Dead money adjustment made to my old figure

I made an adjustment to the dead money figures that I previously had for the Giants. I changed Greg Jones's dead money charge from $51,894 to $100,132. That's a difference on the plus side of $48,238. I was off in my latest calculations by $148,491 from the official overall team cap numbers, as per this previous post (http://optimus2g.blogspot.com/2013/05/here-are-official-cap-numbers-for-teams.html). I'm hoping that these adjustments somehow help in allowing me to clean up my estimates from before after finding out what the actual figures are for all 32 teams.

I usually get my dead money estimate figures from the Giants' list of cap numbers for their players from overthecap.com (HERE).

The only other figures besides Jones's that I adjusted was Osi Umenyiora's. I changed Umenyiora's dead money charge from $932,555 to $1,000,000. That's a difference on the plus side of $67,445. I recall Osi's dead money figure to be a cool million dollars from memory when it initially happened, and it was confirmed by spotrac.com, as per the screen capture and link below, which is why I'm using their figure for Greg jones as well to help me in my misestimate:

Source: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-york-giants/cap-hit/

Spotrac.com's dead money total is $6,786,306 whereas the figure for the Giants' dead money total at overthecap.com is $6,752,082.

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Here are my adjusted figures now listed below with my new dead money total of $6,867,765:

The dead money figure that I had immediately prior to this was $6,819,527. That's a difference of $48,238. I'll incorporate this new figure of $6,867,765 into my future calculations, unless I'm made aware of more accurate figures.

Practice Squad Salary correction

I mistakenly wrote on a previous post that the minimum weekly practice squad salary was $5,700 for the 2013 season. That figure is incorrect. The correct number is $6,000. Here is the source information, as per the primary source itself--Article 33 Practice Squads, Section 3 Salary:

*NOTE: Here is a link to the CBA itself in case anyone is interested



The amount spent on the practice squad is $816,000 ($6,000 per week x 17 weeks x 8 players). While this doesn't count on the cap now, it will once the Top 51 rule ceases at midnight New York time on September 5th. Incidentally, teams can actually spend more than the amount of $816,000 listed here if they choose to do so. I mistakenly calculated this amount to be $775,200 because I had the 2013 weekly practice squad salary pegged as $5,700.

The Giants added two players to their 90-man roster yesterday

They signed Undrafted Rookie Free Agent (UDFA) Chase Clement, a TE out of LSU. He was rumored to be signing with the Giants the night of the final day of the draft, but he didn't. Instead he failed the physical that he took with the Giants one day prior to the beginning of their 3-day rookie camp, which took place between May 11th an May 13th. His cap number and salary will be the absolute minimum for players in the NFL: $405,000.

The other player that they signed was 26-year old veteran LB Kyle Bosworth, acquired by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2010 as an UDFA out of UCLA (read more about him HERE from pro-football-reference.com). He is the nephew of 1980s draft bust Brian Bosworth, a.k.a. "The Boz". Kyle played with Jacksonville last year. Reagan babies like myself remember his uncle getting run right past by Bo Jackson on Monday Night Football.

He has either 2 accrued years or 3 (I'm not sure which because of his status on IR in 2010). If he has only 2 accrued seasons, then he'd have a cap hit of $555,000. If he has 3 accrued seasons, then his cap hit would be $630,000. My guess is he has 3 accrued seasons. If that is the case, then he would count against the Giants' salary cap since his cap number would fall into their top 51 list of cap numbers, whereas the cap hits of $555,000 and Clement's $405,000 cap number wouldn't.

Check out an article on the signing of these two players below by Dave Hutchinson from the Newark Star Ledger:

• http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2013/05/giants_sign_veteran_lb_kyle_bo.html

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Bosworth is a guy who hasn't made his bones as a starter in this NFL. His calling card is his Special Teams play, as per this article by Ed Valentine from BigBlueView.com:

• http://www.bigblueview.com/2013/5/30/4379474/kyle-bosworth-scouting-report-new-york-giants-jacksonville-jaguars

This is worth keeping an eye on simply because a player's ability on Special Teams vs that of a player without much to offer on Specials (like the recently re-signed Ramses Barden) may very well be the difference between making the final 53-man roster, and getting cut.

