Here are the Cap numbers for each player on the Giants as of today

First, here are the Cap numbers for the players on the 53-man roster:


*Note: The 7 players highlighted in bold below are rookies (Charles James is an UDFA).

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Second, here are the cap numbers for the 8 players on Injured Reserve:

*Note #1: All of these players count fully against the Salary Cap, just as those on the 53-man roster do.

*Note #2:  The Giants are going to have to make room for the return of Andre Brown to the 53-man roster when he is eligible to return after the bye week against the Raiders in week 10.

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Third, is the PUP List. The Giants have only one player in this category:

Note #1: Players on the PUP List count fully on the cap, but sometimes have salary splits in their contracts saving the team cap space, as in Kuhn's case.

*Note #2: Since Kuhn has a split in his salary that goes into effect if he's not on the 53-man roster, his cap number is lower. Kuhn's cap number was going to be $491,474 if he made the 53-man roster. It has decreased $62,471 since he has not done so, giving the Giants that amount in cap savings.

*Note #3:  Kuhn is eligible to return between weeks 7 and 13 to the 53-man roster. The Giants are going to have to either make room for his return to the 53-man roster by making a roster move with another player or placing Kuhn on Season Ending Injured Reserve.

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Fourth, is the 8-man Practice Squad:

*Note #1:  All players on the Practice Squad count fully against the Salary Cap.

*Note #2:  The minimum rate for the Practice Squad is $6,000 per week, over the course of 17 weeks (the bye week counts as a pay week in the NFL).

*Note #3:  There is currently a vacancy on the Giants' Practice Squad since they released RB Jeremy Wright yesterday. As a result, only 7 players are on the books now.

• The Giants have no players on the Reserve/Suspended List.
• Safety Will Hill was on this list for the first 4 weeks of the regular season.
• Players on this list only count partially against the salary cap.
• Hill's cap number reflects the first four weeks of salary not being paid (which is the same as his cap number in this case).
• There is another List that the Giants have a player stashed under, that is the Reserve/Retired List.
• Players on this list do not count against the cap at all.
• The sole player that the Giants have under this category is Fullback Ryan D'Imperio who retired after a few weeks of training camp.
• Teams merely place them on this list to retain their rights, just as the Giants did for TE Ben Patrick who suddenly retired during training camp in 2011, as well as in the case of Tiki Barber after he retired in the 2006 season.
• The Giants had Barber on this list until 2011 when Barber attempted a comeback; he then asked the Giants to release him from this list. They did so, and Barber was then free to seek employment elsewhere in the league (which he subsequently was unable to find after being out of the league for almost 5 years).
• The remaining Dead Money total is $8,180,510.
• Click on the following link for Dead Money details, as well those for all other players on this list, courtesy of overthecap.com:
• New York Giants 2013 Salary Cap figures

Here are 2 great articles & an excellent podcast to check out regarding the Cowboys' upcoming cap problems...

I've written about how messed up the Cowboys are going forward into the near future with respect to their salary cap problems. I've also frequently mentioned the great job Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com has done describing their mess (click HERE to read a fine article about it). Check out the article linked above and below when you get the chance. 

Thanks to Jerry Jones, the Cowboys are facing "Capegeddon"---a problem that both he and his son will have to deal with. They've got one more year left after this season with the present roster they've got assembled to compete. The key for them is how they deal with DeMarcus Ware's deal. They won't be able to add much in the way of quality free agents either on account of the mess that they've created. Jason mentioned it in his podcast this week for overthecap.com as well.

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Link: Podcast: NFL Trade Deadline, Revis, Rookie Options, and Predictions for Week 8 - Oct. 26, 2013 | OverTheCap.com podcast by Jason Fitzgerald

In this week's podcast, Jason mentions some Giants issues as well at the beginning that I asked him about, as well as some Hakeem Nicks trade deadline speculation. The Grantland article below by Bill Barnwell is outstanding (he gives Jason props and credit in it). Enjoy all 3 links.

