Salary Cap Space 2007

[Lexwhat]

That will be the battle cry of the many an agent come next season with the start of free agency. The league notified the clubs this week in Dallas that next year's salary cap would be $109 million, meaning the 32 teams currently have $655 million collectively to spend to max out to the $3.488 billion allocated under the cap.

San Francisco owner John York's austerity plan has worked wonders, and the 49ers top the list with $41.78 million to spend. After years of salary-cap hell, the Tennessee Titans are next with $39.9 million under next season's cap. This is great news for Fisher, who can pursue some of the league's best free agents.

There are 20 teams with about $20 million or more to spend if they choose to do so. Here are the rest of the top ten teams: 3. Buffalo $37.86 million, 4. Arizona $35.2 million, 5. Cleveland $31.9 million, 6. Minnesota $31.5 million, 7. Jacksonville $31 million, 8. Cincinnati $28.8 million, 9. Green Bay $28.36 million and 10. New England $$26.98 million.

Before they make any cuts or re-do some salaries, the Washington Redskins have the least amount of money, $878,730.

Amazingly, the Pittsburgh Steelers are next with $1.44 million of cap space.

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar

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Also, here's something interesting from that same blog:

"Cowboys coach Bill Parcells pretty much laughed at Sean Payton, his former assistant, when Payton called last off-season offering a third-round pick for quarterback Tony Romo. Parcells said he told Payton, "to lay down on the couch and have some warm milk."

Both coaches had a pretty good idea that Romo might be pretty special."

[PECKERWOOD]

Wow, we got close to 40 million.. To be honest, I thought we had around 33 million. That's ALOT of cash to play with, I hope we spend some of it.

[Devin]

10 teams with 20 mil or more to spend?

Christ you better friggin pray Nate actually WANTS to return. As one of if not the premier defensive free-agent with all that money floating around I bet he gets offered upwards of 60-70 mil. And its crazy to think that wont break the bank of 20 seperate teams. Ironic he may actually get his "Champ Bailey money" afterall.

Watch.

[raphael120]

well i just hope we dont blow the money on BS free agents like we did this year. i think if anything this shows that we have good depth if we keep around these guys and upgrade. at least the guys behind them have a full year of starting under their belt. ex. if we draft some stud O-line guys, we have some capable backups that have started behind them. it's good that we see what we have in our players and i think next year, we should be set in talent, and we'll develop our draft picks, and i think the year after that, we should be a serious contender. please, jp, just keep gettin better

[DMBcrew36]

10 teams with 20 mil or more to spend?

Christ you better friggin pray Nate actually WANTS to return. As one of if not the premier defensive free-agent with all that money floating around I bet he gets offered upwards of 60-70 mil. And its crazy to think that wont break the bank of 20 seperate teams. Ironic he may actually get his "Champ Bailey money" afterall.

Watch.

I personally don't think he will want to return. He's been waiting too long to hit the market and has been building up up his resume these past few games for the big payday. I'm sure he'd also like to have the opportunity to maybe get picked up by a possible playoff contender. He'd also probably like to go play for a big market team where he can make himself known more easily.

[Devin]

I personally don't think he will want to return. He's been waiting too long to hit the market and has been building up up his resume these past few games for the big payday. I'm sure he'd also like to have the opportunity to maybe get picked up by a possible playoff contender. He'd also probably like to go play for a big market team where he can make himself known more easily.

Absolutley. Most players get 1 shot at a huge payday normally after thier rookie contract. Nate is gonna get paid its just a matter of where. Honestly i can't seem him passing up a large market team, the Bills throwing in that verbal promise not to tag him was a brutal mistake.

[Devin]

The sad reality is that to bring ANYONE here that is considered a top tier FA we will have to over-pay.

Not to offend any current/former buffalonians but its pretty hard for most athletes in the 24-28 range to pass up a sunny city like Miami or a large market city like say Dallas or a winner like San Diego for the frigid Buffalo locale.

Now dont get me wrong I love the Bills/Buffalo but I mean honestly what are Marv and Ralphs bargaining chips? Money. Thats it. So they better come with it when making offers.

[Lexwhat]

Absolutley. Most players get 1 shot at a huge payday normally after thier rookie contract. Nate is gonna get paid its just a matter of where. Honestly i can't seem him passing up a large market team, the Bills throwing in that verbal promise not to tag him was a brutal mistake.

Brutal mistake? How can you say so? My guess is that Marv just said it so that he can have Nate here for this year.

Basically, I'm saying they already had their minds made up before the season started whether or not he would be back. I'm sure they had a great idea as to exactly how much money Nate wants. I'm not sure what Marv's decision was, but my gut feeling is that Nate will be gone.

