Cap Hits 2025

[Germanhawk7]

Actual Top Cap Hits for next year.
We are paying the wrong guys (not big cat) top dollars.
Same last year with Diggs and Adams.

Player	Cap Number		Dead Money & Cap Savings Cut (pre-June 1)
Geno Smith	$38,500,000		$13,500,000	$25,000,000
Tyler Lockett	$30,895,000		$13,895,000	$17,000,000
D.K. Metcalf	$31,875,471		$21,000,000	$10,875,471
Dre'Mont Jones	$25,645,418		$14,072,918	$11,572,500
Leonard Williams	$29,150,000		$16,600,000	$12,550,000
Uchenna Nwosu	$21,498,333		$13,016,667	$8,481,666
Noah Fant	$13,500,000		$4,500,000	$9,000,000

 

[flv2]

Contract details are important, cap hits are not.

 

[Shane Falco]

Contract details are important, cap hits are not.

Please explain. To me, seems like cap hit is everything. Trying to get as much talent under the total cap as possible.

 

[Shane Falco]

Lockett says he plans on playing next season. If he doesn't come back to the Hawks on the cheap, I can't imagine him in another uni.

 

[nwHawk]

Maybe Lockett is trying to negotiate a contract agreement to lower his cap hit and keep him in Seattle. If he doesn’t, he’ll get cut. And I can’t see him going anywhere else unless it was to the Chiefs to try for a ring.

 

[sutz]

This is the time when the bean counters go into high gear. Look for a ton of maneuvering and re-structuring this off season.

Lockett will have to take a pay cut or move on.

Geno's numbers aren't final as he has up to $6 mill in incentives on the line this sunday.

Gonna be a wild off season.

 

[flv2]

Please explain. To me, seems like cap hit is everything. Trying to get as much talent under the total cap as possible.

Player Z signs a 5 year contract at $21M per season. In his 1st season the team classifies $20M of his salary as a signing bonus. The player is paid $21M but only his $1M base salary and 1/5th of the $20M signing bonus count towards that year's cap. The cap hit is $5M, rather than $21M. The remaining $16M will count equally over the remaining 4 years in addition to whatever his cap hits are in those years. Without further alterations the cap hits would be $29M in those years.

However, in year 2 the team could again decide to convert $20M into a restructure bonus and push back the cap hit back. Only 1/4th of the bonus would count in that year, along with the remaining base $1M and the $4M cap hit from the 1st signing bonus. The year 2 cap hit would be $10M rather than $29M. The cap in the remaining 3 years would now be $34M. The player would still only be earning $25M per season. If/when the player leaves the team all outstanding delayed cap hits will accelerate into the earliest available cap year.

The system is designed to create flexibility so teams can spend a bit more or a bit less in any given year depending on circumstances. Most teams aren't maximising their delays of cap hits with every player. They create cap space, (effectively borrowing cap from future seasons), only as they need it. If they maximised all the possible cap space fans would be complaining that the team was tens of millions under the cap and they weren't concerned with trying to win.

Smith is currently due $25M for 2025, (but this might change). There is $13.5M in dead money that will stay with the team regardless of whether he stays or goes. Cutting or trading him won't get rid of the dead money. Smith isn't being paid $38.5M in 2025. The salary, bonuses, and guarantees are important. The cap number is creative accountancy.

 

[Shane Falco]

Gotcha. It's all about the cap. lol

 

[AgentDib]

Gotcha. It's all about the cap. lol

Agreed. The value a player provides in any single year is the contribution in that year minus his cap hit in that year. A player provides negative value if they are overpaid and positive value if they are underpaid.

Playing young QBs is a dominant strategy to gain long-term value in the NFL. If they are good then you have an enormously valuable asset, and if they aren't then you get draft capital and a chance to clear cap room and bad contracts. Of course the cost of this is having non-competitive seasons from time to time.

The system is designed to create flexibility so teams can spend a bit more or a bit less in any given year depending on circumstances. Most teams aren't maximising their delays of cap hits with every player. They create cap space, (effectively borrowing cap from future seasons), only as they need it. If they maximised all the possible cap space fans would be complaining that the team was tens of millions under the cap and they weren't concerned with trying to win.

I think we've disagreed about this before, but the ability to borrow from the future doesn't diminish the importance of maximizing value per cap dollar spent. Cap hits for a player are opportunity costs and could be spent on other players or carried forwards.

Teams don't actually make up for bad contracts through timing the cap hits. Consider that team with good contracts can still play those same cap games and if so would still be better than the team with bad contracts. Rather, needing to manipulate the cap when it is tight is a hidden cost that teams are burdened with when they have missed on players but are still trying to compete in the short term.

 

[AgentDib]

There is $13.5M in dead money that will stay with the team regardless of whether he stays or goes. Cutting or trading him won't get rid of the dead money. Smith isn't being paid $38.5M in 2025. The salary, bonuses, and guarantees are important. The cap number is creative accountancy.

Where I agree with you is that dead money is a sunk cost and as such does not factor into future decisions. It's still part of what he is costing the team, however, and does factor into how valuable his contract is for discussion purposes.

 

[bigskydoc]

Try telling Minnesota that cap is unimportant, then watch what they do over the next two years.

 

[flv2]

If a player signs a contract for $21M the important question is always whether the player is worth the contract. The 'when the team accounts for it against the cap' is in the hands of the team rather than the player. All of the $21M will eventually have to be accounted for. Thus the details of the contract rather than the cap hits are what is important. If the cap increases every year then delaying cap hits is a good business strategy. All teams do this to some extent. The Eagles have done it to an extreme level.

For example: Metcalf is due $18M in 2025. That is the important number. The current 2025 cap number for him is $31.875M. He has previously been paid $21M that has not yet been accounted for against the cap. $13.875M of that $21M will be accounted for in 2025 regardless of whether he stays or goes. The remaining $7.125M is scheduled to be accounted for in the future. However, if Metcalf was cut or traded before the June 1 2025 date that outstanding $7.125M would accelerate into the 2025 cap and the $18M cap hit for the 2025 salary would disappear. He's an $18M decision not a $10.875M decision. If he was cut or traded the team would have $10.875M more cap space in 2025 and $7.125M more cap space in 2026.