Potential ramifications of placing Brandon Jacobs on Injured Reserve

Brandon Jacobs has been on the injury report in recent weeks, and was a candidate to go on I.R. if David Wilson didn't have neck problems to make room for the return of Andre Brown. As per a source, Brandon Jacobs has a salary split in his contract. Jacobs has 8 accrued seasons (2005 to 2012), so the veteran salary minimum for him in 2013 is $840,000. He falls under the MSB (Minimum Salary Benefit) category of signings. A bonus of more than $65,000 changes how a player who falls under the Minimum Salary Benefit umbrella counts against the cap. He'll go from counting $555,000 plus up to a $65,000 bonus to counting the salary amount plus the bonus of more than $65,000. Here's the veteran salary amount for players with varying levels of accrued experience in 2013:

Jacobs has a salary split in his deal, as stated above, which would reduce his cap number if he is placed on Injured Reserve. Here are the split numbers that correspond to varying player salaries:

Salary Splits for players between 2012 & 2020. If Jacobs is injured, his salary will split from $840,000 to being $408,000 (Jacobs falls under the 7 to 9 years category in the CS column on the left, & the 2013 row on top).

The reason Jacobs was signed after week 1 was because of termination Pay considerations. Vested veterans (players with 4 or more accrued seasons) who are signed after week 1, don't have guaranteed contracts for the season. They are eligible to apply for and receive termination pay if they are cut during the season. They will get 100% of their remaining paragraph 5 salary if they are on the team in week 1, which is why the Jets cut Brady Quinn. Here is an article on why the Jets did that with Quinn, only to re-sign him 2 days after cutting him:

• Reasoning Behind Jets Cutting Brady Quinn - by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | September 7, 2013

Jacobs was signed in week 2, making him eligible for the second of the kinds of termination pay, the kind where a player is eligible to collect 25% of their paragraph 5 money instead of all of it. Jacobs's 2013 cap number is $522,353. Here's his salary cap page from OverTheCap.com below:

Source: Brandon Jacobs's Salary Cap page from overthecap.com

Termination pay is already factored into the equation for veteran players with 4 or more accrued seasons if they are released for salary cap accounting purposes. It can only be used once in a player;'s career, so players who are cut who are on an opening day roster are more likely to use it than players who are cut after signing after week 1, especially if they cut later in the season. Here is an excellent article on how Termination Pay works in the NFL:

• Veteran Players and Termination Pay - by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | August 26, 2013

Now if Jacobs is waived (he'd have to clear waivers since it's past the trading deadline), teams will have a chance to claim him off of waivers, thus clearing his entire remaining cap space off of the Giants' books. I doubt this happens, though since it would be very likely that Jacobs uses his termination pay right, if he likely clears waivers. He's not a very desirable player at this point in the season, unless a team is absolutely starving for depth at RB--depth that doesn't play Special Teams or back-up any other positions (that's sarcasm by the way).

The Giants' best bet to recoup some cap space for Jacobs would be to place him on I.R. He still get paid, and still have his termination pay right to use in the future, which would be advantageous for Jacobs going forward, although it could be argues that he could be better off using his termination pay this year if he's cut, thereby making him more likely to get signed for a gig in week 1 next year if he's still available as a free agent, as aging players like Jacobs typically are each year. Here are calculations that I made for Jacobs's cap number with respect to termination pay vs. those of his salary with respect to termination pay:

Here are the cap savings and amount of cap space that Giants will need to use if they place Jacobs on Injured Reserve:

As shown above, the Giants will need to use at least $106,235 in cap space if they place Jacobs on I.R., and replace him with a player with no accrued seasons (a rookie for all intents and purposes). The Giants are presently listed as being $251,536 under the cap--second to last in the league to St. Louis as per the NFLPA's League Cap website. This kind of move would place them as being $145,301 under the cap. While that sounds bad, it really isn't as terrible as it would have been if this were week 1. Since we are more than halfway through the season, coming up in week 11 beginning tonight, only 7/17ths of a minimum salary are needed to sign a given player.

