$20 mill in cap space next year AFTER Cam/Luke signed.

[AU-panther]

 

 

Also people need to look at the number of players signed.

According to overthecap.com we have 40 players under contract in 2016.  Those extra 13 guys will cost 6-7 million at a minimum, and that is if you fill out the roster with a bunch of udfa types.

http://overthecap.com/calculator/carolina-panthers/

Good news is we should rollover a little cap space and there are some other moves we can make to free up some more space.

Either way I don't expect us to go crazy in free agency.  Most of our cap space is probably going to go towards resigning our own guys.

 

[Montsta]

Here's the Catch-22 with Dave Gettleman as our GM that I think everyone needs to understand.

Even when we have money, it will be like we don't have money. Why? Well, sit around the campfire and ol' uncle Montsta will explain it. 

Dave Gettleman has a very good eye for talent. This is obviously a good thing. Dave Gettleman also likes to retain home grown talent. This is also a good thing. The problem here is that while Hurney had a good eye for first round talent, the rest of his drafts were basically poo. Gettleman is knocking it out of the park and getting lots of talent from all rounds of the draft.

So take the first round talent that gets signed to automatic four year deals with a fifth year option. Then take the later round picks that I think only get three or four year deals. So Gettleman, in his infinite, prudent, fiscally responsible wisdom, knows that even when we get some cap relief, our home grown talent and their second contracts are always lurking just around the corner. 

So Cam and Luke get long term deals, and that is obviously great news. But now Norman is in a contract year and will want to get paid. Then next year if CJ and TD have money coming off the books soon, Star and KK will have to get paid. Then the year after that Benwikere will have to get paid, then after that, Kelvin Benjamin will have to get paid. Then after that, Funchess will have to get paid and Shaq and Williams will have to get paid and it will go full circle and Cam will have to get paid again and so on and so forth. 

This is why Gettleman plugs roster holes with cheap, serviceable vets on one or two year deals while continuously infusing the roster with talented players through the draft. 

 

TL;DR Version: I wouldn't expect Gettleman to ever spend huge on free agents. He will continue to develop his own talent and retain them. They are less risky as you already know them both professionally and personally, and if he continues to get 2-3 starters per draft class, none of us mopes will be clamoring for high-prices free agents anyways. 

[t96]

Of this list the only one that is truly essential to resign is Norman

I think Remmers is essential. Even if Williams ends up starter this year like Jeremy's been saying, we need depth at tackle. I think he'll come cheap though.

[ctrcat]

Just in case you haven't been paying attention the last 3 years.

WE ARE GOING TO BUILD THROUGH THE DRAFT

Of course.  But we likely won't ever be drafting high enough to draft a top 10 bust-o-rama "franchise" LT, so why not spend some $$$ on Okung.  Hurt the Hawks in the process and not have to worry about the talent or depth of either OT spot for a long time.

[L-TownCat]

GETTLEMANIA.... I am so happy about this! Instead of signing FAs that $$$ will be going to Normam, KK, Short

I doubt they pay Short twice.

[PanthersUnited]

Here's the Catch-22 with Dave Gettleman as our GM that I think everyone needs to understand.

Even when we have money, it will be like we don't have money. Why? Well, sit around the campfire and ol' uncle Montsta will explain it. 

Dave Gettleman has a very good eye for talent. This is obviously a good thing. Dave Gettleman also likes to retain home grown talent. This is also a good thing. The problem here is that while Hurney had a good eye for first round talent, the rest of his drafts were basically poo. Gettleman is knocking it out of the park and getting lots of talent from all rounds of the draft.

So take the first round talent that gets signed to automatic four year deals with a fifth year option. Then take the later round picks that I think only get three or four year deals. So Gettleman, in his infinite, prudent, fiscally responsible wisdom, knows that even when we get some cap relief, our home grown talent and their second contracts are always lurking just around the corner. 

So Cam and Luke get long term deals, and that is obviously great news. But now Norman is in a contract year and will want to get paid. Then next year if CJ and TD have money coming off the books soon, Star and KK will have to get paid. Then the year after that Benwikere will have to get paid, then after that, Kelvin Benjamin will have to get paid. Then after that, Funchess will have to get paid and Shaq and Williams will have to get paid and it will go full circle and Cam will have to get paid again and so on and so forth. 

This is why Gettleman plugs roster holes with cheap, serviceable vets on one or two year deals while continuously infusing the roster with talented players through the draft. 

