Soon, it will be time to focus fully on 2014, as post-season hopes for the Giants' 2013 season have officially gone down the tubes as of the conclusion of last week's game against the Chargers in San Diego. I'll start the process some by going over the Giants' Dead Money totals for this year, as well as next year. This year is not completely done, and it will have an effect on the amount of leftover cap dollars that are carried over into next year's cap.
As of today, the Giants have a Dead Money total of $9,016,510 for the 2013 season (source is OverTheCap.com). Before readers freak out, they should pause a bit and be thankful. There are teams that are FAR WORSE off in this department. The Oakland Raiders are an example (figures taken from OverTheCap.com). They have a little bit north of an $56 million in estimated Dead Money counting towards their salary cap this year (they're taking their medicine this year and will be able to spend a lot in 2014).
The Giants have 40 players who count towards the Dead Money figure of $9,016,510 mentioned above at the present time (this is still subject to change for another two weeks of course):
- 31 of these players are off the team completely
- 5 are on the Practice Squad at present
- and 4 are on the 53-man roster
*****
As of today, the Giants have a Dead Money total of $389,298 for the 2014 season (source is OverTheCap.com). They have 6 players who count towards this figure presently:
- 5 of them are off the team completely
- and 1 is on the Practice Squad at present
The 2014 Dead Money total will change of course as roster moves are announced with respect to the 2014 season beginning in January and/or February. I'll update them as cuts are made that affect this figure. Players like Chris Snee & Corey Webster, who are certain to be gone in 2014 are examples of players who will influence this fledgling figure, as it stands now.
If Snee is cut/retires, then his Dead Money total will be $4,500,000. If Webster is not back next year (2014 is a voidable year for him), then his Dead Money total for 2014 will be $1,250,000. Between Snee and Webster, that's a total of $5,750,000 in almost sure Dead Money that will be tacked onto the present Dead Money total of $389,298 that is already officially on the books for the 2014 season (that potential total with those 2 likely moves would increase this total to $6,139,298).
Keep in mind that players like Antrel Rolle and Brandon Myers could add to this total as well if they are cut (in Myers's case, 2014 is a voidable year just like Corey Webster). If the contract of Myers is voided, there would be $1,125,000 in Dead Money leftover that would count against the 2014 salary cap of the Giants. If Rolle is cut, then there would be $2,000,000 in leftover Dead Money that would count against the Giants' salary cap in 2014.
David Baas is another likely cut. He's an interesting case though because of his ultra high Dead Money amount in 2014 if he were to be cut in the normal fashion. However, if Baas is a post June 1st cut, then his remaining Dead Money amount left counting towards the Giants' 2014 salary cap
will be $3,225,000 in 2014 & the same amount in 2015 (2014 Cap number of $8,225,000
and CAP SAVINGS totaling $5,000,000). If he is designated as a post June
1st cut at the start of Free Agency on March 11th instead of in June--teams can do
this with up to two players each year--then there will be a catch: the
team won't be able to benefit from the cap savings until June 2nd.
If Baas is a normal cut, then his remaining Dead Money will all count in
2014. That figure would be $6,450,000 (2014 Cap number of $8,225,000
and CAP SAVINGS totaling $1,775,000). I already wrote about what I would do with his contract in the Salary Cap section of BigBlueInteractive.com (click on the following link to read that article from about two months ago titled "Three ways of dealing with David Baas's contract"). I'd designate him as post June 1st cut. The Giants could
use this extra cap room to sign their draft picks, and for the purpose
of using it towards having extra freed up cap room for the purpose of regular season expenditures.
Two veterans who are dark horse candidates to be cut who could add to the 2014 Dead Money total are DE Mathias Kiwanuka & DT Cullen Jenkins. The 2014 Dead Money totals for each of these two players if they were to be cut would be $5,250,000 for Kiwanuka, & $1,333,334 for Jenkins. In my opinion, based on the Giants' present roster numbers at DE & DT, as well as the impending Free Agency of Justin Tuck and Linval Joseph, the Giants will probably hold off on cutting these guys next year. The cap savings of cutting each of these players prior to June 1st (in Myers's case voiding his contract) that I mentioned above next year would be as follows, as per OverTheCap.com:
*Note: the cap savings for Baas being a post June 1st cut would be $5,000,000---that's an additional $3,225,000 in potential Cap Savings that would be added to the total listed below:
