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View Full Version : The Inevitable Cap Question



BigBroncLove
12-31-2007, 07:03 AM
Here it comes, that great big ugly question that looms its head out every year. Now I know the official cap statement by the NFL has yet to be distributed (and that comes out what is it Feb 3rd or something like that?) but I was wondering what everyone thought before th official word comes out what this years cap will look like.

IMO with so many contracts accelerating against the team this year, no cap increase like last year, unless some big cuts or trades are made to free up space we won't have that big of a Free agency. Then again I thought that last year when we were rated with only having 7.something million in the NFL report in cap space in a shallow FA with many teams having twice or three times as mcuh space. But with Wilsons, Warrens, and Plummers contracts all accelerating against the team, and the dire need to get players like MArshal, Dumerville, and I think Scheffler (is his contract up here soon?) into bigger longer contracts before they hit FA at the end of 08' that this year may be more akin to 06's FA then 07's.

So, what'd ya think? Cap guru's, lets hear it...

BaiLeY324
12-31-2007, 07:38 AM
Walker may be traded if he doesn't restructure, Henry will most likely be released, some of the older linemen will most likely be asked to restructure, Rod's going to retire, Lynch most likely will. Those guys alone will free up 7-8 mil.

Although that money should be going to Marshall and Dumervil because they're the only players on the team this year that deserve that.

SR
12-31-2007, 07:58 AM
Walker may be traded if he doesn't restructure, Henry will most likely be released, some of the older linemen will most likely be asked to restructure, Rod's going to retire, Lynch most likely will. Those guys alone will free up 7-8 mil.

Although that money should be going to Marshall and Dumervil because they're the only players on the team this year that deserve that.

There are stipulations for Walker and Henry though and there is a good chance that if we just release them, portions of their salary for next year will count against the Broncos' cap. If we can trade both of them, we won't take any kind of cap hit. I'm not too worried about Walker though. He'll be alright. Henry is the one we need to trade.

BaiLeY324
12-31-2007, 08:00 AM
There are stipulations for Walker and Henry though and there is a good chance that if we just release them, portions of their salary for next year will count against the Broncos' cap. If we can trade both of them, we won't take any kind of cap hit. I'm not too worried about Walker though. He'll be alright. Henry is the one we need to trade.

The thing is, after this year we'll probably only get a 6th at best for him. No one's going to want to invest anything more than that for a guy that was literally a hair away from getting suspended for a year because of drugs

SR
12-31-2007, 08:11 AM
The thing is, after this year we'll probably only get a 6th at best for him. No one's going to want to invest anything more than that for a guy that was literally a hair away from getting suspended for a year because of drugs

Yep. You're right. However, I think Selvin Young is a better fit in our offense at this point than Henry. IMO, it would be worth it to cut our losses and take a second day pick for him. There are several teams in the league that are lacking a good RB, regardless of his character issues. He can still be an awesome back, I just hope it's not with Denver.

The problem with all of this is that its not like he only has a year left on his contract and we can just eat his salary for another year before cutting him. The guy signed a big contract with us. So, do we give him another chance at the starting job while we pay him his millions, or do we just grin and bear it while we let another back take the reigns and let Henry be the second highest paid bench warming RB in the league (next to Dominic Rhodes)? Do we release him and take the cap hit and make due with what we can given the amount of money we have to spend? At this point, if Shanny's MO is to get rid of Henry, we probably won't get anything more than bottom dollar for him, whether it's some kind of player from another team's roster, or a late second day pick.

Either way that goes, I don't see us getting rid of Walker.

BaiLeY324
12-31-2007, 08:46 AM
Yep. You're right. However, I think Selvin Young is a better fit in our offense at this point than Henry. IMO, it would be worth it to cut our losses and take a second day pick for him. There are several teams in the league that are lacking a good RB, regardless of his character issues. He can still be an awesome back, I just hope it's not with Denver.

The problem with all of this is that its not like he only has a year left on his contract and we can just eat his salary for another year before cutting him. The guy signed a big contract with us. So, do we give him another chance at the starting job while we pay him his millions, or do we just grin and bear it while we let another back take the reigns and let Henry be the second highest paid bench warming RB in the league (next to Dominic Rhodes)? Do we release him and take the cap hit and make due with what we can given the amount of money we have to spend? At this point, if Shanny's MO is to get rid of Henry, we probably won't get anything more than bottom dollar for him, whether it's some kind of player from another team's roster, or a late second day pick.

Either way that goes, I don't see us getting rid of Walker.

I agree and can say that Selvin is the better fit... And with that, I still hope we bring in a RB this offseason, particularly through the draft. I'd love to see that 1-2 punch again that we saw in Tatum and MA back in 05.

I just hate that we could have gotten a true franchise back and a good fit for our offense in Willis McGahee last year for like what? A 4th round pick? And we pick an aging and mischievous player in Henry. Not that I didn't like Henry, but the questions were there, and he didn't exactly answer them positively. So now we settle with him eating the cap away, or trade him for a late pick, oh well, what's happened has happened I suppose.

And yeah, I don't want to see Walker go, but again, we're not going to pay the dude 5-8 million a year for being a #2.

SR
12-31-2007, 08:51 AM
And yeah, I don't want to see Walker go, but again, we're not going to pay the dude 5-8 million a year for being a #2.

Why not? And just to be fair...being a #2 reciever in this league is just as good as being a #1 reciever. The Bengals, Patriots, Colts, among other teams all have two #1 recievers. I don't see why we can't. If he wants his paycheck, give it to him.

G_Money
12-31-2007, 10:10 AM
The problem is the structure of their salaries.

Javon Walker has a 4 million dollar roster bonus due this coming Spring that messes up his cap calculations. We may save some money this year by cutting him because of that - I'm not sure what the exact figures are.

Henry, OTOH, is unlikely to be cut because his contract isn't structured to save us anything by taking that route. His contract is front-loaded, so we can cut him in 2 years and it won't cost us a dime then, but I believe we take a 7.5 mil-ish cap hit to cut him and only like 2.5 mil-ish to keep him.

Cap structures are a pain.

Personally, I think we'll keep paying both of them, but I expect to draft at least another WR in the draft to groom to replace Walker. Javon's knee isn't something you can rely on, and you want a guy ready to go when his time here is up in another year or two.

~G