The uncapped year is still a bit of a mystery to me. But to those who know more than I do, what prevents Mr. Mcnair setting this team up for the next 5-7 years in 2010?

My understanding is that 'signing bonuses' are amortized over the length of the contract. However 'roster bonuses' come directly out of the year in which they are given. Typically signing bonuses are used more often to spread the cap hit out over the ~5 years of the contract, however in the uncapped 2010 why not get all the cap hit out of the way?

So imagine next year:

Mario Williams - $50 million guaranteed + minimum salary over 7-year contract.
Demeco Ryans - $30 million guaranteed + minimum salary over 7-year contract.
Owen Daniels - $25 million guaranteed + minimum salary over 7-year contract.
Dunta, Schaub, Johnson, etc.

Don't worry about the numbers they can move up or down, but if that guaranteed payment is a roster bonus (and the value of the contract is what you would pay for those players down the road anyways) haven't you freed yourself of any meaningful cap restrictions that may come back in later years.

It's takes an early investment, but Houston is one of the most valuable franchises in the league. Assuming the cap comes back in 2011 in it's current form, the above players now cost you nothing.

Anyways, maybe there are some rules to prevent this type of activity. But it's interesting regardless.

Keith, the number shrunk. after the two big cuts, I think the number was going to be about $37 million, you've got it at about $32 million right now- before counting Dunta. What happened? what was adjusted?

The # on the ItB.com cap page has not changed since Green and Greenwood were cut, so I'm not sure where the $37 million figure is coming from.

After the Greenies were cut, I heard a lot of fans trying to do their own cap calculations in their head... taking the "savings" reported in the media and adding it to a figure seen here or elsewhere. I discussed the misleading differences in the other Green-cutting thread.

I think the biggest gray area I have right now on the cap page is the per game bonuses for Green last year... I need to figure out how those were accounted for in the cap. I think I might get my answer in another week or two when the cap adjustments come out, but if anyone out there has info, let me know.

Sorry I missed this... one thing that will restrict teams with the uncapped (and still CBA-governed) season upcoming in 2010 is the 30 percent rule.

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/People...isc_Rules.aspx

Thanks for your time, Keith.

Before the cuts, we were $29.5 million under the cap. Every calculation I've seen adds at least $7 million in savings for the combination on Green and Greenwood. That's where I'm lost.

That $29M figure was a bit overstated in terms of cap room. Biggest reason why is because I only reflected guys under contract in 2009 as of last September or so.

There were a bunch of smaller salaried guys signed to the roster since then that account for the difference. Most of these players have cap figures of $310k or $385k, but with 12 or so added, that makes up more than $4 million of the difference.

I also lowered the cap estimate a bit from $124M to $123M (and added in a cap adjustment estimate of like $432k for the time being), and I updated Mario's base to show the extra $375k he's scheduled to earn in 2009, owed to him because I think he achieved some performance escalators or something.


ETA - I'll get the cap page updated later tonight I hope, but following Dunta's tagging (which technically still needs to be signed), the available cap room lowers to around $22.4 million, give or take a million or so, best guess.

Best guess.....Could we possibly sign Sean Jones or Gibril Wilson this offseason?

From a salary cap perspective? Yes. Plenty of room. The question becomes whether the player would want to come here and philosophically if the Texans wanted the player enough to make the top offer. Ahman Green, Jacques Reeves, Tony Weaver... these are the big signings from the Kubiak era to date. Is there something there that suggests the team might make a splash when UFA opens?

Looking ahead, with the tag deadline passed, I've gotta believe the Texans make offers to a few of their own in the next week, namely Eugene Wilson. Owen Daniels is due a RFA tender at a minimum and possibly a multi-year contract. There are others too.

Signing Dunta Robinson to a long-term contract would probably lower his 2009 cap figure significantly versus the $9.957M tag figure. Probably won't happen until July now though, if at all.

Bottom line is that the Texans have cap room, especially if they put off extending some of their players with expiring deals after this season (DeMeco, Pitts, Walter, etc.)

I would prefer to go ahead and get Demeco's deal done now.

You know, this whole last capped year bit could be rough on players like Ryans (and maybe Daniels) since they'll still be RFAs when the contracts expire after this season. Does it mean they won't get extensions? Probably not, but I wonder how much of a priority the Texans will make it to work with him.

