03-21-2022, 03:46 PM
(03-21-2022, 03:30 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Not when you can only pro-rate signing bonuses for 5 years. Eventually the entire cap will be dead cap space.
Look at the Saints last year. Here are the players they lost
Hendrickson..........$15.0 million per year
Janoris Jenkins.....$7.5
Emanuel Sanders..$6.0
Sheldon rankins....$5.5
Jarod Cook...........$4.5
Meanwhile the only free agent they signed at more than scrub level $2.6 million per year was Jameis Winstead at just $5.5 million per year.
That is a huge loss of talent and it was the main reason they missed the playoffs. If the cap did not matter then I am sure they would have signed other quality players to replace the ones they lost.
Now this year they have already lost Marcus Williams ($14 million per year) and still have holes to fill due to free agent starters at OT (Armstead), QB (Winston), and LB (Kwon Alexander).
No, because the cap hit in most cases is absorbed in a single year, so you keep rotating the hit from year to year. So dead cap hits I take this year from past void years won't effect the dead cap I take on next year because this will clear. That's why I am saying it's a ponzi scheme you just keep plugging in new dead cap then restructure other contracts to offset it rinse and repeat.
As to letting guys go, everyone let's guys leave for various reasons. Hendrickson was let to test the market because they have Cam Jordan and drafted Marcus Davenport in the 1st round a few years prior and are giving him a shot to be the guy. Jenkins is an aging vet along with Sanders, and Cooks which those decisions are always tough.
They just resigned Winston and they have close to 20+ million in cap space (with 61 on roster). They are going to, as they do each year, do rounds in the 2nd and 3rd wave of FA to fill out the team with quality vets (that's how they signed Alexander). Again, they have done this for 6 years now and somehow every year they keep making it work. The Eagles are also notorious for doing this as well but haven't been as aggressive as of late doing it.