[Devin]

Brutal mistake? How can you say so? My guess is that Marv just said it so that he can have Nate here for this year.

Basically, I'm saying they already had their minds made up before the season started whether or not he would be back. I'm sure they had a great idea as to exactly how much money Nate wants. I'm not sure what Marv's decision was, but my gut feeling is that Nate will be gone.

I say so because now they have no recourse and will not even be able to trade him. He is going to be a very hot commidity this year.

Im sure Marv knew what his tag would be, and Nate is almost assuredly gone.

[Mitchy moo]

Nate is great but we can find 2 dates, for his cost.

[Lexwhat]

I say so because now they have no recourse and will not even be able to trade him. He is going to be a very hot commidity this year.

Im sure Marv knew what his tag would be, and Nate is almost assuredly gone.

I know what you mean. I am just saying that Marv already knew for sure whether Nate would be back after this year.

I think Marv tried to draft Nate's replacements and hopefully they will be able to come in and step up.

But in case we sign someone in free-agency...What do people think about Asante Samuel? He's gonna be expensive though...I think Samuel is just a pipe dream though...

[clumping platelets]

:movie:

[Ebenezer]

best idea is to sign a couple of significant players and pay them like Minnesota did Winfield.

[Lexwhat]

best idea is to sign a couple of significant players and pay them like Minnesota did Winfield.

Which players do you suggest?

[clumping platelets]

Not much available in FA and with so many teams with significant cap space, it will be difficult to add more than 1 significant UFA

Bills could use some of that to sign players like Lee Evans and/or Willis McGahee to extensions

[clumping platelets]

I have the Bills almost $40 million under but I'm missing some bonus info

[Ebenezer]

Not much available in FA and with so many teams with significant cap space, it will be difficult to add more than 1 significant UFA

Bills could use some of that to sign players like Lee Evans and/or Willis McGahee to extensions
I would be open to offers for McGahee.

[clumping platelets]

You mean trade?

I do not disagree.........

[kernowboy]

Considering the cap I think we will spend money but it has to be in other need areas and so Clements may walk. I seem to remember Burris being drafted, not really playing in his first year and then stepping up ... we have Ashton Youboty .. and there may be potential corners coming available like Mike Rumph and Andre Woolfork, still young enough to turn it around and make a difference.

The McGahee situation is different. He wants to be a medium sized fish in a big pond, not a big fish in a small pond. So trade him and let someone else overpay. Short term we re-sign A Train and maybe get TJ Duckett on a one year contract - long term we get a new stud runner in R1 of the 2008 draft.

Despite the cap space I don't think Marv/Dick/Ralph will go crazy and make daft deals. I can see Fletcher going and the top pick going on his replacement in the draft. He is 32, so won't get better or faster. TKO may last one more season but won't stay beyond that unless he takes a paycut.

The money will be spent on areas of need. I can see a top LE coming in if one is available in Free Agency - Patrick Kerney, Charles Grant, Justin Smith.

I can see at least one veteran guard coming in, maybe not Steinbach but possibly someone like Vince Manuwai or David Diehl.

Whilst we need help in the DT, they'll want to consider if what is there this year is much of an upgrade. Personally I am intrigued by Anttaj Hawthorne, the former 1st round prospect who fell to the 6th because of some misadventure with some pot. I thought the daft mistake not to draft him summed up the Donahoe era and wonder if Marv/Dick will correct this

Despite having a huge amount of space, most teams will realise that players will initially start asking for crazy money. Fortunately Snyder looks a little hamstrung. There will be some 'mad' deals but the team also needs to think longer term and what we spend today cannot be spent tomorrow. The team will keep an eye on not only who is scheduled to be a Free Agent next summer but also in 2008, 2009 etc

[jamze132]

With so many teams having so much cap space, it will be hard to get an decent FAs here. And I sersiously doubt that we will overpay for anyone. It's probably going to feel like being a Kansas City Royals fan this offseason. I do say we need to look into locking some of our own players who we know are going to be here a while up for a long time.

But I hope that Marv tries very hard to make some major upgrades to both lines.

[ICE74129]

Not much available in FA and with so many teams with significant cap space, it will be difficult to add more than 1 significant UFA

Bills could use some of that to sign players like Lee Evans and/or Willis McGahee to extensions

Then the bills will suck again next year. We need some impact players NOW, not 4 years from now when they develop after being drafted.

The Bills are going to have to overpay greatly to get some top talent in here. June is one cat I want brought in ASAP.