To make room for these two players, the Giants cut UDFAs Morgan Newton (signed about 2 weeks ago) and John Stevenson. Newton was a college QB out of Kentucky who was going to play TE on the pro level. It makes sense that the Giants would prefer an actual blocking TE with collegiate experience in Clement over Newton. Stevenson was a college LB out of Georgia Southern who was going to play S on the pro level, a position that the team is well stocked in. The Giants could have simply used more numbers at the LB position.

Domain name change

A little FYI:

• I switched the domain name of this blog from http://optimus2g.blogspot.com/ to http://www.nygcapcentral.com/

• If the new link doesn't work right away for some people, then it should within the next 3 days, by which time it should be working for everyone. In the meantime, the old link should redirect people to the new link listed above.

NYGCapCentral.com rolls off the tongue (and the finger tips) a lot easier than the old url listed above. In making this change, I hope that this helps the website get around by word of mouth easier now.

Impact of players released already who were categorized as post June 1st cuts

Check this information out regarding the four clubs who designated 5 players as post June 1st cuts prior to that date. The league allows teams to do that with two players from their roster as per the new CBA. The Giants didn't choose to do that with any of their players this year (most teams are like the Giants in that sense in that they would prefer to absorb the dead money of players that they release in one year if possible), but here is the cap room that the teams below gained as a result of these transactions:

As can be seen, the Steelers and Raiders are in Cap purgatory until the day after June 1st. Take a look above at how much cap space each club stands to gain in cap credits as a result of these respective moves. The Dolphins, Raiders, Falcons, and Steelers each gained not only the normal savings for cutting the players listed above in the manner that they did, but half of their dead money as well.

Each player still counts against their old team's cap though to some extent. Half of the dead money counts this year, and the other half counts against the cap next year as opposed to all of it being swallowed up this year. The Dolphins and Raiders will gain the most room of the clubs listed above. The Giants could have went this route with Bradshaw and gained an extra $1,250,000 but they opted to swallow all of his dead money this year instead of gaining an extra $1.25 million in cap room in addition to the room that they gained when they released him.

Let's see if there are any post June 1st moves that are actually made after June 1st in addition to the ones mentioned above. I've been critical of Chris Snee's bloated cap number, and have been calling for him to be cut then, and possibly re-signed at a lower rate shortly thereafter to give the Giants more room under the cap (even though I'm pretty sure nothing of the sort is going to happen one can still dream though). It'll be interesting to see how things unfold on this upcoming milestone date on the NFL calendar that used to be more significant back in the mid to late 90s when the salary cap league we know of today was still in its infancy.

Giants are officially $3,312,849 under the salary cap as of today

This figure is official, as per the NFLPA. Here's the link; bookmark it for future reference:
Top 51 League Cap report for all 32 teams

Cap numbers for all players on the Giants' 90-man roster except for two

• Here are the cap values for 88 of the 90 players on the Giants' 90-man roster.
• I'll start with players 1 through 51 in terms of cap value (with the total cap value for these first 51 players highlighted below in green):

*Note: Victor Cruz and Ramses Barden do in fact count towards the salary cap, even though some folks from Giants101.com apparently misunderstood (see link to article HERE), thinking that they possibly didn't.

 

 

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Here are players 52 to 88 (with their total highlighted below in orange), not including Justin Pugh and Ryan Nassib, who while on the 90-man roster, are not currently signed. Once they do sign, they will count against the cap. I will list their anticipated cap numbers below though after listing the cap values for players 52 to 88. They are as follows:

 

• The only two who aren't officially included are 1st round pick Justin Pugh, and 4th round pick Ryan Nassib.
• Pugh will count against the cap when he is signed since his anticipated cap number will fit into the team's top 51 cap values.
• Nassib will not since his anticipated cap number will not fit into the team's top 51 cap numbers.

