Faulk's cap number per Balzer

[RamWraith]

The is what Howard has to say on Faulk's numbers

As it regards the salary cap, it is unknown at this time whether Faulk will file his retirement papers with the league immediately or wait until after June 1. Announcing a retirement does not officially put the player off the roster. That occurs when the player officially retires through the league office.
On the roster, he currently counts $3.045 million against the salary cap. That includes $820,000 base salary, a $225,000 roster bonus and $2 million in prorated signing bonus.
It is believed the Rams paid Faulk the roster bonus a few weeks ago. Assuming that is the case, if Faulk retires on or before June 1, he will count $4.225 million against the cap this year and nothing in 2008. If he waits until after June 1, he would count $3.045 million through June 1 and then $2.225 million this year and $2 million in 2008.

I will be at the league meeting in Phoenix, and hope to find out how this will be handled.

[general counsel]

given where i believe we are cap wise, i would rather take the full cap hit now.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[Nick]

Originally Posted by general counsel

given where i believe we are cap wise, i would rather take the full cap hit now.

Agreed. The difference between the two for 2007 isn't substantial enough to warrant waiting, IMO.

Rams have a lot of cap room, enough for you guys to eat it all now which is what I would do if I was the STL brass.

[81~BIG-GAME]

Yeah get it out of the way now when we can swallow it up rather than have to worry about some of it next year..:l

[keith m. klink]

great point, and total agreement, pay it off now, no more worries, and , i thought it was nice that the rams gave the bonus , and had planned to even if he left earlier. they are not totally heartless in this organization. i know they make some decisions that we think make no sense. the TURK thing, and TIMMERMAN thing. but remember, when warner was making crap money his SB year, the rams gave him $500,000, at the end because they had the extra money. they take care of the players that win them games i guess.

[tomahawk247]

apparantly he has officially retired, so we must be taking the whole hit this year

can anyone confirm?

[81~BIG-GAME]

I read it,I think on stltoday that the Rams were planning on spreading the hit over this year and next year by delaying putting him on the retired list until June.Surprises me a little that we didn't just swallow it up this year with the cap space we have and get it out of the way..:l

[laram0]

Originally Posted by 81~BIG-GAME

I read it,I think on stltoday that the Rams were planning on spreading the hit over this year and next year by delaying putting him on the retired list until June.Surprises me a little that we didn't just swallow it up this year with the cap space we have and get it out of the way..:l

Call me crazy or dazed and confused. I don't understand why a player that announces his retirement would cost the team anything from his official retirement date going forward? :x

[JRoc]

Originally Posted by 81~BIG-GAME

I read it,I think on stltoday that the Rams were planning on spreading the hit over this year and next year by delaying putting him on the retired list until June.Surprises me a little that we didn't just swallow it up this year with the cap space we have and get it out of the way..:l

It would have seemed like a smart move to take the full hit this year. Unless the FO has something planned that they want to keep some extra cap room free.

[HUbison]

Originally Posted by laram0

Call me crazy or dazed and confused. I don't understand why a player that announces his retirement would cost the team anything from his official retirement date going forward? :x

I'm no capologist, but as I understand it, whatever portion of his guaranteed money that we haven't paid yet has to hit the cap during the year he is put on the retired list.

[general counsel]

LaRam, the reason its important from a cap perspective is that it prevents abuse of the prorated bonus system. If i sign a guy to a five year contract and pay him a 10 million bonus, only 2 million of that bonus counts against the cap in year one. If he retires after the first year and there is no accleration (ie penalty), 8 million in cap impact would never have been felt by the team that made the signing.

The result would be chaos. You would have players towards the end of the their careers signing for bonuses with "long term" contracts and there would be no market check to make sure that if you mortgaged your cap future by signing a guy now, you wouldnt have to absorb the cap hit later if he retired part way through the contract.

Its really just another way to make the nfl salary cap a Hard Cap rather than a soft cap.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[txramsfan]

The only way players get guaranteed money is bonus money. It's spread out evenly against the terms of the contract.

That's why I never really look at the money involved in a contract. Let's say that someone signs a contract for 8 years for 80 million. What will happen is that he may make 5 million in year one, 8 million in year 2, then the last year may be for 20 million. Everyone knows when that contract is signed there will be no way that player plays that last year. Both sides know that. So, they give the player a nice bonus that is either paid up front or in intervals, but they take the same cap dollar associated with that bonus every year of the contract. The only real relevant cap dollars for the future is the guaranteed bonus.

That's what has been called "dead money". We had it with Warner when he went to NY and with Turley.

[general counsel]

Technically, dead money is the accelerated portion of the bonus that the team gets hit with once it can no longer prorate the bonus over the remaining life of the contract. This comes up when a player is cut, retires or is traded before the proration period ends.

This is a very very underated statistic. The more "dead money" you have, the more money you are effectively paying out of your cap dollars to guys who are NOT on your roster and therefore not contributing in a current year. The more dead money you have, logically, the worse your record is likely to be.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[RAM-BO]

As I understand, it is on Faulk whether we pay it all now or year by year. It depends on when he files his retirement papers. Before or after June 1st. It isn't our FO's call.