A comprehensive approach to addressing the 2015 Salary Cap
 

All figures are in 000’s

Big Decisions:

Alex Smith (Trade/Restructure/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: Variable
Trade: Would a team like the Bills be open to trading for Alex Smith and what would be his approximate value? I would bet we could get their second round pick. This opens up a hole at QB, but that could be addressed by trading up for Winston/Mariota or taking a chance on Nick Foles/RGme/Johnny Football, all of whom seem to have worn out their welcome with their respective teams and would come at nominal salary values.

Restructure: This is what Alex Smith is hoping for.
If we keep Alex Smith, he becomes impossible to cut until 2017 with cap hits of 2015 (15,600); 2106 (17,800);2016 (16,900) then assuming he is cut in 2017 (7,200M).
If we cut him before 3/12/15, we will take 25,300 hit against the cap this year. If we designate him a June 30 cut and cut him before 3/12/15, (I think) we take cap hits as follows: 2015(14,500) and 2016 (10,800)

I vote for trading him if you can get anyone to take him.

Dwayne Bowe (Trade/Cut/Restructure/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 5,000 if cut or restructured
Bowe’s 2015 Base salary is currently 10,750. He faces losing all of that, and two year of 9,750 in base salary. I expect that you could actually convince Bowe to restructure as follows, provided you gave him a 4,000 signing bonus instead of trading him to the Browns:
Year Salary/SBon/Cap Hit
2015 5,000/4,000/9,000 (All gty’d)
2016 5,000/4,000/9,000 (All gty’d)
2017 5,000/4,000/9,000 (Cap savings if cut: 4,000)
2018 5,000/1,000/6,000 (Cap savings if cut: 5,000)

Cap savings by year(restructure/cut):
2015 (5,000/5,000); 2016 (4,000/13,000); 2017 (4,000/13,000) 2018 (-1,000/0)

So we keep Bowe at 9,000 per year, he takes a pay cut but takes home 4,000 today and gets more guarantees. And we save just as much on the cap this year.

Tamba Hali (Trade/Cut/Restructure/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 9,000 if cut, 8,298 if restructured
Tamba is a tough call because he is such an amazing chief off the field. He is a prime restructure candidate, and I would offer him this offer to keep him in KC. It might be a tough sell, but otherwise, I would trade/cut him. He has clearly lost a step.
2 year, 11,000 extension - convert 5,750 in salary and 2,250 roster/workout bonus to 8,000 signing bonus

Year Salary/SBon/Cap Hit
2015 1,000/2,667/3,667
2016 1,000/2,667/3,667
2017 1,000/2,667/3,667

Derrick Johnson (Cut/Restructure/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 5,250 if cut, 2,750 if restructured
We missed DJ sorely last year, but the question remains: will he be as effective or fast after that Achilles injury? I would treat his extension different than Hali’s.

A 2 year extension, convert 1,250 in roster/workout bonuses and 3,000 in salary to signing bonus plus another 250 for a total of 4,500 in signing bonus. Then I give him roster bonuses of 2,000 for 2016 and 2017.
Year Salary/SBon/RBon/Cap Hit
2015 1,000/1,500/0000/2,500 (Fully guaranteed)
2016 1,000/1,500/2,000/4,500 (Cap savings if cut: 1,500)
2017 1,000/1,500/2,000/4,500 (Cap savings if cut: 3,000)

Mike Devito (Cut/Restructure/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 4,000
Cut. We missed him in the run game, but he is simply not worth the risk and we have paid Bailey, and will extend Vickerson at a lower rate.

Sean Smith (Extend)Cap Savings: 4,350
A 3 year extension, totaling 32,000 over four years - convert 3,250 in salary and 1,250 in roster/workout bonuses to signing bonus plus another 5,100 in signing bonus for a total signing bonus of 9,600.
Year Salary/SBon/RBon/Cap Hit
2015 1,000/2,400/0000/3,400 (Fully Gty’d)
2016 7,133/2,400/0000/9,533 (Cap Savings if cut: 2,333)
2017 5,133/2,400/2,000/9,533 (Cap savings if cut: 4,733)
2018 5,133/2,400/2,000/9,533 (Cap savings if cut: 7,133)

Moderate Decisions:
AJ Jenkins (Cut/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 1,337
Jenkins is a super talented guy that just never reached his potential. Cut.

Mike Catapano (Cut/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 576
Stay the course. He is a cheap body.

Sanders Commings (Cut/Stay the Course) Cap Savings: 464
Stay the course. He is a cheap body.

Cyrus Gray (Cut/Stay the Course) Cap Savings Cap Savings: 668
Stay the course. He is a cheap body.

Easy Decisions:

Chase Daniel (Trade/Cut) Cap Savings: 3,800
Whether you trade or cut him the cap impact is the same. You might be able to get a mid-round pick from a team for him.

Donnie Avery (Trade/Cut) Cap Savings: 3,550
I doubt there would be any takers on a trade for Avery.

Joe Mays (Trade/Cut) Cap Savings: 3,000
I doubt there would be any takers on a trade for Mays.

Anthony Fasano (Trade/Cut) Cap Savings: 1,975
I doubt there would be any takers on a trade for Fasano.

Frank Zombo (Trade/Cut) Cap Savings: 770
I doubt there would be any takers for a trade for Zombo.

Reality:

Donald Stephenson (Cut) Cap Savings: 685
Donald Stephenson has worn out his welcome with this coaching staff and administration. He will be cut.

Eric Berry (Settlement) Cap Savings: 5,455
While we still must take the cap hit for the signing bonus, the injury settlement will remove the salary burden off the cap.

