@Tical
Where are you getting $40M against the cap in year 1 from???
1st year cap numbers come in way under their APY.
Frank Clark signed that fat contract in KC right? The 3rd highest paid (APY) edge guy in the NFL.
What was his cap hit in 2019? $6.5M.
Khalil Mack the highest paid man at the position, $23.5M APY.
His cap hits in:
2018: $13.8M
2019: $11.9M
This happens because they get nearly all of their year 1 money in a signing bonus, and then it is prorated over the course of the contract, up to 5 years.
So please explain to me how Clowney and Reed combined are going to count $40M against the cap in 2020 for any team, when Clark & Mack accounted for $18.4M combined in 2019? Less than half the number you're proposing.
That 59 number is also going to go up after they, cut Britt, Dickson, and Wright. Or they all agree to massive pay cuts. Either way they will not be playing at their current number as they are all massive overpays in 2020.
So Seattle will push that number to $70M, or close to it at the very least.
In fact if you cut those players and sign Clowney to a massive deal, plus fill out the roster. You're right back to $59M in space. Clowney is a better value than those 3 combined going forward.
Clowney > Britt + Dickson + Wright
Just as an example:
Clowney in year 1 if he signs with Seattle (since they stupidly do shorter contracts, which pushes up the APY in year 1 because they only have 4 years to spread the bonus, instead of 5.)
So let's say the Seahawks are willing to pay Clowney $25M APY over 4 years with a $25M signing bonus. Making him the highest paid edge rusher in the NFL.
This is a ballpark example of how his cap hit would look in 2020 (25M signing bonus divided by 4 + Low base salary of $5M.) That would be $30M in new money in year 1.
Cap Hit in year 1 of a 4yr deal
2020: $11.25M (nearly double Clark's but still very manageable)
Seattle's shorter contract structure for superstars is dumb though, because if you could sign Clowney to a 6 year deal and spread the money out even more it would look like this. ($25M signing bonus divided by 5 + 1 extra year to tack on with a high cap number and lower the middle years out. SOP in the NFL.)