Cap

[NBT]

According to SR 610 the Texans are $8.5M over the cap. Wil they restructure some contracts tonight, or will they cut some other vet players and try to resign them for less?

[Nconroe]

I suppose restructure is the desired way to do this -

something like this as I understand it - what they do is take some of a large unguaranteed annual salary, convert much of it to a signing bonus guaranteed, then they can spread that bonus across life of contract and reduce the annual salary. player is happy because he gets guaranteed money more or less up front, instead of non guaranteed over several years. team is happy because cap is lowered to new lower annual salary and prorated bonus , although spent more guaranteed.

[WMH]

Restructures and extensions with restructures.

My guess, is they will look at Mario and Schaub as the main two. Those two guys are hitting the cap around $20MM this year alone. Schaub's extension (at least in my eyes) is a no-brainer, he's got 1 yr. left after this one. Mario's.....if they weren't up against a time frame, then my guess is they would hold off, but since they don't, we might hear about an extension from him tomorrow. He is in a contract year.

Eric Winston is another worth extending. He's got one year left after this one, and is @ about $4.5MM this year.

Only other option I see is Antonio Smith. Like Mario, I'm betting they wish they had more time to see them in the "system", but since they don't, they will have to restructure/extend. He's due $4.6MM and has two years left after this one.

Might be some other stragglers, Kevin Walters comes to mind, but the above are some big ones.

[Keith]

They could extend Mario alone to easily get back under. I wonder though if the Texans would be willing to commit millions upon millions guaranteed though right now given the change to the 3-4 and the unknown amount of success Mario will have in it.

So, extending Schaub seems like the smartest thing to do right now, though that alone won't be enough I don't think since his base salary is $5.7 million.

Winston is signed thru 2013 I think unless 2013 was voided somehow. His base is $4.5 million this year, then a half million more each year next.

Restructuring Antonio ($5 million base in 2011) or Andre ($7.3 million) are other possibilities if the Texans don't want to extend Mario just yet.

[WMH]

Haven't seen any "official" reports of restructures, but saw the below this morning:

@AdamSchefter: As of this morning, there are five teams over the salary cap: OAK $15.25 mil; PITT $8.5m; DET $7.8m; DALLAS $6.7m: HOUSTON $3.25m.

[today]

Excellent guesses Keith/WMH, you were spot on with Antonio and Andre:

StephStradley Stephanie Stradley
Restructured? DeMeco, Andre. Antonio Smith.

Confirmed 20 minutes later by McClain:
McClain_on_NFL John McClain
The Texans have redone the contracts of Andre Johnson, DeMeco Ryans and Antonio Smith to get under the salary cap. They were $8.5M over.

[Keith]

So I guess it isn't a surprise that the Texans approached their higher-paid players in a stable contract.

Extending Mario is going to be a tough, complex process, and I don't know that the Texans wanted to rush into that.

Extending Schaub seems like a no-brainer to do it, but negotiating the terms will require some thoughtful insight and a lot of back-and-forth negotiation as well I'm sure.

I don't remember DeMeco's 2011 base offhand, but restructuring Antonio and Andre alone was probably enough to get them close.

I know the typical knee-jerk reaction from the media will be to applaud these three players, but really, it's not much sweat from them... they pretty much just get their base salaries paid as bonuses now. Not a bad deal at all, really. I'd take it.

The kudos belong to the front office, probably to Chris Olsen and whoever else is doing the paperwork.

[Keith]

Also worth noting that these three now have to sit out of practice with the other signed FAs, at least for a day.

I'd want Mario on the field as much as possible, and there is just Yates at QB if Schaub had to sit iirc.

[today]

Originally Posted by Keith

Also worth noting that these three now have to sit out of practice with the other signed FAs, at least for a day.

I'd want Mario on the field as much as possible, and there is just Yates at QB if Schaub had to sit iirc.

Apparently they just had to sit out the morning practice. Kubes pushed the afternoon practice back to 4:30, so as long as the season calendar officially starts at 4pm today as it should (still a player vote or something?), everyone will be able to practice this afternoon.

[popanot]

I think it was Burge saying Cody's base was at ~$3.5MM. I assume they'll be talking to him soon or he'll be a camp casualty when/if things get tight.

[jcp]

That's great news.

The beauty is that it still leaves two big contracts they can restructure/extend if they want to make another splash. I personally think extending Mario/Schaub is a nobrainer. Even if Mario doesn't work out a LB he will have plenty of trade value.

[WMH]

They may not be done just yet....

From PFT:
We previously obtained the salary cap room (or lack thereof) for each team as of Tuesday. Several of you have asked for something more current.

Your wish is our command.

Here’s the info as of Thursday.

The teams with cap space, a day before all teams must be in compliance, are as follows: Buccaneers ($ 29,560,000); Chiefs ($ 28,431,000); Jaguars ($ 28,000,000); Browns ($ 27,620,000); Bengals ($ 27,164,000); Broncos ($26,542,000); Bills ($ 23,460,000); 49ers ($ 22,570,000); Bears ($ 19,300,000); Seahawks ($ 16,387,000); Cardinals ($ 14,603,000); Redskins ($ 11,450,000); Packers ($ 11,106,000); Jets ($ 8,920,000); Dolphins ($ 8,446,000); Colts ($7,925,000); Titans ($ 7,127,000); Saints ($ 7,027,000); Patriots ($ 5,264,000); Chargers ($ 5,031,000); Eagles ($4,604,000); Ravens ($ 3,558,000); Panthers ($ 1,915,000); Vikings ($ 938,000); Falcons ($811,000); Giants ($623,000); Rams ($621,000).