• Justin Pugh's anticipated salary of $1,517,436 would displace the 51st ranked cap number on the roster at this time since the Top 51 Rule is in effect.
• Ryan Nassib's anticipated salary of $519,114 won't count towards the Giants' salary cap at this time when he signs, but it definitely will once the regular season begins and the Top 51 rule ceases.
• Pugh was the 19th overall pick in the draft, and Nassib was the 110th overall pick in the draft; their anticipated draft values are estimated from the this list from overthecap.com below:
• 2013 NFL Draft Rookie Contract and Salary Cap Estimates

Here's my projected 53-man roster for the Giants at this time, for when the Top 51 rule ceases

Things are going to change on the roster between now and training camp, but here's my attempt at projecting a 53-man roster for salary cap purposes for when the "Top 51" rule ceases. I'll do this 3 more times before the regular season begins. Here are the dates I'll aim for:

• a month from now at the end of June, after June 1st cuts and additional free agency transactions have been made.
• near the end of July--a couple of days after training camp starts--when things have settled down for clubs.
• and at the end of August, between the 75 man cuts and the final 53 man cuts.

Here goes:

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Here's the work I did to calculate the cap number of $2,883,135 listed below, which would in turn subtract more money from, which I'll explain further below:

Under this scenario, I've got the Giants keeping the following amount of players at each respective position:

Instead of keeping the usual amount of 2 QBs, in my scenario the Giants. I struggled to figure out what the Giants would keep in terms of numbers at LB and WR. Instead of the usual amount of 6 WRs, I had them keeping 5 (cutting Barden in the process). I opted to keep the usual amount of 7 LBs because the 7th LB on the depth chart who I've got listed now (UDFA Etienne Sabino from Ohio State).

I've taken the depth chart figures from ourlads.com for the Giants (click HERE for that depth chart).




Just for kicks, here's a projected 8-man Practice Squad too from the players currently on the roster:

Alonzo Tweedy, S, Virginia Tech (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
Etienne Sabino, LB, Ohio State (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
Charles James, CB, Charleston Southern (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
Jeremy Wright, RB, Louisville (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
Junior Mertile, CB, Florida International (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
John Stevenson, S, Georgia Southern (Rookie; 2013 UDFA)
Matt McCants, OT, UAB (1-year veteran; 2012 6th round pick)
Larry Donnell, TE, Grambling State (1-year veteran; 2012 UDFA)

• McCants and Donnell were on the Practice Squad last year.
• Teams can have players on their practice, like Donnell and McCants for a second year, and even a  third one.
• Check out this well-written article from last year on Practice Squad rules and eligibility:
• "NFL Practice Squad Salary, Rules, Player Eligibility" by Kevin Nogle via www.thephinsider.com | September 1, 2012 | 7:00 am

• The odds are that there will be a player or two from another club on this year's practice squad.
• I'm just speculating with who's already on the team; odds are that most of the players on this year's practice squad are already on the team.

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• There will still need to be more cap dollars subtracted from the $2,883,135 figure listed above; they would be for the following:
• the 8-man practice Squad.
• players who receive injury settlements, who count as "Dead Money" expenditures towards the cap after being cut, and who go on Injured Reserve during the regular season.
• "fudge money" - cap space set aside for emergency signings, so that clubs have breathing room under the cap if it's necessary to use it.

•  The 8 man practice squad would cost at least $816,000 (8 players x $6,000 per week x 17 weeks).
• Teams can opt to pay more than the minimum of $102,000 per player if they deem it necessary to do so to retain a particular player's services
• For speculative accounting purposes, I'll round that number up to a cool $1 million.

• The injury settlement/Injured Reserve and dead money can be speculated to be somewhere around $1 to $1.5 million dollars.

• The "fudge money" can be estimated to be around $1 million (a generous projection, but it's better to have more than less if necessity should dictate).

• The only figure that would need to be subtracted from the $2,883,135 number listed above is the the approximate $1 million needed for the practice squad.
• I would then subtract the amount of money that I overshot my estimated cap figure for the Giants ($148,491), from THIS PREVIOUS POST.
• Finally, I'd subtract the cap number for DT Markus Kuhn ($491,474) from this number since it would still coutn fully against the salary cap.
• There is no cap relief for players who go on the PUP list, as per an email between myself and Joel Corry, when I asked him if a player who begins the regular season on the active PUP list counts against his team's salary cap for the duration of the time that he is on that list.
• The retired list is a scenario though where there would be a break, as per Jason Fitzgerald, when he answered my question via e-mail about players counting against the cap who are on the PUP list.
• Doing that math would result in a projected cap number of $1,243,170 to begin the regular season, not including potential dead money, which is explained below.

