A comprehensive approach to addressing the 2015 Salary Cap

[Nightfyre]

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.

[Hoover]

any QB contract is going to be an albatross.

I think you are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is.

There is no way he will be traded or cut. He is our QB for 2015 and probably 2016. If anything I think there will be a restructure to create some cap space.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

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.

Bingo, but that also why we need to use the high picks on skill players and use the rest to build depth on the oline, lb corps, defensive backfield.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

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.

Well, that's why I was picking on some of the guys on the bottom of the list. I don't see a problem paying $800K for guys like Avant / Owens. I agree with you on guys like Fasano, Daniel, Avery, Devito, etc... Between all those guys getting cut and lots of guys on the bottom half of the roster (e.g. Sorensen), there are lots of opportunities to add draft picks without having to shave off our cheap depth.

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by Hoover

any QB contract is going to be an albatross.

I think you are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is.

There is no way he will be traded or cut. He is our QB for 2015 and probably 2016. If anything I think there will be a restructure to create some cap space.

If you can get Nick Foles for our 3rd/4th round pick and can trade Alex Smith, I think you take that hit for the long-term benefit to your team.

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

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.

You could do that if you want to sacrifice future flexibility to sign free agents this year. I just don't see why you would need to do that.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

If you can get Nick Foles for our 3rd/4th round pick and can trade Alex Smith, I think you take that hit for the long-term benefit to your team.

I agree, but it won't happen.

[-King-]

Lol!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Easy 6]

I dont get the Nick Foles love around here, he had one good season in an offense no one had a handle on yet... as soon as D coordinators got a chance to really break Kelly's scheme down, dude came right back down to earth throwing pick after pick.

He was drafted one round ahead of Murray, so why go in the hole for him when potentially the same kind of guy, give or take a skillset or two, is here on his rookie contract?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

You could do that if you want to sacrifice future flexibility to sign free agents this year. I just don't see why you would need to do that.

Because long-term guys like Houston and Hudson... those guys are perfect for backloading contracts. If the Chiefs go after, say, a 28 year old, I would want that contract frontloaded because I want to be able to cut him after he turns 30.

Keep in mind that your scenario assumes we'd have $8.2M to spend on free agents. I'm saying that could easily be more if you are flexible with guys like Houston and Hudson.

[milkman]

Pipe dream.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

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.

IF we successfully trade Alex for a ****ing postage stamp I'm in. In that case I'd be good to ride with buttchin for a year. He's really mini-Alex anyway. Unless RGIII could be had for a 4th or something lets ride buttnugget.