Capology 101

[Bflojohn]

O.K. basic question for the capologists out there.....IF Drew gets cut, the only cost to me is the accelerated bonus monies owed on the cap for the duration of his contract (2005 and 2006 remaining), right? The NFL doesn't have Gauranteed contracts so one can assume that the player must earn his base salary 1/16th at a time. In other words, the game checks for players is one part of sixteen payments (a game check/week) so my feeling for this is Bledsoe costs us simply bonus considerations in 2005.

[BillsGuyInMalta]

Oh Clumpy, where are you?

[Typical TBD Guy]

Clumpy's work on this subject

[Bflojohn]

Well....I did the numbers and essentially I'm right! The Bills after 6/1 can cut him and NOT owe the Salaried portion of his contract. The cap "hit" therefore is $3.216 million and that isn't going to hamper the Bills all that much! I say give J.P. Losman most of the March and May snaps in camp and ask Drew to sit it out!

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Well....I did the numbers and essentially I'm right! The Bills after 6/1 can cut him and NOT owe the Salaried portion of his contract. The cap "hit" therefore is $3.216 million and that isn't going to hamper the Bills all that much! I say give J.P. Losman most of the March and May snaps in camp and ask Drew to sit it out!

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I ain't no capologist since no one pays me to calim to know this stuff, but as I am over-interested in football and having at least some understanding of the cap is essential to having a rational opinion about what may happen on the field (we are fans and thus have no requirement to be rational actually), I try to pay attention to the cap and have my own sometimes wrong but I think better than average understanding of its ins and outs.

 

My imperfect understanding of this is: You are gnerally correct about the the implications of a cut post 6/1, but things are in play and it is not at all clear when or whether we are talking about a cut in terms of real-world activity (thus the timing question has a variable effect on what reality will be). In addition to the uncertainty about what will actually happen, none of us fans actually is privy to the actual contract language and agreement.

 

Thus in a case like Ruben Brown, we already knew from the publicly available information (which is actually quite a bit because the NFL and NFLPA mandate public release of a lot of info regarding the cap so they can keep and eye on each other) that Butler has signed him to a stupid non-market contract for his services (for years Ruben was the only guard in the top 10 OL cap hits) but cutting him still made no economic sense even though a comparably talented player ciould be had for less because the pro-rated portion of bonus would be accelerated making his cap hit the same whether you kept him or released him. However, the key fact which I and all others except for Brown and the Bills did not know was that his actual contract language called for a chunk of his base salary to be paid out as a bonus before the next season began. While the Bills still would have essentially the same cap hit. this payment as a bonus would essentially mandate that Ruben be kept even if his play deteriorated in mini-camp or pre-season (not expected, but not impossible either). The existence of this trigger and language co-incided with the signing of a new OL coach (JMac) who diagnosed RB as an umcertainty for his new scheme and plans who had a history of taking on stupid coaches (Kevin Killdrive) in defense of his teammates,

 

This newly found out by us cap requirement became a trigger for a decision to let RB go even though the Bills actually suffered a negative overall cap hit for this action (RBs salary and his accelerate cap hit were a wash for the Bills, but we then had to also pay Villarial to man the spot sice we had dispensed with RB's services).

 

I say all of this because it is simply a caution to you and all who see that to truly understand or predict football, you must understand and predict the cap as well. The unfortunate truth is that none of us truly understands or predicts the cap. This is not some outstanding admission because not only are we missing critical pieces of information, but when you look at how professionals in the NFL have mismanaged the cap (John Butler or Arthur Blank for example) it is not reasonable

to expect any of us fans to have a stone-cold lock understanding of this.

 

However, though no amateur (er even most professionals) has a perfect understanding of it, the best available information is pretty darn impressive to me. I definitely refer anybody who wants to understand the Bills cap to refer to the work of Clumping Platelets which is found in Billszone which astounds me in how outstanding this work is.

 

Again that being said, there are some significant things about the particulars of the Bledsoe deal which we don't know that make estimation of the deadspace created from a cut of him somewhat uncertain.

 

The cap hit and deadspace from him after 6/1 does appear to be $3.2 million as you mentioned. However, it now appears that the deadline for this deadspace number being true is actually some point in March rather than June as he is entitled to a balloon payment of a couple of million bucks on his 2005 base salary. My understanding is that were we to wait until June 1, 2005 to cut him the remaining bonus would in fact be split over two years, but actually the 2005 cap hit would be higher as we already would have paid him some base salary for this year. This is in part whit TD has said this issue is going to be settled one way or the other in the next two weeks.

 

On other factor which should also go into your knowledge of the cap since you ask is that you are correct that the base salary is paid out in 1/16th chunks. However, for cap and player management purposes, if a player is on the roster for two whole weeks he is then due his entire base salary for the season whethet he is on the roster or not.