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• Such a figure would be sufficient to go into the regular season with, when the "Top 51 rule" would have ceased.
• Under this scenario, the Giants would be able to sign any players (for the veteran minimum of course) that they would need in case of emergency.
• Should they need to tweak the salaries of players on the team to create a little more breathing room under the cap, for let's say another one to two million dollars, they could do so with guys like Antrel Rolle, Chris Snee, possibly Justin Tuck, or Steve Weatherford.
• Steve Weatheford, who is currently signed through 2016, and who has a cap number of $2,500,000--the 13th highest on the team (check out his contractual breakdown HERE) would be an interesting guy to consider for cap help.
• He's entering his 8th year in the NFL in 2013, and won't turn 31 until December 17th, which is quite young for a Punter.
• The Giants' last punter--Jeff Feagles--who Weatherford modeled himself after, is a guy who the Giants could play cap ball/"kick the can" with if need be because he'll probably be in the league for another 8 to 10 years.

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In my little projection game, the notable players that I could see the Giants cutting in training camp at this point in time would be the following (along with their corresponding cap numbers & cap savings):

 

Source: New York Giants 2013 Salary Cap figures for players on the roster - overthecap.com

• The three that stand out cap number-wise are Marvin Austin (the third year veteran and 2nd round draft pick out of North Carolina in 2011), recently re-signed veteran WR Ramses Barden, and recently signed S Ryan Mundy (formerly of the Steelers).
• Matt McCants--last year's 6th round selection--could wind up back on the practice squad this year, but Brandon Mosley--last year's 4th round pick--might be more likely to get picked up by someone if cut; it's known that the Giants certainly don't like to give up on their draft picks.
• The leftover dead money in this scenario for the ten players mentioned above by themselves would total $1,148,796.
• Since the cap savings were already accounted for when those players were released in my scenario, you'd finish up by subtracting $1,148,796 from $1,243,170.
• You'd then end up with an overall projected cap figure of $94,374

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• Needless to say, this scenario would require that the Marvin Austin absolutely bomb in training camp and preseason.
• If he continues to be ineffective, then the Giants will have the players to take his place (Mike Patterson and Shaun Rogers).
• If Austin plays well--even just well enough to continue getting the benefit of the doubt--then they'll probably keep him, and cut Mike Patterson or Shaun Rogers who combined would have much less dead money count against the cap if they were released (no dead money at all for Patterson, and only $20,000 for Rogers compared to the $623,018 in dead money that Austin would cost the club if he were to be cut in training camp).

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• It will be interesting to see if Cruz's new deal's cap number for 2013 (if it actually happens) does indeed have a lower cap number then he does now; Cruz currently counts $2,879,000 against the Giants' cap even though he has not signed his Restricted Free Agency (RFA) tender.
• The Giants will probably make a move to lower the cap numbers of either Rolle, Snee, Tuck, or Weatherford, as stated above; they could stand to use another $1-2 million dollars under the cap.
• These moves wouldn't have to be done until the last week before the start of the regular season, when the 53-man roster has been determined before the first game (on September 8th in Dallas) before the "Top 51" rule ceases.
• It won't be until after that time that Practice Squaders (roughly a little less than $1 million) and the last two players ranked by cap value on the 53-man roster (again roughly a little less than $1 million) will begin to count against the club's 2013 salary cap.
• This is all assuming that the Giants don't make more than another move or two in free agency for Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) contracts (i.e., perhaps for RB Tim Hightower, or LB Daryl Smith for the sake of argument/salary cap speculation purposes).
• LTBE (Likely to be Earned) incentives are also a factor in this complex cap equation.
• For more information on LTBE incentives, please click here and scroll down to Question 1.11a.
• LTBE incntives could also factor into giving the Giants more money under the cap; even if it's just for $100,000 or so, it still makes a difference.

