What's the potential impact of the Aaron Curry signing on the Giants' salary cap?

•With the Curry signing, the 51st cap number will be displaced if he received a $65,000 signing bonus.
•That 51st ranked cap number, if displaced, belongs to OL Brandon Mosley, and amounts to $555,146.


•Curry has 4 years of accrued experience.
•I'm assuming for the sake of this post that Curry got the Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) deal, to go along with a bonus that the Giants have given to 9 other vets with 4 or more years worth of experience---the most in the league.

•Whether or not Curry received that $65,000 signing bonus is a point of contention until it is found out for sure (this is a speculative post by it's very nature).
•If Curry did not receive this bonus, then his cap number would not fall into the Giants' top 51 cap numbers, thereby not making him count towards the cap at this time since the "Top 51" rule is in effect until the first game of the regular season begins in September. 

•The $555,000 MSB plus a $65,000 bonus equals a cap hit of $620,000.
•Subtract $555,146 from $620,000 and you wind up with $64,854.

•This figure of $64,854 would then be subtracted from the total cap number as well.
•If Curry's cap number is indeed in the top 51 on the team's roster, then the Giants' official cap number will change on Monday after they cut a player to get back to the 90 roster limit.

•They're over that number by one now, but since the signing occurred after 4 pm on a Friday, as per Ralph Vacchiano, the Giants have until Monday (which is May 13th) to announce who it is that they cut in order to sign Aaron Curry.



•At that point, the Giants' cap number would decrease by $64,854.
•It would go from being $3,927,958 to $3,863,104--pending any other signings who would count towards the salary cap.
•As stated above, if Curry's signing does not include the $65K signing bonus mentioned above, the his cap number will simply be $555,000 and will not count towards the Giants' salary cap at this time on account of the "Top 51" rule being in effect.

What happens when the Top 51 rule ceases?

•The "Top 51" Rule is in effect from the time time the season ends to when the next regular season begins.

•Once the regular season begins on Sunday, September 8th, 2013, the "Top 51 rule" will cease.

•When the regular season begins the Giants, and all other clubs in the league, will have to be cap compliant with respect to the following mandatory things:

I. They must make room for the cap numbers that belong to players 52 and 53 on the 53-man roster.

II.They must also make room for the players on the 8 man practice squad.

•The last two guys at the back end of the 53-man roster will probably be rookies making something around the absolute league minimum of $405,000, so after you multiply that figure by 2, you'll have to create another $810,000 in cap space when it's time to begin the season.

•As far as the Practice squaders are concerned, they make $6,000 a week (1 player making that rate x 17 weeks = $96,900---Multiply that by 8 players and you get $775,200).

•If you add the CAP HIT money for the last 2 men on the 53-man roster and the practice squad, you get another $1,585,200 that you have to account for AT MINIMUM when the bullets start flying again.

•It should be noted, however, that teams are allowed to pay their pay their "taxi squaders" more than the weekly rate of $5,700 if they so choose.

•Tampa Bay's Markus White earned well over the $96,900 figure noted above (see the quote below).

"Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Markus White is currently (beginning the 2012 season) the NFL's highest-paid player on a practice squad, earning $17,647 per week, or $300,000 over the season. (see the article below):

•The Patriots are an example of a team that pays their practice squaders generously, as indicated in the article below.

 

•New England Patriots have top-paid NFL practice squad" by Brian McIntyre, Around the League writer | Published: Sept. 7, 2012 at 12:18 a.m. | Updated: Sept. 7, 2012 at 07:52 a.m.

•The Giants will need to make about $1 million in room for injury settlements as well that inevitably occur in training camp as well as players who go on IR (hopefully not too many).

•The Giants will also need to clear some "fudge money" too later on this offseason; this is 1 to 2 million dollars left over in cap space which the Giants can use in case of an emergency.

•If you add this 2 to 3 million dollars to the amount mentioned of $1,585,200 for the last 2 men on the 53-man roster and the practice squad, then there will be between $3,585,200 and $4,585,200 that the Giants will have to be prepared to make room for under the cap when the season begins.

•As of this moment, the Giants are $3,927,958 (not including the Aaron Curry signing announced a few hours ago).
•If you take into account the rookie signings (mentioned in another post), the Giants' cap number will be $2,754,977.

•If you subtract the low end number of $3,585,200 from the Giants' adjusted rookie cap number of  $2,754,977 after signing all their rookies (of which they have signed 4 today: Hankins, Moore, Taylor, & Cox), you'll get -$830,223.

•This means that the Giants are going to have to make another $830,223 to $1,830,223 in cap room by the time the regular season starts.

•Don't forget that this figure does not include any further free agent signings, which are likely; we already saw one today in Aaron Curry.
•I wouldn't be surprised if we see at least 1 more before the season starts.
•None of this has to do with a potential new deal with Victor Cruz, but that's a topic for another post...