Sporting News/Draft Sharks approximation on Rams' cap status... and it ain't great...

[Nick]

Who has money to spend this offseason?
Posted By Matthew Lutovsky 11:02 AM
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Sporting News

The mock drafts and scouting reports have already started, so it's clear that "next year" is already on people's minds.

And even though the NFL draft tends to get all the attention, free agency can be just as important. If a team has a money to spend, it can turn around its fortunes in just one offseason (just ask Michael Turner and the Falcons).

Obviously, we don't know how teams are going to spend their money, but it's always nice to know who has some cash to spend. The good people over at Draftsharks.com compiled a list of approximately how much cap room each team has heading into the offseason.

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $42 million. The Bucs have several holes on offense, but they have a lot of money with which to fill them. Does this mean breakout WR Antonio Bryant will be back? It certainly can't hurt their chances of re-signing him.

2. Arizona Cardinals: $41 million. It's almost not fair that a Super Bowl team has this much cap room to play with. With all this money to spend, the Cardinals should be able to bring back Kurt Warner, but will they have enough to satisfy Anquan Boldin (pictured), too?

3. Denver Broncos: $34 million. You have to figure most of this money will be used to address defensive needs, but Denver's RB situation isn't very stable. Could they spring for Derrick Ward, or will they address that situation in the draft?

4. Kansas City Chiefs: $33 million. The Chiefs have a lot of needs, but with a lot of young talent and some money to work with, they could turn things around as quickly as Atlanta did last year.

5. Tennessee Titans: $31 million. One of their own guys, Albert Haynesworth, is arguably this year's top free agent, so you know they'll make him a generous offer. But Tennessee could also use a big-play receiver, and it wouldn't be a shock to see them try to upgrade there.

Teams 6-32:

6. Miami Dolphins: $28 million
7. Buffalo Bills: $27 million
8. Detroit Lions: $26 million
9. San Francisco *****: $26 million
10. Houston Texans: $25 million
11. Philadelphia Eagles: $25 million
12. Cincinnati Bengals: $22 million
13. New England Patriots: $21 million
14. Minnesota Vikings: $20 million
15. Atlanta Falcons: $20 million
16. Pittsburgh Steelers: $19 million
17. Baltimore Ravens: $19 million
18. Chicago Bears: $19 million
19. Green Bay Packers: $18 million
20. Cleveland Browns: $17 million
21. Jacksonville Jaguars: $16 million
22. San Diego Chargers: $14 million
23. New York Giants: $11 million
24. Dallas Cowboys: $10 million
25. Carolina Panthers: $9 million
26. Seattle Seahawks: $9 million
27. St. Louis Rams: $8 million
28. Oakland Raiders: $4 million
29. Indianapolis Colts: $2 million over
30. Washington Redskins: $3 million over
31. New Orleans Saints: $5 Million over
32. New York Jets: $7 million over

[Richbert88]

So the questions now are:

1. Where are the opportunities for recapturing some cap dollars?

2. What are the targets to improve this team and how much do they cost?

3. Does recapturing dollars by releasing a player/players and spending some dollars on a player/players improve this team? What's the formula?

Good luck Devaney!

Under the circumstances, I can see contract renegotiations for Pace, Little, Holt. I can also see one or more being let go.

[KoaKoi]

how are we always in crappy positions with the cap? no pun intended.

prob'ly cuz during Frontiere's administration, there always seemed to be a "drew bennett" on the Rams roster, sucking up a lot of cap space. (ok, ok... so obviously, this is a tad oversimplistic as its never just one player taking up all the cap space, but the old FO was infamous for being penny wise and dollar stupid. there's a reason there wasn't enough money to go around for Isaac Bruce last season.

But in their defense, over the last few years, the FO has spent a lot of $ restructuring and extending deals to the so-called "playmakers." Bulger and Little re-up'd recently, and SJ just signed a monstrous deal this past season. All that adds up when your organization is perennially hiring free agents.

which just goes to show... its much more feasible to draft well and build 'within an organization' than be forced to hire out via free agency. makes a big difference. i'm optimistic that Devaney understands that which is probably why he's already hired personnel to beef up the scouting dept for the Rams. Organizations that are not adept at scouting and developing talent (which is where the coaching comes in), will invariably always be at, or struggling to stay away from, the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to cap space.

that's my take anyway. feel free to disagree, but i think its a huge reflection upon the management... especially for a team that is underachieving as much as the Rams have been as of late.

[Ramblin` Ram]

i do think the cap rules should change a lil...it was introduced to bring parity to the NFL but you get a bad coach for a couple of years and it can take a decade to recover.
there should be a rule where if players dont perform to a certain level then they can be cut and the future salary of that player is no longer the teams problem....i signed a 22 year contract for the army,i was out in 2 years..i dont get paid by my former employer so why should they?

[AtlantaRamFan]

I mean it's not as if we have "Icons" on defense and I just don't see how we are 4 million under, while the Patriots are 21 million under. it just doesnt add up.

I think we're 8 mil but yea it does suck that the FO makes bad cap decisions..

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the cap hit is only signing bonus, not salary, right?

[Nick]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the cap hit is only signing bonus, not salary, right?

Cutting a player clears his salary off the books, but triggers an acceleration of pro-rated cap bonus money from the remaining years of the contract. That's why, if the Rams elected to cut Bulger this year, the cap hit would be $11 million... because cutting him accelerates the bonus money that's spread out over the contract, forcing the team to take the hit in one year. Sometimes teams will designate players as post-June 1st cuts, which is another option that can allow teams to spread the hit over two seasons rather than one. Given that there is not a set salary cap in place for 2010 though, this may not be an option this year. I'm really uncertain about the details of that, though.

[PeoriaRam]

I mean it's not as if we have "Icons" on defense and I just don't see how we are 4 million under, while the Patriots are 21 million under. it just doesnt add up.

The Patriots built, and replenish themselves, primarily through the draft. That helps.

[general counsel]

If the salary is guaranteed, that counts against the cap as well.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[txramsfan]

That's why I think the Rams will drop Pace/Holt/and maybe Little. This would free up about 6 million in cap space.

[Bald_81]

That's why I think the Rams will drop Pace/Holt/and maybe Little. This would free up about 6 million in cap space.

Isn't Holt's cap number $10 million alone? I would really hate to see Torry go, although if he does we wouldn't just cut him loose I'm pretty sure we would trade him for a 3rd or 4th.

[txramsfan]

His money isn't guaranteed.

[39thebeast]

Is this 8 mil before or after the cap goes up. I think we can restructure Pace and Little and cut Chavous. I don't think Torry will be as willing to restructure so he may be gone. I expect us to end up with about 16mil add or take a few mil. I think that would give us enough to Franchise OJ, resign Bartell, add a decent SS, add a lower price offensive lineman, and sign our high picks.

[itsguud]

We are screwed with this cap #... Cut Bennett take the one year hit and fix it next year. He is wasting enough money for 2 great players.

[Mooselini]

I think that Pace and Little would reconstruct their contract. Bulger might even do it too.

This is gonna suck though...

[eldfan]

That's why I think the Rams will drop Pace/Holt/and maybe Little. This would free up about 6 million in cap space.

I don't see Pace going anywhere, want be shock to see Holt leave. We need Little so I think he stays.