Teams like the Giants and Rams (who are last in the league in cap room with $103,482) would run into problems if they have to sign multiple players to contracts to replace players who they've placed on Injure Reserve. The Giants would have to make more cap room if two or three players wind up on I.R. at once at this point in the next week or two. This isn't impossible. The Steelers lost three players for the season in week 1 (click HERE to read about it). Hopefully for the Giants' front office---G.M. Jerry Reese, Asst. G.M. Kevin Abrams, and Dir. of Pro Personnel Ken Sternfeld---this doesn't happen.

Cap ramifications of placing Shaun Rogers on I.R., & adding Markus Kuhn to the 53-man roster

Five days ago, on Thursday, November 7th, the Giants placed DT Shaun Rogers on season ending Injured Reserve to make room for second year DT Markus Kuhn off of the PUP List. Rogers had a salary split in his contract that kicked in once he was placed on IR. According to Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com, this move saved the Giants $111,529 in cap room. The article below from about seven months ago has the details of Rogers's contract:

• Shaun Rogers signs one-year, split contract with Giants - by Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger 2/9/2013 10:39 AM

His split kicked in once he went on I.R., as detailed below:

Source: Shaun Rogers's salary cap page courtesy of OverTheCap.com

• As shown above, according to Jason's figures, Rogers's cap number went down from $620,000 to $508,471.
• Rogers's salary cap page from OverTheCap.com is shown above, detailing his contract after the salary split.
• Jason's number's are different than mine, but I'll take his figures over mine in matters such as this; here are the figures I came up with regarding Kuhn for the sake of reference:

Shaun Rogers's cap number wasn't the only contract that the Giants gained cap room from due to a readjustment. DT Markus Kuhn was on the PUP List to start the year. He was eligible to return to the team between weeks 7 and 13. Once he started practicing in week 7 though, Kuhn's deadline for either being added to the 53-man roster, placed on I.R., or waived kicked in. The Giants had 21 days to decide what to do with him from that point on. They had to make a decision on him when they did. Kuhn, like Rogers had a salary split if he was not on the 53-man roster. Kuhn's salary split began to count from week 1, but ended after week 7. After week 7, Kuhn's cap number began to be calculated at his full rate again. The salary split figures are as follows:

Rogers's salary split from $940,000 to $433,000 and Kuhn's salary split from $480,000 to $303,000.
Source - 2011 NFL/NFLPA CBA - Article 26: Salaries, Section 8: Split Contracts.

Here is my breakdown of Kuhn's adjusted 2013 salary cap figure (work & calculations shown below), as well Kuhn's salary cap page from OverTheCap.com:

Source: Markus Kuhn's salary cap page courtesy of OverTheCap.com

The NFLPA's league cap website bares out this differential. On November 6th, the Giants were listed as being $129,595 under the cap, to being $140,007 under the cap on the next day when Kuhn's addition to the 53-man roster took place (the difference is $10,412--only a dollar off). The Giants went from being $140,007 under the cap to being $251,536 under the cap on November 8th. This is when Rogers's $111,529 cap adjustment took effect via the NFLPA's cap website.

Readers of this blog should keep in mind the fact that the NFLPA's League Cap website isn't foolproof. Data entry errors and miscalculations are made--this was frequent during the end of the summer this past August. The only cap figures which are 100% accurate are those which are maintained by the NFL Management council, as Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com pointed out on his website and one of his early season podcasts. Unfortunately, those numbers hardly ever get out.

The roster moves that were made with David Wilson (placed on season ending I.R.) and Andre Brown (activated off of temporary I.R.) on the same day that the two transactions mentioned above were made had no cap ramifications, which is why I didn't place an emphasis on them when writing this entry. 7th round picks like Kuhn usually have salary splits kick in during the first two years of their deals if they are not on the 53-man roster. First round picks like Wilson don't have salary splits at all. Check out this article on the subject of rookie contracts and salary splits below:

• A Primer on Some Rookie Contract Negotiating Sticking Points - by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com | May 10, 2013

Salary splits are not unique to rookies and second year players. Veteran players with injury histories, like Terrell Thomas, Shaun Rogers, and Brandon Jacobs all have salary splits in their current one-year deals with the Giants. Andre Brown does not since he was tendered at the second round level for $2,023,000. Neither he, nor Wilson impacted the Giants' cap. Next season may be different for Brown though since he is an unrestricted free agent, regardless of where he may end up. The team that he signs with may include a salary split as part of the condition of his deal, the way that the Giants did for Thomas, Rogers, and Jacobs this year on account of Brown's extensive injury history. Keep this mind this coming off-season when a market for A. Brown builds up.

