Free Agency Thread

[DanBengalfan]

ha ha ha, Hobson is typing up a "road grader" article as we speak.

 

[augustisback003]

Mark Sanchez cut by the Jets, should the Bengals bring him in for a look?

 

[alf8478]

Mark Sanchez cut by the Jets, should the Bengals bring him in for a look?

I wish! But I'm afraid we're stuck with Campbell as the back up and no real threat to Andy's job,

 

[cincygrad]

The Bengals have money, but to keep throwing around they have nearly 30MM in true cap maybe slightly incorrect.

You do have to consider they will pay between 8MM and 9MM for draft picks.

They have to consider any clause that will cause a raise in pay, incentives, workout bonuses, etc...those are not factored in to the cap, so you have to hold about 3-4MM for that, plus if you need to sign a guy in the year due to injury to fill a spot...so another 2-3MM

If the Bengals had close to 28 (I think estimates were about 28 before the cuts, and before the signigns of Polak and Campbell, so lets say those wash out), they have about 15 MM left in actual cap space going forward. That would put them in th 90+% of usage of cap space for the year, not at the bare minimum of 89%.

However, with all that being said, I'm still not 100% how the carryover affects their spending. They also had about 8MM in carryover. If they are able to spend that cash, and not have it count towards this years' cap (which is what I think happens), the bengals had 28MM in cap space, but could actually have spent (could spend) 36MM.

With that in mind, it would have been nice to seem them push harder for Collins. Not really concerned as much about them losing MJ, but Collins could have really solidified the line.

Not upset about some of these F/A's not signing. I don't want Jared Allen on a 5 year deal. I wouldn't want to pay Hawkins 10MM over 2 years for a 3rd/4th/5th option at WR...

Going to be interesting to see how it plays out, but in the national media, people are actually praising the Bengals right now for their approach, despite losing Collins and MJ, and despite having cap room...so, something must be out there...

Again, we'll see....

Is that you Geoff?

The Bengals are like 5th in the league in available cap room. Every other team has the same constraints, but other teams find money to sign key pieces. I'm not asking the Bengals to sign old guys that are over the hill..... I'm asking why they didn't sign key players on their own team (Johnson and Collins). They had the space and it wouldn't have killed their ability for a long term deal with AJ (who they really don't need to commit to for years btw).

 

[alf8478]

Is that you Geoff?

The Bengals are like 5th in the league in available cap room. Every other team has the same constraints, but other teams find money to sign key pieces. I'm not asking the Bengals to sign old guys that are over the hill..... I'm asking why they didn't sign key players on their own team (Johnson and Collins). They had the space and it wouldn't have killed their ability for a long term deal with AJ (who they really don't need to commit to for years btw).

2014-AJ year 4, Burfict Year 3 of rookie contracts
2015 -AJ year 5 Option, Burfict Year 4 of rookie contracts
2016-AJ can be franchised if no deal worked out, Burfict is RFA, I would suspect the Bengals wouldn't be stupid enough to low tender him like they did with Hawk/Rey/Dane.
2017-Burfict can be franchised if no long term deal.

And by then, the salary cap will be about $160 million.

So, what are they saving their money for again?

 

[cincygrad]

2014-AJ year 4, Burfict Year 3 of rookie contracts
2015 -AJ year 5 Option, Burfict Year 4 of rookie contracts
2016-AJ can be franchised if no deal worked out, Burfict is RFA, I would suspect the Bengals wouldn't be stupid enough to low tender him like they did with Hawk/Rey/Dane.
2017-Burfict can be franchised if no long term deal.

And by then, the salary cap will be about $160 million.

So, what are they saving their money for again?

^^^^THIS!!!

The idea that the Bengals are against the 8 ball to keep Green and Burfict is complete bullshit invented by Hobs and the propaganda machine. We hold all the cards with both of those players (thank you CBA). And we already signed Atkins and Dunlap. The core is in place and we are flush with money and options.... There is absolutely no reason why Johnson, Hawk, and Collins couldn't be here today.

 

[bengaldoug]

Bengals sign Tackle Marshall Newhouse from GB...

Doug...any PFF grades on him?

Ughhhh......2011 the last rated tackle at -31.1.....can't believe they spent a penny on this guy after letting AC go.........234 snaps at tackle in 2013 at -9.7.........translates to something like -40 at that rate if he played full time.......if this clown makes the team the team is significantly worse along the ol than last year......


Damnit, they should have kept AC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kramer1]

Who Dey!!!

 

[Cincyfan78]

You continue to say this..

There are five teams with under 5MM of cap space. Are you trying to say that they somehow won't be able to sign their draft picks? The guys are going to sign.

Many teams are going to have to continue to make cuts and restructure to have enough cap space. Some may have carried over money that isn't counted in the cap space to spend. I don't know, and I've said several times that I'm no cap expert, but the reasoning I've laid out is sound, and is in line with past cap articles/posts I've read.

Many teams enter the year 5-10-15MM over the cap and find ways to get under and sign draft picks, but that is usually by the cutting of high priced players, restructuring deals, and not signing top tier F/A.

Is that you Geoff?

