[Nick]

Here is more info on the Vick cap hit from Pro Football Talk...

THE CAP HIT FOR DUMPING VICK

As recently promised, we've dusted off our story from late November 2006 regarding the cap consequences for dumping running back Michael Vick.

We compiled the numbers at the time because Vick had just given some lingering fans a two-handed, two-fingered salute, and we surmised that it might be time for the franchise to start thinking about the cost of getting rid of the underachieving hype machine.

The figures takes on renewed relevance, now that Vick allegedly pitched into a recycling bin a bottle of Aquafina designed to carry a little Marijuana. (Maybe next time he should hide his alleged stash in a bottle of Lemoñadé.)

So here we go. Refresher course. For you, and for us.

Trading Vick before June 1, 2007 would trigger a mind-numbing cap charge of $22.25 million. The dead money, factoring in the $6 million salary Vick wouldn't be paid in 2007, would be $16.25 million.

However, if the Falcons were to make the move after June 1, the cap charge for 2007 would drop to $7.57 million. And because the Falcons would be avoiding Vick's $6 million salary and carrying $7.57 million in bonus charges that would be there even if he is still on the team, the Falcons would actually free up $6 million in 2007 cap space.

Under this scenario, the problem would arise in 2008, when the Falcons would be hit with $14.68 million in cap charges. But the Falcons would avoid his $7.5 million salary. So the dead money would be only $7.18 million.

The Falcons also could dump Vick before June 1, 2007, and process the cap hit as if he were cut after June 1, which is one of the tweaks of the new CBA.

But we think that neither a trade nor an outright release of Vick in 2007 is likely. First of all, who would want him under his current contract, which has salaries of $6 million in 2007, $7.5 million in 2008, $9 million in 2009, $10.5 million in 2010, $12 million in 2011, $12.5 million in 2012, and $13.5 million in 2013? Second, we think that $16.25 million in dead money is too much to carry.

The more likely result would be a trade (with a renegotiated contract) in early 2008, when the Falcons would take a net cap hit of $7.18 million.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on what the Falcons do with backup quarterback Matt Schaub. He's a restricted free agent in March, and anyone who is willing to cough up the compensation will be able to snag him with a poison-pill offer sheet that, for example, guarantees the full value of a seven-year, $49 million contract if, for example, he plays more than five games in Atlanta or (perhaps more appropriately) anyone named "Michael Vick" is on the same team with Schaub for any game during the life of the deal.

The Falcons' best defense? To tender Schaub at the highest level, and to hope that no one will be willing to cough up a first-round pick and a third-round pick for the privilege of pilfering him.