Players can hold out, that's their leverage. This has the potential of getting really, really ugly unless the owners and the union pound out a CBA extension.

btw, I have updated the 2009 cap page and uploaded the 2010 cap page for the first time. Let me know if something looks off, especially with the 2010 page since it's newest and most prone to error.

Thanks Keith,

It looks like you left off all of our 2009 RFAs: Butler, OD, Dressen, Anderson... I guess they'd all be RFAs in an uncapped 2010 also, if they are only tendered this season.

Thanks for all the cap work Keith. does the eonomic pinch come into salary concerns for next year for sports or is it just a concern for us working folks. what if nfl revenue is down? even uncapped, may not be a salary boom.

Keith, NFL.com published a story that 7 of this year's franchised players will become RFAs and only get a 10% raise next season if it's uncapped. It included Dunta as one of those players. However, it was quoting the rule that those are the players with less than 6 years of service. Unfortunately, next season will be Dunta's 7th. So, my question is:

If 2010 is uncapped can teams still use a franchise tag. If they can, then the Texans could still threaten it next season and use it as incentive for a long term contract. However, if there is no 2010 cap, then Dunta can look at this season as earning a quick $10 million, increasing his market value with good play, and then have the opportunity as a UFA to make a ton of money in the first uncapped season in 18 years....

So, what's the story, Keith?

THey wouldn't need to use the franchise tag they could tender him the highest tender which a team can match but there is a prohibitve cost for that team.

The split of teams considered "haves" and "have nots" should only widen in a recession. Houston is a "have" though, so locally it shouldn't be a big concern. The effects of lower-than-anticipated NFL revenues ought to translate into a lower cap figure for each of the teams. And maybe that has already happened...? The 2009 cap was originally projected at $124 million for each team and now the estimate is at $123 million. I've not heard anyone say that is a reflection of the economy though, at least not yet.

Wow, good catch. I should fix the 2010 cap page for that. I think Schefter made a mistake with including Dunta on that list. I wondered if Dunta's IR/PUP seasons might have had an effect, but I think both seasons are still considered accrued. His IR and PUP (for football injuries) seasons should still be included.

As for this year's RFAs not being listed on the 2010 page, that was a purposeful omission... I don't list any free agents for more than one season as free agents. Once the tenders are known, I'll update the 2010 page in addition to the 2009 cap page.

And yes, teams can still use the tags in the uncapped year. The change in 2010 is that a team can have two transition tags plus the one franchise tag.

There is a ton of helpful info on the last capped and uncapped years in this blog entry from Chris Pika, a former media relations guy from the Falcons who now blogs for Baltimore radio station's site. Lots of weird stuff... like try reading up on the Final Eight Plan, also in gory detail in the CBA and try to keep your head from spinning.

More cap room than anticipated, and an interesting explanation as to why:
http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/02/25/sala...ding-for-2009/

ItB's cap pages have been updated to reflect this and the three cuts announced. I'll update the Rosenfels trade once it becomes official on Friday.

Some info on the cap floor on the front page of the site I wrote.

It's going to be interesting to see how a team like Tampa with their $60 million or so in cap room are going to reach the floor.

http://www.inthebullseye.com/archive/2009/20090226.html

THey almost have to sign Haynesworth just to get there.

I think some of the players are going to be in for a surprise when some of the small market teams start spending well bellow what would have been the minimum.

Updating... AdamJT13 has posted the final adjusted cap amounts, and the Texans figure is $1,081,327. Since the team forwarded $2,032,327 via the LTBE loophole with Brisiel's extension, that means there were $951,000 in NLTBE incentives earned (the majority of which were for Mario, plus that lowered that forwarded amount.

So, bottom line is that with a $127.05 million cap in 2009, the Texans' actual starting cap space will be adjusted upward to $128,131,327.

PFT believes they have peeked at some cap room #s as of 4/22.
The ItB.com cap page reflects about $14.4 million right now, and it hasn't been this far off in a long time (though 3% or so isn't too bad I guess). Not sure the source of the difference, but hopefully I'll get some cleaner info this summer.

I don't understand how a team with ~$1M in cap room can function when it still has to sign its draft picks and inevitably sign street FA through the course of the season.

