http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnat…..ap-figures Here's a list of teams salary caps going into FA. Miami is at $103.1, not including Soliai's franchise $12M. Jets are at $128.5M, and Dallas is at $136.6M. The salary cap is going to be $120M. Free agency will likely start on July 25. Every 4 year player will be a FA. The only restriction is each team having one franchise tag. This feeding frenzy will define our FO, and our team for this coming season.
Cowboys also have to resign Doug Free, would guess: Roy Williams Marion Barber Anthony Newman All will be leaving Big D.
Kyle Kosier, a FA, is also very likely gone. He may be a backup option for the OL. I'm hoping we sign Soliai to a different deal to free up cap space. That $12M is tuff to take with so much talent out there. Let me see if I can find our team salaries to see who may be at risk.
We've also tendered a few guys (small additions) and signed Richie Incognito for three years. So it's probably crept up a couple mil. Soliai will ultimately get a long-term deal that will lower that $12 million figure. I'd reckon that will be the Dolphins top priority in that 72-hour window.
I'd think: Vern Carey Channing Crowder YBell (maybe, slight chance) Will Allen already took a paycut Benny Sapp Real thing is, our roster has a couple of really high rent players, then a slew of cheap players.
http://www.rotoworld.com/teams/contracts/nfl/mia/ This is the best I could find on Phins contracts. The players I can see being possibly at risk are: Bell- $3.7M Berger- $1.5M Carey- $4.15M Crowder- $2.5M Culver- $1.25M Dobbins- $1.7M Polite- $1.35M Sapp- $1.9M Sapp should be gone, and Culver likely. That's another $3M. The others are depending on who we bring in.
Who is that? Only Anthony Newman I can think retired over ten yrs ago. DB out of Oregon who played for mainly the Rams.
Here's a little info for those not overly familiar with how contracts are dealt with for the NFL salary cap. The nature of NFL contracts. They are NOT based on signing a FA to a $5M a year deal that is actually a $5M a year deal, and are not fully guaranteed. For example, we sign a FA to a $25M deal over 5 years. We give him a $5M signing bonus. The NFL spreads out the bonus over 5 years for the cap. It is pro-rated. So, now that FA is costing $1M. Then, there is the player's salary, which has to be added. We could pay $500K this year, $2.5M next year, $5M the year after, $5M the year after that, and $7M in the final year. What all that means is that the player will only cost the $1M pro-rated bonus and $500K this year's salary, on this year's cap. Just so everyone understands that we are not in bad shape at all for going after FAs.
I expect Sapp will compete for one roster spot with Allen. I don't expect Sapp to be gone any earlier than the final cut down.
It's a complicated deal with the cash floor that teams have to spend, and I've heard rumors that there may be a one player $3M exemption this year. With no cap last year, some teams spent like my wife (Dallas-$136M), and others spent as I would like her to (TB-$63M). They had to find a way to try and balance this out, while being fair to both sides, and maintaining parity in spending. For example, some teams will only have to pay 89% of the $120M but, the league, as a whole, has to pay 99%. This is only for a few years, and then all team will have to pay 95%. It is a fair deal.
I don't expect this team to spend big in FA. I expect: a pass rusher (potentially the biggest signing), a RB (I think they want Sproles but will be outbid. The only guy they might pay big for is DW), a QB (relatively cheap, most here will hate him, LOL), a G (cheap and many here will post "who?" immediately after the signing) Of course there will also be the slew of UDFAs since I believe our roster is pretty low. I expect the same positions, QB, RB, OL, LB and maybe a WR or slash type. I think they will continue to try and add play maker types hoping for lightning in a bottle. I like that QB Froman too. Like any UDFA, especially QBs, he'd be a long shot, but in the little I've seen there were flashes of real high potential. I would like to see another TE added, but for some reason I don't expect it to happen. Other than the expected lack of a TE, I don't really disagree with the approach. I don't know that this would be a great time to open the pocket books. I think this season will ride on the production of or draft picks more than the FAs (and of course how Daboll and Henne perform).
I think we essentially "raid" Green Bay and it would not surprise me if: -G Darryn Colledge -Rb Ryan Grant -Te Donald Lee Are signed, and dallas has something of a surplus at Te as well.
I believe that we will be spending next year's money this year because of the overabundance of available talent. We are not going to have a better chance to fill in for Bell, although it may be a year early, or Carey, if he cannot be what he was, than right now. It is a buyer's market.
Not safety, and they could skip paying big money for a Rb if they buy into Daniel Thomas and bring back Ronnie or Ricky. Have to think maybe Roy Williams drop off after signing a big money deal has made them gun shy about using resources at S, as for Oline, much depends on what they think of John Jerry, we need a RG do they spend on one though?
