Michael Johnson

[Mebert]

Actually it does make a difference, correct? I thought bonus money was spread out over a certain time period??? not sure of time frame. So the Lions are still taking big cap hits for the next 5 years from Suh Matty and CJ.

The Bonus is spread over the length of the contract and not beyond, so it won't hurt the cap after the contract has expired. What the Lions are doing is taking the base salaries of these contracts and converting them into a bonus so the hist spreads of the term of the contract. It lowers the cap hit for that year, the consequence is that more of the contract becomes gauranteed, and the cap hit becomes slightly higher after then initial year.

Me and Dr. Eviler actually agree that it is dangerous, and locks us into a long term cap hell. We just don't agree on whether it was needed or not, the fact is the Lions had a top 2 pick 3 times during the period where those contracts could cripple a team left the Lions with 3 choices:

1.) Let 1 or 2 of CJ,Stafford, and Suh's contract run out and let them go somewhere else and start over
2.) Surround them with league minnimum level talent and never really be competitive
3.) Restructure those deals and push the cap hit back to try and build a winning team now.

None of those are ideal, and NFL is a win now league so they went for option 3. You could make the case for 1 as well and it has merrit, I am just glad they avoided 2. Option 3 also does make it so the Lions absolutely have to continue with the core they have, with the way those contracts are now they could not afford to trade them, no matter what they got back in return.

 

[gandydancer]

Thanks Mebert!! Only thing I saw wrong was the miNNmum spelling. So great explanation. I need to research the salary cap so I can better understand you guys.

No I am not knocking your spelling, I am lisdexic so it is funny how words spelled wrong pop out at me. Never understood that.

 

[Principal57]

I realize it may be annoying to hear me constantly dogging the Lions and their cap mgmt but this is what they created.

I think Lewand is a genius and thus my nickname for him, Le"magic"wand. We have our money tied up in the right places. I have zero concerns over cap space. Twentyman has said many times that the salary cap is never an issue if you want to sign a player. No way to prove that or disprove that without being Lewand but it sure seems like when we want a player we move money around right quick.

 

[Principal57]

...unless the cap goes up considerably.

Jason La Canfora has stated that even when the New TV Deal money comes in to play there will not be a spike in cap space. It will simply be spread out over a number of years.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Both Mebert and Dr. Evil-er have valid points.

Pushing $$ back over-and-over is a bad strategy for long-term cap stability.

Our hands were tied, to a pretty good extent, with the 3 huge rookie albatross deals we had to deal with.

Could they have been handled better? Absolutely- instead of franchising Avril and spending over $11 million on his cap number last season we could have traded him for a 4th rounder and used that $11 to eat up some of the $$ that we pushed back into Staffs deal. That would have been a far better use of the $$ in hindsight.

Perhaps we should take a "JV" season where we get all of our big stars under long-term deals, then bench the best players and sign a bunch of league-minimum $$ scrubs so we have a ton of free cap space. Then use that money to pay up on some of that dead $$... Pretty radical, but it'd net us a lot of future cap space, not to mention some high draft picks...

 

[gandydancer]

Perhaps we should take a "JV" season where we get all of our big stars under long-term deals, then bench the best players and sign a bunch of league-minimum $$ scrubs so we have a ton of free cap space. Then use that money to pay up on some of that dead $$... Pretty radical, but it'd net us a lot of future cap space, not to mention some high draft picks...[/QUOTE]


Tpaul step away from the bong

 

[Principal57]

If the Lions hadnt done that Suh would currently be carrying only an ammortized cap hit amount of $3.5m. Instead he carries almost $10m and Stafford's deal would be very similar. Each would be carrying some from the bonuses they got upon the signing of their original contracts but it wouldnt even be in the vacinity of the $18m they have now. It would have been about $8m. I would like to have that $10m still available in our cap space. If you wouldnt thats fine, your opinion is as valid as mine.

Lewand has been masterful in his handling of the big 3's contracts. We would not have the players we have right now had we not weighed risk vs. reward. I say well done Lewand.

 

[Principal57]

Scary part about this is in 2016 we may have young kids ready for big deals.(Ansah, Worford etc...)

You guys are just as bad as the guys over at ESPN who have been crying about big money contracts for years and those contracts have not been a factor in our cap space. Simple logic tells you that you have all of the players on your roster now due to extending and restructuring big contracts. That is how all the $ has been made available. Sure we lost out on KVB, but you cannot win them all. It still may not be the last that we have seen from KVB in Honolulu Blue anyhow. If we have the injuries like we did last year to our DL, he may be back. Costs us nearly nothing to add him back too because he comes in at a Veteran Minimum Salary Benefit contract for 2013. Already counting his cap hit, so we do not have to double-dip on that. We will not be cap strapped due to these contracts because we have a ton of players on VMS contracts and will continue to do the same with aging veterans. Do yourself a favor and stop worrying about the cap. Lewand is the man.

 

[Rollingthndr]

Sure we lost out on KVB, but you cannot win them all. It still may not be the last that we have seen from KVB in Honolulu Blue anyhow.

Hopefully as a coach and not a player.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Principal this isnt 2009 anymore why would we want kvb back

 

[gandydancer]

You guys are just as bad as the guys over at ESPN who have been crying about big money contracts for years and those contracts have not been a factor in our cap space. Simple logic tells you that you have all of the players on your roster now due to extending and restructuring big contracts. That is how all the $ has been made available. Sure we lost out on KVB, but you cannot win them all. It still may not be the last that we have seen from KVB in Honolulu Blue anyhow. If we have the injuries like we did last year to our DL, he may be back. Costs us nearly nothing to add him back too because he comes in at a Veteran Minimum Salary Benefit contract for 2013. Already counting his cap hit, so we do not have to double-dip on that. We will not be cap strapped due to these contracts because we have a ton of players on VMS contracts and will continue to do the same with aging veterans. Do yourself a favor and stop worrying about the cap. Lewand is the man.

Cool your jets brah!! First off I am not the guy that argues all day. cough cough Tpaul.... I just state my small opinions and usually ask for insight from others. I don't watch ESPN for highlights ( only games), just seemed to me it will catch up eventually. This is not common pratice for all teams...

second if you claim to be the world's best teacher... seem like a condescending douche to me!

third, how on earth can I trust the words of a man who thinks KVB might be back. He couldn't catch Roary for christ sake!

Just when you thought BS legend and Iffy were gone. Mr Armchair GM shows up.