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.