Lance Briggs - Potential Free Agent

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Giantone

Great.......so according to you your going to have $11.8 million to sign everyone you draft and free agents,ok. I don't think it can be done but hey I'm only a guy on a message board.............like you.

You're a guy on the message board who doesn't understand accounting. I'm a guy on a message board who does, that's the difference.

First, GTripp is right, we may not make every move I listed. Which I also note that it's probably not wise to do so.

But just to give you an idea how the cap works, last year the Skins signed London Fletcher for 5 years and $25 million, of which $10.5 million came in the form of signing bonus. Last year, he counted $3.0 million on our 2007 cap. If you'd like me to explain why his cap number is seemingly so low despite the fact that he signed a deal worth $5 million per year, I will gladly do so. But them's the facts.

Last year, our rookies took up less than $3.0 million between all of them. And that included a very high pick in Landry. This year, we pick 21st and won't dole out anywhere near the bonus that Landry got.

So this year, we'll easily fit our rookies under $3.0 million. We won't need to clear every bit of space I laid out. If we need to clear more to sign a free agent or two, we can.

And just a personal note, I don't mind being questioned at all. I like to edumacate anybody who's interested in the workings of the cap. But it was a little ridiculous for you to tell us we needed to go back and revisit the cap when you clearly don't understand how signing bonuses and base salaries are allocated.