Interesting Hawkblogger visuals on the Seahawks salary cap

http://www.hawkblogger.com/2014/03/infographic-seahawks-salary-cap.html

We've seen a lot of hand-wringing and verklemptitude around here lately regarding signing players, and the salaries they will command. This is a pretty good breakdown - with cool visuals for more clarity - on just what our situation is. The key is seeing what our salary breakdown will be like after a couple years, which is what we're setting ourselves up for right now. The happy Schadenfreude part is comparing what we're doing with the snapshots on the Broncos and Cowboys he includes.

Never a better time to be a Seahawks fan, folks!

Great find, thanks!

Damn those graphs are cool! Thanks

Tnat Dead Money dood is expensive, can we cut him?

I think the 13 million cap number is high for Sherm and 12 is high for Earl by about 2-3 million each - in that year anyway but the point is well taken. regardless - this is what EVERY other team in the league has to deal with.

Excellent. Oh Cowboys...that much for a backup QB? Although Weeden might be kicking Orton out of there. Who the heck is Doug Free?!

My only argument is, and obviously this is dependent on his health and production, but I don't know if Okung gets that big of a chunk in 2016. Maybe, I mean, there's a reason the guy watching the blind side of your most expensive guy is your second most expensive guy, but I think he'll need to earn it

That 2016 outlook is what you should show people when they ask who the core of the team is. That's it right there. That is who we need to build around for the team to have the same continued success.

Would really like to see the same graph for the Broncos in 2016 with all those contracts.

TDOTSEAHAWK":fbcoh0qw said:

I think the 13 million cap number is high for Sherm and 12 is high for Earl by about 2-3 million each - in that year anyway but the point is well taken. regardless - this is what EVERY other team in the league has to deal with.

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I was thinking the same but the overall number will be about the same. I figure it'll go something like this...

Wilson 18 million
Sherman 12 million
Thomas 10 million

TDOTSEAHAWK":3fnyuobu said:

this is what EVERY other team in the league has to deal with.

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This is what every other team in the league wishes they had to deal with.

Most other teams didn't draft well enough to be in this situation, so they're the ones over paying for FA's right now. The key to the Hawks continued success over the next 5-6 years with this core group is to start hitting at a high rate again on the draft now that our depth is being depleted by players leaving.

If we have a high draft hit rate, then we stay on track with success. If we don't? Then we're going to start struggling to stay ahead of the next round of young teams like the Rams, Packers, Eagles, etc.

Exactly why I've been saying I have NO problem if our team remains the same as it is right now + the draft. We need that money for our elite guys next year. I'm thinking the FO knows that as well and is only prepared to spend at most 7-8M more on whoever they can get cheaply.

Am I the only one that can't the page to load to the point you can scroll, etc.? I'd really like to read this.

hawksfansinceday1":143m1gjg said:

Am I the only one that can't the page to load to the point you can scroll, etc.? I'd really like to read this.

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Sgt. Largent":wzipi08c said:

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$15 million for Wilson seems overly optimistic.

Basically, what this shows us is this year and possibly next year are our best opportunities to win another Super Bowl. After that, it's going to get kind of dicy. We will need to find a new RB with limited cap space. Harvin is going to have to live up to his massive, Mark Sanchez-sized salary. Both he and Okung will need to stay healthy.

Lol @ Cowboys. Their highest paid player is dead...

Love that projection though. 1 free agent, 1 trade, everyone else that's projected to make big coin is home grown. John Schneider for MVP.

HawkFan72":318ljjb0 said:

Would really like to see the same graph for the Broncos in 2016 with all those contracts.

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Manning, Welker, Ware, and Talib will all VERY likely be gone after 2015... some before (?)... it''s just the way that their contracts were structured with the amount of guaranteed money being all paid in the first year or two.

CANHawk":2mpdo67i said:

Lol @ Cowboys. Their highest paid player is dead...

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That, and JJ has to start paying Dez Bryant market value in 2015... and we all know that Jerry overpays.

The Seahawks aren't the only ones building through the draft with sprinkles of FA pickups. A Superbowl-contending team last year, if you believe the Hard Knocks hype, Bengals have built through the draft with minor FA pickups. Their main problem is Dalton has to step it up. Their cap this year is very healthy.

Just hate to see folks claiming the Seahawks method is isolated from the rest of the league. Their player development on the defensive side of the ball, especially DBs has been outstanding and their ability to get lower round players to maximize their abilities is the envy of the league. They need to hit on some young DL talent instead of having to hit the FA market.

But they aren't the only ones trying to be smart with how they do contracts. Because trading for Harvin and sacrificing 3 potential quality players for him flies in the face of the argument that the FO here is ahead of the curve. The trade for Branch by Ruskell compares in my mind and even as a person who gave Tim the benefit of the doubt, that trade didn't make sense. Harvin has the jury still out on him.

hawknation2014":gjjn5ib7 said:

Sgt. Largent":gjjn5ib7 said:

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$15 million for Wilson seems overly optimistic.

Basically, what this shows us is this year and possibly next year are our best opportunities to win another Super Bowl. After that, it's going to get kind of dicy. We will need to find a new RB with limited cap space. Harvin is going to have to live up to his massive, Mark Sanchez-sized salary. Both he and Okung will need to stay healthy.

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I figure this will be the last season we see Marshawn Lynch as a Seahawk, as he will have a 9M cap figure next year and will be 29 when the 2015 season hits.. the way Marshawn runs, age 29 may as well be 35. Maybe they restructure his contract to get another year out of him but it will be dicy..

As for Harvin. His deal is structured in a way where we are absorbing his huge cap hits now.. come 2016 Harvin could be released and we'd save 8M, 2017 we'd save 10M and 2018 11.5M .. so basically if Harvin is a bust after 2015 we can and probably will let him go. Even if he's not a bust.. Harvin is going to be a candidate to re-structure his deal in a couple of years. The Harvin deal paired with Tate leaving is EXACTLY why I want this team to draft a WR this year with one of their first two picks. It is incredibly deep at that position and we need a cheap option for 4-5 years with major upside. I love Baldwin and Kearse, but you have to believe (especially in the case of Kearse) that if they continue to perform as they did last year that they could command a comparable deal to Tate on the open market and that would be really hard to do with all the other extensions coming down the pipeline.

Okung.. probably the same thing.. though LT's are much harder to find than WR's. When Okung is healthy hes one of the better left tackles in the game.. so I imagine he will have a bit more rope than Percy, but extending him soon will be important to the long-term plans given the salary he will probably command. Especially after you just saw lesser talent at that position get paid quite the pretty penny on the open market.

hawksfansinceday1":2dtjs80i said:

Am I the only one that can't the page to load to the point you can scroll, etc.? I'd really like to read this.

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I wasn't able to on my phone. It was worth a read later when on a PC. It has more info like current, projected, and compares to broncos and cowboys.

hawknation2014":365kvioc said:

Sgt. Largent":365kvioc said:

Basically, what this shows us is this year and possibly next year are our best opportunities to win another Super Bowl. After that, it's going to get kind of dicy. We will need to find a new RB with limited cap space. Harvin is going to have to live up to his massive, Mark Sanchez-sized salary. Both he and Okung will need to stay healthy.

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Why do you think we drafted Michael? He's a 1st round graded RB that fell to the 2nd round due to injury issues. There's no way in hell we can afford to keep Lynch after 2015. He might even be a cap casualty next year if Pete thinks Michael is ready to go.

Like I said, if we want to stay on top, then we have to continue to hit on draft picks at a high rate to replace the guys we can't afford to resign. This year is going to be a HUGE draft for Pete and John.