How is it that we never have enough cap space?

[PanthersUnited]

OP I was fretting the same exact way a few days ago until I recently found out we are only one season away from REALLY being free from Hurney's mess. If it makes you feel better we will have a staggering 71 million in cap space next year. To put that in perspectivd, we could afford to lock up both Cam AND Luke and still have 30 or so million left in cap space, that's ballin. One more season OP

[Major wRecktum]

Can't you give out guaranteed money in bonuses?

All monies a player gets go against the cap. It's just that bonuses and salary hit the cap in different ways.

That "guaranteed money" you talk of is bonus money generally speaking and it is not paid without affecting the player's cap figure.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

keep in mind that saints fans were bragging about what a genius loomis was and how the saints had "figured out the cap" when they gave drew brees $60 million guaranteed in 2012.  this was largely based on the way it was accounted for and how it counts against a team's cap figure.  now they're dumping salary and restructuring contracts like crazy to get under the salary cap and the structure of his contract has a lot to do with that.

[CollegePanther]

Charles Johnson, Ryan Kalil, Thomas Davis, Deangelo Williams, Jonathon Stewart and Steve Smiith

[Ricky Spanish]

Can't you give out guaranteed money in bonuses?

 

Bonus money IS guaranteed money. That's the way of kicking the problem down the road in order to fix things in the now. It's what we've been doing with CJ, Kalil, and a few others. 

 

Like with the hypothetical guy who signed the 7 year 100 mill 55 guaranteed contract. if his cap hit were spread out equally, he would be getting 14 million per year with roughly 8 million of that 14 being in guaranteed (bonus) money. But they signed him on the cheap at 3 million the year they were cap strapped, so now his average annual salary jumps to 16 million with 8.6 in guaranteed (bonus) money over those remaining 6 years. 

 

Well that just won't work, that's too much money to pay him each year, so the second year he gets 12 million with 9 million in guaranteed (bonus) money, because that's more manageable after they let some other guys go. BUT they still owe the guy 85 mill with 43 mill in guaranteed money over five years. That brings his average cap hit over the next few years to 17 million total, 8.6 of which is guaranteed.

 

Well Christ almighty, they can't spend $17 million on that guy! He sucked last year! He doesn't deserves HALF of that... but they still owe him so much... The old GM and Coach were fired and they brought in a new GM who is a hard ass baller and he calls the player into his office and he lays it on the table. He says "Bro. You sucked a big fat donkey dick these past two seasons. You are NOT what we payed for, but we still owe you a poo ton of cash.... so here's what I'm going to do. I will convert 15 million of that remaining 85 million to guaranteed (bonus) cash, and extend your contract 2 years. How's that sound?"

 

So that player being the smart business man that he is, realizes he isn't as good as he thought he was... but poo, he will get paid 15 million guaranteed more just from breathing? Uhh, I wish I had that guy's problems. So he agrees and they hammer it out so now he is owed 70 million over 7 years, but now 58 million of that is guaranteed. He is now only owed 10 million annually with 8.2 of that being guaranteed. 

 

Well poo, this guy sucks, we need to get rid of him sooner rather than later, so this coming year, we're going to pay him 12 million, all of which is guaranteed. That saves the team 5 million in cash and makes it look like that player is a "team guy" and will take a "pay cut" (when really its a restructure) to help sign more players to help the team out. 

 

After that year is over he is Now owed 58 million with 46 guaranteed. That averages to roughly 9.6 per year with 7.6 guaranteed. And they would pay him that, if they actually wanted him on the roster. But they want him gone sooner rather than later. So what do they do? They pay him 13 million each of the next three years, all of it guaranteed which would bring the total money he is owed come year 4 on his new contract to 19 million with only 3 that they are on the hook for. The team is now in good enough financial position to get rid of the guy, so they cut him, but they only owe him 3 million. Make him a June first cut, and that 3 million cap hit is spread over two seasons so it only costs you 1.5 million to get rid of the jerkoff and have him be someone else's problem.

 

^^ That is essentially what Gettleman has been doing the past 3 years with multiple contracts that good ol' Hurn-dog negotiated... And that's why I don't fault Gettleman for doing what he's doing in free agency.

 

Does that help clear things up?

[Zaximus]

Lat big FA was K. Johnson. Boom...game over

 

That massive 4 year $14 mill contract? lol.  

 

He had 800 some yards, 4 td's, 70 catches, he did his job as a #2.  Keyshawn was one of the best signings we've done.  

[scarface]

There once was a man named Marty Hurney. 

[Delhommey]

Not sure how much JR involves himself with approving or reviewing contracts. Does he totally leave it up to the GM or does he get involved?

We don't know...but don't let that stop you from making up poo to fit your biases.

 

Pointing out this fact is one of the things that got Gantt fired, but yeah it's completely made up.

[Jangler]

how is it threads like this still get made

 

 

[unicar15]

Long term, big money contracts. Next year we are projected to have 60 mil. Should be plenty to sign core players and add a FA or two. DG isn't going to give players long term big money deals unless their names are Cam and Luke.

[ThPantherFan]

Wahle, Kemoeatu, Keyshawn, Reggie White, to name a few.

Plus to be clear, neither free agency nor the salary cap has been around forever.

And yes, Hurney is the answer to the question of why. He spent right up to the cap limit pretty much from the time he got here. Every offseason in his tenure, time had to be spent making emergency moves just to clear enough space to sign and draft.

After the lockout though, that was when he really went wild. We got several crazy contracts for a bunch of existing players. Those poorly conceived contracts (paired with poor drafting) put us in a hole that we're still trying to get out of.

The good news is that the cap situation has been steadily improving since Gettleman got here. Plus we're now drafting well and building a foundation that we can work with and building around young players.

We knew a long time ago that it was going to take a while to fix the damage that Hurney did, but it's happening. And even in the midst of those issues, the team is still winning more consistently than in years past.

We're not all the way out of the woods yet, but there's plenty of reason for optimism.

I agree 100%.  Hurny did put us in this mess and it takes some time to get out of it.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Excellent post Mr. Scott.  To me, one of your best. 

 

[AceBoogie]

Because teams that want to win find a way to win. That simple. We're trying to free up 60 million in cap space so we can become the raiders

[AceBoogie]

There once was a man named Marty Hurney. 

Who's core players are the only reason we were competitive last year

[jdpanther5]

Because teams that want to win find a way to win. That simple. We're trying to free up 60 million in cap space so we can become the raiders

You think the Saints wanted to trade Graham? There's repercussions to this sort of thinking.

I mean, the alternative here is actually believing we're not trying, which is absurd.