Internal Free Agency / Extensions

[Okeana]

Estimated cap before any extensions/signings (including Trey Hopkins) = $61,068,262


Cuts/Trades


Andy Dalton - 17.7mil - Trade
Cordy Glenn - 9.25mil - Trade
Dre Kirkpatrick - 8.45mil - cut (more if you can secure any trade)


Extensions


Trey Hopkins - 3 yr/ 20.4m  - cap hit 6.8m
Joe Mixon - 3 yr/36m  - 12m yr - 8m signing - 18m guar - cap hit 3.7m 2020 ( rookie contract)  11.3m 2021
WJIII - 4 yr/46m   -  11.5m yr - 8m signing - 23m guar - cap hit 11.9m


(Joe Mixon and WJ3 will play out their rookie contracts with the extension added after next year)   


Sign


AJ Green - 2yr / 22m -  11m yr -  7m signing bonus - 14.5m guar - cap hit 11m
Darqueze Dennard - 3yr / 18.9m - 6.3m yr - 6m bonus - 9.35 guar - cap hit 6.3m
Tyler Eifert - 2 yr / 17m  -  8.5m yr  -  6m bonus -  8.5m guar -  cap hit 8.5m
Andrew Billings - 5 yr / 45m - 9m yr - 12m bonus - 22m guar - cap hit 9m



Cap Before Free Agency/Draft  -  $51,234,929


Estimated Draft Cap (based on 2019 cardinals)  -  17m


Cap After Draft = $34,234,912






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In Summary, these are the big moves internally I would make moving into the 2020 season.   I do not believe in the Rent to own philosophy of player contracts in terms of franchise tags or single-year deals.  If your going to lock a player in give yourself wiggle room to trade that player towards the end of their contract to find value. 

When it comes to rookie contract extensions my philosophy is that you lock a player in before their last contract year and ultimately save yourself money over time because of positional contract inflation from year to year.  The benefit to the player is that while they won't make top dollar they can receive a bonus in cash a year earlier and it shifts injury concerns from the player to the team.  For Example, WJ3 could possibly make more money with a better performance next year and his 5th-year option, but if his play continues to decline because of the injury or gets injured again he could make significantly less.

I am no NFL contract expert so if something is off or my math is off,  feel free to let me know.

Thanks