How Much Cap Space Will We Actually Have? (1 Viewer)

[El Caliente]

As we move on from the sadness that was 2016 to the hopes of 2017 many people are talking about how great things will be now that we are out of salary cap purgatory. While it is true, we don't have a limitless amount of cap. We are moving on from days in the red to a year in the black. We will have somewhere between $36m (NFL 2017 Team Cap Space Tracker | Spotrac) to $30m (NFL Salary Cap Space | Over The Cap) depending on who you ask. But is that enough to fill our needs?

Take into account a few ways we can gain more cap space:
Restructuring- There is always the possibility that we can restructure players. We have done it in the past to help our team, and that is part of what got us into our previous mess because those players crapped out. Who do you restructure?

Cut players who aren't fitting. You fill in who you feel isn't living up to their paycheck, and it gives us a few dollars to work with, but this has been a major problem of ours recently. Who do you cut, and how much are you looking to save?

Then there is resigning our own players. We have a ton of guys that we must resign (in no particular order).
1) Fairley
2) Lutz
3) Kuhn
4) Snead
5) Coleman
6) Mauti
7) Moore
8) Webb
9) Hightower
10) Kruger
11) Evans
and a few others 2017 NFL Free Agents Tracker | Spotrac. How much are you looking to pay these guys?

Draft pool- You are to set aside a certain amount for the rookies. With our pick you are looking at it setting aside about $5m+.

So Start with $32m
($5m)
($16m)
Remaining Cap Space $11m+/-


Is $11m enough to cover our backsides?

 

[Saint Kamara]

If it's only $11 million, that's not good enough. Needs to be about $30-35 million.

 

[dutar76]

Then there is resigning our own players. We have a ton of guys that we must resign (in no particular order).
1) Fairley
2) Lutz
3) Kuhn
4) Snead
5) Coleman
6) Mauti
7) Moore
8) Webb
9) Hightower
10) Kruger
11) Evans
and a few others 2017 NFL Free Agents Tracker | Spotrac. How much are you looking to pay these guys?

Fairley, Snead, and Kuhn get appropriate contracts. Snead as a #2/#3 WR. The other guys on the list should be discount players, somewhere near league min.

I think we try to re-structure Byrd. Kruger is worth keeping, but he has to know he'll be a depth/rotational DE.

 

[Igordão]

My worries are that even with $30m of cap space it would hard to sign more than one great guy because prices will be up just like last season. There are a lot of teams with a lot of cap space available.

 

[Igordão]

Fairley, Snead, and Kuhn get appropriate contracts. Snead as a #2/#3 WR. The other guys on the list should be discount players, somewhere near league min.

I think we try to re-structure Byrd. Kruger is worth keeping, but he has to know he'll be a depth/rotational DE.

Snead is a restricted free agent so I think he will be cheap. Kuhn is old, so he will be cheap too.

 

[Merl]

The cap carry over to next year looks to be charged with at least $2 million less than what wasn'nt charged during the season due to Fairly and Ingram earning performance bonus's for excceding their 2015 numbers. I am not sure about any other charges for some players or any credits for not obtaining bonus's since spottrac and overthecap often don't report or include those numbers in their calculations. I am guessing the team will have somewhere between 10 to 12 million to work with but we won't likely know until very close to March 9th when the league starts.

 

[saintfan-n-alex]

I read an article about a month ago that broke things down after resigning FA with NF being the most costly and draft picks we would have 8-11 mill for new players

Hard to say if Evans will return and with the injured DBs and the ones on your list adding in Crawley / Harris we will be letting some of them go, I'm assuming any cuts will save us money vs costing

Kruger didn't overwhelmingly impress but did force fumbles , he could get moved out with a draft pick and possibly a healthy Kikaha

IMO we won't be going wild in FA but can add 2 or 3 players of name (CB and OL)

 

[DABOOT162]

Lol. Im not even going to stress about this... Loomis is going to Loomis... he has brought in FA every year we thought we didn't have money. Im sure he will know what to do when we do... just sayin


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[guillermo]

Lol. Im not even going to stress about this... Loomis is going to Loomis... he has brought in FA every year we thought we didn't have money. Im sure he will know what to do when we do... just sayin


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And that is how we got in trouble.

What we need is smart signings, both by bringing upcoming free agents and also saving money for the players we want to keep.

Best way to sign a good player for cheap is to offer a long term deal way before his rookie contract is done. Not only they get a raise, they get security.

 

[El Caliente]

And that is how we got in trouble.

What we need is smart signings, both by bringing upcoming free agents and also saving money for the players we want to keep.

Best way to sign a good player for cheap is to offer a long term deal way before his rookie contract is done. Not only they get a raise, they get security.

With $10-$11m you can only sign 1 big ticket player, and we need more than 1 player, so we will probably have to go after more of the Nate Stupar, Craig Roberson types.

I completely agree with you btw about Loomis making it happen is what got us into our fiscal mess. We need to learn from those mistakes or turn into the Browns.

 

[Matteoma1]

If you look at or cap we still are not as good of a positions the rest of the league. I think we are the 23rd highest free cap. Only two of our opponents next season have less cap than us. I would say we have at least 6-8 players on that list we should resign. If we want to try to bring in depth and a splash signing or two we are right back up against the cap.

The question is are we getting better? or are we in a position to get better? Some of these teams have a lot of cap to get into a bidding war with.

 

[El Caliente]

If you look at or cap we still are not as good of a positions the rest of the league. I think we are the 23rd highest free cap. Only two of our opponents next season have less cap than us. I would say we have at least 6-8 players on that list we should resign. If we want to try to bring in depth and a splash signing or two we are right back up against the cap.

The question is are we getting better? or are we in a position to get better? Some of these teams have a lot of cap to get into a bidding war with.

Yeah, its scary looking at the teams with the most cap space. Thank goodness the Cowboys are in the red, but if they move on from Romo they are back in the black, with not very many needs.

 

[Saintsallday]

With $10-$11m you can only sign 1 big ticket player, and we need more than 1 player, so we will probably have to go after more of the Nate Stupar, Craig Roberson types.

I completely agree with you btw about Loomis making it happen is what got us into our fiscal mess. We need to learn from those mistakes or turn into the Browns.

But the money for next years cap and onward is free for backloading. I would say mid-tier CB Kilpatrick/Gilmore and a G like Ron Leary would be enough. Maybe squeeze a mid-tier LB like Timmons too.

 

[endlessjoe]

Everyone always craps on Loomis for taking swings on free agents that didn't pan out, but who amongst us thought Byrd would be a bad signing when it was made? Craig Robertson was solid. Nate Stupar was solid. Going backwards, Jabari Greer sure did work out, and so did Sharper. Some of these signings didn't work out. But if the front office never even took swings in free agency, some of you would be losing your minds about the lack of effort.

Let's take some swings in free agency with what we've got. Restructure some dudes, cut others. Backload some contracts again for the growing cap. We can still make a splash. Let's not get so scared by contracts that didn't pan out that we don't even wanna TRY. That's just silly. I want a guard and a solid corner in free agency. I want Loomis to try for it, and I ain't scared of old contracts where the team whiffed. There were plenty where they didn't.

 

[Zztop]

I'd rather they try to sign 2-3 mid tier players than 1 'elite' to a mega contract who may or may not then become a mistake