2008 Salary Cap Status

[papabear]

Originally Posted by KJ3

so they cut a guy with 3 years left, 5 mil a year. they owe him 15 mil. k, so the june 1st cut means they only have to pay him 5 for the current year and then 10 the next instead of just laying the money down in full right as soon as he's cut? is that right?

how does this help?

Unless the 5 mill a year is guaranteed they don't owe him anything, but there still some money charged to the salary cap from his bonus that has already been paid..

Dead money only pertains to the salary cap number, not what the player is actually being paid. When a player get a 15 million dollar bonus he gets the money right then, but as far as the salary cap is concerned the 15 million is spread across the life of the contract.

Dead money is basically money that has already been paid to the player, but still counts against the cap even if he is no longer on the team. Cap dollars and real money paid to the player are 2 different things.

I have no idea if that answers your question, or even makes sense. I'm not sure why I'm even trying when the expert Keith will do it better anyway.

[da Bull]

Keith,

Along those same lines what Texan free agents (after this season) currently on the roster do you see being resigned and what cap implications do you anticipate? I know Dunta is a free agent and will get a big contract, maybe even Owen Daniel. Could we be on the edge of not being able to afford our own players?

[NBT]

I can think of two (maybe 3), that I would cut, or let go at the end of the season: #1 - Ahman Green, #2 - Greenwood, & #3 - Travis Johnson.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by KJ3

so they cut a guy with 3 years left, 5 mil a year. they owe him 15 mil. k, so the june 1st cut means they only have to pay him 5 for the current year and then 10 the next instead of just laying the money down in full right as soon as he's cut? is that right?

how does this help?

This (fictional) scenario is correct. The benefit would be in pushing off when a team needed to recognize the $10 million in dead money... two reasons why they might be helpful: 1. The team might not be able to absorb the entire $15 million all under one season's cap, and 2. the present value in money is greater now than later... i.e. inflation, as the cap grows each year... runs almost parallel to the notion of 'why pay now when you can pay later?'.

Originally Posted by da Bull

Keith,

Along those same lines what Texan free agents (after this season) currently on the roster do you see being resigned and what cap implications do you anticipate? I know Dunta is a free agent and will get a big contract, maybe even Owen Daniel. Could we be on the edge of not being able to afford our own players?

fyi - I have listed the team's key UFAs and RFAs on the 2009 cap page.

Dunta and Daniels are definitely the priorities imo. Recall that Winston was recently re-signed. He would have been an RFA, which leads me to think that the Texans would also probably prefer to sign Daniels long-term and not have to tender him as an RFA. We shall see...

Dunta's situation is easily the most captivating to me, what with his return from injury and his pre-injury performance as being near-Pro Bowl level.

To answer your question though... the Texans have AMPLE cap room to re-sign any of their own free agents they want to retain. This is part of the jist of my OP... cap room is less of a reason for the Texans to blame for not getting done this offseason what they want than it has maybe ever been since before the 2004 season.

As for other free agents to be re-signed... there are a number of safeties on that list plus Faggins and a couple old guys (Bruener, Zgonina). I think they'll evaluate each position and determine, sort of how they decided to leave Ron Dayne without a contract this year.

I could see them offering small contracts to Faggins and CC Brown, letting them test the market to see their value. Faggins/Dunta will be interesting, as I think it could have significant draft implications.

[KJ3]

cool thanks guys. safe to say i learned a little bit about it hahaha...

[da Bull]

Thanks, Keith! I also think Dreessen is starting to have value as a second tight end and Brisiel as a guard.