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:
*****
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.
- 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.
*****
- 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.
*****
- 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.
*****
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
- 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).
*****
- 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.
