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Davis_Mike
You can never have too many knives.
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.
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.