salary cap hell!

The problem is we maximized it with the wrong people.
Yes, but the real problem is that mistakes will always be made in personnel decisions, and if you're maxed out all the time, your flexibility to correct mistakes in personnel decisions is more constrained. It just introduces a greater level of risk to personnel decisions which is presumably why Loomis is keen to navigate a way back to slightly more balanced position - to reduce the risk associated personnel decisions and increase the level of flexibility when things go wrong.