Free Agency updates

[cdumler7]

Yeah when the off season started one of the stipulations of wherever Decker went was that it had a big music audience for his wife so she could continue her career. Where better than New York?

 

[Morpheus]

Yeah when the off season started one of the stipulations of wherever Decker went was that it had a big music audience for his wife so she could continue her career. Where better than New York?

Nashville.

 

[Morpheus]

The draft is deep at WR. I read that 11 WR prospects graded out as 1st or 2nd round talent. That is deep.

Also a deep draft for CB. So we can add depth at those positions in the draft.

I would like to see some O-line (Guard and Center) and especially MLB added in Free Agency after the dust settles a bit. Brandon Spikes still out there, (It would be great to steal more talent away from the Patriots) Jonathan Vilma, LaMarr Woodley.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Yeah when the off season started one of the stipulations of wherever Decker went was that it had a big music audience for his wife so she could continue her career. Where better than New York?

Branson Missouri?

 

[cdumler7]

Help me understand this more please.. very excited.. we really need some o line.. rb (sproles is a great weapon)

Ok said I would explain this in better detail today. In the NFL for the Salary Cap only the top 51 contracts count against the Cap. So when a team signs someone that is higher than the 51st player you then are replacing what they counted against the Cap. So let's take DeMarcus Ware as an example since he just signed. I think his Cap Number for this year is something like $9.7 million. The Broncos lowest Cap hit is around 495,000 so since that number is no longer being counted against the Cap to figure out the new Cap Number all you need to do is subtract 495,000 from the $9.7 million and you get our actual new Cap Number. It isn't just a straight $9.7 million add to our Cap is what I mean.

So then when we come to the draft the 31st pick in every round has a set Cap Number for the most part. Now I am going off of last year's numbers so it would be a bit more than this but the first 4 rounds of the draft are the only ones where a player would be making more than our bottom 4 players counted against our Cap. All 4 of those players make $495,000. The 31st pick in the 1st round makes roughly 1.25 million So again subtract the 495,000 from that number and you get somewhere around an actual Cap change of $750,000. In round 2 the Cap Number is $616,800 which again subtract $495,000 from $616,800 and you only have a Cap Raise of 121,800.

So when you add it all up it is right around an actual $1 million raise in what our actual Cap Number would be by adding our draft picks. Yes we are paying them something like $4 million but that isn't the Cap money we actually have to set away that is just the Cash part of it we have to set away.

 

[grim rpr]

Ok said I would explain this in better detail today. In the NFL for the Salary Cap only the top 51 contracts count against the Cap. So when a team signs someone that is higher than the 51st player you then are replacing what they counted against the Cap. So let's take DeMarcus Ware as an example since he just signed. I think his Cap Number for this year is something like $9.7 million. The Broncos lowest Cap hit is around 495,000 so since that number is no longer being counted against the Cap to figure out the new Cap Number all you need to do is subtract 495,000 from the $9.7 million and you get our actual new Cap Number. It isn't just a straight $9.7 million add to our Cap is what I mean.

So then when we come to the draft the 31st pick in every round has a set Cap Number for the most part. Now I am going off of last year's numbers so it would be a bit more than this but the first 4 rounds of the draft are the only ones where a player would be making more than our bottom 4 players counted against our Cap. All 4 of those players make $495,000. The 31st pick in the 1st round makes roughly 1.25 million So again subtract the 495,000 from that number and you get somewhere around an actual Cap change of $750,000. In round 2 the Cap Number is $616,800 which again subtract $495,000 from $616,800 and you only have a Cap Raise of 121,800.

So when you add it all up it is right around an actual $1 million raise in what our actual Cap Number would be by adding our draft picks. Yes we are paying them something like $4 million but that isn't the Cap money we actually have to set away that is just the Cash part of it we have to set away.

Wow thank you !! I had no clue of that !! I totally understand now. Thanks again bud !!

 

[cdumler7]

Wow thank you !! I had no clue of that !! I totally understand now. Thanks again bud !!

No problem. Had somebody much smarter than me explain it once a lot better than I ever could. Did find out the deals with ware and Talib can be one year deals if the broncos want them to be. They put an option in the contract to back out by a certain date voiding the rest of the contract. Not quite the franchise crushing deals some are trying to make them be

 

[WalkerBoh]

No problem. Had somebody much smarter than me explain it once a lot better than I ever could. Did find out the deals with ware and Talib can be one year deals if the broncos want them to be. They put an option in the contract to back out by a certain date voiding the rest of the contract. Not quite the franchise crushing deals some are trying to make them be

Well, the one thing to consider here though is dead money. The contracts have "out clauses" as you say after one season, but how much dead money will each contract generate if these players are released after only one season?

Still, the "fan reaction" besides being somewhat hostile, is rather uninformed. Suddenly we're going to turn into the Eagles or Redskins because of these signings :rollseyes:

 

[cdumler7]

Well, the one thing to consider here though is dead money. The contracts have "out clauses" as you say after one season, but how much dead money will each contract generate if these players are released after only one season?

Still, the "fan reaction" besides being somewhat hostile, is rather uninformed. Suddenly we're going to turn into the Eagles or Redskins because of these signings :rollseyes:

Yeah some of those fans seem to forget we have a certain guy named Peyton Manning at the helm. Who did those teams have? Mike Vick who is having trouble even making it as a starter right now in the league? Washington I think had Jason Campbell when they spent all that money on Free Agents. Also not like we are bringing in guys that are known for only playing hard when a new contract is on the line. Talib, Ward, and Ware have all had pretty consistent seasons throughout. So they are at least pretty darn hard workers.