 

This makes sense because it takes away the possibility or even the temptation for a team to cut a player just before the end of the season if they are out of the playoff mix, the player is hurt or whatever. By guranteeing a full year's pay (and thus a full year's cap hit) for any player who has shown he belongs after a couple of weeks it allows the players to be certain that they can play with the usual wreckless abandon,

 

It also means that if a player is cut it can be done but for reasons other than contract/ For example. we cut Bobby Shaw a quarter of the way through the season to send a message that everyone was always playing for their jobs as athletes regardless of the fiscal implications. MM actually took another page from the BB book as he was committed to there being no ESW players on the Bills (eat, sit and watch). Shaw was a good guy who showed no signs I could see of being a cancer, but the message was sent at 0-4 that a player had to play his way onto the field or he was gone even if he was a nice guy,

 

The bottomline for your analysis is that keeping Bledsoe around will never be a week to week thing in terms of the cap because very quickly you are on the hook for it all. Also depending upon language we will not know unless somebody tells the timing of his paements may mandate activities on the field which we might no be aware of.

[Typical TBD Guy]

Well....I did the numbers and essentially I'm right! The Bills after 6/1 can cut him and NOT owe the Salaried portion of his contract. The cap "hit" therefore is $3.216 million and that isn't going to hamper the Bills all that much! I say give J.P. Losman most of the March and May snaps in camp and ask Drew to sit it out!

217376[/snapback]

 

Yeah, but after 6/1 we'll also have a $3.2 million dead cap hit for 2006. With Clements and other FA's coming up next offseason, I'd rather just cut Drew before 6/1 and swallow the whole $4.3 million cap hit for 2005 only.

 

Actually, I'd rather just keep Drew as is because we'd only save $1.1 million by cutting him, and that extra $1.1 million will easily be needed for a new vet QB (and then some).

 

Actually, I'd rather have Drew just take a price cut for the sake of the team.

 

Actually, I'd rather have Drew retire...

[clumping platelets]

If you wait until after June 1st, Bledsoe pockets $1.05 million roster bonus. I want this solved before FA starts. I would rather just cut him now, take all remaining cap charges on '05, and move on. However, I'm not overly enamoured with the available FA or soon to be FA QBs and releasing Bledsoe and then signing a QB will just wash out cap wise. Hopefully, Drew will realize that it is necessary for him to rework his deal slightly. with the assurances from the Bills, that he will be given a true chance at retaining the starting QB job. I seriously doubt Losman will be ready and in order to have any chance in '05, I truly feel that with some additions on offense, Drew will be better. Get him a legitimate #3 option at WR (David Patten?) and at TE(Bubba Franks?), I really feel that will help the offense and give him more tools to work with. This will also help "down the road" with Losman

[drnykterstein]

Someone should really just sticky this thread untill further notice. You know its gunna get asked a zillion more times untill something happens with Drew.

[clumping platelets]

Someone should really just sticky this thread untill further notice. You know its gunna get asked a zillion more times untill something happens with Drew.

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[obie_wan]

Yeah, but after 6/1 we'll also have a $3.2 million dead cap hit for 2006. With Clements and other FA's coming up next offseason, I'd rather just cut Drew before 6/1 and swallow the whole $4.3 million cap hit for 2005 only.

 

Actually, I'd rather just keep Drew as is because we'd only save $1.1 million by cutting him, and that extra $1.1 million will easily be needed for a new vet QB (and then some).

 

Actually, I'd rather have Drew just take a price cut for the sake of the team.

 

Actually, I'd rather have Drew retire...

217448[/snapback]

 

 

Teflon Tom's decision to cut Drew's pay to $8.75 mil last year is sure looking good right now.

Not to mention, TD could have done nothing and had Drew play under his old contract and had ZERO dead money for 2005.

 

If Drew leaves, TD should definitely bring in another washed up big name QB with deteriorating skills

[Terry Tate]

If you wait until after June 1st, Bledsoe pockets $1.05 million roster bonus. I want this solved before FA starts. I would rather just cut him now, take all remaining cap charges on '05, and move on. However, I'm not overly enamoured with the available FA or soon to be FA QBs and releasing Bledsoe and then signing a QB will just wash out cap wise. Hopefully, Drew will realize that it is necessary for him to rework his deal slightly. with the assurances from the Bills, that he will be given a true chance at retaining the starting QB job. I seriously doubt Losman will be ready and in order to have any chance in '05, I truly feel that with some additions on offense, Drew will be better. Get him a legitimate #3 option at WR (David Patten?) and at TE(Bubba Franks?), I really feel that will help the offense and give him more tools to work with. This will also help "down the road" with Losman

217735[/snapback]

Outstanding work you did compiling that cap information, that must have taken some time.

[clumping platelets]

Outstanding work you did compiling that cap information, that must have taken some time.

217819[/snapback]

 

 

Thanks.....it does take time. More time during the early weeks of FA period. That's when a lot of info becomes available (cap adjustment, tender amts, etc). I also do a cap page for FinHeaven.com

[Dan Gross]

Teflon Tom's decision to cut Drew's pay to $8.75 mil last year is sure looking good right now.