Jerry's Broken Toy - By Bill Barnwell on October 25, 2013 

Looks like the Giants restructured another contract

The topic of the Giants' cap number came up today on Twitter between @GiantsGab and myself. Here's the exchange:

Twitter Exchange earlier this afternoon

This was brought up because the NFLPA's Leaguewide Cap Report website had the Giants listed as being over the salary cap (they have the Giants listed as being -$71,052 incidentally). They needed extra salary cap room after placing Center David Baas on season ending IR, & then signing Center/OG Dallas Reynolds to fill his roster spot (Reynolds's cap number by the way is going to be $282,353). I explained why that could be, and then tweeted Jason Fitzgerald about form my favorite and the absolute best salary cap site out there, OverTheCap.com, and he responded by writing the following:

Why the NFLPA listed the Giants as being over the cap

As Jason pointed out, someone was restructured, but we may not find out who that player was until Monday on account of league transactions not being made official through the weekend (Regular business hours in the NFL are 8 am to 4 pm ET). This further reinforces the point that the NFLPA's figures aren't 100% accurate for a number of reasons. The Salary Cap accounting figures maintained by the NFL Management Council are really the only absolutely correct Salary Cap figures that are out there, as Jason Fitzgerald pointed out this past Summer, and they hardly ever get leaked.

As far as the restructuring possibilities are concerned, I wonder if it is was Rolle on account of his not liking his contract restructured or otherwise tampered with in any way. The other possibility is Eli or maybe even Snee again since there is no rule against restructuring a player on IR according to what Joel Corry told me when I asked him via e-mail.

I don't think the restructure is for much for one reason: the Giants are taking a pay as you go approach to managing their in-season salary cap needs. By doing so, they're wisely preventing any unnecessary Dead Money from being added on to the books in future years. Next year--unlike this year--the Giants are going to have a lot of money to play with. They only have 35 players under contract in 2014 for $107,694,673 and only $389,298 in Dead Money. Click HERE to see the figures for all 32 teams next year courtesy of overthecap.com's Salary Cap Spending Estimates for 2014.

Without getting into further details (I'll elaborate on that in an upcoming post in the next few days), the Giants will have lots of room to operate next year. They don't want to compromise their free cap space on account of this apparently lost season. The Giants will try their best to wade through this season.

Even if they do get lucky, and somehow win a piss poor NFC East--a la the 2010 Seahawks who won the NFC West with a 7-9 record--the Giants as an organization know that they have to re-tool their roster around Eli Manning's remaining 5 to 8 years. They'll be doing this through rebuilding their Offensive Line and Linebackers (amongst other positions). Stay tuned until Monday to see who it is that they restructured and how much the Giants gained in cap room as a result. If I had to guess, I'd say that the restructure came from someone besides "the Bank of Eli", but we'll know for sure on Monday.

Salary Cap Update for all 32 teams in the NFL as of today

After an extended absence (13 days), I make my return to posting. I was busy with personal matters that prevented me from posting more regularly. I now hope to return to posting regularly--every 2 or 3 days--like I did before. Without further ado, here is the latest update for all 32 teams in the league, as per the NFLPA's Leaguewide Cap Report as of Sunday, October 20, 2013.





First, here are the figures in order of most cap space to least cap space:

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Now, here are the figures in alphabetical order:

• The Giants are not only in last place in the NFC East in the standings, but with regard to available cap space as well.
• The Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins are 5th, 20th, and 23rd respectively; the Giants are 31st.
• The Eagles are $17,316,515 under the cap now without a franchise QB, which helps them in this regard.
• Dallas is $2,221,791 under it with their franchise quality QB, but they are digging themselves a trap with respect to the cap that they won't be able to dig themselves out of come 2015 and/or 2016 (the cap penalties that they've incurred as a result of their actions in 2010 are part of this problem of course); check the article out below on this subject:
• Cowboys will be $31M over cap - By Adam Schefter | ESPN | Updated: October 20, 2013, 11:34 AM ET
• The Redskins are $2,030,516 under the cap, and are affected by the cap penalties that they've incurred as a result of their actions in the uncapped 2010 season as well. Like Dallas, they've restructured a number of contracts in order to be under the cap for the start of the regular season's cap rules last month.

• As can be seen, the Giants are only $379,125 under the cap, ranking them next to last in the league to the St. Louis Rams, who are $257,903 under the cap.
• The reason Da'Rel Scott was given an injury settlement rather than being placed on Injured Reserve is  because they need every cent they can get, and need to be able to maximize any opportunity they get to create more cap space while still being able to make the roster moves necessary to deal with injuries as they inevitably come over the long haul of a grueling regular season.
• The upcoming roster moves that need to be made for RB Andre Brown's return in week 10, & that of DT Markus Kuhn, who is eligible to return to the team anytime between this week and week 13, otherwise he'll go on IR--something which the Giants will need to avoid due to their tight Salary Cap situation.