Now as for the dead money if they are released I'm not for sure. I do know on the Fan Morning show they were talking about the contracts this morning and Vic Lombardi said the contracts are all very team friendly compared to what the media is trying to make them out to be and that the Broncos can get out of all of them (except Ward I think) after one year with very little dead money.

 

[MrDoc420]

No problem. Had somebody much smarter than me explain it once a lot better than I ever could. Did find out the deals with ware and Talib can be one year deals if the broncos want them to be. They put an option in the contract to back out by a certain date voiding the rest of the contract. Not quite the franchise crushing deals some are trying to make them be

I would think a player would be put off by such clauses being put in. I'm not sure how common something like that really is, though. IMO that really shows that both those guys want to play for a competitor, and really try to earn that money while also chasing that Lombardi.

 

[cdumler7]

I would think a player would be put off by such clauses being put in. I'm not sure how common something like that really is, though. IMO that really shows that both those guys want to play for a competitor, and really try to earn that money while also chasing that Lombardi.

If nothing else it shows they can't just slack off and expect to keep getting a pay check. Not that I expect that to be a problem as they are all very competitive. Anybody else listen to the interviews yesterday at Dove Valley? Talib actually called out Sherman for not playing against the #1 receivers every play like he plans on doing. Ward talked about how he plans to talk smack every single play then lay the lumber. Ware was just about shaking from excitement! I think these 3 guys plan on coming to play.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Yeah some of those fans seem to forget we have a certain guy named Peyton Manning at the helm. Who did those teams have? Mike Vick who is having trouble even making it as a starter right now in the league? Washington I think had Jason Campbell when they spent all that money on Free Agents. Also not like we are bringing in guys that are known for only playing hard when a new contract is on the line. Talib, Ward, and Ware have all had pretty consistent seasons throughout. So they are at least pretty darn hard workers.

Now as for the dead money if they are released I'm not for sure. I do know on the Fan Morning show they were talking about the contracts this morning and Vic Lombardi said the contracts are all very team friendly compared to what the media is trying to make them out to be and that the Broncos can get out of all of them (except Ward I think) after one year with very little dead money.

They must not be getting much in the form of signing bonuses I guess.....

 

[Miked383]

They must not be getting much in the form of signing bonuses I guess.....

This is where Elway and the Broncos have been smart. They don't give monster signing bonuses, they give larger guaranteed salaries and roster bonuses so they don't kick the can down the road and create cap problems in future years. That is why we were in the favorable position we were this year. We have a lot of guys to sign next year but I think we will have about $40 million in cap room to do it.

 

[Broncosr0k]

I think another thing that benefits Elway and the broncos (and this may have been said or is obvious), Elway is not going out to find big name guys who want to get paid. He is grabbing guys that are hungry for a SB ring. For a lot of these guys the money will come easy but the opportunity to compete limits them to a few teams.

 

[braves66boy]

I hope these players help us win our 3rd super bowl and I would like to see these player play out their contracts with the Broncos. I hope we can avoid the injury bug more this upcoming year, then we did last year.

 

[cdumler7]

This might be my favorite picture...

 

[randymon]

They must not be getting much in the form of signing bonuses I guess.....

You did see the " guaranteed" money right?

 

[WalkerBoh]

You did see the " guaranteed" money right?

Guaranteed money is different from a signing bonus. A signing bonus is counted IN ADDITION to any salary the player makes, whether that salary is guaranteed or not. They're different, and are handled differently in the salary cap. Lets assume player "A" gets a $30 MM contract over 5 years. Lets say as part of that contract, he's given a $10 MM bonus. That signing bonus, for the purposes of the salary cap, gets prorated over 4 years. So, if the player's salary is $4 MM per year for 5 years, his cap number for year #1 is $6.5 MM. Now, lets also assume that Player A's first year is fully guaranteed. That would make the deal worth $30 MM with $14 MM in guarantees. $10 MM of that guarantee is signing bonus, which can spread out over 4 years, $4 MM is salary the player gets no matter what. The Dead money can become an issue if, say Player A is dropped after the first season. We wouldn't owe the player any more money, but $7.5 MM would still count against the salary cap. Worse, if Player A is dropped before the season, he would generate $14 MM in total dead money against the cap. Now, there's some manipulation that can be done to reduce the blow a bit for the year that player is released, but not much.

So, when CD mentioned Denver could get out of two of these contracts after only one season with very little dead money, that implied that any signing bonuses were small, or non-existent.

 

[cdumler7]

Well from the information I can find....


I'll start with DeMarcus Ware's contract. He signed a deal that has a $5 million signing bonus. So that is spread over the 3-years of the contract meaning each year the Broncos are paying $1.7 million. So if he is cut after year one he would have dead money of $3.4 million just from that. Now in the 2nd year he also has a $3 million roster bonus as part of the deal so he would have a bit of dead money if he is cut after year one but after year 2 his dead money would be only that signing bonus of $1.7 million and his cap number is actually pretty low compared to the rest of the contract by that point. So if his skills start falling off a bit at that point he might still be worth keeping on as he wouldn't be making top dollar anyway.


TJ Ward--He signed a 4 year deal with a $5 million signing bonus so that accounts for $1.25 million worth all 4 years. So if you add it up if he is cut next year he would have $3.75 million in dead money, then $2.5 million in dead money the next year and $1.25 if we cut him the final year of the contract. Again his final couple of years are pretty low cap hits so not seeing why we would cut him unless something crazy happens. This was actually a pretty straight forward contract and a pretty darn good deal as I am looking at it.


They don't have Talib's up yet. My guess is it is the most complicated of the 3 with many different little details that in the end make all the difference.

 

[braves66boy]

Thanks cd, for explaining how those two contracts effect the salary cap in future years.