2014 cap space and resigning concerns and questions

[Argus Plexus]

DO NOT LET HARDY WALK, BIIIIIIIIG MISTAKE ALERT!!!!!

[Argus Plexus]

Why do you think we drafted yet another LB in Klein? He was one of the best out there and somehow slipped to us. He is right now learning from Beast, TD, Luke, Blackburn and all of our other awesome LBs. I'm not saying he's the second coming or that there won't be a lot of dropoff (That's if Beast comes back for real this season, and I think he will) but you don't NEED three All-Pros at LB when you have two all pros at DE and might have two at DT, not to mention Gett Dawg will most likely add at least one really sweet piece to our secondary. I want to keep Beast AND Kraken, but if it came down to choosing one or the other, I choose Kraken. Younger, just as big a playmaker as beast has been, less injuries, etc. 

 

But I want Beast to stay. I hope he will drop some more of that contract so he can stay. I fuging hate the salary cap sometimes, makes us part ways with awesome players that we love. I don't think it should be done away with, it should just be higher.

[CPF4LIFE]

Lafell can definitely walk if he wants to much money, would rather draft a replacement.

[Kurb]

You could make a deal where we gave hardy for several years and keep his # low until we release CJ about the time he hits 30

Or we could tag and trade him.

[Frank Hollywood]

You could make a deal where we gave hardy for several years and keep his # low until we release CJ about the time he hits 30

Or we could tag and trade him.

I hate both options but I think it will be hard keeping them both long term.

[section543]

I wanted to take a look at our Cap situation for next year to see where we stand. I went to Spotrac and found next years cap to be at 119 million. This leaves us over 4 million in cap room assuming we have a similar cap to last year. It may go up slightly, which will leave us with 5 million. I think we will sign a veteran guard this year and end up carrying over about 12 million

 

Total cap space before resigning Free Agents or draft picks -17 million

-4 million for draft picks

=13 million. Now onto our Free Agents. Below are the notable free agents for next year. There were some others I didn't include as well but no one notable that should be resigned.

Derek Anderson, Byron Bell, Richie Brockel, Jeff Byers, Bruce Cambell, Jimmy Clausen

Colin Cole, James Dockery, Drayton Florence, Graham Gano, Ted Ginn Jr, Jordan Gross

Greg Hardy, Ben Hartstock, Domenik Hixon, Brandon Lafell, Mike Mitchell

DJ Moore, Captain Munnerlyn, Nakamura, Jordan Senn, Jason Williams

 

Out of these 22 players I believe they'll let  7 walk and won't bother to resign

Richie Brockel, Jeff Byers, James Dockery, Graham Gano, Ben Hartstock, Nakamura and Jimmy Clausen

Brockel and Hartstock are not the answer to our TE problem and may not even make the 2013 final roster. Byers will probably be cut to be replaced with a higher quality player in the draft. Dockery the same if he even makes the 2013 final roster. Clausen doesn't fit our scheme and I think we draft a kicker.

 

Out of the remaining 15 Free Agents I believe we will resign 8 with about the same cap hit as their 2013 cap hit.

Derek Anderson-555k, Bruce Cambell-630k , Colin Cole-555k, Domenik Hixon- 1.1 mil,

 Captain Munnerlyn-1.1mil, Jordan Senn-620k , Jason Williams-715k , DJ Moore-620k

 

Total to resign these players is 5.9 million which leaves us with 7.1 million to answer these questions....

 

Byron Bell- I doubt he resigns for his salary in 2013, which was 560k. Starting Right tackles in the NFL make more than that. I think there is a chance we resign him at 1 million on a 1 or 2 year deal. I don't think he is the future but we will probably draft our LT next year, not replace Bell and I doubt we can get cheaper help in FA that would be an upgrade to him.

 

Drayton Florence- If he does well will he resign for vet minimum?

 

Ted Ginn Jr-If he acts as a poor man's Mike Wallace this year helping to open up the field with his speed and does really well he is going to want more than the 1.1 million he earned this year and also ask for a multiple year deal. Is he worth it?

 

Jordan Gross- I don't know how that dummy year affects his cap for 2014 if he decides to play for us, assuming we want him. His cap hit was 5 million this year. If we draft a LT early next year we could pick up a veteran guard for less than half of Gross's price, but that's still another two million towards our cap. I think we let him go after 2013.

 

Mike Mitchell- He's going to shine this year and will not be available at his old price of  $625k

This is just my personal opinion but he's going to perform very, very well this year. What do we pay him?

 

Brandon Lafell- According to another Huddler, he was actually smack in the middle statistically last year. I think he picks up his game this year and is in the top half or number 2 WR's. His cap hit in 2013 is 1.5 mil. There is little  chance he resigns with us for that amount and is probably going to want double that. Anyone know the median number 2 receiver salary?

 

Greg Hardy- We could probably safely resign everyone else if we let the Kraken walk, but I don't see that as an option. To compare his 2014 salary with his 2013 salary of 1.4 million is a joke, considering our other DE, whom I believe Hardy is just about equal to, makes ten times that amount. I think a salary as low as six million in 2014 is doable, if that number escalates greatly after 2014. I think a number around 8-10 million a year is much more realistic.

 

On top of all these questions, we will still have Cam to sign in a future year, but fear not. The large cap jump is coming soon enough and will help along with the release of at least one, if not both running backs. If we can get through 2014 I think we will be ok for the future.

 

From that list, we may be OK. Hardy is the only one not easily replaced. Hixon and Ginn will have to prove they are worth a raise; Bell and Gross would be good to keep if affordable; Anderson is good affordable insurance, but has yet to be needed much.

 

[BelgianPantherFan]

We were in a much bigger mess 8 months ago. We'll be fine, don't worry.
I do hope we'll sign Kraken's contract soon, if he has a monster year, he'll want big $.

[Guest Spider Monkey]

Stopped reading at "if Gross resigns next year, if we even want him."

[Snake]

That Hurney black magic is coming back to haunt us.

[Frank Hollywood]

Stopped reading at "if Gross resigns next year, if we even want him."

Then don't read it. He's a shell of his former self and my prediction is he further declines this year.

We may draft a LT In round 1 and may not want to give him another 5mil or more for a season with our cap limitations. What's so hard to understand about that?

[CanadianCat]

Pretty sure we cannot just cut Beason like a lot of people here are saying without it hurting us a lot. 

 

We have a GM that came from the NYG mould. If I look at that teams philosophy its invest draft picks into the D line. I would not be surprised if we offer a home town discount contract to Hardy and if he doesn't take it we draft a DE high. Also I would bet that we dont draft a WR high either rather wait for the middle rounds. 

 

Gett seems like a 'build through the draft', 'inside-out' kind of guy.