I'm not sure it's going to be a buyer's market. There will be more FAs than usual, but I could see bidding wars for mediocre talent. I expect teams to focus on retaining their FAs b/c they know their system and b/c they have to spend the money. I think paying "great" money for "good" players would be even worse than missing out on some talent. And I look at the positions I expect Miami to target and I don't see much great talent out there. I have never been a Henne fan, but I think he's arguably at least as good (mostly better IMO) as any other option out there. Palmer is the only QB I think could realistically be a franchise guy and he hasn't been the same since his injury. The RB position has several players with the same concern. Sproles doesn't have an injury prone reputation but is also reportedly the top rb target for several teams so expect a bidding war there. Gs are rarely big money FAs, so that leaves pass rusher as the only likely big money signing. Even TE, which this regime hasn't shown much of an inclination to target isn't a deep class. Miller is probably the best of the bunch so expect big money there. Everybody else is mediocre. I just don't think it would be wise to over pay for mediocre or injury prone talent.
What is going to add to our FA targets is seeing what our own players have done in the off season. What did Jerry do? Is Carey healthy? How does Bell look? What about Soliai? Etc, etc. We are going to have little, if any, time to assess that.
I agree that Miami won't be big spenders here. They'll sign a bunch of UDFAs (see my UDFA interest list thread) because they have to get to 90 rostered players. They'll get a pass rusher and if the Ray Edwards rumor is true that'll be their biggest spend. I could believe the Reggie Bush rumor, even though I don't like it. They'll get some QB. They might get a backup TE. They might grab an OT. Vernon Carey is in danger of being released. Look at the salary cap numbers. It's clear which teams will be the big spenders. The cap is reportedly 123 million and the floor not far behind it. Some teams have to spend $40 to $60 million just to get over the floor. And that's just 2011 money.
Stephen Bowen might be on the outs as well depending on if Dallas projects him as a starter in Rob Ryan's defense. If he hits the market, I'd make a run at him and get rid of Merling. Alternatively, he could wind up in Houston with Wade Phillips. You know I've been on board the Marshal Yanda train, but Ben Volin told me on Twitter the other day that Yanda is probably going to re-sign with Baltimore. Short of Yanda, I'm not sure I see any truly viable replacement for Carey on the market this year. Fingers crossed for Quintin Mikell, at least.
The Bucs are going to have to extend some of their own players to get up to the floor aren't they? at only 56 or so mill right now? Josh Freeman should be looking for a huge contract. Also, FA's like Ruud, Joseph and Trueblood should be chopping at the bit.
Champing. Not chopping or chomping. Champing. Ruud may be on the outs with the Bucs for some bizarre reason. Freeman might have to wait a year or two for his big deal but he deserves to get paid at some point. But the Bucs (and Chiefs) will eventually have to go outside the organization to get to the salary floor.
Tyson Clabo, Jared Gaither for a low dollar signing. No need to sign Bowen as we already have a crowded DE field even with McDaniel leaving. Free Agency will be great, but the Cap is Back and the same old mechanizations will mean Vets won't be signed if a young player can do 85% of the job the Vet can do depending on the unit.
I'd bet they have their Top 3 guys identified, then knowing Irish we wait to see how many acorns fall out of the tree. Kevin Smith makes tremendous sense for us, especially in the Pat Cobbs replacement role and I really like the idea of somehow landing Steve Slaton.
Ain't no way either of those players are low dollar signings, especially Gaither. I don't think Clabo is really even close to a lateral move, either.
Not so, Gaither missed pretty much all of 2010 with a bad back, do you think teams will lineup to hand him large money deals>?
I have a feeling that if they release Carey it won't be to sign a Clabo, Yanda, or Gaither. I think Nate Garner would take Carey's place. I know that won't be popular and I'm not entirely hot on the idea either but we're back into salary cap mode again and that means sacrifices. At least now that the floor is so high you know it's not just them being cheap. I think when you started to hear coaches talking about Carey's inconsistency and starting to condition their praise of him...that might have been a sign.
Good list, and I think Culver is pretty much gone. He lost his job a couple times over last season. Bell they've been grooming replacements for in Edds, and now seemingly Reshard Jones. He might not be out this year, but probably next year. Crowder and Dobbins are an interesting case, I think, and are linked. Crowder rebounded from an awful 2009 and did very well in a limited role, but you've got to go back 5 seasons until he played 16 games. You are looking at the need to have a strong #3 linebacker who play significant snaps when he is on the roster. Tim Dobbins might not be it, either. He did almost as well in the run game, but he's a liability in coverage, Akin Ayodele style. In every game but one he started or played significant snaps in, he gave up a 15 yard or more reception. That's in a 2-down role meant to limit his exposure. That is problematically bad. I think it's possible from roster management standpoint, it might be easier to find a more reliable, three down ILB to pair with Dansby, and looking at this, it might even be more financially advantageous.
Agreed. Those guys are going to get paid, and not by us. I hope not, but you're probably closer to the FO's actual train of thought than we are.
Yes, unless it's a chronic problem which makes him a ****ty signing for any money and in our circumstances too. He's a high quality left tackle, and unless we've got evidence it's something he will struggle with then he's going to be paid.