The Bengals are like 5th in the league in available cap room. Every other team has the same constraints, but other teams find money to sign key pieces. I'm not asking the Bengals to sign old guys that are over the hill..... I'm asking why they didn't sign key players on their own team (Johnson and Collins). They had the space and it wouldn't have killed their ability for a long term deal with AJ (who they really don't need to commit to for years btw).

First, could you at least be original if you want to insult me? I take offense to your lack of creativity. Anyone who offers even the slightest bit of objectivity is a spinner on this board. I get that, but at least be creative.

I don't disagree with anything you've said about trying to sign Collins, or MJ, or finding a decent F/A out there...I don't disagree with that at all, and I'm not using the "cap space" as an issue to why they are not signing guys. I was simply pointing out, based on everything I've read, that when you talk about having 28MM in cap space, that doesn't include for a lot of things that will take up cap space down the road. Everyone keeps saying "They have 28MM to spend on F/A" and THAT portion simply is not true.

With that being said, everything I've laid out has the bengals between 13-18MM under the cap, plus an additional 8MM in carry over that would not count against this years cap, assuming I am right about how it is used. With that in mind, they could have easily used that 8MM towards franchising either Collins (basically for free with the carry over) or they could have re-tagged MJ at minimal cost against the cap (probably 3MM giver or take) after considering 8MM in carry over. I do think they should have used that, because it is my understanding that the money that is carried over from last year has to be spent this year...again, I think.

Look for my next article on Bengals.com and thanks for following...

 

[Cincyfan78]

Ughhhh......2011 the last rated tackle at -31.1.....can't believe they spent a penny on this guy after letting AC go.........234 snaps at tackle in 2013 at -9.7.........translates to something like -40 at that rate if he played full time.......if this clown makes the team the team is significantly worse along the ol than last year......


Damnit, they should have kept AC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes.

Then again, it's clear the Bengals don't give much credit to things like PFF grades, or they would be more concerned about Peko and most importantly, Rey M.

 

[kramer1]

Cincyfan was not a math major, I hope. I wouldn't let Cincyfan do my taxes, either.

 

[kramer1]

Interesting site here.....it may surprise you (if you're blind, dumb, deaf, or Geoff Hobson).

» Over the Cap- NFL Salary Cap Space 2013

 

[futballiscool]

Mike Brown is trying to spend as little money as possible so he can maximize his profits.

I don't necessarily fault him for it. He's running a business as oppose to going all out to field a championship football team. He's put his family in a great financial position in the process.

But at the same time I just don't think his intent can be debated at this point

 

[futballiscool]

Now everyone says DeSean Jackson is on the way out of Philly | ProFootballTalk

It sounds like Jackson is gone.

I'm curious about his trade value. If Percy Harvin went for a 1st, a 3rd and a 7th rd pick why should Jackson go for considerably less? Harvin's a couple years younger but obviously injury prone. That evens out.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Cincyfan was not a math major, I hope. I wouldn't let Cincyfan do my taxes, either.

I actually do accounting, and audit type work. The issue isn't with the numbers it's with how the team is using the space. We can debate if they have 13MM left over, or 20MM left over after it is all said and done, the issue on this board isn't with that, in general...it's with spending whatever is left to improve the team as opposed to watching Brown sit on it. I have no issues with that. Again, the issue I had was with simply stating, that in full, the full cap space can be used on free agents, when in fact, it can't.

Interesting site here.....it may surprise you (if you're blind, dumb, deaf, or Geoff Hobson).

» Over the Cap- NFL Salary Cap Space 2013

If the Bengals have been reported to have 28MM in cap space, and the cap is at 133MM, then the Bengals, at a minimum would have to have already spent 105MM, which is about 10MM off from what this site says.

What you need to look at is the other tab:

» Over the Cap- NFL Salary Cap Space 2013

That has it at 27MM...again, you can roughly estimate what is expected to be paid out of that cap. 8MM for drafts, and another 5 with incentives and injury issues down the road.

 

[alf8478]

We're arguing in circles here.

The facts are the team has plenty of cap space available, they are choosing not to spend it to upgrade the team, and they are giving a bullshit excuse not to spend it.
Can we all agree on that at least?

 

[DanBengalfan]

The Bengals never worry about cap space anyhow.
so it's really pointless. they spend to that minimum floor so that they don't have to write a bunch of checks just for the sake of meeting the floor and essentially paying for nothing.

When Hobson starts talking about cap space, he can effectively be ignored, because the Bengals FO isn't even concerned about that. They are obviously concerned about keeping some of their big stars, and for that, I guess we can be glad.

 

[flamingrey]

"Based on everything I've read..."

The obvious sign of someone making up their arguments as they go.

 

[bengaldoug]

Bottom line.....replacing AC with Marshall Newhouse is a horrible idea.

 

[cincygrad]

I don't really care what the exact numbers are. The facts are that other teams that have less room than us, are finding creative ways to keep players and sign parts. We are doing neither...... And unfortunately a lot of our fans believe the fairly tale about the importance and difficulty of signing our young stars. It's not difficult. We hold all the cards unless these guys don't want security until 2017.