The cap is a "hard cap." But, it can be manipulated, if you want to. The problem with that is - there will come a year when you have to dump a lot of players and really suck while you take your cap hits (see previous years of Tenn/SF/etc.)(and SF is setting themselves up for another cycle with all their current signings)
I personally think manipulating the cap is a great idea - because I would rather have a great team for four years - even if we have a bad team for the next two.
That being said, we are not that close to a Superbowl team, so my "manipulation" at this time - would be to "forward load" our cap. Meaning take the hits now. Several ways to do that (i call it "opposite manipulation"):
1) cut the long large contract players that need to go and take the hits now (Domanick/Carr/Wong and possibly Greenwood but we might need him for one more year)
2) instead of big signing bonuses, make it front loaded salary - that way the player gets his money early on but there is no spread out hit.
For instance: Ahmans Contract; 4 yrs 23 mil; I would have made it salaries of 7, 5, 4, 7 with a minimal signing bonus. We would take a 7 mil hit this year, but we would "get that back" the next two years. Then, in yr 4, we could cut him if he wasn't worth the big number at the end - which is probably the plan anyway.
Then in 2008 or 2009 - start with the big signing bonuses (which would lower the cap hit since the signing bonus could be spread out over 7 or 8 years - like the Clements contract - so we would be able to add 6-8 quality players). We would have a good 6 year run before the cap crushed us and forced us to rebuild (i would normally project a 4-6 year period before the cap crushes you but if we "opposite manipulate" in advance then we get an extra two years).
That being said - most front office would be happy with a consistent contender. So, they are not going to set themselves up for a "cap crush" year. And, most teams would like to get better now (including the Texans), so they are probably not going to "opposite manipulate" to create extra space in a year or two. But, by cutting Moulds (which saved no money this year - but will save a lot next year) and maybe Wong/Domanick/Carr, the team is at least accelerating the dead money hit. So, while not front loading salary, they are clearing the dead money so it does not hamstring them next year (if we dont cut them this year, we cut them next year and lose a ton of "dead money" then).
So, it probably won't happen, but if I were GM, we would be front loading and cutting the "dead money" guys. Of course that means no free agents of value (because the cap money would be gone) but, next year we would have a huge amount of cap room to play with (we will have a lot anyway, but it could be even more).
I guess it boils down to whether you want the team to be a little better now (getting an extra player now and paying for him later) at the cost of being a little worse later (having to pay for the player we sign now in a couple of years which will keep us from having another quality player a couple of years down the road).
I personally think manipulating the cap is a great idea - because I would rather have a great team for four years - even if we have a bad team for the next two.
That being said, we are not that close to a Superbowl team, so my "manipulation" at this time - would be to "forward load" our cap. Meaning take the hits now. Several ways to do that (i call it "opposite manipulation"):
1) cut the long large contract players that need to go and take the hits now (Domanick/Carr/Wong and possibly Greenwood but we might need him for one more year)
2) instead of big signing bonuses, make it front loaded salary - that way the player gets his money early on but there is no spread out hit.
For instance: Ahmans Contract; 4 yrs 23 mil; I would have made it salaries of 7, 5, 4, 7 with a minimal signing bonus. We would take a 7 mil hit this year, but we would "get that back" the next two years. Then, in yr 4, we could cut him if he wasn't worth the big number at the end - which is probably the plan anyway.
Then in 2008 or 2009 - start with the big signing bonuses (which would lower the cap hit since the signing bonus could be spread out over 7 or 8 years - like the Clements contract - so we would be able to add 6-8 quality players). We would have a good 6 year run before the cap crushed us and forced us to rebuild (i would normally project a 4-6 year period before the cap crushes you but if we "opposite manipulate" in advance then we get an extra two years).
That being said - most front office would be happy with a consistent contender. So, they are not going to set themselves up for a "cap crush" year. And, most teams would like to get better now (including the Texans), so they are probably not going to "opposite manipulate" to create extra space in a year or two. But, by cutting Moulds (which saved no money this year - but will save a lot next year) and maybe Wong/Domanick/Carr, the team is at least accelerating the dead money hit. So, while not front loading salary, they are clearing the dead money so it does not hamstring them next year (if we dont cut them this year, we cut them next year and lose a ton of "dead money" then).
So, it probably won't happen, but if I were GM, we would be front loading and cutting the "dead money" guys. Of course that means no free agents of value (because the cap money would be gone) but, next year we would have a huge amount of cap room to play with (we will have a lot anyway, but it could be even more).
I guess it boils down to whether you want the team to be a little better now (getting an extra player now and paying for him later) at the cost of being a little worse later (having to pay for the player we sign now in a couple of years which will keep us from having another quality player a couple of years down the road).