CaptainHook Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Drive past any of the 32 NFL facilities and you will see an empty parking lot. Sure, there are some rookies working early in the morning with the strength coach, but for the most part the veterans are long gone and the coaches are right behind them as everyone tries to recharge their batteries and get ready for the upcoming season. Playbooks have finally been completed, the camp rosters are set -- give or take one player who might get signed to fill a camp need -- and head coaches are playing golf, catching fish, or just sleeping late. Well, there were a few things left behind that are reminders that the business season never ends. "Dead money" is the common expression for players still on the salary-cap books who no longer play for the team. Today, we will look at some of the cap issues still lurking for teams around the league. I took a look at the team salary charges as it relates to the salary cap, and there are a number of teams that really finished up their offseason with some significant dead money against their 2007 salary cap. There's no doubt that all the NFL teams are being run more efficiently than they were 10 years ago. Nonetheless, dead money is not going away when everyone gets back from vacation. With the 2007 salary cap is $109 million per team, it really isn't bad for a team to be carrying under $10 million of old debt, but when a team crosses over that mark, it causes a strain on the team's ability to do new business. Seven teams in the NFL are burdened to some degree with over $10 million of dead money each, and no one has a bigger number of player charges on the books for guys no longer with the team than the Houston Texans. Houston had a coaching change a year ago, and it switched defensive schemes from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Both are both driving forces behind the house cleaning that has gone on since the arrival of Gary Kubiak and his staff. On the 2007 books at a charge of a little over $30 million (close to 30 percent of the entire salary cap) for the Texans but no longer playing for Kubiak are the following players as the franchise continues to revamp the roster. Name Cap Charge Status 1. Gary Walker $5,500,001 Retired after 2005 season 2. Todd Wade $5,000,000 Joined Washington in 2006 3. Robaire Smith $4,175,002 Played for Tennessee in 2006; joined Cleveland in 2007 4. David Carr $4,000,000 Joined Carolina in 2007 5. Eric Moulds $3,750,000 Free agent 6. Zach Weigert $2,950,000 Free agent 7. Seth Payne $2,250,000 Free agent 8. Domanick Williams $1,300,000 Free agent 9. Kailee Wong $1,167,000 Retired after 2006 season 10. Vernand Morency $189,000 Joined Green Bay in 2006 11. Sam Cowart $135,000 Did not play in 2006 12. Eleven 2006 rookies $74,000 TOTAL 2007 DEAD MONEY: $30,490,003 (approx. 28 percent of cap) This list is a great reminder to NFL players that if you don't win and your coach gets fired, it will not be long before the high-priced players will soon be shown the door. New head coaches typically rid themselves of players who were not part of the solution for the former regime. Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans and Oakland all have first- or second-year head coaches, and are all above the $10 million mark in dead money. A quick look at the Detroit salary cap, and you quickly realize the Lions have used a lot of salary-cap space to figure out the position -- and they haven't even signed Calvin Johnson yet. On the 2007 books, there are 16 wide receivers using up cap space. Mike Williams, Charles Rogers, Corey Bradford are no longer on the team but will eat up $10,229,720 of space this season (close to 10 percent of the cap). When Johnson finally signs his contract, the Lions will have close to $28 million in wide receivers alone. Throw in the dead money Ross Verba, James Hall, Dre Bly, Josh McCown and Marcus Pollard represent (a combined $6.4 million), and you can see the cost of getting a roster corrected. It's interesting to note the emotional state of the present Lions players -- remember Jon Kitna's 10-win prediction? -- is at an all time high. No one seems to miss any of the departed players. As the 2007 season gets under way after this very short and well-deserved rest, the players with a head coach who appears on the hot seat better realize they are on a seat just as hot! Play this season like your professional life depends upon it -- because it does. from NFL.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 (edited) Interesting read...is there a link to this story where we can find out this level of detail for all teams "dead" cap? Edited July 5, 2007 by The Wolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blips Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Here is the link to the story but there is no link from that story to all the NFL team's dead money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAUgrad Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I didn't know retired and traded players could still count against a team's cap. Interesting read!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 It's interesting to note the emotional state of the present Lions players -- remember Jon Kitna's 10-win prediction? -- is at an all time high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Swerski Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I feel sorry for Texans fans. They might have the worst front office in all of professional sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 From an earlier story(2004))- The flip side of dead money is a loophole in the cap rules that allows teams to create additional cap space. Owners who want to spend more money, rather than pinch pennies, have an easy way to get some wiggle room. If a team has cap space remaining late in a season, because, say, space left for emergency injury replacements was not required, there is a way to push that cap room to the following year. A team can do this by signing a player to a contract that calls for impossible-to-achieve bonuses; under the rules, a bonus added to a contract during the season is counted against the current cap as "likely to be earned," although it might never be paid. Jacksonville recently did this with third-string quarterback Quinn Gray, signing a new deal that included a $6 million bonus if he leads the team in touchdown passes. That won't happen, of course. So in 2005, that $6 million will be credited back to the Jaguars' salary cap, in effect raising their cap limit by that amount. Some owners want to close that loophole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I feel sorry for Texans fans. They might have the worst front office in all of professional sports. Bingo. I read the headline thought about it for a second and wasn't surprised in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Rodgers Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Texans will have a ton of cap space next year since they took such a hit this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Texans will have a ton of cap space next year since they took such a hit this season. That's still a big albatross to have for this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROYALWITCHEESE Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 The Lions are paying 16 WRs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myhousekey Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Another story that talks about some of the top dead money being paid this year... http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9994336 Team Player Cap rank Cap Charge 1. Baltimore Orlando Brown 14th $2.1 million 2. Dallas Mike Vanderjagt 18th $1.6 million 3. Detroit Charles Rogers 10th $3.2 million 4. Houston Gary Walker 2nd $5.5 million 5. Kansas City Jerome Woods 13th $2.65 million 6. Kansas City Willie Roaf 14th $2.54 million 7. New Orleans Jermaine Mayberry 9th $2.7 million 8. New Orleans Jonathan Sullivan 11th $2.58 million 9. Philadelphia Todd Pinkston 22nd $960,000 10. Pittsburgh Duce Staley 16th $2.34 million 11. San Francisco Mike Rumph 22nd $973,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 The Lions are paying 16 WRs! You mean other teams aren't doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 You mean other teams aren't doing that? Vikings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 With a front office that bad, it makes the divison 3 teams, instead of 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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