We must draft better...

[Daseal]

Ya'll need to keep your draft picks for starters and stop your owner from putting your team in cap hell every 5 years

I'd like you to point to one time during Snyders reign that we've actually been in salary cap hell, as you put it. The "experts" tell us every year that we have no money and we have to cut half the team, I have yet to see anything to that extent. I'll argue that the Redskins are far and away one of the top teams in the NFL at managing the cap. We've had lengthy discussions with CrazyCannuck on here (who seems to know a lot about the cap) and it seems the Redskins factor in X amount of lost money due to the cap in order to make everything else work. While I don't like our free agency sprees often, they have yet to actually kill us via the salary cap.

As far as drafting, I think we get a bum rap for it. Granted, I don't think we've handled our picks very well (Ie giving them away) but in the first round we've been dead on lately. (In no particular order) Taylor, Rogers, Arrington, Bailey, Samuels. While most people argue you should get that #1 pick right, fact is many teams miss on their #1s. I think we need to work a little harder to develop our late picks so we have sufficient depth (especially seeing what our secondary looks like this year!)

Now, Im also not opposed giving up a #1 or a #2 pick for a guy that's proven but still young enough to give us a good 6-10 years. When we did the Coles trade I thought it was a good use of a first rounder. We got a receiver that was talented, established, and from all accounts a good team guy. I know Coles has been demonized here, but I think using a first round pick in that sense is okay IF you feel like the players in the draft aren't as good or would take too long to develop. Ideally we can keep picking up players like Marcus Washington for cheap and build through the draft, but he's the steal of a lifetime.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Daseal

I'd like you to point to one time during Snyders reign that we've actually been in salary cap hell, as you put it. The "experts" tell us every year that we have no money and we have to cut half the team, I have yet to see anything to that extent. I'll argue that the Redskins are far and away one of the top teams in the NFL at managing the cap. We've had lengthy discussions with CrazyCannuck on here (who seems to know a lot about the cap) and it seems the Redskins factor in X amount of lost money due to the cap in order to make everything else work. While I don't like our free agency sprees often, they have yet to actually kill us via the salary cap.

As far as drafting, I think we get a bum rap for it. Granted, I don't think we've handled our picks very well (Ie giving them away) but in the first round we've been dead on lately. (In no particular order) Taylor, Rogers, Arrington, Bailey, Samuels. While most people argue you should get that #1 pick right, fact is many teams miss on their #1s. I think we need to work a little harder to develop our late picks so we have sufficient depth (especially seeing what our secondary looks like this year!)

Now, Im also not opposed giving up a #1 or a #2 pick for a guy that's proven but still young enough to give us a good 6-10 years. When we did the Coles trade I thought it was a good use of a first rounder. We got a receiver that was talented, established, and from all accounts a good team guy. I know Coles has been demonized here, but I think using a first round pick in that sense is okay IF you feel like the players in the draft aren't as good or would take too long to develop. Ideally we can keep picking up players like Marcus Washington for cheap and build through the draft, but he's the steal of a lifetime.

Boy, where does one start. The cap hell thing, I hope I am still here when people start to understand why we avoid the cap hell every year. When we restructure contracts that is just moving money to later years, that eventually has to be paid. an example will be Arrington in the offseason with his 12 million cap number. He will restructure(maybe) his deal move some of the money to later years to free up some immediate cash for upcoming seasons. We do not experience these cap hits because of restructuring, or flat out cutting people, which does cost money towards the cap. Generally, so much in 1year and the remaining amount the 2nd year, depends on when they cut him before or after June 1st(I think the date is right)
Regarding the draft picks, those # 1 picks are pretty easy to pick. Those are talented guys that any owner, GM or coach can make. You cant go wrong selecting any of those guys. Granted there may be a few busts here and there, but for the most part your 1st round guys are pretty damn good players. Where our organization has problems is developing young talent and picking quality players in the later rounds. Once we get to the 3rd or 4th round we essentially waste picks(except Cooley, which is a pretty good pick) Coles deal turned out the be awful. He was never the guy we thought he would be, and we lost a ton of money on him. Fact is we never got what we put into it. Now, if we had drafted a receiver from the draft, he may or may not have turned out but we would not have lost 9 million dollars or so. Giving up draft picks for pricy free agents, or players has not proven in the last 10 years to be all that great for this team. Have we won anything, had a winning season, gone to the playoffs? NO, an infatic NO. Why people think this way of filling roster spots or picking up free agent after free agent is making us a better team, I have no idea. Since Danny took over there has not been a steady progression in this teams progress. Only when Norv was here did we see a progression that usually good teams do. Norv started out kinda bad, but his win total increased every year, with a NFC east title, and one play away from the NFC championship. Since Danny took over, and spent freely every year with this guy and that guy, traded pick after pick away, we have been at best 8-8. that is pretty damn bad concidering we generally have the highest payroll every year, and I believe 2nd highest cost of ticket prices. Hopefully Joe or whoever is here over the next several years can persuade The Danny not to put his nose in the "football" business and just write the checks. AND GET A GM FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!!!

