Rookies don't really cost that much against the cap, especially since we won't have a #1 pick. Only signing bonuses reduce the cap since most rookies deals aren't in the "top 51" deals when they are signed. When you hear about 'rookie pool' it isn't the same thing as cap necessary to sign rookies.

Sutz -- when Dave and are talking $1.4 - $1.8M that's post Obo. Also, no one has reported exact terms on Avril so we don't know what his 2013 cap number is.

What Dave said earier is kind of interesting -- deals may get re-worked and we wouldn't hear about it until much later. If you hear at some point that Kam Chancellor has signed an extension, we will wonder if what else changed to allow that deal to happen.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

OK, John, my bad on the Obo thing.

BTW, you guys please keep it up. We all get informed when we read this thread.

_________________
Talent can get you to the playoffs.
It takes character to win when you get there.

I'm glad you guys know about all this stuff. Crap, I am going to buy a new car and trying to budget for that is a nightmare.

I just want to throw in there that I have a hard time buying the line that the Seahawks are going to pay Chris Clemons $6M in 2013 after signing Bennett & Avril. At some point he'll be given a number and told to take it or leave it.

Looking at Clemon's contract, according to Rotoworld $1.5M of his 2013 is guaranteed. Given that, it would be hard to get him to to $2M, more likely $3M.... meaning the most we could save by re-working his deal is $3M.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Not just Clemons, but I was looking at Miller's contract too, but there are a lot of guarantees in there. His entire Base salary this year, plus most of his base salary next year are guaranteed, and although we all like to think that it would be great for a guy to rework their contracts, most contracts don't come with those kinds of future guarantees. If it were me, I don't think I would rework my deal If I were in his position.

I can see Clemons reworking his deal somewhat because of his injury though. He might get some type of guarantee that he gets PUP'd or something to agree to the reduction which would give him the best chance at a full recovery and still be back in time for the final 10 weeks of the season and the post season. Although that is completely speculation on my part.

Mebane's contract has possibilities though. He could rework his deal to get a new signing bonus, as he's only got $600,000 in dead money in his current deal, so we could effectively rearrange his money around and lower his current cap value if we were so inclined.

The rest of the contracts appear like they won't be saving us much, so after those two, we are looking at possibly cutting guys who could be replaced in the draft. An example there is Heath Farwell. He's due $1.5 million this year with only 333,334 in dead money, and we MAY be able to replace him in the draft, but who knows what the draft plan is, but replacing some of the top 51 with draft picks will open up some money.

Hey John, I have a question that I really don't see answered anywhere. Last year the Cowboys and the Redskins were both assessed cap penalties for abusing the non cap year in 2010. It totaled $46 million over the two years or $23 million per year. That money was to be added evenly to teams caps across the league and comes to an extra $766,666 per team. I am under the assumption that this is reflected in the total released as this years cap, but I can't find that conclusively anywhere, which leaves open the possibility that the cap number we read about is the original cap number, and each team may still have that extra 3/4 million of space. Of course without an answer it's hard do tell for sure. Have you heard anything definite on this?

I don't know if this is still the case but only the top 51 contracts count, and every rookie signed bumps another low contract off the bottom. Add in the rookie wage cap, and rookie signings now take up very little cap room.

_________________
<A>
<IMG></A>

Thanks to Jazzhawk for the link (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66749&p=898508#p898508)

Looks like Avril's deal is MUCH friendlier than anticipated. His cap number for this year (assuming the numbers reported are accurate) will be only $3.75 million, which adds $3.75 million back into the cap projections we'd made.

My estimate with the new numbers - $5,161,170 under the cap.

Hawkstorian had it around $1.8 million so with the added money, that would put us around $5.5 million under the cap.

So basically we have somewhere in the $5 million+ range of space available. MUCH better shape than originally expected.

That looks about right, Dave. $5m gives us breathing room. Enough to add back Branch and maybe some other small deals, plus add rookies.

EDIT** My latest spreadsheet has us at $5,084,576 in available cap so you and I are $76,594 different!

