article discussing IR:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print...924&type=story

"Gentlemen on injured reserve still count against the salary cap, so teams get no financial benefit from moving them to the IR list. From the team's perspective, players are placed on injured reserve solely in order to open a roster spot for a healthy player."

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

2. Hypothetically, if enough players get injured, is it possible to not be able to sign more players because you will go over the cap?

- Yes.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

3. I have truely only followed football very seriously for about a year now, about how many players contracts are restructured a year,

- Last year we restructured 5 guys: Portis, Griffin, Washington, Moss, Springs. I'm not really sure about the other teams, but I'd imagine the Redskins are near the top of the list every year.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

and how much is saved when contracts are restructured (I know this is a broad question, but if someone could give 2-3 examples, that would be great).

- The amount saved depends on the length of the contract and the amount being restructured. In a typical restructure, the team converts non-guaranteed portions of the contract (ie salary, roster bonuses, etc.) into guaranteed "signing bonus" money. The player receives the same amount of money, but because it is guaranteed it gets prorated over the remainder of the contract (up to 5-6 years max), instead of counting all at once in the current year.

Here's an example with Thomas, a likely restructure candidate for 2007:

Thomas' salary for 2007 is $4M. Right now all of that counts towards the 2007 cap. The Skins could reduce his 2007 salary to $1M, and give him the other $3M as a signing bonus. This $3M would get prorated evenly over the remainder of his contract (2007-2009) at $1M a year. Thomas' 2007 cap hit would become $1M salary + $1M portion of signing bonus = $2M. This would represent a $2M savings from his original $4M cap hit.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

I know you already answered this question, but I'm gonna ask it again in disbelief. So, if I get signed on the team with one game left in the season, the least amount of money I can get is the minimum for one year? That's a ridiculous amount, they should change it to games that you're on the team.

- Salary is not guaranteed and is paid in 17 weekly installments during the regular season. So a player who only plays the final game of the season would receive 1/17th of his annual salary and nothing more. Another good article:

The Official Web Site of the Atlanta Falcons

"But with the salary not being guaranteed, the players know they have to make it to the first game," Xanders continued. "You take the base salary for a rookie, $230,000, and for each week he's on the roster at his base salary he makes $13,529 before taxes. That's 1/17th of his Paragraph Five."

- Note the current rookie minimum is $275K, $16,176 per week.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

Also, I don't think the answer to number one is right, I think the rule of 51 players only applies to the offseason.

- Correct.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

1.When a player is fined, does that money come out of the cap?

- I'm not sure but I doubt it.

Originally Posted by BeastsoftheNFCeast

2.What are cap credits?

- The typical cap credit involves "likely to be earned" incentives (LTBE) and "unlikely to be earned" incentives (ULTBE). When ULTBEs are earned and LTBEs are not earned, adjustments are made to the team's cap limit.

Another type of credit involves the "Deion Sanders" rule. This rule prevents too much money being pushed to the back of the contract via signing bonus. When a team goes over the limit, they receive cap charges in the early years, and cap credits in the later years to balance out the contract.

Sean Taylor is a good example of this rule. We paid $1.5M in cap charges in 2005-2006. And we receive $1M in cap credits in 2007-2009.

- And of course, don't forget to check out Canuck's Winter Wonderland for all your Skins cap crunching needs:

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