Cap question

[el toro]

How much does the team have left under the cap? Are there any exceptions to the cap (to re-sign your own free agents, for example)? I have plenty of familiarity with the NBA's salary cap rules, but not so much with the NFL's. Is it the same basic concept or a whole other animal?

Anyways, it would seem that knowing where the team stands right now with its cap space would provide some light on the myriad free agent discussions on this board.

I found the following info on the Texans' cap:

http://www.houstonprofootball.com/cap.html

According to that, the team is $15.761 million under the cap, but it does not include Walter and Putzier's contracts.

[Corrosion]

Espn has a page listing salary cap space of each team ..... it hasnt been updated since the 10th of March tho .... up to that point it had been updated regularly.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2349505

[keyfro]

yeah we starting FA with 12.7 million in cap space i think if you minus the new contracts it should be somewhere around...by my calculations and estimates which are probably as far as what we are giving the RFA's along with walter's and putzier's contract we probably have around 5 mil in cap space now...so i don't expect us to do a lot of big time contracts in FA since we need that money to sign draft picks

side note here does anyone else think it's a crime that we are paying todd wade $6,173,387 and that number is the third highest on the team right now...plus greenwood's $4,670,720 which is 7th highest

[zeplin]

"side note here does anyone else think it's a crime that we are paying todd wade $6,173,387 and that number is the third highest on the team right now...plus greenwood's $4,670,720 which is 7th highest"[/quote]

Yes I concur. Who cut these deals. Let me guess CC and Dom.
I is only about 7 million to much.

[Meloy]

Of interest is that McNair said (Chronicle) that he had gone above the cap for last 2 years (this surprised me as I thought we were under the cap in 04 & 05 by a few million each) and would not be opposed to going over this season. Indicated it depended on the players being looked at. I believe this was said just before agreement reached on CBA.

EVERYTHING IS A BLUR ON THE WATER AT 100MPH-1 BAD BOY

[Texas]

Would it be cheaper to just cut or trade wade? **** i'd trade him for a 7th rd draft pick.

[Historyhorn]

The problem in cutting or trading a player is usually their signing bonus. Whatever up-front money you gave to a player to get them under contract is pro-rated over the life of the deal, which allows you to spread out the cap hit they cost you for each year they are playing for you.

The snag comes in that when you cut a player, all of the money that was pro-rated through the life of the contract now hits you THIS YEAR for cap purposes.

I'm not sure what those players make, but their up-front bonus may kill us for this year's cap if they were just straight cut.

That was what also made TO's deal with the Cowboys interesting. To my knowledge there is no up-front money in that deal. He earns what he earns each year for the life of the contract. This means there is no cap hit to the team if they cut him.

Go Texans

[Texas]

Thanks

[el toro]

Can a team go over the cap? Any penalties for doing so?

[LBblitz]

more than likely I am wrong but I think the league can take a draft pick.

[el toro]

I assume you get exceptions to sign your picks, no?

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by el toro

Can a team go over the cap? Any penalties for doing so?

All teams must be in compliance with the cap. There are no exceptions for signing picks. If a team is not in compliance with the cap, players are released (newest 1st) until the team is in compliance with the cap. Teams which are found to knowingly manipulate cap numbers to violate the cap can have draft picks taken away--see Denver a couple years ago.

[TexanBacker93]

A team can go over the cap when it comes to signing bonuses. Well, the NFL lets the team space the bonus over the length of the contract for cap purposes, but it is a way to allow a team to go over the cap. It's the cash over cap that was causing so many issues.

I would imagine Wade will be a June 1 cut. The team still owes 6.4 towards the cap on his bonus, but can spread that over this year and next. That's about a $2 million savings this year. A lot may depend on if the team drafts an OT.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by TexanBacker93

A team can go over the cap when it comes to signing bonuses. Well, the NFL lets the team space the bonus over the length of the contract for cap purposes, but it is a way to allow a team to go over the cap. It's the cash over cap that was causing so many issues.

To avoid confusion it's best to separate the payroll from the cap. Teams cannot go over the cap period. The cap has nothing to do with real money spent though, it is purely an accounting fiction. The money actually expended in a season is the payroll and because a signing bonus may all be paid in one year but prorated on to 7 years' caps, the payroll can exceed the cap.

[el toro]

Right, contracts in the NFL are not fully guaranteed. The bonus is spread out over the life of the contract for cap purposes. That is guaranteed money, so when a player is cut the amount of the bonus that hasn't hit the cap so far, does.

So I take it that it's likely we will see some guys cut in order to be able to sign our picks, right?

[fball]

I gotta say I like what we have done so far in free agency, but not sure how much money we have left, and I know we still need to find a number 2 reciever and a linebacker, plus the draft and don't know if whe have the money to do that. Does anyone have an idea?

[aj.]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexanBacker93
A team can go over the cap when it comes to signing bonuses. Well, the NFL lets the team space the bonus over the length of the contract for cap purposes, but it is a way to allow a team to go over the cap. It's the cash over cap that was causing so many issues.

Originally Posted by infantrycak

To avoid confusion it's best to separate the payroll from the cap. Teams cannot go over the cap period. The cap has nothing to do with real money spent though, it is purely an accounting fiction. The money actually expended in a season is the payroll and because a signing bonus may all be paid in one year but prorated on to 7 years' caps, the payroll can exceed the cap.

Cash over cap (annual payroll) was limited by the new CBA to something like 3% so in a 100 million cap year, for example, a team's payroll can't exceed 103. There used to be no limit on cash over cap other than what the owner was willing to spend. Although I have read that the CoC averaged only about 4% over the last several years. That was an average. Some of the lower revenue teams didn't spend up to the cap while some of the higher revenue teams spent well over.

[dat_boy_yec]

After the CBA agreement we had around 18.5 mill under the cap. With all the signings we've made so far I think we are 9-10mil under the cap right now. I think.

[Bearfan Blue and Orange]

Originally Posted by dat_boy_yec

After the CBA agreement we had around 18.5 mill under the cap. With all the signings we've made so far I think we are 9-10mil under the cap right now. I think.

But we also have to sign our draft picks as well.