Check out this interesting tidbit about Cruz's possible new deal

There's a thread on BigBlueInteractive.com up now (started by me yesterday actually) about the Salary Cap. Patricia Traina brought up this interesting tidbit of information regarding the potential 2013 cap number for Victor Cruz's rumored new contract--the one that is supposedly on the "two yard line", according to various media reports from last week:

Optimus: one other thing

Pat from Inside Football : 8:07 am

The Giants have the room right now for Cruz and a multiyear deal. If he signs it, his first year cap hit will supposedly, at least from the info I have, be lower than his current one-year tender.

• Source: http://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=472635&posted=1#end

This is significant news because, if true, Cruz's new deal would actually help the Giants cap-wise---at least for this year anyway. Any projections I made were based mainly on the premise that Cruz's new deal would cost the Giants approximately another $3.6 million (with his 2013 cap number being around 6.5 million). This number was a complete guess on my part. I'd rather overestimate a cap situation than underestimate one. It helps me have more fun trying to figure out how to deal with how to lower that overall number.

Under this scenario, the Giants wouldn't really have to do much of anything with respect to their overall team cap situation. Cruz's current cap number for 2013 under his Restricted Free Agency (RFA) tender is $2,879,000. Even though he hasn't signed it yet, it still counts as such. If his new cap number for 2013 in this new deal is less than that figure, then that would go a long way towards remedying any potential cap problems the Giants would face if that were not the case.

I'll post my projected 53-man roster tomorrow tomorrow. I've already done the work, and I struggled at the 54 man mark, but eventually got it down to 53 from 54. The whole 3rd Quarterback on the roster thing instead of two threw me off (Eli, Carr, and Nassib instead of just Eli and Car or Eli and Nassib). In any case, the numbers do work out favorably for the Giants, assuming that they don't make more another move or two in free agency that isn't of the Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) variety.

Check out this podcast by Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com

If you follow this blog, you know how much I love Jason's work. This podcast from last week, dated May 19th, is a great listen. He dives deep into "questions about the Jets, Redskins, Lions and the best and worst free agent signings of the year."

Podcast: Jets, Redskins, Lions and the Best and Worst Free Agents

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Enjoy the podcast, and the holiday weekend!

Check out this great article by Joel Corry

It's titled "The offset battle with early first round picks" - May 24, 2013 - 5:30 AM, EST from nationalfootballpost.com

• It's a fascinating and educational read. If you're a fan of the inner-workings of the salary cap, then you will definitely enjoy this.
• Besides salary splits for players drafted in rounds 3 through 7, offset language is the next big issue that teams and player agents will be dealing with going forward with respect to signing draft picks in light of the new CBA.
• Joel explains how that works wonderfully in this article.
• Enjoy, and thank me later.

Pre-June 1st cut clarifications regarding the Giants and the league at large

Both Patricia Traina and myself wondered about post June 1st cuts and the Giants. After the Giants cut Ahmad Bradshaw and Chris Canty, it was speculated by some--including myself, as noted above--that the possbility existed that they may have been designated as post June 1st cuts. You may in turn ask "how is it possible to do that before June 1st actually arrives without Doc Brown and a DeLorean?" Here's how and why McFly:

• Check out this article on June 1st cuts from overthecap.com by Jason Fitzgerald addressing this general topic titled "Explaining the June 1st designation." (Feb. 21, 2013)

Simply put, each team can designate up to two players that they can release, and count as post June 1st cuts before June 1st even arrives. This year, there were 5 players who fit into that category (I'll get to that soon enough).

What happens is that the players have the chance to see what their options are in free agency before the summer comes, a time in which many teams have shot their wad so to speak--a phrase by the way which is not intended to be vulgar, although many assume it to be so. Hey, you don't gotta believe me! To quote the great & powerful LeVar Burton, "You don't have to take *my* word for it..."

  

"DA DUN DUN!"

I digress...