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

Boy, where does one start. The cap hell thing, I hope I am still here when people start to understand why we avoid the cap hell every year. When we restructure contracts that is just moving money to later years, that eventually has to be paid. an example will be Arrington in the offseason with his 12 million cap number. He will restructure(maybe) his deal move some of the money to later years to free up some immediate cash for upcoming seasons. We do not experience these cap hits because of restructuring, or flat out cutting people, which does cost money towards the cap. Generally, so much in 1year and the remaining amount the 2nd year, depends on when they cut him before or after June 1st(I think the date is right)
Regarding the draft picks, those # 1 picks are pretty easy to pick. Those are talented guys that any owner, GM or coach can make. You cant go wrong selecting any of those guys. Granted there may be a few busts here and there, but for the most part your 1st round guys are pretty damn good players. Where our organization has problems is developing young talent and picking quality players in the later rounds. Once we get to the 3rd or 4th round we essentially waste picks(except Cooley, which is a pretty good pick) Coles deal turned out the be awful. He was never the guy we thought he would be, and we lost a ton of money on him. Fact is we never got what we put into it. Now, if we had drafted a receiver from the draft, he may or may not have turned out but we would not have lost 9 million dollars or so. Giving up draft picks for pricy free agents, or players has not proven in the last 10 years to be all that great for this team. Have we won anything, had a winning season, gone to the playoffs? NO, an infatic NO. Why people think this way of filling roster spots or picking up free agent after free agent is making us a better team, I have no idea. Since Danny took over there has not been a steady progression in this teams progress. Only when Norv was here did we see a progression that usually good teams do. Norv started out kinda bad, but his win total increased every year, with a NFC east title, and one play away from the NFC championship. Since Danny took over, and spent freely every year with this guy and that guy, traded pick after pick away, we have been at best 8-8. that is pretty damn bad concidering we generally have the highest payroll every year, and I believe 2nd highest cost of ticket prices. Hopefully Joe or whoever is here over the next several years can persuade The Danny not to put his nose in the "football" business and just write the checks. AND GET A GM FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!!!

One of these days I'm going to create a cookie cutter post to put up whenever somebody misunderstands the salary cap as is done in this post.

First off, Snyder is a great business man. He has people who can project the salary cap limits in future years based on the league's growing finances. Actually, as smart as Snyder is with numbers, he can probably do it himself in his head.

The signing bonuses are only part of the equation. The team schedules roster bonuses to occur in lumpsum halfway through the contracts. These bonuses make it very easy for the team to keep the player by restructuring them to signing bonuses. Because of the growth taking place in NFL salaries, once players are 3 years removed from their original signing bonus, the allocated portion of said bonus takes up a lot lower % of the growing salary cap limit. That growing limit is why we never run into "cap hell."

While our cap figure for 2006 looks crappy now, it's very easy for the Skins to fit under the 2006 limit just by cutting a few chumps like Matt Bowen, and then restructuring a bunch of roster bonuses. Our cap figure will come down by about $20 million from where it is now, and we won't have to get rid of any core players. And in future years, the cap will either cease to exist or continue to grow. And Snyder's financial projections will be right on the money.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

One of these days I'm going to create a cookie cutter post to put up whenever somebody misunderstands the salary cap as is done in this post.

First off, Snyder is a great business man. He has people who can project the salary cap limits in future years based on the league's growing finances. Actually, as smart as Snyder is with numbers, he can probably do it himself in his head.

The signing bonuses are only part of the equation. The team schedules roster bonuses to occur in lumpsum halfway through the contracts. These bonuses make it very easy for the team to keep the player by restructuring them to signing bonuses. Because of the growth taking place in NFL salaries, once players are 3 years removed from their original signing bonus, the allocated portion of said bonus takes up a lot lower % of the growing salary cap limit. That growing limit is why we never run into "cap hell."

While our cap figure for 2006 looks crappy now, it's very easy for the Skins to fit under the 2006 limit just by cutting a few chumps like Matt Bowen, and then restructuring a bunch of roster bonuses. Our cap figure will come down by about $20 million from where it is now, and we won't have to get rid of any core players. And in future years, the cap will either cease to exist or continue to grow. And Snyder's financial projections will be right on the money.

I found an artice that basically says exactly what I have been saying about all this restructuring and reworking of the bonuses that you and other people seem to think they dont hurt our cap figures down the road.





In our example, let's say the Falcons need to save some extra space so they need to restructure some contracts. Say it is the offseason prior to Year 3 of Ed's contract, so it would not be a good idea to cut him (would add an extra $1 million to the Falcons cap). So they decide to restructure Ed's contract. A common form of restructuring is lowering the player's base salary. In this case, the Falcons can lower Ed's base salary of $1.5 million to $500,000. Now the Falcons have cleared $1 million off Ed's contract. But now what happens to that $1 million? Usually teams treat it as a signing bonus. In that way, it becomes prorated over the remaining years of his contract just like a normal signing bonus. That means that there will be a $333,333 cap hit ($1 million / 3 years) in Years 3, 4, and 5. Although this frees up $666,667 in cap space in Year 3, it adds an additional $333,333 to the Falcons cap in Years 4 and 5.
So although restructuring is a quick way to gain cap space without losing a player, but it also can hurt a team down the road. When you begin to restructure contracts with large bonuses, it can be very detrimental to the salary cap in future years.

Now, I dont see how people can keep arguing with me in regards to all this restructing crap. It says it right here, load and clear.