Cap ramifications of Dan Connor being waived off of Injured Reserve

This was not an injury settlement by the way, but a flat out waiver of the player. Connor could not be waived until he was healthy. He requested to be waived off of the Injured Reserve list in order to find employment from another team, as evidenced by the tweet below:

It was also a chance for the Giants to hopefully recoup some cap room if another team put in a claim for Connor, which did not happen (it was doubtful that it would happen). Players with 4 or more years of accrued experience towards free agency could no longer be considered free agents upon being cut as of the day after the trading deadline, on the day of Wednesday, October 30th of last week.

The Ravens tried to gain some extra cap space last week with two of the players that they signed in free agency (Michael Huff & Marcus Spears) this past off-season who were still on their roster after the waiver requirement kicked in for players with 4 or more years of accrued service to see if they could gain some cap room after admitting their mistake in signing those two players this past off-season. They weren't claimed, but it was still an opportunity nonetheless for the Ravens' front office to try and make the best of the situation. Jason Fitzgerald wrote a fine article on the subject. Click below to read it, as well as an article explaining the veteran waivers process:

• Ravens Hope to Use Waiver Process in Releasing Huff and Spears - Oct. 30, 2013 by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com
• Explaining the Veteran Waivers Process - Oct. 29, 2013 by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com

Connor will collect full termination pay (read an excellent article about it HERE) because:

1 - He has 4 or more accrued years towards free agency.

2 - He was on the opening day roster.

3 - He has never been in a position to put in a claim for it in the past (players can only make use of this once in their careers).

Connor will be paid his full salary from the Giants since it's certain that he'll collect full termination pay from the Giants. If a team did claim him, the Giants would have been off the hook for his remaining paragraph 5 salary. They would have stood to gain $261,176 in cap room ($32,647 x 8 weeks) if another team put in a waiver claim for him by the end of the day yesterday at 4 pm. Unsurprisingly, it didn't happen. For the sake of reference, here is his salary cap page from overthecap.com:

Connor will actually be in a position to double dip now since he was not claimed off of waivers (he'd get his money from the Giants AND from another team). He'll put in a claim for full termination pay, which for salary cap accounting purposes is already calculated into the equation beforehand even though the veteran player still has to actually file the claim with the league (players have until February 1st to do so in each league year according to the podcast this past Saturday, November 2nd by Jason Fitzgerald of overthecap.com).

Look for teams to try and dump players off. and gain extra cap space by using this strategy. Jason pointed it out in the article that I linked above that he wrote last week on the veteran waivers process. The Giants didn't gain any extra cap room as a result of the Connor release (he had no incentive by the way to agree to an injury settlement with the Giants since he would not profit from it). They did have a chance though to gain some cap space though from this, and they took it. They took their shot at it by waiving him off of IR. It was unlikely that he would be claimed, but it was still a possibility nonetheless since he was healthy now (a requirement for him to be waived in this manner).

Other teams have done this, as in the case of Justin Babin being waived from the Eagles last year after the trading deadline, with the purpose of gaining extra cap space in mind--the Eagles/Patriots trade last week involving Isaac Sopoaga actually employed this strategy to the benefit of the Eagles. It helped them gain extra room on the cap both this year and next year. The Patriots had plenty of room to absorb such a transaction. Look for other teams who are out of the race and who are low on cap room to try and employ the same strategy that the Eagles took last year when they released Justin Babin late in the year.

The Giants are now $140,007 under the cap as per the NFLPA's League Cap Report website, ranking them next to last in the entire NFL, right ahead of St. Louis. They could use all the room that they can get at this point. Another $150 K to $200 K in extra cap space could mean the difference in adding another player if someone else goes on IR, and a player is needed to replace him who is currently not counting against the cap.

Here are the Cap numbers for each player on the Giants as of today

First, here are the Cap numbers for the players on the 53-man roster:


*Note: The 7 players highlighted in bold below are rookies (Charles James is an UDFA).

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Second, here are the cap numbers for the 8 players on Injured Reserve:

*Note #1: All of these players count fully against the Salary Cap, just as those on the 53-man roster do.