This team needs some top veteran help and fast otherwise we will be sitting here with 20+ mill in cap room as the moving vans are backing up to RWS.

[DMBcrew36]

Then the bills will suck again next year. We need some impact players NOW, not 4 years from now when they develop after being drafted.

The Bills are going to have to overpay greatly to get some top talent in here. June is one cat I want brought in ASAP.

This team needs some top veteran help and fast otherwise we will be sitting here with 20+ mill in cap room as the moving vans are backing up to RWS.

i think most people can agree. Hopefully having Dick Jauron and Marv Levy can sway a few players who wouldn't mind playing for them.

[Yasgur's Farm]

I'm with clump on this... The Bills should invest by extending Evans and Losman. If we were to overspend (which we'd have to do in this market), it may actually knock this team backwards because of locker room stuff.

1) I say we re-sign Kelsay, Wire, Gandy.
2) Let Fletch and Clemments walk (If they chase the big $).
3) We can sign a couple FA's (O-line, TE) if they're not greedy... Maybe we can snatch a RFA or 2.
4) Then we can trade our #1 + WM and or TKO to improve our draft.

[Meathead]

we already know what marv is going to do. hes said directly what hes going to do and he went and did it last offseason

theyre gonna try to target the young up and comers and get them before they hit the higher levels of fa-cy. its hit and miss just like any fa but the better you are at it the more value advantage you get

certainly we can expect probably two more triplett level signings but not any top tier megabuck fas. weve all seen the data on those guys and unless youve got some unknown new formula thats a prohibitively high risk

so thats what i expect and i believe it will work. marv is a beloved figure in the nfl and has connections everywhere. the players all love playing for him and jauron. he wont have any trouble getting his share of fa candidates eager to consider buffalo

and whether the clements promise was a blunder or not ive gone back and forth on. i think it was larry norton that said the tag salary was going to be so high that nobody would be interested in a trade to get nate at that much so it was moot. youd figure marv would know this and if he did then it becomes obvious why you can make the promise

what was the number im thinking it was nine and a half mil. i suppose an all world season might drive the number toward that level but even for a good nate that might be too much

over/under on number of posts to wire hate: 3

[kernowboy]

I would like to see or should say expect the following

1) Gandy, Wire and A Train to sign for sensible money
2) Clements and Fletcher Baker allowed to leave, TKO and Anderson cut, Villarial released.

with signings may I recommend the following

LB: EJ Henderson, 26, 6ft1, 245lbs
"A smart, instinctive defender who anticipates and reads plays well. An excellent tackler and interior defender. Fights off blockers and gets over trash in the open field. Takes very good angles. An effective blitzer. Pursues plays well and goes until the echo of the whistle"

WR: Ernest Wilford, 27, 6ft4 223lbs
"Very big and physical. Makes CBs pay when they jam him and blocks extremely well. Has great size and an outstanding vertical leap, making him a great jump-ball option. Can make tough catches in tight spots. A long strider with sneaky speed when he gets past a defender."

OG: David Diehl, 26, 6ft5 315lbs
"Good size and wingspan. Has quick feet and can slide. Appears to have good balance and fundamentals"

a RB to spell A-Train
TJ Duckett, 25, 6ft0 254lbs (could move to FB)
"Big, powerful inside runner with surprising quickness and nimbleness. Runs low, keeps his legs churning and delivers a blow to the tackler. Can cutback and will sometimes explode when he hits the hole. Has enough speed to run the sweep. Is improving as a blocker and receiver."

a QB to replace Holcomb and keep JP on his toes
Patrick Ramsay, 27, 6ft2, 223lbs
"Smart, decisive passer. Reads defenses and checks off his primary receiver well. Works hard and studies opponents. Has a live arm and can make all the throws. Has a quick release and slides well in the pocket. Takes a licking and hangs tough."

At Left end I would be happy with a big signing and any one from Patrick Kerney, Charles Grant or Justin Smith would suit me.

DT and CB are currently not looking good in Free Agency. However if we consider that both the Redskins and Steelers will have to cut players to have manoverability in Free Agency I can see the following being made available ..... Mike Rumph CB, 6ft2, only 27, could be a stopgap until Ashton is ready

The rest will have to come in the draft

[Yasgur's Farm]

I would like to see or should say expect the following

1) Gandy, Wire and A Train to sign for sensible money
2) Clements and Fletcher Baker allowed to leave, TKO and Anderson cut, Villarial released.

with signings may I recommend the following

LB: EJ Henderson, 26, 6ft1, 245lbs
"A smart, instinctive defender who anticipates and reads plays well. An excellent tackler and interior defender. Fights off blockers and gets over trash in the open field. Takes very good angles. An effective blitzer. Pursues plays well and goes until the echo of the whistle"

WR: Ernest Wilford, 27, 6ft4 223lbs
"Very big and physical. Makes CBs pay when they jam him and blocks extremely well. Has great size and an outstanding vertical leap, making him a great jump-ball option. Can make tough catches in tight spots. A long strider with sneaky speed when he gets past a defender."

