In crunch for salary cap space, three teams must make last-minute moves The Sporting NewsBy Jason Fitzgerald Contributor @Jason_OTC RSSAugust 28, 2014 2:08pm EDT With one week remaining before the regular season gets underway, we enter a pretty important time of the year for salary cap managers and general managers to finalize roster moves that must be made for financial reasons. The front office must make sure that a team has enough operating room under the salary cap to function during the season and be prepared for situations like replacing injured players, extending pending free agents, or maximizing carryover space for the following season.Many of the roster moves are driven for an immediate need of salary cap space. In the offseason, which begins in March and ends next week, the salary cap calculation for a team is somewhat limited. While all bonuses, dead money, injury settlements and grievances count on the cap, the NFL only accounts for the Paragraph 5 salary — or base salary — of the top 51 players on a roster. None of the other players on the roster count and are essentially treated as “free” talent.Once the regular season begins the accounting rules change and nobody is free in the NFL. Every roster will now have 53 active players. Every team will field a 10-man practice squad. All players on the various reserve lists will now immediately count on the salary cap. That’s why for those managing the cap, there is probably no worse week of the year than the one in which the final preseason game is played. Nearly half the players who will participate in the game have almost no chance of making the football team. But if they are injured, they become a burden on a team’s salary cap, moving to the injured reserve list or receiving an injury settlement.The numbers begin to add up quickly and teams that seem to have a significant amount of cap room will see it vanish quickly. In almost every case, these accounting changes will reduce a team’s cap room by about $2 millionMost teams in the NFL will want to have a safety net of at least $5 million in salary cap room to operate during the season. They also want roster flexibility, giving them the freedom to release and re-sign the last 10 players on the roster as they see fit. They can help a team deal with replacing injured players, accounting for unaccrued roster bonuses, and signing contract extensions with pending free agents during the season. Teams will have a few ways to create the cap room and maintain their flexibility. One is to restructure veteran player contracts. A contract restructure occurs when a team converts a portion of a player’s Paragraph 5 salary into a prorated signing bonus. The player earns the same amount of cash, but his cap charge in the current year is reduced. The Ravens just created $3 million in cap room by restructuring the contract of cornerback Lardarius Webb in this manner. The Ravens were projected to have less than $2 million in cap space once the regular season began.A contract renegotiation occurs when a team approaches a player with a choice. The choice presented is to take a pay cut or be released. One of these situations played out on television a few years ago when the New York Jets were featured on Hard Knocks. Though the scene was acted out for television, Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum had negotiated with the agent of backup quarterback Kellen Clemens based on the fact that if he refused a pay cut, he would be released.The New England Patriots reportedly gave that same option to Logan Mankins and he refused the pay cut. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a salary dump on Tuesday. Had no trade materialized, it would have not been a surprise if he were released.
Logan Mankins (AP Photo)Veteran players will have their contracts guaranteed for the season if they make the week 1 roster. If a veteran player is on the bubble, that fact will actually work against his position on the roster. If the player is signed following the first week, only 25 percent of his salary is guaranteed. Teams will maximize their roster flexibility and short-erm cap space by releasing those players, even if they are better than a younger player they are competing with. The young player’s contract contains no guarantees.So what are my top three teams that will likely be looking to create cap space in the coming days?
St. Louis RamsThe Rams currently have the least cap room in the NFL with just $1.67 million in cap space. The Rams already have placed Sam Bradford and Isaiah Pead on IR and they also have three other players on the list. That means that in a few days, the Rams will need to account for 58 players and a practice squad. If they opt to sign a full 10-man practice squad, it means the Rams will lose about $3.66 million in cap space. That gives them have no choice but to make a roster move before the start of the season.Expect the Rams to operate with a minimal safety net as they went all of the 2013 season with almost no cap space. Things were so tight that the Rams had to make a minor modification of just $200,000 to their contract with Chris Long in order to cover for injuries suffered late in the season. I would anticipate the Rams restructuring the contract of Long, who has a $13.2 million Paragraph 5 salary, to create a few million in cap space. James Laurinaitis would be another possible candidate. Kendall Lankford would be a possible renegotiation candidate.Detroit LionsThe Lions are as tight as the Rams, with about $1.68 million in cap room right now. The Lions only have two players on reserve lists, so they will lose less room than the Rams will when the accounting rules change. Still a loss of $2.4 million puts them over the salary cap.The big burden on the Lions roster is Ndamukong Suh and his $22.4 million cap charge, which I have discussed before. Nobody expects any movement on that contract so the Lions will need to turn elsewhere for relief. The Lions do not have many options for renegotiations. There is still some relief they can find with Calvin Johnson’s contract and Reggie Bush could create a little cap room. This is a team that will likely see some low level veteran cuts to help their cap situation.San Diego ChargersThough the Chargers have $4.9 million in cap space, which is more than a few other teams in the NFL not on this list, they currently have five players on injured reserve and a potential player on the physically unable perform list (PUP). That is going to leave the Chargers with less than $1.5 million in cap room to work with during the season. San Diego has already renegotiated the contract of Jeromey Clary and earlier this season did the same with Eddie Royal. Phillip Rivers has the largest cap hit on the team and while they did restructure his contract last season, I would think they would only consider an extension with him right now. Working with Eric Weddle or Antonio Gates might be the most logical option for the team. Jason Fitzgerald is an NFL salary expert and contributor for Sporting News. Read more of his writing at OverTheCap.com and follow him on Twitter: @Jason_OTC.