Anywho, getting back to foosball. Teams can designate up to two players as post June 1st cuts months prior to that date, if they want to spread out the dead money that is left over from the player in question's contract over the course of two years, instead of one. The Giants, as per Joel Corry's response to me in an e-mail in which I asked him about the status of Bradshaw and Canty as potential pre-June 1st cuts was that when the Giants released Bradshaw, "they (the Giants) decided to take the full cap hit this year of $2.5 million." In other words, the Giants decided to absorb all of Bradshaw's remaining dead money in 2013--totaling $2.5 million--instead of choosing to spread it out over 2013 and 2014, with $1.25 million counting against the Giants' cap each of those two years. Such a situation would have given the Giants a cap credit of $1.25 million on June 2nd if the Giants decided to absorb Bradshaw's release over two years instead of one.

In the case of Canty, Joel explained to me that "Canty's signing bonus proration ended after this year even though he had a 2014 contract year." This is to be understood as being relevant in Canty's case because when he signed with the Giants in 2009, he signed a six-year contract. Contracts can not be prorated more than 5 years. That's why his $8.5 million dollar signing bonus was prorated to 1.7 million dollars--which is what is left in dead money on the Giants' cap after cutting him. That's where Joel's comment to me is significant. That's why Canty is not designated as being a "pre-June 1st cut."

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In short, the Giants will not be reaping the benefits of any pre-June 1st cuts this year; however, 5 players from 4 teams will be. They are as follows (to go along with the teams that they signed):

Joel was kind enough to share this information with me a few days ago in an e-mail. He mentioned to me, after I asked him if there were any pre (post?)-June 1st cuts from teams around the league that there were 5. He explained to me--I'm paraphrasing here--"that information isn't made public, but that it's noted when teams make transactions with the NFL."

He went on to mention to me that "Michael Huff (Raiders), Karlos Dansby (Dolphins), Kevin Burnett (Dolphins), Tyson Clabo (Falcons) & Willie Colon (Steelers) were given post June 1 designations."

• The Dolphins took full advantage of that rule, and decided to spread out the dead money for Linebackers Kevin Burnett and Karlos Dansby over the course of two seasons (2013 and 2014), instead of just one (2013).
• Ironically, they signed a player in ROT Tyson Clabo, who was also designated as a pre/post June 1st cut by his former team, the Atlanta Falcons.
• The Raiders, whose Cap woes are known to everyone, did the same with Michael Huff back on March 12th, who then went and found a home in Baltimore, 15 days later.
• In another bit of irony, the Raiders also went and signed a player who was a pre/post June 1st cut, in former Dolphins linebacker Kevin Burnett, after he spent only 5 days open the open market starting on March 12th.
• The Steelers, who only have $90,098 in cap room at the present time, did the same with Offensive Guard/Tackle Willie Colon.
• Considering their terrible cap situation, it makes sense why they decided to spread out Colon's dead money over two years.
• The Jets, desperate for Offensive Line help (and a low cap number for a potential starter on their O-Line because of a tenuous cap situation at the time), signed the Bronx native.

Yet another MSB contract for the Giants: Ramses Barden's cap number is listed as $620,000

In something that isn't coming as a surprise of any kind, Ramses Barden's 1-year deal is listed by the overthecap.com as having a cap value of $620,000--just as I predicted. The NFLPA confirmed his base salary as being $715,000. It is yet another contract in a long line of Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) contracts for the Giants: the eleventh to be exact. If I'm not mistaken, I do believe that the Giants have the most MSB contracts in the league. Check this article out:

http://overthecap.com/explaining-the-minimum-salary-benefit/

• Barden's base salary, as already mentioned, is for $715,000 (the veteran minimum for a player with 4 accrued years).
• He received a signing bonus of $65,000.

