NOTES:
• The Cap estimates I've read so far are 120.6 and 120.9 million dollars.
• Remember that there is a salary cap minimum threshold of 89% of the cap to meet this year.
• This means that teams that are more than approximately $13.3 million beneath the cap have to spend the amount of money that they have free under the cap to reach that mandated floor number.
• According to the list above, there are 14 teams that are more than 13.3 million dollars under the cap.
• Those teams will be especially active this offseason in the free agency market to meet the minimum required salary cap floor number, which is between approximately $107.334 million and 107.601 million using the numbers listed above.
• Expect those clubs with money to spare, especially those at the top, such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Miami, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Buffalo, and Tennessee to be the most active in free agency approximately 2 months from now.
• Meeting the salary floor isn’t a problem for the Giants.
• They are going to have to cut and/or restructure some players’ contracts to get under the cap (according to this chart they are $4.7 million over the 2013 cap).
REMINDER ABOUT RESTRUCTURES WORK:
• You don’t restructure overpaid players.
• A restructure is when you take salary that a given player is due to earn, & then turn it into a guaranteed bonus.
• It's something you do with a core player who you expect to be around for 3 more years, or so (e.g., players who the Giants have done this with in the recent past are Eli Manning, Chris Snee, Corey Webster, and Antrel Rolle).
• It is significant to note that teams can only do it every 12 months with a given player, so if player X restructured his contract last year in June, then he can’t restructure his contract again until June of this year.
• I suspect that they’ll do it again with Rolle, Webster, or Snee. Chris Canty is also a likely candidate for a restructured contract since his cap hit will be $8.2 million.
WHAT TO DO WITH UNDERPERFORMING PLAYERS WHO AREN'T CANDIDATES TO HAVE THEIR CONTRACTS RESTRUCTURED?:
• Flat out cut the given player with the intention of not re-signing him. Depending on how much the Giants think David Diehl has left, he may become a victim of this.
• You can threaten to cut the player with the intention of re-signing him, and then use that leverage to get him to agree to a lower salary (this happened to Rocky Bernard and Brandon Jacobs 2 years ago; Jacobs refused to do it again last year, so the Giants cut him). Once again, David Diehl is a prime candidate for this, and so may be Ahmad Bradhsaw, but it probably won’t come down to that with him since his cap hit is not big compared to the low amount of cap space that the Giants have allocated with respect to the running back position overall.
• You’ll be forced to deal the reality of your decision and deal with the mistake that you made, and hope that his play improves. This is the most difficult situation to be in. The Jets are presently dealing with this with Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes.
WHAT TO POSSIBLY EXPECT GOING FORWARD:
• Michael Boley, David Baas, and Justin Tuck merit keeping an eye on this offseason with regard to their contract situations. Boley and Tuck are entering the final years of their deals. I suspect that Tuck will remain, but the same may not be the case with Boley. Baas has 3 more years left on his deal, so he may be a candidate for a re-structured contract.
• Giants Salary cap expert, Kevin Abrams, will have his hands full this offseason for sure.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO WITH RESPECT TO FREE AGENCY AS IT HAS TO DO WITH THE SALARY CAP :
• He’ll have to deal with pending 4 RFAs, most notably Victor Cruz & Stevie Brown, and then have to see if the Giants can sign anyone in UFA at the expense of someone currently on the roster, particularly the O-Line since there are 2 starters who will be free agents in March. Money will have to be carefully allocated there.
• The Giants will look to re-sign their own players who they project decent production for going forward. As always, the Giants set a price for these players. If they demand more than what the Giants think they’re worth, the Giants will cut bait with them (e.g, see Kevin Boss and Steve Smith).
• The Giants don’t go crazy money-wise in UFA, but will identify glaring areas of need, and then act quickly to fill these needs in come March if the price is right.
• They did so right away last year when they signed Marty B to play TE after the position was depleted with the injuries in the SB 46 to Ballard and Beckum.
• They did the same in going into 2010 with Rolle, Boley, & Bernard. In 2005, most famously, they signed Kareem McKenzie, A. Pierce, and Plexico to fill glaring needs on the roster at RT, MIKE, and WR respectively.
• Look for them to do so this year on the following positions: OL, LB, TE (re-sign Bennett here), and possibly CB.
• There will free agents who are likely to not be back (Kenny Phillips and Osi), for whatever the reason, and players who may be cut (Diehl or Boley).
• The Draft is easier to deal with because of the salary slotting system now in place brought about as a result of the 2011 CBA. There isn’t as much spent on draft picks as their used to be. Especially higher first round picks.
• Don’t look for the Giant to make a lot of moves, but instead target areas of need, and players who won’t break the structure of their salary cap going forward.
• As Jerry Reese himself said last year in an interview with Bob Pap and Ross Tucker on SiriusXM NFL Radio, the Giants don’t plan ahead by a single year. They do everything looking 2 or 3 years down the line. Keep that in mind this offseason as the Giants look to secure their younger core players going forward who will be coming off of their rookie deals (e.g., JPP, Cruz, Nicks, Linval Joseph).
• Tough decisions have to be made, and it is inevitable that teams will lose players—sometimes very good ones—but such is life in today’s NFL. The plus side, is that if a team sticks to a plan, and manages the cap carefully, they’ll be able to have both short-term and long-term success. Teams like the Giants, Steelers, and Packers are excellent examples of this, since they’ve won 4 of the last 6 Super Bowls.
