Bills no longer among NFL's leaders in dead money

[YardRat]

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/bills-news-notes/2015/2/11/8015555/buffalo-bills-salary-cap-2015-dead-money-ryan-fitzpatrick-stevie-johnson

Presently, the Bills have about $5.47 million in 2015 dead money, with over $2.1 million coming from C.J. Spiller (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/108613/c-j-spiller) and about $1.5 million from both Kyle Orton (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/3114/kyle-orton) and Alan Branch. The Bills do not have a contract like Fitzpatrick's or Johnson’s presently on the books; the maximum dead money the Bills could realistically receive from cutting a single player in 2015 would be $2.625 million (Chris Williams (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/2969/d-j-williams)) or $2 million (Leodis McKelvin (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/34865/leodis-mckelvin)). Even if some additional dead money is undertaken through the cutting of Williams, Manny Lawson (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/2100/manny-lawson) ($1.5 million), Kraig Urbik (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/71117/kraig-urbik) ($1.4 million), or Scott Chandler (http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/16804/scott-chandler) ($600,000), the days of the Bills losing such an enormous percentage of their salary cap to dead money appear, for the time being, to be gone.

The effects of having this much wasted money are obvious. Taking the 2013 and 2014 seasons together, 11 different teams won a combined 20 games. Of these 11, only three had a total dead money number higher than the league average of $29.3 million: Dallas at $44.8 million, New England at $35.4 million, and Arizona at $34.1 million. The top five teams in total dead money averaged just under six wins per season.

[GvilleBills]

Interesting correlation there at the the end.

[DraftBoy]

A win for Whaley??

[justasportsfan]

A win for Whaley??While we may not have much dead money , we still have a dead position and its the most important position on the team.

[Strongman]

Under Ralph, I've always suspected the Bills used dead money as a way to keep from spending a lot of real money on players.

[streetkings01]

Under Ralph, I've always suspected the Bills used dead money as a way to keep from spending a lot of real money on players.
Let the man rest in peace

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Under Ralph, I've always suspected the Bills used dead money as a way to keep from spending a lot of real money on players.

Dead money has already been paid to the player, it actually costs the team more.

[stuckincincy]

Dead money has already been paid to the player, it actually costs the team more.

Hmmm.. I thought dead money was contract cash that was part of expenditures counted in previous cap totals, and when a player was let go somehow, that $ had to be added back into into a future cap figure so that other players could dip their hands into the money pie.

[Ed]

Hmmm.. I thought dead money was contract cash that was part of expenditures counted in previous cap totals, and when a player was let go somehow, that $ had to be added back into into a future cap figure so that other players could dip their hands into the money pie.
Dead money is just any remaining guaranteed money that was pro-rated into future years.

[stuckincincy]

Dead money is just any remaining guaranteed money that was pro-rated into future years.

And I think it then gets added back as a charge against cap for future years. The term dead money has no meaning unless if affects a team's ability to spend for new players.

It goes back to the NFLPA being really a trade guild - they are not interested in expanding membership like most any union is - they are interested in fattening the wallets of the current members. Hence the rookie cap.

[Ed]

And I think it then gets added back as a charge against cap for future years. The term dead money has no meaning unless if affects a team's ability to spend for new players.

It goes back to the NFLPA being really a trade guild - they are not interested in expanding membership like most any union is - they are interested in fattening the wallets of the current members. Hence the rookie cap.
This doesn't really make any sense. How is the NFLPA supposed to expand membership when there's a limited set amount of roster spots?

[stuckincincy]

This doesn't really make any sense. How is the NFLPA supposed to expand membership when there's a limited set amount of roster spots?

That is the point - the last thing they want to push for is expanded active rosters. It is a guild - not a union. It's job is to divide up the salary pie amongst the fewest players.

I'd guess that the NFLPA is steamed about the 46 man game limit - that was instituted so that (certain) clubs couldn't engineer a defacto 7 man IR list. Their membership would love to ring the active roster bell per their personal contracts. Owners can't claim a higher ethic than the NFLPA, that's for sure.