• Therefore, his salary (not his cap number for you novices out there) for 2013 will be $780,000--provided of course that he makes the team, which is tenuous at best.
• Since Barden's inability to be a consistent performer on Special Teams makes him a liability in that department, it would be no surprise if all the real money that he sees from this deal is his $65,000 prorated signing bonus.
• Check out the link from overthecap.com below to see the details of his contract:

Source: http://www.overthecap.com/cap.php?Name=Ramses%20Barden&Position=WR&Team=Giants

Sorted Cap figures for all 32 teams, by cap space order (from the most room to the least) & alphabetical order

Here are the sorted figures, as described above in the subject line, for convenience's sake. This will help to interpret the numbers. First the list in order of most cap room to least cap room. As usual, the Raiders are up shit creek:

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Now, here are are the cap figures listed above, only this time sorted in alphabetical order, for the sake of convenience:

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•The Giants are going to need to make a move or two to get fully under the cap by the time the regular season begins.
•Since the Top 51 rules apply, everything is fine now, but this won't last.
•This is just speculation on my part, but it makes TOO MUCH sense to cut Chris Snee the day after June 1st and gain $7,875,000 in cap room ($4,750,000 in cap savings sans dead money, and then another $3,125,000 in cap credit due to the leftover dead money amount of $6,250,000 being spread out over two years).

•I'd cut Snee, and either sign or threaten to sign the still available--and pretty damned good--Brandon Moore to play his position for a 2 year deal with a cap hit in 2013 and 2014 of around $1.5 to $1.75 M, unless of course Snee would be amenable to agreeing to that deal himself after being released after June 1st.
•The Giants could still keep Snee after cutting him by using free agent RG Brandon Moore as leverage against Snee after potentially cutting him after June 1st to convince Snee to agree to a new deal with the more team friendly cap figures listed above.

•If Snee doesn't like those terms, then he could try his luck elsewhere; Moore, while not as good as Snee, would still be more than adequate at filling in the RG spot should push come to shove.
•This move would give the Giants the room they need under the cap to not only give Victor Cruz the contract that he wants, but give the Giants the room that they need to operate under the cap for the rest of the offseason, going past the Top 51 rule and into the regular season without having to restructure deals for any more of their players to create added room, like Antrel Rolle, Justin Tuck, or Steve Weatherford, off the top of my head of viable restructuring candidates.

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It will be interesting to see how these numbers change in about a week, since the post June 1st cuts are coming up pretty soon, which will free up more cap room for some teams. I'll post about that pretty soon with respect to the Giants and the other teams around the league.

Here are the official Cap numbers for teams around the league and the Giants:

This information is accurate as of today, this morning from the NFLPA's Top 51 Cap Report.

• The Giants are officially $3,312,849 under the cap at this time.
• My unofficial estimate of $3,461,340 (as of today's date) that I made was an overestimate.
• I overshot the mark by $148,491.
• My estimated figure listed above was 95.71% accurate when compared to the Giants' official cap number, for you geeks out there.

Ramses Barden signs with the Giants

This is as per Ralph Vacchiano's tweet:

Source: https://twitter.com/RVacchianoNYDN

The Giants did not have to cut anyone to sign Barden since they had an open slot on the roster. Prior to this signing, the Giants only had 89 players on the 90-man roster. It's probably just a 1-year deal for the veteran minimum, which for Barden would be $715,000 in base "paragraph 5" salary (since he has 4 accrued years).

 

As a result of him having at least 4 accrued years, Barden's signing will almost certainly qualify him for the Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB). He''' only count $555,000 against the cap + signing bonus money. The most that he can get and still qualify for the MSB is $65,000. The Giants will probably give him that, making his cap hit $620,000. It would fit into the Giants' top 51 cap numbers, thereby counting against the salary cap since the Top 51 rule is in effect until the start of the regular season.

Barden's cap number will displace the 51st ranked cap number, which belongs to OG Brandon Mosley at $555,146. The $64,854 difference between the two cap numbers ($620,000 - $555,146 = $64,854) will then count be subtracted from whatever cap room that the Giants have left--which I estimated to be $3,526,194.

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• In summary, Barden's signing will probably only cost the Giants $64,854 in cap room, and as a result their new estimated number would out to be $3,461,340
• As soon as the official numbers are released from the NFLPA, I'll confirm them here of course when that does transpire shortly, even though I'm 99.9% sure that this is what will happen considering the circumstances regarding the Giants' cap and the free agency market overall.

I'm on Twitter now too

Hooray! For those who are interested, you can now find me on twitter too. Here is link for that wonderfule place where I hang out in the fantastical twitterverse:

@NYGCapCentral

Feel free to reach me there if it so strikes you.

