jonessed
Footballguy
Not to take away from the continued playoff battle, but I thought I would toss this up as something those of us without a dog in the fight could mull over. It's always interesting to hear the homer's points of view as they generally know more about what the team is doing and can put these numbers in perspective. This is using $92MM as next years cap (up from $85.5MM) and is current as of January 1, 2006.Denver, I know, was slotted to be one of the potential destinations for Owens, but I don't see how that is possible. I know they have a few players in the D that they are expecting to loosen up some room, but it seems they will need to do more than just that. Perhaps a Denver native can comment.San Diego, Cinci, Seattle, Jacksonville, and Chicago should all be in great shape considering their current teams and the space available to them. I know SD still needs to sign Brees, but all of their other high price players are taken care of. That should still leave them with $12MM+ to sign a few O-Lineman, DBs, or WRs.The Raiders and Jets looked to be screwed.Projected 2006 NFL Salary Cap Space for Each Team Rank Team $ Under the Cap 1 Cleveland Browns $31 M Considering the lack of star power in Cleveland it should come as no surprise that they are in excellent cap shape. 2 Arizona Cardinals $30 M With all of the cap room the Cardinals have, the first thing they need to do is figure out what to do with their QB situation as both Josh McCown and Kurt Warner are set to become free agents. 3 Minnesota Vikings $24 M Despite everything else that's gone wrong in the twin cities this year -- from ticket scalping to waving goodbye to Randy to taking trips on the love boat to watching an All Pro QB blow out his knee -- the Vikings continue to do a good job in managing their cap. 4 Green Bay Packers $22 M The Packers are sure to endure one of the wildest off-seasons in the club's history. Will Brett Favre stay or will he go? There are a good 7 million reasons (or dollars) why he may want to come back. Even so, the Packers have plenty of cap room to bring him in some reinforcements along the OL and a quality (er, healthy) RB to boot. 5 San Diego Chargers $21 M Give A.J. Smith credit for doing a better job of managing the cap than his mentor, the late John Butler, did. The Chargers have ample room to once again hang onto Drew Brees and Phil Rivers if they so choose. 6 Seattle Seahawks $21 M If the Seahawks choose not to sign reigning MVP Shaun Alexander to a long term contract it won't be because they don't have the cap room to do it. 7 San Francisco 49ers $18 M Remember when the Niners were in cap jail just a few years ago? Well, that is a thing of the past now thanks to cheap ownership. While the good news is that they won't be getting back into cap trouble, the bad news is that they are likely to be bogged down with a team loaded with inferior talent for years to come. 8 Jacksonville Jaguars $17 M Much like the Bengals, the Jaguars are a quality young team with plenty of cap room to continue to improve the team's base corps. 9 Chicago Bears $17 M Chicago, too, is following the trend we've seen set by good young head coaches who have placed their stamp on their teams by putting together a quality, a young roster. In case you haven't noticed, "young" also means "inexpensive". 10 Cincinnati Bengals $16 M This number, includes Carson Palmer's contract extension, which paid out $15 M in guaranteed, up-front money and will pay him a base of $6.75 M in 2006. Clearly the Bengals have done a nice job bringing along their young talent -- and they appear to be financially strong enough to contend for a number of years. 11 St. Louis Rams $16 M Whoever takes over for Mike Martz will at least inherit a healthy cap situation. Considering all of the holes that the Rams have to fill on defense, that money may not go as far as you think. 12 Baltimore Ravens $15 M Despite all of the on-field problems that the Ravens had this year, they remain in good cap shape. The front office as led by Ozzie Newsome has been very prudent in not throwing too much cash at players. 13 Houston Texans $14 M All indications are that GM Charlie Casserly will exercise the $8 M option to bring David Carr back in 2006. Maybe he should spend some of the leftover cap money on an offensive line that may be able to protect this investment.14 Buffalo Bills $10 M Underachieving RT (or is it LG?) Mike Williams is set to count about $10.8 M against the cap, as is veteran WR Eric Moulds. Look for the team to approach both players to take a paycut. 15 New Orleans Saints $10 M There are so many question marks surround the poor New Orleans Saints, that we do not wish to add to that any further here. Whoever the new head coach is going to be will be inheriting a pretty good roster and a decent cap situation, which may even get better if the team elects to release Aaron Brooks, who is set to makeover $6M in base salary in 2006. 16 Detroit Lions $9 M Assuming the Fords do not cave to fan pressure and continue to mark time with Matt Millen, the Lions head into the off-season in pretty decent cap shape. Interestingly, the player set to receive the biggest series of paychecks in 2006 is none other than Joey Harrington, whose future with the team remains in doubt. 