Ok, I've been arguing on the board that we should re-sign both Levitre and Byrd, and been countered that Levitre at least would be too expensive to invest in. So I decided to run the numbers. I pulled all the cap hits from http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap-hit/ and then looked at the cap hits through the 2015 season, assuming the same $121 million cap each year.
Ignore the annoying bar graph, I'm no Excel guru and I don't know how to get rid of it.
Anyway, the important point is that we have, by my calculation, $19 million in cap space as of this very moment.
So I cut Fitz, Kelsay, Brad Smith, and Rian Lindell - the four guys who seemed to have the largest disconnect between their cap # and their importance to the team. I used the "Dead Money" figure from the spotrac link above to determine how much they'd cost us against the cap.
Then, I "signed" Levitre using Carl Nicks' contract as a guidepost (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay...rs/carl-nicks/) but I flipped year 1 and 2 so the big cap hit would land next season. Then I "signed" Jairus Byrd using Antrel Rolle's contract as a guidepost (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-york-.../antrel-rolle/) because this link pulled from the Zone (http://www.profootballcentral.com/20...d-5-year-deal/) suggests that a 5 year 38 million deal would do it. Rolle's was for 37 million, but that doesn't change much. That leaves us with this:
So after dumping the dead weight, if we structure Levitre's contract the way I suggested, we are left with $18 million. Why so much? Because if I'm reading spotrac right, cutting Kelsay saves $4.1 million AND WHY ISN'T NIX CUTTING HIM RIGHT THIS MOMENT? Add $2.7 million from Smith and roughly 750000 from Fitz and Lindell and it largely negates the effect of signing Levitre and Byrd.
So what next? I took this mock draft from our own BuffaloBillsDraft.com (http://www.buffalobillsdraft.com/201...tt-elder-1231/). After subbing in Keenan Allen for our first pick, which assumed that we would not sign Levitre, I took the subsequent two and gave them the contracts that the guys drafted in their slot in 2012 would have had, leaving this:
That leaves us with $14 million and 3 picks and the following roster (obvious camp fodder and practice squaddies omitted)
QB: Tarvaris Jackson, Zac Dysert
RB: CJ Spiller, Fred Jackson
WR: Steve Johnson, Keenan Allen, TJ Graham, Kobi Hamilton, Marcus Easley
TE: Scott Chandler, Lee Smith
OT: Cordy Glenn, Erik Pears, Chris Hairson
OG: Andy Levitre, Kraig Urbik
C: Eric Wood, Colin Brown
DT: Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, Alex Carrington
DE: Mario Williams, Mark Anderson
LB: Arthur Moats, Kelvin Sheppard, Chris White, Nigel Bradham
CB: Stephon Gilmore, Aaron Williams, Ron Brooks, Justin Rogers
S: DaNorris Searcy, Jairus Byrd, Mana Silva
K: (UDFA - Used John Powell's contract as a guide)
P: Shawn Powell
LS: Garrison Sanborn
KR, PR: Justin Rogers
So we need warm bodies to fill the remaining positions. I think it can be done.
Anyway, I'm no mathmetologist, so I'll let you guys tear it apart.
Ignore the annoying bar graph, I'm no Excel guru and I don't know how to get rid of it.
Anyway, the important point is that we have, by my calculation, $19 million in cap space as of this very moment.
So I cut Fitz, Kelsay, Brad Smith, and Rian Lindell - the four guys who seemed to have the largest disconnect between their cap # and their importance to the team. I used the "Dead Money" figure from the spotrac link above to determine how much they'd cost us against the cap.
Then, I "signed" Levitre using Carl Nicks' contract as a guidepost (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay...rs/carl-nicks/) but I flipped year 1 and 2 so the big cap hit would land next season. Then I "signed" Jairus Byrd using Antrel Rolle's contract as a guidepost (http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-york-.../antrel-rolle/) because this link pulled from the Zone (http://www.profootballcentral.com/20...d-5-year-deal/) suggests that a 5 year 38 million deal would do it. Rolle's was for 37 million, but that doesn't change much. That leaves us with this:
So after dumping the dead weight, if we structure Levitre's contract the way I suggested, we are left with $18 million. Why so much? Because if I'm reading spotrac right, cutting Kelsay saves $4.1 million AND WHY ISN'T NIX CUTTING HIM RIGHT THIS MOMENT? Add $2.7 million from Smith and roughly 750000 from Fitz and Lindell and it largely negates the effect of signing Levitre and Byrd.
So what next? I took this mock draft from our own BuffaloBillsDraft.com (http://www.buffalobillsdraft.com/201...tt-elder-1231/). After subbing in Keenan Allen for our first pick, which assumed that we would not sign Levitre, I took the subsequent two and gave them the contracts that the guys drafted in their slot in 2012 would have had, leaving this:
That leaves us with $14 million and 3 picks and the following roster (obvious camp fodder and practice squaddies omitted)
QB: Tarvaris Jackson, Zac Dysert
RB: CJ Spiller, Fred Jackson
WR: Steve Johnson, Keenan Allen, TJ Graham, Kobi Hamilton, Marcus Easley
TE: Scott Chandler, Lee Smith
OT: Cordy Glenn, Erik Pears, Chris Hairson
OG: Andy Levitre, Kraig Urbik
C: Eric Wood, Colin Brown
DT: Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, Alex Carrington
DE: Mario Williams, Mark Anderson
LB: Arthur Moats, Kelvin Sheppard, Chris White, Nigel Bradham
CB: Stephon Gilmore, Aaron Williams, Ron Brooks, Justin Rogers
S: DaNorris Searcy, Jairus Byrd, Mana Silva
K: (UDFA - Used John Powell's contract as a guide)
P: Shawn Powell
LS: Garrison Sanborn
KR, PR: Justin Rogers
So we need warm bodies to fill the remaining positions. I think it can be done.
Anyway, I'm no mathmetologist, so I'll let you guys tear it apart.
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