Free Agents:
ERFA/RFA: Assume all ERFA, RFA are signed to minimum deals and given the opportunity to compete for a roster spot.

UFA:

Re-sign for sure:
Justin Houston
6 Years, 93,000 Extension, 18,000 signing bonus, first two years salary guaranteed (43,000 total guarantees)

Year Salary/SBon/Cap
2015 12,500/3,000/15,500 (fully gty’d)
2016 12,500/3,000/15,500 (fully gty’d)
2017 12,500/3,000/15,500
2018 12,500/3,000/15,500
2019 12,500/3,000/15,500
2020 12,500/3,000/15,500


Rodney Hudson
6 years, 36,000 extension, 12,000 signing bonus, 1,000 salary guaranteed (the Jason Kelce deal)

Year Salary/SBon/Cap
2015 4,000/2,000/6,000
2016 4,000/2,000/6,000
2017 4,000/2,000/6,000
2018 4,000/2,000/6,000
2019 4,000/2,000/6,000
2020 4,000/2,000/6,000

Contemplate:
Ron Parker
I would bring Parker back at vet minimum or not at all.

Kevin Vickerson
3 years, 6,000 extension, 1,500 signing bonus.

Year Salary/SBon/Cap
2015 1,500/500/2,000
2016 1,500/500/2,000
2017 1,500/500/2,000

Thomas Gafford
Let him walk. He is not worth the veteran minimum of 870 he will command. We should be able to find an UDFA as a viable alternative.

Kurt Coleman
Resign 1 year, 745 extension

Joe McKnight
Resign 1 year, 730 extension

Jason Avant
Let him walk. He is not worth the veteran minimum of 870 he will command.

Let walk for sure:
Jeff Linkenbach
Chris Owens
Josh Mauga
Ryan Haris
Richard Gordon



Summary of expected changes:

+1,200 Trade Alex Smith
+5,000 Restructure Dwayne Bowe
+8,298 Restructure Tamba Hali
+2,750 Restructure Derrick Johnson
+4,000 Cut Mike Devito
+1,337 Cut AJ Jenkins
+3,800 Cut/Trade Chase Daniel
+3,550 Cut Donnie Avery
+3,000 Cut Joe Mays
+1,975 Cut Anthony Fasano
+770 Cut Frank Zombo
+685 Cut Donald Stephenson
+5,455 NFI Eric Berry
+4,350 Extend Sean Smith

46,170 Total Savings

-15,500 Resign Justin Houston
-6,000 Resign Rodney Hudson
-2,000 Resign Kevin Vickerson
-745 Resign Kurt Coleman
-730 Resign Joe McKnight

24,975 Total Cost of Extensions

2015 Salary Cap: 140,200
Plus 2014 Carryforward: 1,102
Active Contracts: 142,433
Dead Money: 5,357
Current Cap Position: (6,488)
Plus: Total Savings: 46,170
Minus: Cost of Extensions: 24,975
Minus Rookie Contract Pool: 6,500

Net Cap Space: 8,207







NOTE: Please feel free to address any inaccuracies. I have reviewed this, but certainly another set of eyes may catch something I missed.

Stopped reading at cut Alex Smith. We're not cutting that brokedick ****er.

TL;SP

I think you failed to even start reading then.

I made it to the restructure part. That's not happening either.

Yea, I said we trade him. But its okay. His cap impact is nominal in this year no matter what you do.

Lost me at RGIII/Johnny Football.

Well, bye.

Hmm... Think you're being a little tough on the depth. I like Mauga as a depth guy, and Owens is a nice depth option at CB. Avant was pretty solid last year and will be even better if Smith can actually open up some space for him. And even though many were tough on Mays last year, the run D did start to look a little more solid at the end of the season once he got used to the D.

I was simply looking at viable cost effective alternatives to Alex Smith. All three folks I listed are highly talented and would benefit from a change in scenery or a fresh start.

Someone would cough up something for Fasano I bet, he's not some total scrub and can help a TE needy team.

He's the definition of "lunch pail", someone out there needs that guy.

As fast as I soured on Smith, I'd still rather eat broken glass than trade him for either of those guys.

Hell, I'd seriously rather just throw Murray out there if it came down to it... he's had the requisite year to learn the game and get stronger.

The Alex Smith albatross of a contract is a fireable offense.

The choice is simple.

Do you want to allocate against the salary cap: 15.6 million in 2015, 17.8 million in 2016 and a minimum of 7.2 million in 2017?

Or

Do you want to trade him and take a 14.4 million hit in 2015 and be out from under the contract?

Or

If you can't trade him, do you take 14.4 million in 2015 and 10.8 million in 2016 to be rid of him by way of cut?


Choose wisely.

Just like with Fasano, only much more since its a QB... someone would give up something decent for Smith, a team like Buffalo could do worse.

I'd trade Smith for a 2016 second or even third round pick to any takers, but absolutely not a player for player deal, because theres no one out there I want... if we ditch Smith, then its Murray-time FTW as far as I'm concerned.

Also, in your scenario, you're assuming that we sign guys like Hudson and Houston to contracts where we take a significant year 1 cap hit.

Here's the easy solution. Sign Houston, Hudson, and whomever they bring in to a long-term deal. There are ways to structure Houston's contract so that you can: 1) minimize his base salary in year 1; 2) delay the signing bonus cap hit to year 2 or 3. You scenario assumes we take almost a $16M haircut in 2015 in a year where we don't have cap space.

I don't agree with anyone who claims teams can "cheat the cap." However, the Chiefs' long-term cap situation is one where they have flexibility to move money around in ways that weren't smart to do this season.

We will have 11 draft picks. That is 20% of the roster that must turn over. You use those draft picks to replace those guys for cheaper contracts.