February 26, 2009
Happy New Last Capped Year!
by Keith Weiland
Keith@IntheBullseye.com

Midnight (Eastern time) tonight kicks off the new league year for the NFL. ItB.com headquarters are stocked with party hats and sparklers to ring in the new year. Question now is just whom are the Texans looking to pucker up to when the clock strikes twelve?

Reports have been scant, save for a KTRK-TV mention Wednesday night that the Texans have their eyeballs on Cardinals defensive end Antonio Smith. They have enough cash ready to move quickly, too, with millions upon millions to spend, even following the signing of safety Eugene Wilson and the tendering of their restricted free agents (namely Owen Daniels).

Wheeeeeeee!!!! Right? Hellz to the yeah, general manager Rick Smith is gonna make it rain if you ask any of the current Texans still looking to be locked up (financially speaking). As workaday fans, this is the sort of escapism we need from all the government bailouts, economic stimuli, and Hank Paulsons of the world. Spending someone else’s pocket cheese is what makes the good ol’ U.S. of A. a whole lotta F.U.N.

But wait, here’s the buzzkill: The owners want out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) exactly because the current salary cap system is forcing them to spend far too much of their revenues without enough consideration for their costs of doing bizness.

Walk with me one step further here, and I’ll show you something else that will blow your mind all over your face.

Factoring in the trade of Rosenfels and the Daniels RFA tender (while still withholding the Eugene Wilson re-signing since contract details have yet to emerge), the Texans have spent somewhere around $100 million to a cap that will be $127 million. And that cap for the Texans could be adjusted further upward, too, as they manipulated the Philly Loophole to forward more than $2 million from last year’s cap by signing guard Mike Brisiel to a late-season extension with a bonus incentive.

So, yeah, the Texans have lots of cap room. But consider that the CBA requires teams to spend to a cap floor. For 2009, that percentage is 87.6% of the salary cap, or $111.25 million.

Translation: in order to just to get to the salary cap floor, the Texans need another $12 million or so to clear the minimum. Wow, right? Okay, I'll wait for you to wipe your brains up off of yo' grill.

With free agency, the draft, and the need to extend key veterans like DeMeco Ryans, the Texans should be able to spend to that minimum with very little concern. It does, however, highlight why teams – including the Texans – appear confident in that 2010 will be an uncapped season. There are going to be several teams struggling to spend to that cap minimum this year, signaling that the current labor agreement is failing some of the smaller market teams.

There is a definite need for some re-tooling. While Friday marks a brand new season, twelve months from now we might be prepping for a brave new uncapped league.

Enough financial gloom. This offseason is all about our escapism, so fire up those sparklers tonight and let’s party like it’s 2009!

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