 

TL;DR Version: I wouldn't expect Gettleman to ever spend huge on free agents. He will continue to develop his own talent and retain them. They are less risky as you already know them both professionally and personally, and if he continues to get 2-3 starters per draft class, none of us mopes will be clamoring for high-prices free agents anyways. 

I think the problem is people have different opinions of what it means to be a "player in free agency" I'm not talking of signing a Suh or something ridiculous like that. But more along the lines of mid-upper mid level like Torrey Smith or similiar. I consider that being a "player in FA"

[Moorgan]

I think the problem is people have different opinions of what it means to be a "player in free agency" I'm not talking of signing a Suh or something ridiculous like that. But more along the lines of mid-upper mid level like Torrey Smith or similiar. I consider that being a "player in FA"

I doubt we ever even do that. As has been stated, we will continue to build through the draft and sign low price guys to fill holes. All of our real money will be for players who play well already on the team.

People will continually mutter and complain about Free Agents and DG will continually ignore them and implement his plan. It becomes even harder to win that 2nd and 3rd Superb Owl without room to resign your core players.

[iamhubby1]

Gettleman does not seem like the type of guy to overpay for a free agent, and the ones worth paying get way overpaid. We will use that money to resign Norman and others that are on the last year of their contract.

Concise and accurate. Defiantly the model Gman likes to follow. IF, and it is a small if, we lose a key/major player, then Gman may spend. But, if he continues to build as he has, there really should be no dire need to do so. Our roster is getting to the point where we really do have that next player.

 

Continue to build and we won't need to spend on outside help. That is what we are, and that is how good teams do it. Folks just have to realize, we are being run by a Football Guy now. And that guy knows his stuff.

[mc52beast]

Getty isn't going to overpay for players, regardless of how much space we have. He's going to get the best bang for his buck and we're going to marvel once again at how well he does his job.

[CCS]

Why does JJ f'n Jansen get paid so much?

[TheNewStandard]

While this is true, it already assigns an $11m cap figure to Luke for the 2016 cap. That figure isn't likely to go up by too much. At most, it would be $15m (I arrive at this figure by assuming a $15m signing bonus prorated over 5 years ($3m) and a $12m avg salary).

 

Note that we are likely to have over $25m in cap space given that cutting Harper frees up $3.76m and designating J-Stew a post-June 1 cut frees up $5.75m. There's a good chance we have ~$26-$27m in cap space with the only real notable free agent to re-sign being Josh Norman.

thanks for the in-depth post. I agree, J-Stew is looking over his shoulder at CAP and Fozzy. Not to mention we have Brockel and Weigher to replace Tolbert if Tolbert's pay overshadows his production. So that's another cut that frees up some cash.

Kalil is getting over-paid and needs to be restructured. Using Remmers and picking up depth at the C position means that we could possibly be looking at trade offers or other possibilities concerning him.

CJ is looking like we'll be dependent upon him to anchor the D-line to the end of his contract because we haven't drafted nor signed anyone to be his successor, but Ealy is beginning to look the part as he is more skilled in run stopping than pass rushing, so we could realistically be drafting a RE/LE in the early rounds of next year's draft. So I don't see us spending FA money there.

We have Oher locked-up for a couple years, so unless there's a sure-fire starting T at our first few picks in the draft, I can see us looking at the safety position early in the draft as well as DE.

Yep, looks like our money's gonna go to Norman, Star, KK and looking forward to KB and extensions to guys that stick and perform well within our current lineup of OLinemen.

[Gin and Juice]

A few points to note:

1.According to Spotrac, we currently sit on 8.5mil in space. Assuming some positional changes, we carry 7 mil over worst case.

 

2.They also show us having 31 mil of space next year, that's not including the rollover or Luke's 2016 salary.

 

3.Roman Harper has a opt out clause in his contract....if Dave doesn't opt out, then Harper's hit balloons from 1.5ish(2015) to 4.6ish(2016). He is gone!

 

4. Assuming the Cap is 150, Luke's 2016 salary is 15mil, Roman is cut, and we rollover 7mil....then that puts us at around 27mil in cap space for next year with only 40 players signed

 

5.Dave will have to fill 13 spots on our roster. FA 2016 sucks! Expect our own to get paid and big moves in the draft if there are any big moves! Expect Kurt Coleman type FA next year

[Car123]

Let Norman walk. He's damn near 30.

[the butch]

No use in debating what player we could sign with that money until all contract extensions are made and our draft shakes out.