The teams in the red are: Raiders ($15,246,000); Steelers ($8,597,000); Lions ($7,793,000); Cowboys ($6,671,000); and Texans ($3,358,000).
By tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., there should be no teams in the red.

This is supposedly thru today, doesn't give a definitive time line, IE does this include Smith, Ryans, and AJ's restructures, but would assume it does.

Since their "only" $3.5MM away, I still look for the Schaub extension to happen. My hunch, and I have absolutely no basis for this, is that they didn't want to have practice this morning with 1 QB, so they are waiting till the CBA is ratified to pull the trigger on it. Since it was ratified today, they have till 4PM tomorrow to be in compliance.

AJ wouldn't have practiced anyway, unlikely Demeco would have either. No harm in giving an older feller like Smith a day off in this heat....

Could be right, could be wrong, but if they are still truly $3.5MM over, Schaub's extension continues to be a no-brainer (in my eyes).

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by WMH

They may not be done just yet....

From PFT:
We previously obtained the salary cap room (or lack thereof) for each team as of Tuesday. Several of you have asked for something more current.

Your wish is our command.

Here’s the info as of Thursday.

The teams with cap space, a day before all teams must be in compliance, are as follows: Buccaneers ($ 29,560,000); Chiefs ($ 28,431,000); Jaguars ($ 28,000,000); Browns ($ 27,620,000); Bengals ($ 27,164,000); Broncos ($26,542,000); Bills ($ 23,460,000); 49ers ($ 22,570,000); Bears ($ 19,300,000); Seahawks ($ 16,387,000); Cardinals ($ 14,603,000); Redskins ($ 11,450,000); Packers ($ 11,106,000); Jets ($ 8,920,000); Dolphins ($ 8,446,000); Colts ($7,925,000); Titans ($ 7,127,000); Saints ($ 7,027,000); Patriots ($ 5,264,000); Chargers ($ 5,031,000); Eagles ($4,604,000); Ravens ($ 3,558,000); Panthers ($ 1,915,000); Vikings ($ 938,000); Falcons ($811,000); Giants ($623,000); Rams ($621,000).

The teams in the red are: Raiders ($15,246,000); Steelers ($8,597,000); Lions ($7,793,000); Cowboys ($6,671,000); and Texans ($3,358,000).
By tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., there should be no teams in the red.

This is supposedly thru today, doesn't give a definitive time line, IE does this include Smith, Ryans, and AJ's restructures, but would assume it does.

Since their "only" $3.5MM away, I still look for the Schaub extension to happen. My hunch, and I have absolutely no basis for this, is that they didn't want to have practice this morning with 1 QB, so they are waiting till the CBA is ratified to pull the trigger on it. Since it was ratified today, they have till 4PM tomorrow to be in compliance.

AJ wouldn't have practiced anyway, unlikely Demeco would have either. No harm in giving an older feller like Smith a day off in this heat....

Could be right, could be wrong, but if they are still truly $3.5MM over, Schaub's extension continues to be a no-brainer (in my eyes).

My take on this is that since the Texans reported to McClain that they are under the cap, that they are under the cap. I would think PFT would be the number that is delayed or incorrect.

Also McClain reported in an early report that the Texans had taken the 3MM exemption from another year this year, is PFT counting those dollars also?

[WMH]

Originally Posted by painekiller

My take on this is that since the Texans reported to McClain that they are under the cap, that they are under the cap. I would think PFT would be the number that is delayed or incorrect.

Also McClain reported in an early report that the Texans had taken the 3MM exemption from another year this year, is PFT counting those dollars also?

Yepper, your right. Tweet from Jabba this morning:
@McClain_on_NFL: By restructuring the contracts of Andre Johnson, DeMeco Ryans and Antonio Smith, the Texans are $2.6 million under the salary cap.

[Keith]

Ok, started work this morning pulling together salary and bonus date to hopefully someday get a 2011 and 2012 cap page put back up on the site.

Need some help tracking down bonus info for a couple rookies: Keo, Yates, Ozougwu, plus a I gave a decent estimate on Ben Tate, but nothing specific. I'm also making a guesstimate on Kareem Jackson's bonus info (guaranteed money != signing bonus . . . all reports I have talk about KJack's guaranteed money).

Also, Kevin Walter's bonus from his new contract last year is actually a roster bonus (this is good news). Makes me wonder about other signings from last year (like Wade Smith) and whether that was a roster bonus vs. a signing bonus. It's a big difference since a 2010 roster bonus has no cap implications.

I don't have info yet on the restructured contracts, so I might have to guess there. Andre Johnson's deal just keeps getting more complex, lol. I'm also locked out from getting base salary data whenever I want, though I got some fresh info yesterday, which helps a ton.

Ok, fingers crossed...