Redskins 2011 Salary Cap Status

[GTripp0012]

**UPDATED (July 28, 2011)** Redskins 2011 Salary Cap Info

Projected 2011 League Requirements
1. $120 million salary cap, give or take about 1/3 million
2. $3 million max cap credit for benefits to one player
3. $108 cash expenditure requirement (give or take $4 million)

Current Redskins salary cap info courtesy J.I. Halsell, via Rich Tandler.

Redskins 2011 Cash Requirement Situation
1. Cash Requirement ~ $108 million
2. Total payroll owed for 2011 (salary + existing amortized bonus money + deadcap) = $73 million
3. Potential player releases from $73 million payroll:

Donovan McNabb, $11.1 million <-- confirmed
Albert Haynesworth, $5.4 million <-- confirmed
Ma'ake Kemoeatu, $3.8 million <-- confirmed
Casey Rabach, $3.0 million <-- confirmed
Artis Hicks, $2.1 million
Mike Williams, $1.8 million
Phillip Daniels, $1.0 million<-- confirmed
Mike Sellers, $0.55 million
Chad Simpson, $0.25 million <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min
Jeremy Jarmon, $0.16 million <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min

4. Realistic payroll "minimum" before free agency on Fri. Jul, 29: $47.90 million
5. Redskins Free Agent signings:

Barry Cofield, 2011 Cash Outlay = $15.5 million
Stephen Bowen, 2011 Cash Outlay = $14 million
Josh Wilson, 2011 Cash Outlay = $7.5 million
Santana Moss, 2011 Cash Outlay = $6 million
Jabar Gaffney, 2011 Cash Outlay = $2.4 million
Donte Stallworth, 2011 Cash Outlay = $1 million
Kellen Clemens, 2011 Cash Outlay = $0.8 million

Total = $47.2 million

5. Plus estimated year one rookie salary outlay: $13.25 million
6. Snyderbucks to spend to reach NFLPA minimum("unlikely to be retained" players + unsigned draft picks + all free agents) = -$12.55 million

The Redskins have exceeded $120 million cash spent in 2011.

2011 Salary Cap Situation
1. Salary Cap plus Benefits exemption = $123 million
2. Redskins Cap Number, July 2011 = $93.3 million
3. Salary Cap space, July 2011 + exemption = $29.7 million
4. Potential player releases from $93.3 million cap number (plus 375k UDFA val):

Donovan McNabb, $4.75 million [net saved]-375k r51 <-- confirmed
Albert Haynesworth, $3.4 million [net saved]-375k 51 <-- confirmed
Ma'ake Kemoeatu, $2.5 million [net saved]-375k r51 <-- confirmed
Casey Rabach, $1.6 million [net saved]-375k r51 <-- confirmed
Phillip Daniels, $1.0 million [net saved]-375k r51 <-- confirmed
Mike Sellers, $0.55 million [net saved]
Chad Simpson, $0.25 million [net saved] <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min
Jeremy Jarmon, $0.16 million <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min
Sam Paulescu, $0.16 million <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min
Andre Brown, $0.16 million <-confirmed, moving vet min to rook min
Artis Hicks, $0.15 million [net saved]
Mike Williams, $0.26 million [net loss]
Total = $12.1 million *UPDATED FIGURE*

4. Redskins Free Agent signings, less UDFA rookie minimum (375k per):

Barry Cofield, 2011 Cap Number = $5.5 million-375k = $5.1 million
Stephen Bowen, 2011 Cap Number = $4.0 million-375k = $3.6 million
Josh Wilson, 2011 Cap Number = $3.5 million-375k = $3.1 million
Santana Moss, 2011 Cap Number = $3.2 million-375k = $2.9 million
Jabar Gaffney, 2011 Cap Number = $2.4 million-375k = $2.0 million
Donte Stallworth, 2011 Cap Number = $1 million
Kellen Clemens, 2011 Cap Number = $0.8 million

Total as of July 28 = $18.5 million

5. Salary Cap space, July 28, 2011 =$23.3 million
6. UPDATED value of rookie pool = $5.925 to $6.675 million
7. Total range for max FA cap room (and to satisfy cash expenditure requirement = $16.7 million

This is an updated figure which subtracts allocated rookies. In the process of adding in the contracts the Redskins have made over last few days!

At conclusion of 2011 league year:

-14 contracts expire, headlined by Fletcher and Kemoeatu
- Value of 14 "futures" contracts at $.38 MM per: $5.3 million
- Total cap value of expired contracts is $22 million, lead by 7.1 from Fletcher
- Plus rough 30% increase on remaining $28 million team salary = $8.4 mil in contract raises

-Net estimate cap relief from books after 2011 season (assumes no FA activity, signing of draft picks): $8.3 million

[GTripp0012]

Assuming just a McNabb trade prior to the beginning of free agency:

The Redskins will have a little over $27 million in cap room. That's a lot. But they'll need to write $51 million in checks in addition to the existing payroll. I would imagine that you could assume that about 70% of that will come by way of bonus money, and the rest will come by adding salaries.