They make cap casualties before June 1st, right?

There's no significance to June 1st this year with the expiring CBA.

But yeah, the teams are going to have to cut or restructure, but not until they are ready to actually ink the draft picks, which probably won't be until mid- to late-July for most teams.

What I can't understand re: the Texans cap is how they apparently lost another $2 million or so in cap room from the last report with no reported moves I haven't already accounted for. Something is either wrong or unreported.

With this possibly being the last cap year, it makes no sense to try to accelerate cap hits with the extra space for this year (since they are already above the floor), so I'm a bit lost at the moment. Hopefully this will get resolved in the next month or two.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9...llion-to-$128M

I'll update the ItB cap page as soon as I resolve a hardware issue I'm experiencing.

Keith,

In a conversation at texanstalk.com, it became clear that TJ will actually be a FA after this season. He signed an initial 5 year deal in 2005 and hasn't been re-upped. Apparently, the Chronicle story about his deal simply listed his base salaries wrong- starting them in 2007 instead of 2005.

I'm not 100% on this, but you may want to look into it. If he is a FA after this year, it certainly opens up the possibility of him not making this year's roster.

If you have links on any of this, send them my way or post them here. I honestly do not keep up regularly at tt.com, so I have no idea what's been discussed there.

That all said, here is what I know....

When Travis signed, it was widely reported as a 5-year contract. With his rookie year being 2005, that would logically mean that 2009 would be the final year of his deal. Technically, not true. Travis actually signed a 7-year contract with the final two years being voidable.

Travis' rookie contract has given me fits since the beginning, but I received some solid info on it a little over a year ago. What I had not known though, until your post, is that apparently those final two years (2010 and 2011) have been voided. In fact, the NFLPA still lists 2010 and 2011 as active for Travis... so either they are late in updating (not a first if so) or Travis has not had those last two 'dummy' seasons officially voided.

If they were voided, that could certainly explain why there was a sudden decrease in available cap room that I noted in an earlier post. Looks like it might account for about $1.4 million of it at least if that money needed to be accelerated.

The reason the Texans signed Travis to a 7-yr deal that was reported as a 5-yr deal was so that the team could prorate his option bonuses (yes, he had two of them with no true signing bonus) over those last couple years (2010 and 2011), thereby saving themselves some cap space up until this year. In case anyone is interested about voidable contracts, click here.

So hopefully that explains ItB.com's understanding of Travis' contract situation a little more. I imagine Travis would want the final two years voided because it might seem appealing to hit the potentially uncapped year as a free agent, especially if he turns it on this year. I am guessing he expects to earn much more than his contracted base salaries of $1,352,500 in 2010 and $1,675,000 in 2011.

If Player participates in 60% or more of the offensive plays (excluding special teams) during any one of the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Regular Seasons,


AND


Player is on the active 80-man roster on the 23rd day preceding the first day of the 2004 League Year, then Player"s 2004 contract becomes null and void, at the Player's discretion. Player must notify the Club of his void decision on or before the 24th day preceding the first day of the 2004 League Year, through written notice via certified mail.

************************************
I'd thought these years were voidable at the option of the team, but guess in
some situations it's the player under contract who has the option to void a
year(s) in an existing contract ?

The earlier part nunusguy quoted is from sample contract language taken from the link I provided on voidable contracts. It is not Travis' contract, but it is possible that it might be very similar if you update the years appropriately.

Yes. Remember, that this was a first round contract signed, so it's not like it is normal relative to other rookie contracts.

Also, recall that the Texans' decision to bring back Carr before the 2006 season was because they executed a 'buyback' option ...after Carr had voided the end of his contract due to performance.

The difference here from Carr is just that there is no buyback option for the voided years.

The Shaun Cody signing is looking better and better.

I'm not particularly concerned about whether TJ stays or he goes. I know a lot of fans are mad at him and want him gone because we essentially wasted a first round pick on him. But that was then and this is now, as the saying goes.

To me, the players who really hurt a franchise are those who get seriously overpaid. Like Carr, Green, Weaver, Greenwood, etc. Those guys eat up a lot of cap and make it hard to bring in free agents. Guys like TJ are not putting us in that situation.

