12-21-2022, 03:35 PM
(12-21-2022, 02:12 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: If you look at Spotrac, only the top 51 count. They list everything because there is cap spend and cash spend, 2 different methods used by the NFL to insure teams spend enough overall (cash spend) and then cap spend (top 51) to insure teams meet the team cap criteria.
So, they have 14 more contracts to add to the cap through free agency and the draft. Our 2023 will likely cost around 5 million for 7 players. That leaves around 45 million left for 7 more players and also possible new contracts for guys like Jonah. Contracts can be restructure also to create cap room. An example is to give a player a cash bonus for their base salary, but then the cap money gets spread out over the length of the contract, versus it hitting in 2023.
The Bengals giving naming rights for the stadium helped their yearly cash position which will help them pay out. these type of bonuses.The game teams play is to get the player their money now, but kick the can down the road to reduce the cap in the current year. They are banking on the cap rising to offset any dead money issues they will encounter down the road if a player is cut, traded or retires.
Thanks for the post, but your numbers are still off. Significantly.
Even going top 51 + Dead money + draft $$ gets you to roughly $186 mil. With 6 unused roster spots: Bell, Pratt, Hurst, Apple, Perine, Bates/Flowers.
Signed starters (18) = $150,284,623 (Burrow, Mixon, Chase, Higgins, Boyd, J. Williams, Volson, Karras, Cappa, Collins, Hendrickson, Reader, BJ Hill, Hubbard, L. Wilson, Awuzie, Hilton, McPherson).
Signed Key Reserves (8) =$11,473,463 (Adeniji, Ossai, C. Sample, Tupou, ADG, Bailey, CTB, D. Hill).
Signed Roster Fringe/Replacements (10) = $11,316,512 (Evans, Morgan Jr, Asiasi, Smith, Carman, T. Hill, Gunter, Carter, Tufele, Anderson). Even if released, you can't save any money here once you pay the replacement).
That's a touch over $173 mil right there. With 36 guys signed. Throw in the just over $600k in Dead Money and $1 mil for the draft class, and you are at $175 mil. Based on a $220 mil cap, that is $45 mil in space.
Even going top 51, you still need to sign 9 more guys to get to 45 if you want to calculate how much we have left for our big 6 FA's. You are claiming $45 mil. No way. We'd have to sign 9 guys for nothing. You are off by roughly $10 mil. Minimum. Even if you are right on 51/practice squad.
Plus, there is no way we blow all our cap week 1. There has to be a cushion to sign guys when guys get hurt or go to IR. Or to sign guys released from other teams. Dead money is also 8ncurred when this happens & we release guys. $5 mil minimum. $10 mil is where we usually operate.
Best case scenario is $35 mil in actual/$30 mil in practical cap space. With $30/$25 actual/practical very much in play. You should adjust expectations accordingly.
Now, all of this assumes:
1) No large ($2 mil or better) outside FAs.
2) We don't cut a signed starter to free up more space.