I am just trying to give perspective on the type of deal the NFL, NFLPA will agree to. Despite having less than $30 million in cap room to spend for 2011, the Redskins will have to give away more than $36 money in signing bonuses alone to comply with the leagues requirements.

That's not hard though. Nnamdi alone should get ~$36 million to sign, depending on the length of the deal. And his 2011 cap number will probably only be in the $7-9 million range.

[skinsfaninok]

thanks Tripp

[GTripp0012]

After studying the cap situation for the last 24 hours, I think the Redskins should sign one "elite" free agent, defined as someone pursued by 20 or more teams. I am not sure if that someone should be Nnamdi. If the Redskins do not change their coverage scheme from last year, Asomugha and Hall will look incredibly pedestrian at the corners against other NFC East offenses. Play something aggressive on the outside, and that could be the best duo in the league. Against cover three, we're still at the mercy of the pressure that we can get on quarterbacks.

I think the elite free agents that could appeal to the Redskins include Sidney Rice, Asomugha, Santonio Holmes, Marshal Yanda, Doug Free, and Cullen Jenkins. Of the group, Jenkins seems most likely to end up here on a London Fletcher type deal (17 mil SB, 5 years, 34 mil total contract value, roughly a 20% appreciation on the 2007 Fletch contract). But that would only eat up just over four and a half million in 2011 cap space.

I would spread around the rest of the money to make sure every position coach on the staff got a guy who they felt could make their job easier in 2011.

QB Rex Grossman
RB Jerious Norwood
FB Lawrence Vickers (assuming the Texans re-up Vonta Leach)
WR stand pat
TE stand pat
OL Mario Henderson, Jammal Brown
DL Cullen Jenkins, Alan Branch
LB Matt Roth
CB Ike Taylor, Phillip Buchanon
S George Wilson

[skinster]

gtripp, someone said earlier on this site that there is no cap implications for dead money? Do you have information that differs?

[scowan]

Originally Posted by skinster

gtripp, someone said earlier on this site that there is no cap implications for dead money? Do you have information that differs?

Skinster, I'm with you on dead cap money. If there is a new agreement in place, the whole league is starting from scratch. Looks to me like you would have current contracts and then new contracts and everything starts from now. Its year "zero" again.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by skinster

gtripp, someone said earlier on this site that there is no cap implications for dead money? Do you have information that differs?

Uh, yes. We're going to have to wait for the league to decide exactly what type of dead-cap relief will be given, but the NFL's accounting methods for the salary cap would simply not result in a "starting fresh". That would imply they just wiped the books during the uncapped year. But they didn't wipe the books. There was just no cap.

Now, if for whatever reason the concept of "deadcap" goes away over the course of the new CBA, that would be one thing. But that would require guaranteed contracts first, and that's a different can of worms entirely.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by scowan

Skinster, I'm with you on dead cap money. If there is a new agreement in place, the whole league is starting from scratch. Looks to me like you would have current contracts and then new contracts and everything starts from now. Its year "zero" again.

Link?

[skinster]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Link?

I have seen no link, the only place I saw that statement made was on this site. But the sentiment does make sense. The cap was lowered by 8 million dollars after league revenue went up, that doesn't make much sense. I thought that the main issue was that the players increase in money was rising too fast, not that they were currently making too much of the share.
Also, and more importantly, we know that the salary floor (possibly cap too, I'm not positive about that...but if it were the cap too, then I'd completely believe that there is no dead money penalties without a link) relates to only real dollars spent on team salary that year. Owners know that they are going to cut a certain amount of players every year and have a certain amount of dead cap every year, I don't think the salary floor (in salary dollars spent that year) would be agreed to be that close to the cap considering that owners know they are likely to have dead money, and it would significantly handicap who can be cut. (for example, if someone this year has 12.01 million guaranteed on their contract, they could not be cut by the team because the team would automatically be over the cap). I believe that the 120 million cap does not include dead money. I'm not saying that there are no penalties for cutting players, I'm saying that if there are penalties, there are other rules in the new cba that have not been disclosed yet (like a second cap on how much dead money a team can have per year).

We would already be over the cap already this year if dead money applied to the new cap considering we need to spend 108 million on salary this year, the cap is 120 million, and we have already cut carter and portis who had 10 mil a piece left on their signing bonus (and we're looking to cut many more players).

[Schneed10]

I think people are misunderstanding. There is still deadcap. Where people are getting the notion of no deadcap is from the concept of the cash/salary floor amounting to 90% of the cap max, it forces a team to carry no more than 10% of it's cap as deadcap space.

Let's oversimplify the world and think about the math just to illustrate a point. If your cap max is $120 million, but you also have to spend a minimum of $108 million in cash, then the oversimplified conclusion is you can carry no more than $12 million in deadcap.

