Dre is Cut

[Geno_Can_Dunk]

(03-31-2020, 11:11 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Correct, but Dalton will still need to be traded/cut by the time the draft picks start signing.
The Bengals are currently at $12.8 mill.
With Kirk cut, it puts the Bengals at ~$21 mill cap space.
They are expected to spend ~$11 mill on the draft picks alone.
That leaves just $10 mill, and Reader, Bynes, and Sims still aren't factored in yet.

I expect that those three guys will take up ~$15-20 mill in cap when all is said and done, so removing Dalton will be a necessity.
The leftover money can go towards a guy cut in cap who Bengals get off waiver, an extension for a player who will hit FA next year, and/or roll over what's left (if that will still be a thing in the new CBA).

Solid analysis, fellow cap guru. I'm looking at this the same way, but coming up with slightly different numbers.

Overthecap.com says we have 11.7M of space left. Cutting Kirkpatrick, assuming he's not a June 1 cut (and we hardly ever do that), brings it to 19.385. We don't know exactly what Reader/Bynes/Sims count, but I'm going to assume it's closer to the 15M of your estimate (Sims should be close to minimum, and some vets won't make the team this year anyway - I'm looking at you, Jordan Evans). 

That puts us at 5M. So yes, Dalton still has to go. But, and I could be mistaken about this, I don't think there's such a thing as "over the cap" until the money is actually paid. Being projected to be over the cap doesn't make it so. So for example Dalton is scheduled for 200k work out bonus - as long as we cut him before OTAs (if they happen) that doesn't count. So we can keep him for another month or so to see if we can shake out a trade. 

That puts us at 22M, roughly, and rookies + injury pad take up ~14M, which I'll call 15M just to be safe. 

So I think we have, effectively, 7M to play with. Much of that will go to Mixon, but likely as an extension, meaning his 2020 base salary stays the same. It would be the first year of his prorated signing bonus, which will eat up most but not all of it. I think we can squeeze in another veteran, and not just a waiver wire claim. Besides, the Bengals might be counting on an AJ Green extension to shake more cap room lose to cover Mixon.

So maybe we're looking at more Cam Wake than Markus Golden, but that's still something. And it won't be quite as necessary if we do get a pick for Dalton (which I think is unlikely at this point).