OG: David Diehl, 26, 6ft5 315lbs
"Good size and wingspan. Has quick feet and can slide. Appears to have good balance and fundamentals"

a RB to spell A-Train
TJ Duckett, 25, 6ft0 254lbs (could move to FB)
"Big, powerful inside runner with surprising quickness and nimbleness. Runs low, keeps his legs churning and delivers a blow to the tackler. Can cutback and will sometimes explode when he hits the hole. Has enough speed to run the sweep. Is improving as a blocker and receiver."

a QB to replace Holcomb and keep JP on his toes
Patrick Ramsay, 27, 6ft2, 223lbs
"Smart, decisive passer. Reads defenses and checks off his primary receiver well. Works hard and studies opponents. Has a live arm and can make all the throws. Has a quick release and slides well in the pocket. Takes a licking and hangs tough."

At Left end I would be happy with a big signing and any one from Patrick Kerney, Charles Grant or Justin Smith would suit me.

DT and CB are currently not looking good in Free Agency. However if we consider that both the Redskins and Steelers will have to cut players to have manoverability in Free Agency I can see the following being made available ..... Mike Rumph CB, 6ft2, only 27, could be a stopgap until Ashton is ready

The rest will have to come in the draftI like your plan... I forgot to add A-train to my list of re-signs.

[kernowboy]

I like your plan... I forgot to add A-train to my list of re-signs.

Thanks

I don't think there is a need to go berserk in Free Agency and I think we can get some good talent in free agency with experience as well as upside.

At QB, we have JP but a starting QB with a big arm in Ramsay is useful to have .. I'm not sold on Nall

At WR/TE a big WR would be good like Wilford and I can see a TE in the draft hopefully GREG OLSEN

At RB, A-Train and TJ would be a nasty combo and we might be able to get a 3rd down back on Day2 such as Clifton Dawson or Garrett Wolfe

On the line I am sold on Peters-Gandy-Fowler-FA-Pennington or Butler. I think Butler will come good and may surplant Terrance. In time either Preston or Merz may replace Fowler as a bigger centre. If the free agent is Diehl that will do me. In the draft I would like to see an OL man who can play LT just in Peters got hurt. If DOUG FREE falls into the 3rd we grab him

Starting with the defensive line, getting a top LE in free agency will help the line. I would also be happy with JUSTIN HARRELL being drafted. His injury might make him fall to the lower 2nd or top 3rd where with clever work we could draft him. A line of FA-Harrell-Tripplett-Schobel, ably supported by Denney-Williams-McCargo-Hargrove might do nicely. We should invest a reasonable pot in the LE like Justin Smith or Patrick Kerney. I would also be happy if we use a Day2 pick on a DT project (Damion deRosia) or if not pick a young DT in FA with potential (Anttaj Hawthorne)

At LB, we have to plan for both Fletcher and TKO moving on. I can see us trading down in R1 and getting an LB like PAUL POSLUZNY or PATRICK WILLIS.Signing EJ Henderson for the middle and having Angelo Crowell back and we have a decent 3 - Posluzny/Henderson/Crowell

At DB, planning for Nate to go means looking to getting Youboty into the line up. This needs to be done gently so having someone like Mike Rumph to back him up or being a short term starter. At safety I am concerned about depth so I would look to someone like Eric Weddle who can play all four DB positions

Oh and me ought to re sign Rian Liandell

We are not so badly off as we thought .....

[Yasgur's Farm]

How could I forget Lindell... I say somewhere in the vacinity of the 4 year deal Josh Reed got... Maybe $3M signing bonus $1.25M 2007, $1.5M 2008, $1.75M 2009, $2M 2010.

We'll need to watch out for teams like the Cowboys.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

From the BZ front page and "straight from the hors's mouth": article in the Buffalo News:

"Bills General Manager Marv Levy says the team has gotten what it was looking for from its free-agent class, and that the team was not eager to bet a huge contract on one or two supposed marquee free agents.

"They have given us incremental help that we wanted," Levy said. "I don't think very often that these big blockbuster free-agent signings from outside succeed to the degree that the money might indicate. We weren't going after a guy with blockbuster money. There have been blockbuster trades that have paid off - like Champ Bailey. But I think they're rare, and you're really bucking the odds."

