Buccaneers available Cap Room

Here is how I came up with the number, the team was at roughly 55 million in space after the signings of Bryant, McCown and Sims

This is where i think you are wrong. We were 55 mil below the cap before all those signings. Bryant cost 9 mil, those other 2 cost around 5 mil. So we had to be about 42 mil under the cap at that point. Then we get an addiotional 4 mil, plus the 12.5 mil from teh cuts yesterday and that brings us back up to 58 mil under the cap.

Do you have a link that says we were 55 mil under AFTER all those signings? Im really not trying to be argumentative, Id love to know the answer and IM glad you made this thread

[yuccaneers]

Ronde - This is from a pewter report article
Sims will have a $1.8125 million salary cap value in 2009. The Bucs have approximately $55 million in salary cap room after the signing of Sims, quarterback Luke McCown and placing the $9.884 million franchise tag on wide receiver Antonio Bryant. This is believed to be the most cap room of any team heading into free agency.

http://www.pewterreport.com/articles/view/5234

Thanks a lot yuc, I was really curious where we were at. I guess I missed that article. So that 55 mil figure was before the added 4 mil and the added 12.5 mil from the cuts yesterday? I really hope you are right. 70 mil would be amazing

[kmitchell]

The Bucs will need to spend $111,252,000.00 million dollars this coming season. With the team hoovering around $63 million against the cap as of today, the Bucs still need to spend another $48.2 million to reach the salary cap floor or face league sanctioned fines.

That is a good problem to have, we HAVE to spend $48.2 million, while many teams are having to release players to stay under cap.

Its good and its bad

Its good because we are forced to add talent, its bad because we are forced to add talent. Since we are being forced, we might end up signing guys we dont like THAT much or dont EXACTLY fit, or even worse we might overpay guys and ruin the cap down the road. I have faith in the FO

[acacius]

That is a good problem to have, we HAVE to spend $48.2 million, while many teams are having to release players to stay under cap.

Not all *that* many.  There's still an awful lot of cap space available out there amongst the league's teams.

[DanTurksGhost]

Not all *that* many.  There's still an awful lot of cap space available out there amongst the league's teams.

The Chiefs have $57 million. I think there is actually too much cap room available around the league.

[kmitchell]

Anyone have a prediction for Bradfords contract if he signs with the Lions? Maybe 6 year, $80 million?

[acacius]

Not all *that* many. ?There's still an awful lot of cap space available out there amongst the league's teams.

The Chiefs have $57 million. I think there is actually too much cap room available around the league.

Nolo contendere.  I think it's something people really need to keep in mind to temper both their expectations for who the team signs and how much the team will wind up paying those players.

I see no reason to think that the team can't make any splash signings this offseason, but there are too many teams with too much cap room for the Bucs to even be capable of going too nutty with who they get.

[acacius]

Anyone have a prediction for Bradfords contract if he signs with the Lions? Maybe 6 year, $80 million?

Do you mean Stafford, or are you asking for after the 2010 draft?

[dalbuc]

Here we've got some figures along with that for other teams:


Wilson, Aaron. "BUCCANEERS $61 MILLION UNDER THE CAP." Pro Football Talk. Ed. Mike Florio.
     26 Feb. 2009. <http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/>.


BUCCANEERS $61 MILLION UNDER THE CAP
Posted by Aaron Wilson on February 26, 2009, 3:32 p.m.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can spend a fortune in free agency to restock their roster, if they’re so inclined, with a staggering, league-high $61 million in salary-cap room, according to Adam Schefter of NFL Network.

The Buccaneers cut several veterans, including linebackers Derrick Brooks and Cato June, running back Warrick Dunn and wide receivers Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard, on Wednesday.

The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t far behind Tampa Bay with $57 million in salary-cap space under the 2009 league limit of $127 million followed by the Philadelphia Eagles ($48 millon), the Denver Broncos ($37 millon) and the Green Bay Packers ($34 million).

The teams with the least breathing room under the salary cap heading into free agency right now are the Carolina Panthers ($1.9 million), the New England Patriots ($3.2 million), the Indianapolis Colts ($6.6 million), the Pittsburgh Steelers ($7.4 million) and the Washington Redskins ($8.1 million).

NFL teams were informed Wednesday that the cap was going up $4 million from a previously planned $123 million because franchises didn’t spend close enough to last year’s league limit.

[dalbuc]

I get the feeling that it isn't a sure thing that Stafford is the #1 anymore. The ghost of Alex Smith is haunting this draft with teams thinking Stafford isn't a top flight QB but really just the best QB this year.

The Chiefs have $57 million. I think there is actually too much cap room available around the league.

DING DING DING

And you know who it hurts the most? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We legitimately worked our arses off to get out of cap trouble, and as soon as that happened the league decided to give out a stimulus package to teh rest of the league to bail everyone out of cap trouble. Its no ones fault, really. It was just bad timing for us. The new TV contracts a few years ago are what added all that extra revenue. But it has turned the free agent market upside down, and royally screwed the BUcs and all the hard work Bruce Allen put in to get us out of trouble

[HughC]

If - IF - the Bucs plan really is to reduce expenses, then it should be relatively easy to hit that salary floor.  All that needs to be done is to shift money that is usually paid as a signing bonus to part of the first year's salary.  In other words, rather than sign a player to a five year contract with a $10 million SB ($2 mil against the cap for each of 5 years) and a $2 million salary, they could pay the player $12 million in year one salary.  The player gets the same amount of money in his first year, but now $12 million goes against the 2009 cap instead of $4 million.  Another thing that could be done would be to cut a player with a long term contract, accelerating the cap hit from a signing bonus already paid to the current year.