DABEARSDABOMB Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 Below were what I found most interesting: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/07/dur...-gm-cap-issues/ For the 2014 season, the salary cap was set at $133 million per team, a $10 million jump from the previous year. During the NFL owners’ meeting in Dallas last month, media reports indicated that owners anticipated the 2015 salary cap being between $138.6 and $141.8 million. Yet, the NFL Players Association anticipated a “substantial increase” will be added to the cap This is code for...cap is going to go up pretty significantly...see my comments later on Cutler, but really this means we could definitely be in a position to take on Cutler's dead money (now...with the assumption we are building more towards 16 / 17). As it stands, the Bears have 48 players under contract for the 2015 season totaling $115 million. More than half of that amount is tied up in six players, all of whom are 29 or older — quarterback Jay Cutler ($16.5 million), defensive end Jared Allen ($12.5 million), wide receiver Brandon Marshall ($9.575 million), running back Matt Forte ($8.8 million), left tackle Jermon Bushrod ($8.05 million) and defensive end Lamarr Houston ($6.99 million). If the Bears were to release Cutler before March 12 of this year, they would rid themselves of the remaining $16 million in guarantees, but would add $19.5 million in dead money to their 2015 cap amount. Furthermore, with no viable quarterback alternative currently on the roster, such a move would signal a complete rebuild, which may not be a bad plan given the state of the Bears’ roster compared to the rest of their division. To be frank, if we aren't going to contend and if we add a young QB to the roster, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. We'd have a young QB on the cheap so really outside of the pick going to QB (when it could go elsewhere) we really aren't any different off financially than we would have been and beginning the following year, you get a potential competitive advantage (a lot of that depends on whether your QB still looks like a potential franchise guy...in which case you can have a relatively cheap QB and spend money elsewhere...see Seahawks). This also would mean that between Jay / Marshall, you pretty much have to move each by early March for it to be as cap friendly as possible (I believe). I still believe we could get a pretty good pick for Jay (e.g., 2nd rounder). If the team is willing to part ways with Marshall, it would actually save money in doing so. Marshall’s 2015 base salary is fully guaranteed on March 12, thus if they were to cut him prior to that, the team would save $3.95 million (Marshall’s $9.575 cap charge minus his remaining $5.625 in guaranteed money) on the cap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackerDog Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 If the team is willing to part ways with Marshall, it would actually save money in doing so. Marshall’s 2015 base salary is fully guaranteed on March 12, thus if they were to cut him prior to that, the team would save $3.95 million (Marshall’s $9.575 cap charge minus his remaining $5.625 in guaranteed money) on the cap. It may be true that they'll see a "savings" if they cut BM but these numbers aren't out of line for a #1 WR in league, IMO. So... I'm already on record as wanting to keep him but you should be able to get a team that wants him at that salary who would be willing to give up a pick or two, if you HAD to get rid of him. Like say, he said something disrespectful to Virginia or some such thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongo3451 Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 It may be true that they'll see a "savings" if they cut BM but these numbers aren't out of line for a #1 WR in league, IMO. So... I'm already on record as wanting to keep him but you should be able to get a team that wants him at that salary who would be willing to give up a pick or two, if you HAD to get rid of him. Like say, he said something disrespectful to Virginia or some such thing. I'm on record with wanting you trade Marshall. If we're posed with the choice of cutting; I would rather keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 If you can trade them and take most of their cap hit off the books fine, but otherwise I think Cutler and Marshall stay at least one more year. Looking at Dead Money vs Cap Savings, these are the players with with a huge cap savings (Forte) or comparable dead money to cap savings value: Name - Dead Money / Cap Savings Forte $1,000,000 / $7,800,000 Houston $3,960,000 / $3,030,000 Gould $1,800,000 / $1,800,000 SMC $1,888,036 / $741,227 So Houston would cost $6,990,000 to keep or $3,960,000 to cut. The big savings really come after 2015: Name - Dead Money / Cap Savings Cutler $3mil / $14mil Marshall $3.75mil / $6.25mil Bushrod $4.4mil / $4.3 mil Allen $0 / $8.5mil Houston $2.97mil / $4.02mil Bennett $1.15mil / $5.18mil Jennings $1.5mil / $4.25mil Gould $1.mil/ $2.9mil Cutting these 8 would equal dead money just over $18 mil, but would save almost $50 mil. So if they all played in 2016, their cap hits would total around $68 mil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.