Giants sign rookie Guard Eric Herman, their first of two seventh round picks

Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Giants signed one of their three remaining unsigned picks from last month's draft (see story HERE). Herman (the 19th pick of the seventh round, and 225th overall pick in the entire draft) was their first of two seventh round selections, with Michael Cox being the other.

The Giants only have two more picks left to sign: fourth round pick Ryan Nassib, and first round pick Justin Pugh--both out of Syracuse University. Fifth round pick Cooper Taylor, third round pick Damontre Moore, second round pick Johnathan Hankins, & their second seventh round pick Michael Cox all signed during rookie camp, about a week and a half ago. Herman's official cap number has not been reported yet, but it's estimated to be $419,462 (I wrote about this in my previous post). I would expect Nassib to be signed next.

Pugh's agent will likely wait to see how other first round picks deviate from any anticipated signing parameters (the few there are, with the issue of a partially guaranteed salary in the fourth year of the deal). I wrote about this on my post this past Saturday. Click here to read it:

Update on 1st round pick signings: Kyle Long, the 20th pick in the draft, signed with the Bears late last night

 

As soon as I find out what his official cap number is I'll post it here, and update the Giants' cap chart. Any way you cut it, Herman won't count towards the Giants' cap number since his anticipated cap number doesn't fall into the team's top 51 cap numbers.

Here are the Cap numbers for players 52 through 86 on the Giants' 90-man roster

None of these players fall into the Giants' Top 51 ranked players with respect to cap charges. As a result, they don't count towards the Giants' salary cap (at least until the regular seas begins). Here are the figures:

The Giants' 3 remaining unsigned draft picks (Justin Pugh, Ryan Nassib, & Eric Herman) are on the 90-man roster roster (officially leaving only one vacant roster spot), but since Justin Pugh, Ryan Nassib, and Eric Herman haven't agreed to terms with the Giants as of this time, they can't be included in any cap calculations yet--although I have projected what the Giants' overall cap number would be if the Giants did sign Pugh in my previous post since his projected cap number would fit into the Giants' top 51 cap numbers.

Fourth round selection Ryan Nassib (the 110th overall pick) and seventh round draft selection Eric Herman's (the 225th overall pick) projected cap numbers--click HERE for the source of these estimated cap figures--do not fall into the Giants' top 51 cap numbers. Since that is the case, they would not count against the Giants' salary cap--at least until the Top 51 rule ceases, and the regular season begins (assuming they make the team, which Nassib most assuredly will, barring injury; with Herman it's a 50/50 type of proposition). Their projected cap numbers are as follows below:


Ryan Nassib (selected in the 4th round; 110th overall pick): $519,114
Eric Herman (selected in the 7th round; 225th overall pick): $419,462

According to my figures, the Giants' estimated overall salary cap number as of today is $3,526,194

Yesterday I addressed the issue of estimated dead money that the Giants' are on the books for cap-wise. Today I'm listing their overall estimated cap number (remember that the "Top 51 Rule" is in effect, as is deftly explained in the link that I provided from steelersdepot.com), this time without any projections like I did last time. Here goes:

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Here's the work that I did to calculate the estimated cap number of $3,526,194 that I came up with:

This number doesn't include 1st round pick Justin Pugh. His estimated cap number of $1,517,436 doesn't count yet simply because he didn't sign. Once he does sign, his slotted cap number listed above (sourced from the pick by pick rookie salary cap estimated for the 2013 draft HERE) will factor into the equation.

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Since Pugh's estimated cap number fits into the top 51 cap numbers listed above, it will displace the 51st ranked cap number (currently belonging to Brandon Mosley). The difference between Pugh's cap number and that 51st ranked cap number will subtracted from the Giants' current overall cap number of $3,526,194.

If Pugh were to sign the Giants' cap number would be calculated as follows:

Pugh's est. cap number of  $1,517,436 - Mosley's 51st ranked cap number of $555,146 = $962,290

The Giants' current est. cap number of $3,526,194 - $962,290 = adjusted estimated cap number with Pugh $2,563,904