"Cap Space " ... Education Needed !!!

[Science Friction]

Honestly, I have never paid much attention to the goings on off the field. I watch football on Sundays and have for nearly half a century but have never made it a habit to follow the draft or other offseason transactions. I hear a lot of talk on here about Cap space but I don't know much about it.. Hell, I don't know shit from apple butter about it. I'm feeling too lazy today to research it so I thought I'd throw it out on a thread and let some of you folks who are so knowledgable about these football transactions educate me on the "Cap." I figure I will learn much more from you guys than I would reading about it online somewhere. What is it? What are the rules surrounding a team's Cap? How is it affected by different tranactional maneuverings, etc... I really appreciate your help. I heard a lot about how the Bengals had a lot of Cap room prior to the beginning of this free agency period? Do they still have some left? How have their various maneuvers affected their Cap? Does cutting a player free up Cap space? I just don't understand much about it.

I gather it has to do with how much a team is able to spend according to the rules of the league but that's about the extent of what I know. Anything at all you could add I would find very helpful. As the Bengals get better and better, I find myself more interested in knowing something about this.

[George Cantstandya]

The cap is the maximum a team can spend per year on player salaries. I believe the idea is to create some parity between teams so that no super rich owners can spend a limitless amount of money on salaries while teams with less wealth can't keep up. The cap is determined each year by the NFL. As for cap space these are some good websites for seeing how much cap space teams have with breakdowns of how much each contract costs. I think they update it rather quickly when players are signed or cut etc.

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/

As for all the details and maneuvering around it. I don't know much about that. I know teams have restructured contracts of players to create more cap space and that's about the extent of my knowledge of how it can be somewhat manipulated. There are a lot of rules about contracts and how they work with the cap that I somewhat understand but don't know enough to answer your questions accurately. It does indeed seem to be a rather complicated formula. I'm sure some others here will gladly give more info. :)

[Science Friction]

(03-21-2022, 07:00 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: The cap is the maximum a team can spend per year on player salaries.  I believe the idea is to create some parity between teams so that no super rich owners can spend a limitless amount of money on salaries while teams with less wealth can't keep up.  The cap is determined each year by the NFL.  As for cap space these are some good websites for seeing how much cap space teams have with breakdowns of how much each contract costs.  I think they update it rather quickly when players are signed or cut etc.

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/

As for all the details and maneuvering around it.  I don't know much about that.  I know teams have restructured contracts of players to create more cap space and that's about the extent of my knowledge of how it can be somewhat manipulated.   There are a lot of rules about contracts and how they work with the cap that I somewhat understand but don't know enough to answer your questions accurately.  It does indeed seem to be a rather complicated formula.  I'm sure some others here will gladly give more info.   :)

Thanks for your input, George. 

[HarleyDog]

(03-21-2022, 08:09 PM)Science Friction Wrote: Thanks for your input, George. 

Although George gave you a good explanation, always remember, George cant stand ya!

That cap is pretty confusing and your not alone in your wonder of how it works. Like George said, the restructuring of contracts and stuff is a little confusing. As for the guaranteed money, signing bonuses, dead money, etc. can all be very confusing.