Official overall Carryover figures from 2012 into 2013 for all NFL clubs

Carryover money is one of 5 variables that factor into a team's Cap spending limit each year (click HERE to read an article I wrote about in June). Besides Carryover cap money, the other four variables are Cap penalties, finalized grievances, LTBE bonuses, & NLTBE bonuses. Of these 5, the most significant from year to year, is Carryover cap money--make note that I did not write Carryover cash money (cap money is different than cash money in most cases). Unless you're the Dallas Cowboys or Washington Redskins, carryover money is the best chance for you to create a competitive advantage vis-a-vis the salary cap. The two aforementioned clubs lost whatever competitive advantage they had by succumbing to cap penalties from the 2010 uncapped season (read about it HERE). Every other team in the league benefited from these penalties that handcuffed the Cowboys and Redskins, except for the Raiders and Saints, who were guilty of minor infractions during the 2010 season. 

Last year, the Giants carried over exactly $1,000,000 from their leftover cap money from the end of the Super Bowl championship season of 2011 into the 2012 regular season. Philadelphia carried over the most, at $23,046,035. The other two NFC East teams finished ahead of the Giants in this category (Washington was 16th & Dallas was 24th). This year the Giants' leftover cap amount that will be carried over into next season will be significantly less. At the moment, the Giants are $41,888 under the cap (as per the NFLPA's League Cap Report website)---the lowest amount in the league. If the season ended today, that would be the amount that is carried over into next season's cap spending limit. They are dangerously close to having to restructure another contract in order to get by these last two games (Snee or Weatherford would be the guys they would go to).

As long as the Giants avoid any rash of injuries the rest of this week in Practice, through the Detroit game--which is questionable since they like to go QB hunting, and into practice next week, they'll be fine with what they have. The giants could only afford to put one player on I.R. this week, which is what they did, but no more than that. Next week, they'll only be able to place one player on Injured Reserve. As long as no more than 1 player is hurt, they'll be okay. It is something to keep an eye on though this week against an angry Detroit team in their own stadium playing for their playoff lives.

To start this season, the Giants had the 26th highest amount of Carryover money out of 32 clubs, with $1,000,000. That places them $5,283,520 below the league mean in this category, with the average being $6,283,520. They'll likely end this season dead last in leftover cap space at $41,888 or less than that figure if they place another player on I.R. next week. Here are this season's Carryover figures:

Greatest carryover amount from 2012 into 2013:

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Alphabetical Order:

Giants make 3 roster moves today that result in less overall team cap space

Tuesday is tryout day in the NFL. It's also the day teams typically make any necessary adjustments to their rosters (sometimes announcements are announced Wednesday mornings when player preparation begins for the next week's game). The Giants are short on WRs this season. They usually carry 6 on their 53-man roster each year. This year they only carried 5. TE Brandon Myers served as a pseudo WR to make that 6. With WR Victor Cruz being hurt in the game against Seattle, and likely to not play again this season, they needed an extra WR to be added onto the roster.

Today the Giants placed CB Corey Webster on Injured Reserve (the 12th Giants player to wind up on I.R. so far this season) in order to make room on the 53-man roster for a WR to take Cruz's place:

Webster had the 4th highest cap number on the Giants' 53-man active roster ($5.345 million) prior to being placed on Injured Reserve, as well as the 5th highest overall cap number on the team counting the players on I.R. already (Chris Snee has a higher cap number at $8.5 million). He does not have a salary split in his contract, sot there are no additional savings the team can recoup by placing him on I.R. as they gained when they placed Shaun Rogers & Brandon Jacobs on Injured Reserve previously. They promoted WR Julian Talley from their Practice Squad to fill the vacancy on the 53-man active roster.

To fill the vacancy on the Practice Squad, they signed RB Kendall Gaskins:

Gaskins is an Undrafted Rookie Free Agent Running Back, who can also play some Fullback--out of the University of Richmond who previously spent time with Buffalo after they signed him as an UDFA after the 2013 Draft. Buffalo cut him at the end of training camp; the Giants tried him out earlier this season, and have brought him into the fold today, signing him to their Practice Squad to fill the vacancy created as a result of Talley being promoted to the 53-man roster. The Giants were short at RB after placing Brandon Jacobs on I.R., so it made sense to sign a RB.

All three of these roster moves made sense today. I was going to post something about a move probably needing to be made earlier today, but I didn't get the chance. This just confirms the thought I had as soon as Cruz went down in the Seattle game. The Giants just need to hope that they don't suffer a multitude of injuries like Pittsburgh did in week 1, for if they do, they'll need to restructure a contract to be able to be to stay under the cap (Snee and/or Weatherford would be the likely candidates again, just as they were on September 4th, and again later on in the season, when Snee agreed to a second contract restructure during the season).