17 Philadelphia Eagles $7 M Once each team's cap is properly adjusted to account for likely to be earned bonus money that was accounted for against the 2005 cap -- but never actually awarded to the player(s) -- you can fully expect the Eagles to have a great deal more cap room. After all, they've been playing this little trick for years. 18 NY Giants $3 M The Giants should have plenty of options when it comes to freeing up some cap space. For example, with so many big time skill position players, guess which player will have the highest base salary in 2006. Eli? Not even close. What about Tiki? Nope. Mike Strahan you ask? Wrong answer! Believe it or not, the NY Giant with the highest base salary heading into 2006 is Luke Petitgout! 19 Dallas Cowboys $2 M The Cowboys learned the hard way how a once-proud championship team can crumble overnight due to the restrictions of the salary cap. They appear to be heading into 2006 in pretty good shape. 20 New England Patriots $0 The Patriots have done such a fantastic job picking late in the draft every year that they haven't had to rely on overpaying free agents. Bill Belichick also seems to have a nose for knowing when to release his high priced veterans at just the right time. 21 Indianapolis Colts $0 The Colts will once again have to make a decision about what to do with Edgerrin James. Since he's guaranteed to make 20% more than he did last year, it is highly unlikely that GM Bill Polian and the Colts will be able to absorb that price tag, as they are right at the projected cap marker. The question is whether or not they'll consider giving him a long-term contract. 22 Carolina Panthers $-1000000 If you recall, two years ago, right after the Panthers' Super Bowl season, they found themselves in some cap trouble. They took their medicine then -- and suffered through a tough 2004 season. A year later, they've managed to catapult back into the playoffs and have their cap situation in a manageable situation. 23 Pittsburgh Steelers $-4 M The Steelers cap condition is not as bad as it appears. For example, all indications are that Jerome Bettis will be calling it quits at the end of this season. The Bus is scheduled to make a little over $5.35 M in base salary alone in 2006. 24 Miami Dolphins $-5 M Yes, the Dolphins are projected to be a bit over the cap heading into 2006. However, it's a far cry from last season, where they were so far over that they had to go on a frenzy cutting veteran players. 25 Tampa Bay Buccaneers $-8 M The Bucs ended the regular season with the #1 defense in the NFL. Small wonder, then, that 6 of the 7 highest paid players on the team heading into 2006 play on the defensive side of the ball. That 7th player, Brian Griese, could very well become a cap casualty, considering the emergence of Chris Simms. Of course, the team must make a decision on Simms too, as he is set to become a restricted free agent in March. 26 Atlanta Falcons $-9.908 M The Falcons have one of the best defensive front-sevens in the NFL -- and they pay dearly for it, as five of their top eight players are either linebacker or defensive linemen.27 Tennessee Titans $-10 M The poor Titans had to do so much house cleaning last year that they were left with a severely undermanned squad in 2005. From the looks of things, there will be more cost cutting to do in 2006. 28 Washington Redskins $-20 M As usual the Redskins look to be one of the primary offenders heading into the new year. The team's tendency to rework contracts over and over again has made them a poster child for the "mortgage the future for today" mantra. A good case in point is Lavar Arrington, whose base salary in 2006 jumps from $545 K to $2 M. 29 Kansas City Chiefs $-22 M With the Chiefs in clear cap trouble, we find it interesting that the new head coach appears to be Herm Edwards, who just happens to be leaving the team with arguably the worst cap situation in the NFL. 30 Denver Broncos $-26 M The Broncos were built to win in 2005 -- as their precarious cap situation heading into next season isn't pretty. 31 NY Jets $-29 M Obviously the Jets are really in bad shape here. If the team elects to keep Chad Pennington, they will have to fork over a $3M roster bonus. With a $6 M base salary -- and nearly $4M in this year's bonus proration -- they clearly cannot afford to keep him under the existing contract. However, it will cost them (cap-wise) about $10 M just to cut him. And they can forget about franchising John Abraham again. Expect the cost-cutting to begin soon. 32 Oakland Raiders $-30 M Didn't we go through this drill last year, when the Raiders were in such bad cap shape that they almost couldn't afford to cut anybody? Last year Rich Gannon came to the rescue by reworking his contract to get the team under the cap -- and then retiring. Who will help out this year?
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People get a little too worked up about cap numbers this early in the year and what they mean.
I was really directing my comment at those who think the Raiders are hosed simply because they are over the cap in January.