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

John Clayton has the number at a very specific $6.43m as of this afternoon.

Clayton may be right, we're all relying on imperfect information. It's possible Zac Miller's roster bonus converted to a signing bonus or any number of other changes. Sights like overthecap and spotrac don't have everything right.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

When I heard Clayton's number, he was talking about it without considering Obomanu's release (which so far hasn't been made official anywhere that I've seen). I also doubt he's figured in any of the RFA contracts, as they technically haven't been signed (from what I've been able to find) and until they are signed, they aren't officially counting against the cap.

Basically the number is constantly in flex in the off season, but I don't think that Clayton's math figures in any of the flex, and only gives the official number as given to him at any given point.

Could one of you nice people explain how a incentive is deemed likely or unlikely and how they affect the cap?

If he did it last year, it's "Likely". If he didn't do it last year it's "Not Likely" ... unless

... there's a whole table of stuff in the CBA that are always considered likely. For example, a certain number of rushing yards is always considered "Likely".

More often we see escalators instead of incentives. An escalator says if you get a certain number of sacks (or yards or catches or go to the pro bowl) in 2012, you're base salary in 2013 increases.



RFA tenders count against the cap.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

They are held against the cap, in other words you have to have enough space to sign those tenders at all times by league rule, but I was under the impression that most reported cap values aren't including them because until they are signed, they can still negotiate deals that would change the values? Is this not correct?

I went back through all the deals and compared my worksheet to what's out there on the various websites. Interestingly, Michael Bennett is listed at $4.8M, so not quite the $5M reported. Without getting into all the gory details, I'm showing $5,665,576 available. This includes the three RFAs at $1,323,000 which counts against the cap, although David is right that offer could be withdrawn or a different contract signed, which would change the total.

Added Sunday:

I've been corresponding with the founder of one of the salary cap sites and apparently there was another adjustment just prior to free agency from the $13.2M figure that's been widely reported. In fact, the Seahawks got another $1M or so adjusted upward so our total cap is $137.2M.

Seahawks right now have about $6.5M in available space, even after rookies are signed they would have over $6M. Probably enough to sign another mid-level veteran and work out an extension with Chancellor if the parties are willing.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Thanks John, I hadn't looked at the numbers since I last did the math in this thread, was kind of waiting to see what our next move was. I was thinking that the extra money added to the cap may have been that extra allotment from the Cowboys/Redskins cap penalty. I'd wondered if that money had been originally counted, but if there was that addition that wasn't widely mentioned, that could be it.

I'm not sure if we will be going after anymore free agents that aren't our own. I would guess that Hauschka may eat up maybe a million or so of that cap and I still think Branch is a consideration out there, but they are letting him test the market and see that his price isn't as high as he may think. My guess is that we have a number in mind and if he can do better than that we let him walk, if not, we get a deal done there as well. Then with extending Kam, which I think is just a matter of time, and our draft, I think we likely aren't going to see much more "action" this offseason. Of course trying to pin down what this front office is up to is nearly an impossible task. It does seem though that we have the cash to be able to do what we need to do and still have money to do at least one extension if not more, depending on who they believe to be core to the future.

Catching up on some threads

You can't just look at guaranteed money. $1.5 million 2013 is guaranteed but he got a 3 year $6million signing bonus. So $2 / year is hitting each year. You are hitting your salary cap with $5.5 million this year if you cut him. Sure zero next year but you are not going to cut a guy that costs you $5.5 million if cut

Go to spotract their number is more accurate at $5.8 million dead money. If you cut him next year all you are paying is $2million and now it would make a lot more sense if he isn't productive.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/seattle-seah ... s-clemons/

With the extra money mentioned above, and the EXTREMELY friendly cap contracts the three big signings were, we still have over $6 million in space, so it may mean a slightly less chance of us needing to rework his contract.

PFT is reporting available cap space at about $6.8M

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... -march-26/

Which means we're pretty close in our guestimating.

_________________
This post is intended for entertainment purposes only.