Not to mention, TD could have done nothing and had Drew play under his old contract and had ZERO dead money for 2005.

 

If Drew leaves, TD should definitely bring in another washed up big name QB with deteriorating skills

217800[/snapback]

 

And who would you have not signed last year with the $3.5 Million the new contract saved off the cap? And I'm guessing you are assuming they would have chosen the $2M buy-out in November rather than the $7M option bonus, which granted the way the season started out would have been the case.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

If you wait until after June 1st, Bledsoe pockets $1.05 million roster bonus. I want this solved before FA starts. I would rather just cut him now, take all remaining cap charges on '05, and move on. However, I'm not overly enamoured with the available FA or soon to be FA QBs and releasing Bledsoe and then signing a QB will just wash out cap wise. Hopefully, Drew will realize that it is necessary for him to rework his deal slightly. with the assurances from the Bills, that he will be given a true chance at retaining the starting QB job. I seriously doubt Losman will be ready and in order to have any chance in '05, I truly feel that with some additions on offense, Drew will be better. Get him a legitimate #3 option at WR (David Patten?) and at TE(Bubba Franks?), I really feel that will help the offense and give him more tools to work with. This will also help "down the road" with Losman

217735[/snapback]

 

Clumpy, how does the CBA apportion the Bledsoe cap hit if he were cut after 6/1? You have a deadspace allocation to him on your chart in Billszone of $3.2 million which I believe is a correct allocation of the accelerated hit over the 2005/2006 cap, but I believe this info was created before the $1.2 million payment to him in March became common knowledge.

 

I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that this is part of his 2005 base pay and thus this money would not be saved in terms of our 2005 cap if we were to cut him after that date.

 

In theory, I guess this payment could also be converted from base pay to bonus which would still get him the check he watnts but allow us to prorate this payment over 05 and 06 were we to cut him after June 1st.

 

I assume the Bills will not want to pay him this money in any case if they are going to cut him so this drives making a decision sooner rather than later but do you have any sense of how this money is cap allocated?

[clumping platelets]

Clumpy, how does the CBA apportion the Bledsoe cap hit if he were cut after 6/1?  You have a deadspace allocation to him on your chart in Billszone of $3.2 million which I believe is a correct allocation of the accelerated hit over the 2005/2006 cap, but I believe this info was created before the $1.2 million payment to him in March became common knowledge.

 

I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that this is part of his 2005 base pay and thus this money would not be saved in terms of our 2005 cap if we were to cut him after that date.

 

In theory, I guess this payment could also be converted from base pay to bonus which would still get him the check he watnts but allow us to prorate this payment over 05 and 06 were we to cut him after June 1st.

 

I assume the Bills will not want to pay him this money in any case if they are going to cut him so this drives making a decision sooner rather than later but do you have any sense of how this money is cap allocated?

217961[/snapback]

 

 

The dead cap after 6/1 assumes payment of the $1.05 million roster bonus because it's due on March 2nd (or 4th). The proration of $2,166,666 + $1,050,000 = $3,216,666. The other proration remaining as you know, $2,166,666, would count as dead cap on 2006.

 

I personally prefer resolving the contract issue before FA begins with both Bledsoe and Moulds

[obie_wan]

And who would you have not signed last year with the $3.5 Million the new contract saved off the cap?  And I'm guessing you are assuming they would have chosen the $2M buy-out in November rather than the $7M option bonus, which granted the way the season started out would have been the case.

217909[/snapback]

 

I would have demanded Drew cut his pay to $3.5 mil, thus generating real saving $4.5 mil, both in cash and cap space.

 

If he refused, I would have cut him and signed Brian Griese and possibly another cheap vet to compete.

 

I also would have traded next year's 3rd for Drew Henson.

 

Bledsoe hamstrung the entire offense due to inability to make decisions with the football. The offense was dumbed down to a rookie level to minimize the chances of Drew melting down.

 

For a guy whose only real asset is his big arm, they sure didn't throw more than 10 yards downfield very much except on flea flickers.

[Dan Gross]

I would have demanded Drew cut his pay to $3.5 mil, thus generating real saving $4.5 mil, both in cash and cap space.

 

If he refused, I would have cut him and signed Brian Griese and possibly another cheap vet to compete.

 

I also would have traded next year's 3rd for Drew Henson.

 

Bledsoe hamstrung the entire offense due to inability to make decisions with the football. The offense was dumbed down to a rookie level to minimize the chances of Drew melting down.

 

For a guy whose only real asset is his big arm, they sure didn't throw more than 10 yards downfield very much except on flea flickers.

218139[/snapback]

Not to mention, TD could have done nothing and had Drew play under his old contract and had ZERO dead money for 2005.

 

217800[/snapback]

 

Okay, instead of "what would you have done," I ask how do you think that TD could have handled the hypothetical above. Same questions as before, as that was what I was responding to. If he had done nothing, there would have been ZERO dead money but we would be short one of the signings....TV perhaps? Villerial?

Who?