Update & correction regarding the Giants' salary cap situation as of today

Before I start let me say that the Giants are actually $183,632 under the cap as of now.

Two days ago on Saturday, October 5th, I posted an update regarding the four roster moves that the Giants made. They were as follows:

1. The Giants waived OL Dallas Reynolds after signing him to their 53-man roster only 4 days earlier on October 1st.
2. They then added FS Will Hill back onto the 53-man roster in his place.
3. They placed CB Aaron Ross--who has a $620,000 cap number--on season ending IR.
4. To fill this roster spot created by Ross's IR designation, the Giants promoted CB Charles James from their Practice Squad to take Ross's place.

Now, here is the correct anatomy of how the Giants' salary cap fluctuated between Friday, October 4th---when the trade for LB Jon Beason from Carolina was made official--and today:

• The Giants started off business on Thursday, October 3rd being $1,367,419 under the cap.
• The next day, Friday, October 4th, the trade for Beason became official; as a result they lost $874,081 in cap space even though this number wasn't reflected/updated in the NFLPA's database right away that same day.
• The NFLPA still had the Giants listed as being $1,367,419 under the cap though.
• However, the Giants' REAL cap number at that point was actually $493,338.

• The next day the Giants released OL Dallas Reynolds.
• The Giants gained back his $367,059 in cap space as a result of this move; the Giants' cap number went from being $493,338 up to being $860,397).
• They then added Will Hill to the roster.
• The move cost the Giants $367,059 in cap room (which is Will Hill's prorated and adjusted non-guaranteed 2013 cap number).
• As a result of this move, the Giants' cap number went from being $860,397 back down to being $493,338.
• They then placed CB Aaron Ross on season ending IR.
• This move cost the Giants nothing in cap space (PHEW!!) since players on IR count fully against the cap unless they have salary splits in their contracts, which Ross does not.
• The Giants' real cap number remained static at $493,338.
• The Giants added CB Charles James to their 53-man roster after placing Ross on season ending IR.
• This roster move cost the Giants $309,706 in cap space (which is Charles James's prorated and adjusted non-guaranteed 2013 cap number).
• As a result of this move, the Giants' cap number went from being $493,338 down to being $183,632.

As of tonight, the NFLPA records indicate that the Giants are still $493,338 under the cap. Their actual cap number now though is different: they're really $183,632 under the cap.
I'd expect this number to become official on the NFLPA's Leaguewide Cap Report website tomorrow. This figure would be the lowest number in the league, and is obviously a DANGEROUSLY low number. If one more player goes on IR in the next few days, then this will mean that the Giants will be in cap trouble. They would have to turn to someone else other than Snee to help them get further under the cap. Candidates would include Eli, Rolle, and Weatherford (even though Weatherford can only give them $63,750 in added cap space after having given them $675,000 back on September 4th). Let's see what happens in the next few days.

Things may be complicated further since there are rumors out there now that Da'Rel Scott will be re-signed to the 53-man roster to help in the upcoming Bears game in Chicago on short rest 3 nights from tonight this coming Thursday night (see the tweet from Mike Garafolo below for confirmation).

This is probably due to the David Wilson's injury yesterday against Philadelphia, when he was taken out of the game as a precautionary measure. To make this move work under the current and actual cap restrictions that the Giants are presently operating under in-season, they will have to avoid IRing someone, and instead waive someone with roster flexibility. I wrote about this topic about a month ago (September 3rd to be exact). Here's a link to the article:

• "The importance of roster flexibility with respect to the Salary Cap" - Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The ironic part of the designation of Chris Snee being placed on season ending IR is that they could have still gotten another $162,143 worth of cap space from him if they restructured him further down to his base minimum paragraph 5 salary. I'm not sure of that's still possible, but I'll try and find out and post it here once I do.