The Giants' strategy at this juncture is to just keep their heads above water from a cap standpoint, so they can get through the season without having restructure anymore contracts and add to their dead money total in 2014. They could only place 1 player on I.R. today without being forced into having to restructure a contract and add to that 2014 Dead Money total. It's all about avoiding injuries at this point in the season from a cap standpoint for the Giants. If they get through practices and the Detroit game unscathed before playing Washington in the season finale on December 29th, then they'll have achieved that objective.

The amount of carryover money that the Giants will have to add onto their 2014 Cap spending total in 2014 will not be anywhere near as much as their total from 2012 that was added onto this year's cap. Last year they added $1,000,000 in carryover money onto their cap spending total. They started the year approximately $490,000 under the cap, and are now going to be $41,888 under the cap, provided that calculations are correct. This will mean that they'll have spent approximately $450,000 of in-season cap dollars in addition to the $1.25 million in a second restructure agreed to by Snee and the Giants on September 30th for $1.25 million. I'm not counting the first restructure of Snee (and Weatherford) agreed to on September 4th that amounted to $1.925 million in order to get under the salary cap the day before the regular season accounting rules went into effect.

The Giants were dead last in available cap space to start the day. They were $89,535 under the cap. Talley's cap number will be $47,647 (the rate of $405,000 for players with no accrued seasons prorated for the two remaining weeks of the 17 game season). Subtracting this figure of $47,647 from $89,535 results in the Giants' present cap number of $41,888. Kendall Gaskins will be paid $12,000 for these last two weeks of the regular season at the league minimum rate of $6,000 per week for Practice Squad players for the 2013 season. As stated above, Talley will earn $47,647 in these final two games. This is a reward for him in a sense since he's been on the Giants' practice Squad since the start of the regular season. Talley is the fourth player on the Giants' 53-man roster that they've promoted from their Practice Squad thus far this season. The other three are CB Charles James, OG/C Stephen Goodin, and LB Marcus Dowtin.

How do the Giants rank with respect to Dead Money in 2014 compared to the rest of the NFL at this point?

I posted the Dead Money figures for this season two days ago. Here are the Dead Money totals thus far for next season. According to the estimated figures below courtesy of OverTheCap.com, the Giants rank 6th out of the 32 clubs in the league for 2014 (they rank 10th for the 2013 Dead Money figures).

• The average amount of Dead Money in 2014 for each club at this point in time according to these figures is $3,809,938
• The Giants have $389,298 in Dead Money.
• This ranks them $3,420,540 below the mean.

• 5 of the 6 players who count towards the Giants' 2014 Dead Money total are off the team entirely now, with only rookie Eric Herman counting towards this total being on the Giants' Practice Squad now.
• There will invariably be more players who are added on to this cut, particularly the ones that I mentioned in the second half of the this article I wrote on Saturday:
• Giants' Dead Money totals for 2013 & 2014 as of Dec. 14, 2013
• As I wrote about in the aforementioned article, Players like Chris Snee ($4.5 M), Corey Webster ($1.25 M), & Brandon Myers ($1.125 M) are almost certain to be additions to the list depicted above.
• That's a total of $6.875 M in additional Dead Money for those three players that will likely be added to the Dead Money total of $389,298 which would bring the total to $7,264,298.

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Keep in mind that Dead Money is NOT the same thing as Cap Savings. To explain the difference between the two in layman's terms, I'll use a food analogy: a crusty old pie box.

• Dead Money is what's leftover from a player's Cap number (the rock-hard part of a pie which can't be scraped out of a pie box) that can't be fully removed from the accounting books.
• Cap Savings, on the other hand, are what you manage to scrape out of a pie box and throw out--which is usually more than what is left over in the pie box.

To summarize: Dead Money is the crust that is stuck to the bottom of an aluminum pan that you can't remove, while Cap Savings are what you can manage to retrieve, and toss out into the garbage.

I'll list the Dead Money figures for 2014 for all 32 clubs below, first in order of the least amount of Dead Money to the greatest amount of Dead Money, and then in alphabetical order for the sake of reference:



In order of least amount of Dead Money to greatest amount of Dead Money:

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In alphabetical order:

How do the Giants rank with respect to Dead Money in 2013 compared to the rest of the NFL?

According to the estimated figures below courtesy of OverTheCap.com, the Giants rank 10th out of the 32 clubs in the league.

• The average amount of Dead Money in 2013 for each club at this point in time according to these figures is $14,378,196.
• The Giants have $9,016,510 in Dead Money.
• This ranks them $5,361,686 below the mean.

