So decided to redo some of my GM plan post combine.
Phase 1:
Player Cuts:
Cliff Avril - Saves $7M on cap space
Jeremy Lane - Saves $5M on cap space
John Ryan - Saves $2M on cap space
I chose these three as we need to get younger on defense and Ryan has faded in his play and not worth $3M this next season. I think we can get better with younger players at these positions primarily in the draft. This gives us an extra $14M in cap space bring us to about $28M.
Player Restructurings:
Duane Brown - 3 year extension for $30M with a $10M signing bonus spread over 4 years. Base salary of $4M this year. Saves us about $3M in cap space this year.
Richard Sherman - 3 year extension for $30M with a $10M signing bonus spread over 4 years. Base salary of $3.5M this year. Saves us about $7M in cap space this year. I think he does this deal as it gives him the ability to make the same money this year, and help the team cap space situation. It's also a way to keep one of the three LOB to help teach and lead the younger guys. He grated on Richard the last few years, but won't happen with our new DC.
This gives us another $10M and brings our cap space up to about $38M.
Phase 2:
Our FA re-signings:
Sheldon Richardson - We need him in the middle, and I hope he wants to stay here. We won't franchise him, but I think 4 years at $50M with a $12M signing bonus and first year salary of $4M gets it done. I don't want to go back to seeing no pressure up the middle again with our defense. SR solves this problem.
Bradley McDougal - 3 year contract $10M total with $2M signing bonus and 1st year base of $1M
Dion Jordan - 2 year contract for $10M at $2.5M first year and team option for $7.5M second year
Marcus Smith - 1 year contract $1m base salary
Luke Willson- 2 year contract $1M signing bonus with first year salary at $500K
DeShawn Shead - 1year contract at $1m, with no signing bonus
This is doable for our team and keeps us with a good nucleus to restructure..... Not Rebuild.
We still have about $22M in cap space after these Re-signings.
Free Agent Targets:
Justin Pugh OG - 4 year contract, $6M signing bonus and $2M first year salary.
Austin Steferian-Jenkins TE - 4 year contract, $6M signing bonus and $3M first year salary
Donte Moncrief WR - 3 year contract, $3M signing bonus and $2M first year salary
Not going to lie. These names have shown up on the board and I just like the idea. My plan would be to add veteran players on offense who can help RW now. These three guys would do that and greatly assist in our restructured run game. Pugh gets plugged in at LG and the left side of our O-line now looks pretty good! Jenkins and Moncrief will be a major plus in the run game and still do well in our passing attack. These FA targets stayed the same.
We now have about $11M in cap space room, if my math is correct.
Player trades:
The draft is going to hinge on several things happening via trade. This is where I think we get extra picks.
Michael Bennett trade - I would trade Bennett for a late 3rd or high 4th round pick in this years draft. This is partly about his age and I think he may be starting to grate on the team leadership. Someone will want him for a few more years.
Earl Thomas Trade - This is where we really get some good draft capital, but not what we completely want. I see us getting a high 2nd and high 3rd round picks for him. What he wants for a 3rd contract just is not in our plans, and we need to draft young players who have a major chip on their shoulders and true hunger to succeed. Earl still has it, but for how long? A shame but he is a casualty.
These two trades bring us about $10M in additional cap space for this year, and bring us to about $21M at this point.
I have left some extra cap room for some post draft and June 1st casualties that could help us. This namely is for a veteran RT, Edge rusher and possibly a quality RB who still has some gas left for a year or two. We also have plenty left to sign our draft picks.
Phase 3:
Draft Day:
At this point we have the following picks:
1st, high 2nd (Thomas), high 3rd (Thomas), low 3rd (Bennett), 4th, 5th, 5th, 5th, 7th, 7th, 7th at this point post trades. I also move down in the 1st to pick up a later 3rd and hopefully a 6th as well. So now we have the following With best draft player available with potential position pick:
Round 1 - RB
Round 2 - OG
Round 3 - Edge
Round 3 - SS
Round 3 -WR
Round 4 - LB
Round 5 - DT
Round 5 -OT
Round 5 -CB
Round 6 - P
Round 7 - K
Round 7 - OT/OG
Round 7 - LB
This gives us 13 picks, with 5 in the first three rounds. The combine showed several things to me. First, the best RB and edge rushers aren't going to be around at 18, so may as well trade down. Second, there are some really good potential prospects in day 2 that will be available to us if we trade into this day. My plan above gives us this ability, without burying us in Cap Hell for future years.
I am now going to look more closely at specific players and positions for draft day, so will add in the names in the next few weeks, or certainly before the draft.
My goal still is the same as my first post in this thread. Get younger on Defense and bring in proven vets for the offensive line and TE/WR who can run block and catch. That is the goal.
Phase 1:
Player Cuts:
Cliff Avril - Saves $7M on cap space
Jeremy Lane - Saves $5M on cap space
John Ryan - Saves $2M on cap space
I chose these three as we need to get younger on defense and Ryan has faded in his play and not worth $3M this next season. I think we can get better with younger players at these positions primarily in the draft. This gives us an extra $14M in cap space bring us to about $28M.
Player Restructurings:
Duane Brown - 3 year extension for $30M with a $10M signing bonus spread over 4 years. Base salary of $4M this year. Saves us about $3M in cap space this year.
Richard Sherman - 3 year extension for $30M with a $10M signing bonus spread over 4 years. Base salary of $3.5M this year. Saves us about $7M in cap space this year. I think he does this deal as it gives him the ability to make the same money this year, and help the team cap space situation. It's also a way to keep one of the three LOB to help teach and lead the younger guys. He grated on Richard the last few years, but won't happen with our new DC.
This gives us another $10M and brings our cap space up to about $38M.
Phase 2:
Our FA re-signings:
Sheldon Richardson - We need him in the middle, and I hope he wants to stay here. We won't franchise him, but I think 4 years at $50M with a $12M signing bonus and first year salary of $4M gets it done. I don't want to go back to seeing no pressure up the middle again with our defense. SR solves this problem.
Bradley McDougal - 3 year contract $10M total with $2M signing bonus and 1st year base of $1M
Dion Jordan - 2 year contract for $10M at $2.5M first year and team option for $7.5M second year
Marcus Smith - 1 year contract $1m base salary
Luke Willson- 2 year contract $1M signing bonus with first year salary at $500K
DeShawn Shead - 1year contract at $1m, with no signing bonus
This is doable for our team and keeps us with a good nucleus to restructure..... Not Rebuild.
We still have about $22M in cap space after these Re-signings.
Free Agent Targets:
Justin Pugh OG - 4 year contract, $6M signing bonus and $2M first year salary.
Austin Steferian-Jenkins TE - 4 year contract, $6M signing bonus and $3M first year salary
Donte Moncrief WR - 3 year contract, $3M signing bonus and $2M first year salary
Not going to lie. These names have shown up on the board and I just like the idea. My plan would be to add veteran players on offense who can help RW now. These three guys would do that and greatly assist in our restructured run game. Pugh gets plugged in at LG and the left side of our O-line now looks pretty good! Jenkins and Moncrief will be a major plus in the run game and still do well in our passing attack. These FA targets stayed the same.
We now have about $11M in cap space room, if my math is correct.
Player trades:
The draft is going to hinge on several things happening via trade. This is where I think we get extra picks.
Michael Bennett trade - I would trade Bennett for a late 3rd or high 4th round pick in this years draft. This is partly about his age and I think he may be starting to grate on the team leadership. Someone will want him for a few more years.
Earl Thomas Trade - This is where we really get some good draft capital, but not what we completely want. I see us getting a high 2nd and high 3rd round picks for him. What he wants for a 3rd contract just is not in our plans, and we need to draft young players who have a major chip on their shoulders and true hunger to succeed. Earl still has it, but for how long? A shame but he is a casualty.
These two trades bring us about $10M in additional cap space for this year, and bring us to about $21M at this point.
I have left some extra cap room for some post draft and June 1st casualties that could help us. This namely is for a veteran RT, Edge rusher and possibly a quality RB who still has some gas left for a year or two. We also have plenty left to sign our draft picks.
Phase 3:
Draft Day:
At this point we have the following picks:
1st, high 2nd (Thomas), high 3rd (Thomas), low 3rd (Bennett), 4th, 5th, 5th, 5th, 7th, 7th, 7th at this point post trades. I also move down in the 1st to pick up a later 3rd and hopefully a 6th as well. So now we have the following With best draft player available with potential position pick:
Round 1 - RB
Round 2 - OG
Round 3 - Edge
Round 3 - SS
Round 3 -WR
Round 4 - LB
Round 5 - DT
Round 5 -OT
Round 5 -CB
Round 6 - P
Round 7 - K
Round 7 - OT/OG
Round 7 - LB
This gives us 13 picks, with 5 in the first three rounds. The combine showed several things to me. First, the best RB and edge rushers aren't going to be around at 18, so may as well trade down. Second, there are some really good potential prospects in day 2 that will be available to us if we trade into this day. My plan above gives us this ability, without burying us in Cap Hell for future years.
I am now going to look more closely at specific players and positions for draft day, so will add in the names in the next few weeks, or certainly before the draft.
My goal still is the same as my first post in this thread. Get younger on Defense and bring in proven vets for the offensive line and TE/WR who can run block and catch. That is the goal.
