A Preview of the 2015 Offseason

[Davis_Mike]

Part 1

I know it's early to start this topic with the season & playoffs still ongoing, but I think it's time to start looking forward. Regardless of the results from the remainder of the season & playoffs, this season has been big success.

So with that said, let me start with our cap figure as of right now for the 2015 season.

-Current cap number: $150.35 mil
-Projected cap number: $138.6 mil
-Projected cap space: -$11.75 mil
-Projected cap number after 2014 rollover: $146.35 mil

That's right, we are nearly $8 mil over the cap limit before we even start the offseason. That number doesn't include the soon to be free agents that we might want to resign. So how did we get so far over limit? Fitz's contract is the main culprit because we kept pushing cap hit further down the contract years. His cap number balloons to $23.6 mil for 2015. Fitz will either restructure his contract for a lot less money or he will be cut/traded. He does a have a below 80 catch de-escalator each year, but we have no idea what the amount is.

Let's look at fitz's numbers for next season.

-Base Salary: $8,000,000
-Signing Bonus: $2,000,000
-Roster Bonus: $8,000,000
-Option Bonus: $3,000,000
-Workout Bonus: $250,000
-Restructure Bonus: $2,350,000

-Dead money: $14,400,000

The red numbers represent the dead money counting against the cap. The roster bonus is do the 5th day of 2015, which is 5 days after the super bowl. That means a either new contract has to be in place or he has to be released by that day. Basically, the Cardinals have to find a way to reduce his $16.25 2015 pay. Hopefully Fitz will agree to something about half of that number. If he does, his cap number will go from $23.6 mil to about $15.6 mil.

Looks look at the possible savings.

-Restructured cap number: $15.6 mil = $8 mil in savings
-Cap number if Fitz is cut or traded: $7.2 mil(& $7.2 in 2016) = $16.1 mil in savings

By simply moving on from fitz, we solve a big portion of our cap problems. Does anyone really want that to happen? I don't. But it might be a possibility if for some reason Fitz doesn't want to play for half of what his contract was. I doubt it will come to that, especially if we win a playoff game or two.

I will continue the discussion in part 2 with a look at a few other players who will likely need to be cut or restructured & the free agents who we likely will want to resign.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Part 2

Lets assume we save $8 mil with Fitz’s restructure, we are basically at the cap limit now. We are going to need a lot more space to resign our free agents, rookies, & add free agents. With Fitz taken car of one way or another, it’s time to look at other places where will could save some cap space.

Possible restructures or cuts.

Dockett
-Base Salary: $6,550,000
-Option Bonus: $3,000,000
-Workout Bonus: $300,000

-Cap Number: $9,800,000
-Dead Money: $3,000,000

Dockett will be 34 next season & 2015 will be his final contract year. As good as he is & has been, he is just about done. Maybe he has another good season left in him, but $6.5 mill is too steep. One easy way to reduce his cap number is to add an additional cheap year to his contact, drop his 2015 salary to the vet minimum of $970k, & cut him a “bonus” bonus check of $5.580 mil for the rest. That could save us $2.790 mil for 2015. Or we could just give him an ultimatum by telling him to play for $2 mil or he gets cut. But I don’t think the Cards will play hardball with a career Cardinal like Docket.
Dockett likely cap savings:$2.790,000

Ginn
-Base Salary: $3.250,000
-Signing Bonus: $750,000

-Cap Number: $4,000,000
-Dead Money: $1,500,000

Other than winning the NYG game for us & helping us in the field position battle against the Rams in STL, he hasn’t done enough to warrant his cap number. And his kickoff returns have been terrible. I would just cut him & save $3.25 mil. You can always find a minimum level player to return kicks & punts.

Ginn likely cap savings: $3.250,000

Next I’ll list guys that can be cut & their savings.

-Larsen: $1,275,000
-Alexander: $1,550,000

So after all that, if Fitz & Dockett cooperate & they cut some dead weight, the Cards are left with about $8,865,000 in space. Of course the cap could rise a few more million to give the Cards a little more room. TA third to half of that will be needed to sign or draft picks.

Total Cap Space: $8,865,000

 

[Davis_Mike]

Part 3

Now that we have a general Idea of what cap space we are working with, lets look at our own free agents we might want to resign.

Name & 2014 cap hit

-Dan William: $2,185,000
-Antonio Cromartie: $4,000,000
-Mike Leech: $1,091,668
-Tommy Kelly $955,000
-Sam Acho: $1,549,607

These are the only free agents I would like to see back. With what we now know of our cap space after likely moves, we can see that we are likely not going to have money to bring Cromartie back. He has had too good a season to not get a few good contract offers, definitely more than we can pay. Leech, Acho, & Kelly might be resigned for close to their 2014 number. That leaves us with Williams. He has played well & deserves a new contract that pays him more than he is currently making. But that would put us even tighter against the cap. Not counting Cromartie, those four guys alone might take all the space that was created. Considering that we need around $4 mil in space for our rookie draft picks, I can see us just resigning Leech & Williams. Pass rusher & Corner likely would be our focus in the draft & would mitigate those free agent losses.

So what are you guys thoughts on our 2015 offseason?

 

[Davis_Mike]

Correction about Fitz's roster bonus due date. It's on the 5th day of the new league year, not 5 days after the SB. The 2014 league year started on 3/11.

 

[BamaCards1]

Good job!


I'd like to see Fitz back, he's still a key player on this team and needed. I had know idea that our cap was looking that way. Was sure we were going to be under the cap and after looking at that just makes me sick.

The draft has been good to us and some of those guys can be replaced from it.

Williams
Fitz
Dockett
Cromartie

Like to see those guys back

 

[Davis_Mike]

The main reason for the jump in cap number was the new contract for Carson Palmer. Before that, we were about $4 mil below that projected cap number. And of course Fit's cap number is a big drain as well.

 

[BamaCards1]

Everyone is aware about Fitz and his contract. The thing is, will he be willing to take a paycut to stay with the Cards? Fitz is the kind of person this team needs around. He's more than just a football player, he's well respected as a person and a leader. He's a key part of this team and the community.

No idea how this will unfold, lets just pray that both sides can come to an agreement in the end. The Cards have rewarded Fitz over the years and now it's his turn for the loyalty they've shown.