Panthers lead list of teams on the hook with new projected salary floor

[CatMan72]

Before Tuesday's owners meetings, several sources reported that there was a small group of owners opposed to terms in the owners' prospective offer to the players. Whether that was the case, or whether a few hyperactive lawyers tried to get a little clutch of opposing voices together to make things more "interesting" is uncertain, but there is a definite sense that when all 32 owners got together in Chicago to vet the particulars of the newest offer, anyone opposed for financial reasons was going to get steamrolled right out of the process. It's fast approaching the time when all owners stand to lose serious money from an abbreviated or cancelled preseason, which is one reason so many things were crossed off on that one-day meeting before the owners traveled to Boston to meet again with the players and try to finally nail down the parameters of the NFL's next collective bargaining agreement.

Estimates say that when a deal is struck, the 2011 salary cap could be anywhere from $110 to $130 million, depending on who you're reading or listening to. For our purposes, we'll go with an even $124 million, which was the approximate cash commitment per team in 2010, when there wasn't a salary cap. Based on that number, it's very easy to see which teams would be violently opposed to a 90 percent-plus cash guarantee each year, because their cash commitments in recent years have been so far below the average. That new floor would require commitments of at least $110 million with a reasonable cap, and as you're about to see, many teams aren't even in the same zip code right now.

2011 numbers are still variable and non-indicative to a degree, because we don't know what the rookie signings will take up — we don't even know if there will be a rookie pool (though we can assume there will be). Franchise tags and other designations will have to be re-set with a new CBA, because of the high possibility that free agency will revert to a four-year concern after the six-year term in 2010. As such, these numbers are approximate and are not intended to be a 100 percent accurate barometer of what each team has spent. But in adding together six key totals for each team — base salaries, signing bonuses, option bonuses, roster bonuses, workout bonuses, and incentives likely-to-be-earned incentives, we can get a fairly clear picture of who's doing what — and who's not. Not-likely-to-be-earned incentives clauses are one of the primary 'funny-money' machinations in the NFL, and as such, we're not including them here.

So, again, keep in mind that all these numbers are approximate, but close, to a pre-CBA scenario. Thanks to Brian McIntyre of Football Outsiders and Mac's Football Blog for providing the base numbers. Here are the five lowest cash-commitment teams, in reverse order.

Carolina Panthers

2011 Cash: $57.9 million

2011 Cap: $76.8 million

Cash % of Cap: 75.4%

Pct. Of $124 million Cap: 47%

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Panthers-lead-list-of-teams-on-the-hook-with-new?urn=nfl-wp2868

[Ricky Spanish]

obviously, we are all going to die

[CatMan72]

obviously, we are all going to die

We're going to have to spend $$$$ and personally I love it.

[Proudiddy]

Well, obviously a lot of money is going to go into re-signing players... Kinda throws a kink in the "he knew he was going for a lockout" deal though - or if he did, he didn't know a cap floor was coming in.

[X-Clown]

We were going to be spending regardless of whether there is a floor or not, now Tampa on the other hand....

[thunderraiden]

This article makes it sound as if there wasn't a Salary Cap floor that was almost just as harsh as 90% in the last CBA.

[Jackofalltrades]

More lockout page filler, nothing more.

[Sandy Claws]

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Panthers-lead-list-of-teams-on-the-hook-with-new?urn=nfl-wp2868

The writer of that looked at the one year when many teams elected to dump salary. This includes us. Historically, we have operated right at the cap. I don't expect that will change making the minimum slary requirement moot.

[Lumps]

Yea we have money to spend...and a 2-13 team.

Any organization can do that. The good ones win and have cap room. Generally they aren't the ones in the extreme ends of the spectrum.

JR fuged this team any way you look at it. Consider it another mistake. Right now JR needs to get his poo together and resign.

[Stroupe-a-loop]

This article makes it sound as if there wasn't a Salary Cap floor that was almost just as harsh as 90% in the last CBA.

I think the difference now is that teams will have to spend more than 90% of the cap in actual money. No more sitting on top of dead bonuses and whatnot.

[Fiz]

This isn't thread worthy at all but CatMan72 posts everything just in case.

[Lumps]

This isn't thread worthy at all but CatMan72 posts everything just in case.

Just about anything is thread worthy in a lockout.

A better argument is whether or not your post is post worthy.

[Fiz]

thankfully you set the bar low enough the question will never have to be asked.

[monstercat]

The writer of that looked at the one year when many teams elected to dump salary. This includes us. Historically, we have operated right at the cap. I don't expect that will change making the minimum slary requirement moot.

Exactly right. Some people will overreact anyway though...they always do.