Dead cap space

[fredtoast]

I knew the Bengals did not have a lot of dead cap space this year, but when I looked at the league-wide numbers I was shocked by a few things.

First of all I was correct about the Bengals not being in bad shape with dead cap space. We are 11th (lowest) with just $9.6 million. Jets have the least with just $2 million. Only 4 teams have less than $7 million.

What shocked me were the numbers on the other end of the scale. Tha Falcons will have $63 million in dead cap space this year, and 2 other teams (Bears, Texans) have over $50 million. I just don't see how any team can field a competitive roster when between a third and a quarter of their salary cap is useless.

I have always known that "dead cap space" was a bad thing, but I never imagined how bad it was for so many teams.

[*pally*]

Most of them don't field competitive teams. The Bears and Texans will have QBs on rookie contracts and virutally no "star" players. Falcons have Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder as QB. Their star player Kyle Pitts is on a rookie contract. All 3 teams are projected to end up in the the bottom 1/3rd of the league

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(05-29-2022, 03:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I knew the Bengals did not have a lot of dead cap space this year, but when I looked at the league-wide numbers I was shocked by a few things.

First of all I was correct about the Bengals not being in bad shape with dead cap space.  We are 11th (lowest) with just $9.6 million.  Jets have the least with just $2 million.  Only 4 teams have less than $7 million.

What shocked me were the numbers on the other end of the scale.  Tha Falcons will have $63 million in dead cap space this year, and 2 other teams (Bears, Texans) have over $50 million.  I just don't see how any team can field a competitive roster when between a third and a quarter of their salary cap is useless.

I have always known that "dead cap space" was a bad thing, but I never imagined how bad it was for so many teams.

The cost of moving big cap players in trades.

Matt Ryan is $40.5m dead on the Falcons. 
Khalil Mack is $24m dead on the Bears.
Deshaun Watson is $16.2m dead on the Texans. (Plus I think they're still trying to fix all the shit Bill O'Brien messed up.)
Russell Wilson is $26m dead on the Seahawks.

That's your top 4 in dead cap space. None are expecting to win this year. Doesn't mean you can't, though... the Rams had the 4th most dead cap space in 2021 with $49.4m and they won the Super Bowl. 6 of the 12 with the most dead cap space in 2021 made the playoffs.

[Big_Ern]

What moves contribute to our dead cap space?

[Tony]

(05-29-2022, 03:59 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I knew the Bengals did not have a lot of dead cap space this year, but when I looked at the league-wide numbers I was shocked by a few things.

First of all I was correct about the Bengals not being in bad shape with dead cap space.  We are 11th (lowest) with just $9.6 million.  Jets have the least with just $2 million.  Only 4 teams have less than $7 million.

What shocked me were the numbers on the other end of the scale.  Tha Falcons will have $63 million in dead cap space this year, and 2 other teams (Bears, Texans) have over $50 million.  I just don't see how any team can field a competitive roster when between a third and a quarter of their salary cap is useless.

I have always known that "dead cap space" was a bad thing, but I never imagined how bad it was for so many teams.

I'm glad the Bengals don't operate like the Bears, Falcons and Texans anymore. This just shows how far the Bengals have come as an organization, and the changes Katie has made...

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(05-29-2022, 06:23 PM)Big_Ern Wrote: What moves contribute to our dead cap space?

$5m from releasing Trae Waynes (saved $10.85m in cap space), $2.75m from a Riley Reiff void year, $1.125m from releasing Trey Hopkins (saved $5.9m in cap space).

[BoomerFan]

One hopes this means we're making good personnel decisions as opposed to being unwilling to correct poor ones. Some would say part of fielding a competitive team is being able to to credibly tell your players that if they don't perform they'll be replaced. Even the most longshot of UFAs is better than a player who we currently have and know for certain isn't working out due to chemistry, inability to stay on the field, or other performance issues.

Or that's the theory anyways. The other side of it is, these are real people and I do respect Mike Brown's 'code of loyalty' at least a little.

[XenoMorph]

the Dead Cap is what happens when you sign those Horrible but Flashy Huge deals that dont ever work out to the $$$$ your paying for the production your getting im glad we dont have that problem