*Note #2:  The Giants are going to have to make room for the return of Andre Brown to the 53-man roster when he is eligible to return after the bye week against the Raiders in week 10.

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Third, is the PUP List. The Giants have only one player in this category:

Note #1: Players on the PUP List count fully on the cap, but sometimes have salary splits in their contracts saving the team cap space, as in Kuhn's case.

*Note #2: Since Kuhn has a split in his salary that goes into effect if he's not on the 53-man roster, his cap number is lower. Kuhn's cap number was going to be $491,474 if he made the 53-man roster. It has decreased $62,471 since he has not done so, giving the Giants that amount in cap savings.

*Note #3:  Kuhn is eligible to return between weeks 7 and 13 to the 53-man roster. The Giants are going to have to either make room for his return to the 53-man roster by making a roster move with another player or placing Kuhn on Season Ending Injured Reserve.

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Fourth, is the 8-man Practice Squad:

*Note #1:  All players on the Practice Squad count fully against the Salary Cap.

*Note #2:  The minimum rate for the Practice Squad is $6,000 per week, over the course of 17 weeks (the bye week counts as a pay week in the NFL).

*Note #3:  There is currently a vacancy on the Giants' Practice Squad since they released RB Jeremy Wright yesterday. As a result, only 7 players are on the books now.

• The Giants have no players on the Reserve/Suspended List.
• Safety Will Hill was on this list for the first 4 weeks of the regular season.
• Players on this list only count partially against the salary cap.
• Hill's cap number reflects the first four weeks of salary not being paid (which is the same as his cap number in this case).
• There is another List that the Giants have a player stashed under, that is the Reserve/Retired List.
• Players on this list do not count against the cap at all.
• The sole player that the Giants have under this category is Fullback Ryan D'Imperio who retired after a few weeks of training camp.
• Teams merely place them on this list to retain their rights, just as the Giants did for TE Ben Patrick who suddenly retired during training camp in 2011, as well as in the case of Tiki Barber after he retired in the 2006 season.
• The Giants had Barber on this list until 2011 when Barber attempted a comeback; he then asked the Giants to release him from this list. They did so, and Barber was then free to seek employment elsewhere in the league (which he subsequently was unable to find after being out of the league for almost 5 years).
• The remaining Dead Money total is $8,180,510.
• Click on the following link for Dead Money details, as well those for all other players on this list, courtesy of overthecap.com:
• New York Giants 2013 Salary Cap figures

Here are 2 great articles & an excellent podcast to check out regarding the Cowboys' upcoming cap problems...

I've written about how messed up the Cowboys are going forward into the near future with respect to their salary cap problems. I've also frequently mentioned the great job Jason Fitzgerald from overthecap.com has done describing their mess (click HERE to read a fine article about it). Check out the article linked above and below when you get the chance. 

Thanks to Jerry Jones, the Cowboys are facing "Capegeddon"---a problem that both he and his son will have to deal with. They've got one more year left after this season with the present roster they've got assembled to compete. The key for them is how they deal with DeMarcus Ware's deal. They won't be able to add much in the way of quality free agents either on account of the mess that they've created. Jason mentioned it in his podcast this week for overthecap.com as well.

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Link: Podcast: NFL Trade Deadline, Revis, Rookie Options, and Predictions for Week 8 - Oct. 26, 2013 | OverTheCap.com podcast by Jason Fitzgerald

In this week's podcast, Jason mentions some Giants issues as well at the beginning that I asked him about, as well as some Hakeem Nicks trade deadline speculation. The Grantland article below by Bill Barnwell is outstanding (he gives Jason props and credit in it). Enjoy all 3 links.

Jerry's Broken Toy - By Bill Barnwell on October 25, 2013 

Looks like the Giants restructured another contract

The topic of the Giants' cap number came up today on Twitter between @GiantsGab and myself. Here's the exchange:

Twitter Exchange earlier this afternoon

This was brought up because the NFLPA's Leaguewide Cap Report website had the Giants listed as being over the salary cap (they have the Giants listed as being -$71,052 incidentally). They needed extra salary cap room after placing Center David Baas on season ending IR, & then signing Center/OG Dallas Reynolds to fill his roster spot (Reynolds's cap number by the way is going to be $282,353). I explained why that could be, and then tweeted Jason Fitzgerald about form my favorite and the absolute best salary cap site out there, OverTheCap.com, and he responded by writing the following:

Why the NFLPA listed the Giants as being over the cap

As Jason pointed out, someone was restructured, but we may not find out who that player was until Monday on account of league transactions not being made official through the weekend (Regular business hours in the NFL are 8 am to 4 pm ET). This further reinforces the point that the NFLPA's figures aren't 100% accurate for a number of reasons. The Salary Cap accounting figures maintained by the NFL Management Council are really the only absolutely correct Salary Cap figures that are out there, as Jason Fitzgerald pointed out this past Summer, and they hardly ever get leaked.