I'll list the figures for all 32 clubs below, first in order of the least amount of Dead Money to the greatest amount of Dead Money, and then in alphabetical order for the sake of reference:



In order of least amount of Dead Money to greatest amount of Dead Money:

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In alphabetical order:

Giants' Dead Money totals for 2013 & 2014 as of Dec. 14, 2013

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

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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:

Updated Cap numbers for all players counting against the Giants' salary cap as of Dec. 13, 2013

The NFLPA's League Cap Report website has the Giants listed as being $89,835 under the cap--dead last in the league now (the Rams actually renegotiated Chris Long's contract to give them enough room to survive the last 3 games with regard to regular season operational expenses; they were last in available cap space for a long time time before they ceded that distinction to the Giants).

This latest figure reflects the 4 roster moves that the Giants made 3 nights ago on, on Tuesday, December 10th, when they placed Brandon Jacobs on I.R., and subsequently made these 3 additional roster moves:

I mistakenly had slightly underestimated the Giants cap number as being $86,888--a difference of $2,647. I also mistakenly listed LB Marcus Dowtin's cap number as being $71,471 when it's actually $84,706. The proration of 3 weeks (3/17 = 0.176) wasn't incorrect, but his full yearly base salary rate was wrong.

Since Dowtin has 1 accrued year towards Free Agency instead of none, his proration rate for these last 3 remaining weeks should have been multiplied by $480,000 instead of $405,000; the former being the full yearly Paragraph 5 salary for players with 1 accrued season towards Free Agency, and the former being the league bare minimum for players with no accrued years towards free agency. See the chart below for reference for the full spectrum of base minimum rates:

Part of the cap equation is also Dead Money (money that counts against the salary for players who are either no longer on the roster, or who are still on the roster, but who have money left over from their previous contracts that still count against the cap). The Giants' Dead Money total thus far for 2013, as per OverTheCap.com, is $9,016,510 (at this point their 2014 Dead Money total is only $389,298).

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The Giants currently have 72 contracts that count towards their team cap number now. They break down as follows:

• the 53 players on the 53-man active roster
• the 11 players on season ending Injured Reserve
• and the players on the 8-man Practice Squad.

Here are the players on the 53-man roster:

• First, here is a positional breakdown of players on the 53-man roster

Here are the 11 players on Injured Reserve:

• Positional Breakdown:
• OL - 3
• RB - 3
• FB - 1
• CB - 1
• S - 1
• DT - 1
• WR - 1

Note: I adjusted the cap number for Brandon Jacobs based on what OverTheCap.com has it listed as now ($480,530 instead of the figure of $496,412 that I had calculated previously, as per this recent previous post).

Finally, here are the players on the 8-man Practice Squad:

• Positional Breakdown:
• OL - 2
• WR - 2
• CB - 2
• DE - 1
• S - 1

Note: Newly signed players Kendrick Adams and Chaz Powell will each count $18,000 each against the cap (at the Practice Squad minimum rate of $6,000 per week for the 2013 season).

Giants' cap situation after placing Jacobs on I.R.

The Giants placed Brandon Jacobs on Tuesday, December 10th. That was the first of four roster moves that were made that day:

Besides placing Jacobs on I.R., they also signed a player off of their Practice Squad to fill the open roster spot on the 53-man roster as a result (LB Marcus Dowtin--Vacchiano mistyped his last name). Additionally, the Giants terminated the contract of a Practice Squad player (LB Darin Drakeford), and signed two more players to their Practice Squad to fill the corresponding vacant Practice Squad spots that were created as a result as per this tweet by Ralph Vacchiano (DE Kendrick Adams & FS Chaz Powell):

Jacobs has a split in his contract, as a per a source of mine, so his cap number went down. His salary cap number will split at the rare of $408,000 prorated for the final 3 games of the year (instead of the full 17 weeks). Jacobs's cap number is now $496,412. Prior to being placed on I.R., his cap number was $522,353---a difference of $25,941. Here is the breakdown of what happened:

The cap number of LB Marcus Dowtin, signed from the P.S. to take Jacobs's place on the 53-man roster is $84,706 (he has one accrued year towards free agency). The Giants went from being $132,418 under the cap to being an estimated $86,888 under it. They had 71 player contracts counting towards the former figure, and 72 player contracts counting towards the latter (without counting the Dead Money of players no longer on the the 53-man roster, Injured Reserve, or the Practice Squad). As a result of these 4 roster moves, the Giants lost $45,530 in cap space.

Here is the list of the 11 player currently on Injured Reserve now, along with the updated 8-man Practice Squad: