An extra $16 million in cap space in 3 easy steps

[PantherFeez]

Overthecap and spotrac don't have direct access to contacts and notorious for being wrong. Spotrac even says right on their site "Our numbers do not reflect the actual real-time cap numbers provided through the NFLPA, rather an estimation based on the team's current contracts.." which is why I was going by the official NFLPA site.

 

In any event this was just posted to list a few easy painless ways to add cap space, not argue over which random website might have the correct cap number when nothing official has been released. I'll edit the OP and let you guys argue over that amongst yourselves.

No one's here to argue, it's an open discussion. Yes, NFLPA has the official numbers, but they haven't put up new numbers for 2014 yet. 

 

We all use the same numbers from the same 2 sites to discuss what moves could make us money (like you have in this post). Just don't use them as a source and talk about how wrong the sites can be at the same time. 

 

All of their math is clear at the bottom of the page. Cap Ceiling + carry over - top 51 contracts - dead money = Available cap. It's all there.

[El Chingon]

Cooool

[Argus Plexus]

OP is 100% right. His math is spot on. Naysayers need a calculator.

[CarolinaCoolin]

Johnson won't take a pay cut

[R0CKnR0LLA]

^^^ which is why I said restructure

[Peppers90 NC]

i dont see extending Olsen or hoping CJ taking a cut/restructure as being very easy.  all his money is guaranteed

[R0CKnR0LLA]

^^^ a restructure is beneficial to the player in every way, there's no reason for them to not do it

[PhillyB]

i wouldn't mind keeping johnson but also backloading hardy's contract so that by the time it gets significantly high we'll be out of CJ's contract and can re-sign him to a cap-friendly veteran deal (or move on from him if we've drafted someone else at that point.)

 

i know a lot of you have moved on from hardy, and i recognize that if he wants a massive payday there's not a very big chance of him getting it here, but we NEED top-tier pass rushers. superbowl-winning teams have them in spades. if we end up not re-signing him i wouldn't be surprised at all to see a surprising amount of priority put on finding a replacement in FA and the draft.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Cutting CJ to save money this season is NOT an acceptable option. He can play without Hardy...has Hardy proven he can play without CJ?

A Hurt CJ came back in against the Pats and dropped brady.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[mc52beast]

You should work with the government and show them how to balance their budget...

[panthers55]

While we are at it, we can sign Gross for 3 more years realizing that at least 1 if not 2 of those years are dummy years in order to spread out the cap hit in 2014.  We take his 5 million in dead cap space add 2 more and give it as a signing bonus and then give him a modest salary and reduce his cap hit by 2 million while retaining his services.

 

And yes the big one is extend Johnson for 2 more years rather than restructure him.  That way you save in the neighborhood of 8-10 million and you don't have a 20 million cap hit next year like you do if you restructure him. If we don't extend him this year or next we will cut him.  There is no way we can pay him 16 million this year and 17 next year. 

 

What I don't understand is people saying that Johnson is worth 16 million and Hardy isn't worth 10 million.  If I signed one of them long term and let one go it would be Johnson not Hardy. Not because of the talent issue simply the cost of keeping Johnson is ridiculous. I can't think of any DE worth 16 million this year. But with Johnson being only 27, I think he still has 5 years left so we could extend him reasonably easily.

[panthers55]

Cutting CJ to save money this season is NOT an acceptable option. He can play without Hardy...has Hardy proven he can play without CJ?

A Hurt CJ came back in against the Pats and dropped brady.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

Sure it is.  There is no way he is worth 16 million this year.   You can sign Hardy for the amount you are saving alone.  Johnson is a good player but not worth the money he is getting.  No DE is worth 16 million.  I actually think we should extend him for 2 more years to reduce his cap hit.  Otherwise his cap hit will be 17 million next year and if we try to restructure him this year maybe 20 million.  No one player is worth almost 1/6 of your cap space unless he plays QB.

[PantherWake]

Good poo ROCKnROLLA good poo

[carpanfan96]

Sure it is. There is no way he is worth 16 million this year. You can sign Hardy for the amount you are saving alone. Johnson is a good player but not worth the money he is getting. No DE is worth 16 million. I actually think we should extend him for 2 more years to reduce his cap hit. Otherwise his cap hit will be 17 million next year and if we try to restructure him this year maybe 20 million. No one player is worth almost 1/6 of your cap space unless he plays QB.

Even as a June 1st, your still talking about an 12 million cap hit in dead money in 2014 and 6 million in 2015. A regular cut and he saves the team barely any money and has a 16 million cap hit and no player to show for it.

CJ isn't going anywhere this season at least.