But that's not the way it works of course. You could sign a player like Asomugha for a $40 million signing bonus for 5 years. All $40 million of that bonus would count towards meeting your $108 million cash floor. However it would only count $8 million towards this year's cap ($40 million divided by 5 years).

The concept that there would be no deadcap money makes no sense. Whoever dreamed that up definitely misheard or misunderstood something. Dollars can't just disappear from the books, if you paid the money, you have to take the hit on your cap.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I think people are misunderstanding. There is still deadcap. Where people are getting the notion of no deadcap is from the concept of the cash/salary floor amounting to 90% of the cap max, it forces a team to carry no more than 10% of it's cap as deadcap space.

Let's oversimplify the world and think about the math just to illustrate a point. If your cap max is $120 million, but you also have to spend a minimum of $108 million in cash, then the oversimplified conclusion is you can carry no more than $12 million in deadcap.

But that's not the way it works of course. You could sign a player like Asomugha for a $40 million signing bonus for 5 years. All $40 million of that bonus would count towards meeting your $108 million cash floor. However it would only count $8 million towards this year's cap ($40 million divided by 5 years).

The concept that there would be no deadcap money makes no sense. Whoever dreamed that up definitely misheard or misunderstood something. Dollars can't just disappear from the books, if you paid the money, you have to take the hit on your cap.

What Schneed said.

The cash floor is only going to change the behavior of the non spenders...you know the team that has $75 million in salary and just signs rookies and UDFAs and builds through youth. That's been a pretty successful model, actually, but the new rules just ensure that they will have to pick at least one or two players a year and give out a hefty signing bonus so the owners aren't pocketing the money for use on say, the Manchester United football club. Not to name names or anything.

[sdskinsfan2001]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

What Schneed said.

The cash floor is only going to change the behavior of the non spenders...you know the team that has $75 million in salary and just signs rookies and UDFAs and builds through youth. That's been a pretty successful model, actually, but the new rules just ensure that they will have to pick at least one or two players a year and give out a hefty signing bonus so the owners aren't pocketing the money for use on say, the Manchester United football club. Not to name names or anything.

I feel like an itiot trying to follow how this works. So basically they have tons of money to sign players they just have to watch how the contracts are structured to make sure that they wont be creating very much more dead cap space if any of the players get cut?

They dont have very much leeway there, I guess thats what John Clayton was getting at?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by sdskinsfan2001

I feel like an itiot trying to follow how this works. So basically they have tons of money to sign players they just have to watch how the contracts are structured to make sure that they wont be creating very much more dead cap space if any of the players get cut?

They dont have very much leeway there, I guess thats what John Clayton was getting at?

Yeah you've basically got the gist. Eventually the cash floor is going to move even closer to the max cap. Over time that will make it difficult to cut players and remain under the cap while simultaneously meeting the cash floor.

But in certain years it may be easier than others. If you cut a big contract and take a big dead cap hit, you could still sign another giant free agent to a big signing bonus in order to meet the cash minimum.

But if you keep signing and cutting, signing and cutting like the Redskins have been doing, you'll eventually find it challenging to meet both the cap and cash floor simultaneously. Not that we have to worry about Vinny Cerrato's ways returning, but we'll have no choice but to be selective in the selection of our new stars, because cutting them to get away from the contracts won't be quite as easy.

This will be an odd year for us under this new system. We will be mandated to spend by the new rules, so we'll be very aggressive in free agency. But we better get these signings right, because once the cash floor moves closer to 99% of cap, it will be harder to rid ourselves of these guys we're about to sign.

[sdskinsfan2001]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

This will be an odd year for us under this new system. We will be mandated to spend by the new rules, so we'll be very aggressive in free agency. But we better get these signings right, because once the cash floor moves closer to 99% of cap, it will be harder to rid ourselves of these guys we're about to sign.

The thought of our team trying to get it right on free agency is a scary thought given our history. Is it even possible for us to cut Fatassworth and McNabb if we wanted to? Seems like that would push us way over the dead cap limit we can have?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by sdskinsfan2001

The thought of our team trying to get it right on free agency is a scary thought given our history. Is it even possible for us to cut Fatassworth and McNabb if we wanted to? Seems like that would push us way over the dead cap limit we can have?

Yes it's quite possible to cut them, mostly because their contracts are structured such that not much of the bonus money paid to them has yet to be allocated. In short, cutting them wouldn't hurt from a deadcap perspective.

But to be clear, there is no dead cap limit. At least none that has been mentioned in anything I've seen. If you're far below the cap and far below the cash floor as we currently are today, then you can afford to cut players and take the deadcap hit, and you can also afford to lay out cash to sign other studs.

For the Redskins it's a pivotal time. You won't see too many years where this situation exists, once we bring in a number of free agents we'll find ourselves closer to the cap in future years. Sure, we'll still be able to maneuver for a free agent here and there, but the spree we're bound to see this year probably will not be matched for some time. This free agency period is our opportunity to get the right guys in here now and reshape the roster.