As far as the restructuring possibilities are concerned, I wonder if it is was Rolle on account of his not liking his contract restructured or otherwise tampered with in any way. The other possibility is Eli or maybe even Snee again since there is no rule against restructuring a player on IR according to what Joel Corry told me when I asked him via e-mail.

I don't think the restructure is for much for one reason: the Giants are taking a pay as you go approach to managing their in-season salary cap needs. By doing so, they're wisely preventing any unnecessary Dead Money from being added on to the books in future years. Next year--unlike this year--the Giants are going to have a lot of money to play with. They only have 35 players under contract in 2014 for $107,694,673 and only $389,298 in Dead Money. Click HERE to see the figures for all 32 teams next year courtesy of overthecap.com's Salary Cap Spending Estimates for 2014.

Without getting into further details (I'll elaborate on that in an upcoming post in the next few days), the Giants will have lots of room to operate next year. They don't want to compromise their free cap space on account of this apparently lost season. The Giants will try their best to wade through this season.

Even if they do get lucky, and somehow win a piss poor NFC East--a la the 2010 Seahawks who won the NFC West with a 7-9 record--the Giants as an organization know that they have to re-tool their roster around Eli Manning's remaining 5 to 8 years. They'll be doing this through rebuilding their Offensive Line and Linebackers (amongst other positions). Stay tuned until Monday to see who it is that they restructured and how much the Giants gained in cap room as a result. If I had to guess, I'd say that the restructure came from someone besides "the Bank of Eli", but we'll know for sure on Monday.

Salary Cap Update for all 32 teams in the NFL as of today

After an extended absence (13 days), I make my return to posting. I was busy with personal matters that prevented me from posting more regularly. I now hope to return to posting regularly--every 2 or 3 days--like I did before. Without further ado, here is the latest update for all 32 teams in the league, as per the NFLPA's Leaguewide Cap Report as of Sunday, October 20, 2013.





First, here are the figures in order of most cap space to least cap space:

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Now, here are the figures in alphabetical order:

• The Giants are not only in last place in the NFC East in the standings, but with regard to available cap space as well.
• The Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins are 5th, 20th, and 23rd respectively; the Giants are 31st.
• The Eagles are $17,316,515 under the cap now without a franchise QB, which helps them in this regard.
• Dallas is $2,221,791 under it with their franchise quality QB, but they are digging themselves a trap with respect to the cap that they won't be able to dig themselves out of come 2015 and/or 2016 (the cap penalties that they've incurred as a result of their actions in 2010 are part of this problem of course); check the article out below on this subject:
• Cowboys will be $31M over cap - By Adam Schefter | ESPN | Updated: October 20, 2013, 11:34 AM ET
• The Redskins are $2,030,516 under the cap, and are affected by the cap penalties that they've incurred as a result of their actions in the uncapped 2010 season as well. Like Dallas, they've restructured a number of contracts in order to be under the cap for the start of the regular season's cap rules last month.

• As can be seen, the Giants are only $379,125 under the cap, ranking them next to last in the league to the St. Louis Rams, who are $257,903 under the cap.
• The reason Da'Rel Scott was given an injury settlement rather than being placed on Injured Reserve is  because they need every cent they can get, and need to be able to maximize any opportunity they get to create more cap space while still being able to make the roster moves necessary to deal with injuries as they inevitably come over the long haul of a grueling regular season.
• The upcoming roster moves that need to be made for RB Andre Brown's return in week 10, & that of DT Markus Kuhn, who is eligible to return to the team anytime between this week and week 13, otherwise he'll go on IR--something which the Giants will need to avoid due to their tight Salary Cap situation.