Returning to the question of roster flexibility, the players who seem most susceptible to being waived to make room for Da'Rel Scott would be the following:

• *****Allen Bradford
• $480,000 base salary contract prorated over 16 weeks instead of the full 17.
• cap number of $451,765.
• weekly cap charge of $28,235.
• 3 week cap charge of $84,705.
• Net cap loss if Scott is signed for 3 weeks of $13,236.
• Pending any other roster moves/injuries, the Giants' overall team cap number would be $170,396 after these 3 weeks pass.
• *****Charles James
• $405,000 base salary contract prorated over 13 weeks instead of the full 17.
• cap number of $309,706.
• weekly cap charge of $23,824.
• 3 week cap charge of $71,472.
• Net cap loss if Scott is signed for 3 weeks of $26,469.
• Pending any other roster moves/injuries, the Giants' overall team cap number would be $157,163 after these 3 weeks pass.

• *****Justin Trattou
• $480,000 cap number & salary.
• weekly cap charge of $28,235.
• 3 week charge of $84,705.
• Net cap loss if Scott is signed for 3 weeks of $13,236.
• Pending any other roster moves/injuries, the Giants' overall team cap number would be $170,396 after these 3 weeks pass.

• Trumaine McBride
• $630,000 cap number & salary.
• weekly cap charge of $37,059.
• 3 week cap charge of $111,177.
• Net cap savings if Scott is signed for 3 weeks of $13,236.
• Pending any other roster moves/injuries, the Giants' overall team cap number would be $196,868 after these 3 weeks pass.

• Curtis Painter
• $630,000 cap number & salary.
• weekly cap charge of $37,059.
• 3 week cap charge of $111,177.
• Net cap savings if Scott is signed for 3 weeks of $13,236.
• Pending any other roster moves/injuries, the Giants' overall team cap number would be $196,868 after these 3 weeks pass.

If Scott were signed, he'd count $391,765 against the cap if he were to remain on the team for the remainder of the season (highly doubtful), but only $32,647 per week. He'd almost certainly function as a stop-gap type of player on the roster until week 8, which would only be 3 weeks until the return of RB Andre Brown at that time.

If Scott is on the team for 3 weeks, then his cap number for that time will be only $97,941. They'd be able to pull this move off and still attempt to sign Bradford, James, and Trattou to their Practice Squad after waving them and hoping that they clear waivers since all 3 of those players still maintain Practice Squad eligibility.Suffice it to say, the Giants are going to be skating on some thin ice with respect to the cap going forward the rest of the year.



P.S. Check out Jason Fitzgerald's article from overthecap.com on the cap impact of the Jon Beason trade to the Giants in the article he wrote below:

• "Giants And Panthers Working on a Trade for Beason?" - October 4, 2013

Breakdown of today's roster moves with respect to the Giants' salary cap

The Giants started off the day as being $1,367,419 under the cap, as per the NFLPA's League Cap Report website. Here is the breakdown of the roster moves today with respect to the salary cap:

 

• The Giants' cap number as of the start of Saturday, October 05, 2013 was $1,367,419

• Dallas Reynolds cut - $367,059

• Replaced by Will Hill - $367,059

• Difference: Nothing

• Total after roster moves: same ($1,367,419)

• Placed Aaron Ross on IR

• Ross’s cap number is $620,000

• Cap number remains same at $1,367,419

• Charles James called up to 53-man roster from Practice Squad:

• James’s salary would be equal to that of a player with no accrued seasons ($405,000) prorated over 13 weeks instead of the full 17.

(13/17) * $405,000 = $309,706

$1,367,419 - $309,706 = $1,057,713

*Check this link out courtesy of overthecap.com with all of the links to every player on the Giants:

SUMMARY:

• The Giants lost $309,706 in cap space as a result of these roster moves made today.
• The only move that cost them cap space was the Charles James promotion from the Practice Squad; this took up $309,706 in cap room.
• The Giants went from being $1,367,419 under the cap to being $1,057,713 under it as result of these moves today.
• Pending any injuries, this number should stay the same for the next 4 weeks, or so, until Andre Brown is ready to come off of Temporary IR after week 8.
• At that point the Giants will have to make another roster move to account for his re-addition to the 53-man active roster.
• Someone will either go on IR, or be cut at that point.
• DT Markus Kuhn will be eligible to return to the 53-man roster off of the PUP list as well between weeks 7 and 13.

CORRECTION:

• I forgot to factor in the addition of MLB Jon Beason onto the Giants' cap after he was traded to the Giants last Friday, October 4th, 2013.
• Beason's addition will cost the Giants $874,081 in cap space. 
• This amount will be subtracted from the amount stated above ($1,057,713).
• The result would be $183,632.
• Needless to say, the Giants are going to be up shit creek if they have one more player go on IR.