Levy said the draft still is more important to a team's success than free agency.

"The draft is the foundation," he said. "But while I think the biggest impact comes from the draft, to say that's the only way we're going to do it isn't good either.

Tripplett was the No. 1 player the Bills targeted. He signed a five-year deal worth about $18 million in jumping to Buffalo from Indianapolis. Tripplett did not make many plays in the backfield the first half of the season. He has come on the past month.

"His work ethic is fantastic," Levy said. "Early on, we looked for better (performance). For about three games previous to San Diego, we saw marked improvement. San Diego was not as good a performance as the other three. But we're seeing some good things."
The Bills believe Tripplett is a perfect fit for their defense, and he is going to have to be one of the cornerstones of the defense in the coming years. Maybe if he gets a better player next to him, he will show more consistent play-making. "
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061207/1049682.asp

What that tells me is that the Bills will: 1.) look first to keep those of their own players that they really like; 2.) look to the draft for impact players who they feel will be the play-makers in their system when surrounded with the right role-players; 3.) use free agency primarily to acquire young, developing role-players that they feel are about to blossom who will give the team depth and fill-in around their play-makers; 4.) add only one or at most two very carefully selected higher priced free agents who they feel will be impact players when surrounded by the right role-players and play-makers that they draft.

It clearly tells me that Bills fans should keep their free agent wish lists very short when it comes to the players who are most likely to attract a lot of interest from other teams and look for one or two players who fit the specific needs and system that the Bills use on offense and defense when narrowing down their lists. Also, expect the majority of their free agent signings to be names that you haven't heard too often--guys like Idonjie, the DE from the Bears that they tried to sign this past off-season as a RFA, who has blossomed this season with Chicago.

That having been said, I have to say that I would not be surprised to see the Bills try to sign one of two players that I would be extremely happy to see them add this coming off-season: Lance Briggs or Cato June. I think both Indy and the Bears will try to re-sign both of these guys, but I can see the Bills making a big push for one of them if they do not re-sign, especially Briggs, who played for Fewell and, I believe, also Jauron. I think that they may feel that one of the reasons that the run defense has not been very good has been that their LBs (ie FB and TKO) have not done as good a job as they need to have them do in this system--Briggs and June are play-makers who have been successful playing in this system.

I also think that Levy has made it pretty obvious that, one way or another, the Bills are going to be looking to acquire a 1-gap DT this off-season to play next to Tripplett and McCargo next year. I don't think that they will give up on K.Williams, let alone McCargo, at this stage, so that pretty much tells me that Anderson will probably be gone after this year. The only question I have is whether they would feel that they could get enough out of a rookie next year to try to get the guy that they want out of the draft...which has me thinking that they may be looking to sign a 1-gap DT in free agency.

But, overall, I think that the approach that the Bills will take this off-season is going to be pretty close to the approach that they took last off-season--with the biggest change being that they may try to re-sign or give contract extensions to more of their own players than they did last year when they let a number of older vets and some marginal guys, like Bannan, leave without trying to keep them.

[kernowboy]

Completely agree LTBillsfan.

On the downside, I think we will be waving goodbye to Fletcher-Baker, Clements, Villarial, and Anderson (though there are some pluses in that)

I also suspect that TKO, and McGahee won't be kept around because of cost or attitude issues. I think Everett will also be invited to move on.

I think the Bears will retain Briggs and I don't think Marv will consider June due to 'character' issues. I think they will want Steinbach but will drop out as the bidding gets too high.

I think they will however make a strong move for Vince Manuwai or David Diehl for the RG position and will draft a LT/LG. They will go with A-Train and maybe sign Duckett to spell him for a season. As Royal is primarily a blocker, a 2 TE offensive set might be used especially if we are able to draft Miller or Olsen. A big WR may come in and I would like to see this being Wilford though I suspect that we will stay the course with Reed and Price. A backup QB like Ramsay may also be part of the equation.

On the defence, if we are going to make a push for a marquee FA I would like it to be at LE - Kerney, Grant and Justin Smith fit the bill, though Kerney is on the older side. As a wildcard a DT we might look at is Anttaj Hawthorne who has been working his way up the Raiders depth chart. Whilst not stop watch quick - for Triplett and McCargo to do their stuff, someone needs to take out the trash!

At LB we may look to Henderson, Robert Thomas, Matt Wilhelm and Tommy Polley, all quick and in the 25-28 age range. Personally I'd go with Henderson and Wilhelm. I also see our 1st round pick here

At DB, I think Youboty will move up the depth chart but we may also consider Rumph who can hold the fort.