Salary cap space, as of November 20th - 49ers 16.7M under

[maniax]

Just saying that anything can happen. Any one of those teams can do it. Thats why they play the game.

I can see the Saints Giants and Bears getting a W. Not so much the Cowboys, Falcons, Lions.

Saints don't have a good enough defense. They will get in a shootout with the Pack and lose.

Bears lost Cutler for the regular season, and the Bears are a wildcard team so they might slip out of the playoffs.

Cowboys have some elite pass rushers that can get to Rodgers, and Romo can air it out to keep up with Rodgers if necessary. Same goes for the Giants pass rushers and Eli.

 

[Slimpikins]

What if Rodgers gets hurt? Are we still penciling the Packers into the NFC title game. There's a lot of football to be played between now and then.

 

[tzill]

What if Rodgers gets hurt? Are we still penciling the Packers into the NFC title game. There's a lot of football to be played between now and then.

What if the Earth spins off its axis and crashes into the sun?

The pack will be in the NFC championship.

 

[sayheykid1]

My first reaction is, I bet this money gets used up fast.

But $16.7M is probably about an average amount of cap space I would think, league wide.
So maybe some guys re-sign for a hometown discount? Guys like Braylon, Ginn, Reggie Smith, Larry Grant, etc.

We'll see what the team spends and what it pockets by the end of the season.

 

[luckyluke22]

We have a lot of FA's at the end of this year. Smith, Brooks, Rogers, Goldson, Edwards, Snyder, Morgan, etc etc. I'm not sure we will make a big splash given most of our players are playing on the cheap right now. Time will tell though!

 

[sayheykid1]

If 49ers can spend some of their unused cap money this year on extensions to free up cap room next year they can spend more next year, no?

 

[luckyluke22]

I believe that'll work for signing bonus', but base pay can't be allocated to the leftover cap space. Good point though, get extensions done before that space becomes wasted!

 

[Flyingiguana]

i thought u could give bonuses to players that they won't be able to hit, like andy lee throwing 10 td passes. it eats up cap space this year and gets free'd up next year. think the vikings used to do it.

to leave 16 mil on the table when we have so many free agents next year is either bad cap management or cheap ownership

 

[luckyluke22]

I believe you are correct, but since the season already started we can't sign a contract with unable to reach clauses this year that would apply to next years cap.

 

[deep9er]

We'll see what the team spends and what it pockets by the end of the season.

if this keeps up, this is when timing IS right for high end FA's. not saying we go after everyone and his uncle, but we can take everyone seriously.

we don't have a glaring weakness and this is a good thing. yes, we can always improve spots and we should where possible, but there's no obvious spot we could name off the bat.

even at QB, the big question left to answer is how far Alex Smith can go in the play-offs? but you get the feeling even if we lose the first game, we're not going to dump Alex?

so what a weird situation, timing is right but we don't really HAVE to chase a pricey FA?

 

[Crimsoncrew]

Saints don't have a good enough defense. They will get in a shootout with the Pack and lose.

Bears lost Cutler for the regular season, and the Bears are a wildcard team so they might slip out of the playoffs.

Cowboys have some elite pass rushers that can get to Rodgers, and Romo can air it out to keep up with Rodgers if necessary. Same goes for the Giants pass rushers and Eli.

You could say the same thing about the Packers these days. The Saints took the Packers to the wire in the first game of the year. If they're on, they have a chance to do it again. Giants match up pretty well, too.

 

[sayheykid1]

i thought u could give bonuses to players that they won't be able to hit, like andy lee throwing 10 td passes. it eats up cap space this year and gets free'd up next year. think the vikings used to do it.

to leave 16 mil on the table when we have so many free agents next year is either bad cap management or cheap ownership

Considering what they seemingly stumbled into both would be irritating to fans. They've gotta realize that there is so much good will being built and they can capitalize on that momentum at a critical football and business juncture.

 

[sayheykid1]

if this keeps up, this is when timing IS right for high end FA's. not saying we go after everyone and his uncle, but we can take everyone seriously.

we don't have a glaring weakness and this is a good thing. yes, we can always improve spots and we should where possible, but there's no obvious spot we could name off the bat.

even at QB, the big question left to answer is how far Alex Smith can go in the play-offs? but you get the feeling even if we lose the first game, we're not going to dump Alex?

so what a weird situation, timing is right but we don't really HAVE to chase a pricey FA?

They have to maximize this years available money to maximize next year's available cap space. I don't know if they need a high price FA but this team doesn;t have too much talent at every position.

 

[deep9er]

They have to maximize this years available money to maximize next year's available cap space. I don't know if they need a high price FA but this team doesn;t have too much talent at every position.

obviously, it would be good to maximize cap space wherever possble, but its easier said than done because you need players to agree. then there's the distraction factor, we want players to focus on a season 'going their way'. in general, i'd just keep going.

Baalke also has to be careful about who's having a "career year" and who isn't?

if Baalke knew BEFORE the season, which players would take two steps up, i'm sure he'd have looked into negotiating longer contracts then?