The player who by far concerns me the most right now is Dunta. He hasn't shown yet that he can come back to his earlier form. If we gamble that he can, we may end up overpaying him by millions and millions. That's why I can't understand why there's a single Texans fan who believes we ought to sign him right now. Even if he gets back to his former level he won't exactly be a bargain. The kind of money he's reportedly asking for should buy pro bowl type talent.

IIRC we traded down with NOLA and got an extra 3rd the year we took TJ. He has never been on my favorites list, that's for sure. Unles Kolar can do something with him it wouldn't bother me any if we put TJ in our rear view mirror.

With which we used to draft Eric Winston in 2006, who some might argue would by himself become a first round or near first round value in his own right ?

The long awaited update to the cap page is complete. I've temporarily resolved a hardware issue I was having and have resumed my reluctance to acquire new software on my laptop to make my life easier. :p Who knows, maybe at some point I might actually write something new for the front page of the site.

NFLPA still shows the last two years of TJ's contract (i.e. not voided), so I haven't changed his cap figure yet. Even if I did and my estimate there was close, I think I'm still missing a million or two cap dollars for someone else.

On HOustontexans.com TV, Kubiak made mention that this is a contract year for TJ... So, one way or another, I think it's clear that the team has an ability to easily get out of his contract after this season.

TJ himself said it was a contract year, so something has been done to last 2 years already.

Okay okay... you beat me down! :p Someone just needs to get a memo to the NFLPA that they're missing the update. Hopefully their focused on CBA negotiations instead.

My hardware issue cropped up again, but once it's resolved (hopefully in the next couple days this time), I'll change the contract status to 2009 and accelerate the 2010-11 bonus prorations.

Just looked at the updated page. Thanks a ton Keith for all your hard work.

A few things that jump at me.

*Pitts, Chester 2009 $4,380,000 $1,810,000 $6,190,000

I like Chester, and I think he is a very good OG, but that seems pretty steep, especially since we have a RT that is pro bowl caliber, IMO, that is gettin 1M less than him.

*Johnson, Travis 2009 $1,030,000 $2,529,500 $3,559,500

I like TJ to, and I think that he has played some very good football for us the last 2 years. I also hope the scheme is changed enough that he is no longer asked to do what he definatly wasnt built for. I know this is the end of his rookie contract, and I would be suprised if he got anywhere close to this next year.

*Davis, André 2011 $2,100,000 $900,000 $3,000,000

Again I like him, but he is the 3/4 WR on the roster. Granted his return skills have been nice at times, he is the #1 behind AJ, and he produces on the field when he hits it.

*Wilson, Eugene 2011 $1,850,000 $1,090,000 $2,940,000

Really?

*Walter, Kevin 2009 $1,500,000 $500,000 $2,000,000

Too bad he wont be this cheap next year. Glad for him that he will almost double his salary though.

*Ryans, DeMeco 2009 $445,000 $851,250 $1,296,250

Rookie contract, I would be pissed to after how well he has played.

*Brisiel, Mike 2009 $460,000 $0 $460,000

It sure is nice to start, but I bet it would be nicer to get paid like one.

*Bulman, Tim 2009 $460,000 $0 $460,000

Another double the salary guy next year.

*Slaton, Steve 2011 $370,000 $166,097 $551,097

Another year like last one and I would root for his holdout like crazy. RB's dont get alot of time in the leage and he should get paid.

Pitts ought to be a prime candidate for an extension under normal CBA (and cap constrained) circumstances, but the Texans aren't hurting for cap room this year, so there's no urgency. Assuming he's still in the team's long-term plans (and I have every reason to believe he is at this point), I imagine Pitts will re-sign before he ever hits the market. Then again, with 2010 being uncapped, I'm sure Pitts and his agent will be looking for this much and more in a new contract.

Everything about the Texans' actions right now seems to indicate to me that they do not expect a new CBA soon and at least for 2010 to be uncapped.

And I like Winston, but 2008 was not a stellar year for him, much less Pro Bowl caliber. Hope he has it in him, but I think he should have something to prove in 2009.

From Kuharksy's ESPN.com AFC South blog: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/...ead-money.html

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/...-cap-room.html

So I have the biggest cap figure and dead money hit correct on the ItB.com cap page, but I am still off, but only by less than $1 million, or about 0.72%. I am late in adding Glove's new contract, which might lessen the gap a little bit, but not much.