FA Money

[HarveyWallbangers]

Couple of things I found:

How About That? A $109 million salary cap -- $7 million more than last season -- and better cap management has helped teams secure their own top-tier players while in many cases maintaining a healthy treasure chest heading into free agency. Fourteen teams are believed to have at least $20 million of cap space, including five -- San Francisco ($38 million), Tennessee ($36 million), Arizona ($32 million) and Buffalo and Cleveland ($30 million apiece) -- with at least $30 million. The Vikings have about $13 million, a sturdy sum, but less than division foes Green Bay ($25 million), Chicago ($16 million) and Detroit ($15 million).

[HarveyWallbangers]

Leading the way in salary cap space as of Friday before the Jenkins signing: San Francisco, $37.3 million; Buffalo, $32 million; Cleveland, $26.6 million; Arizona, $25.6 million; Green Bay, $25.4 million; Jacksonville, $24 million; and New England $21 million.

Buffalo's available amount went down Monday after it signed defensive end Chris Kelsay to a four-year deal, but it's still probably higher than Green Bay's. The numbers don't become official until Friday, when the league year officially begins.

In the case of the Jenkins deal, the Packers didn't structure it as they did the one last off-season for end Aaron Kampman so that a big portion of the salary cap charge was incurred in the first year. It could be an indication the club wants to keep its options open for pursuit of a big-name free agent.

[OS PA]

Our Cap should be closer to $22Mil with Harris' new bonus, and Jenkins new numbers. Save about 5-6 mil for the draft and we're looking at enough to sign a big name free agent, and one to two middle of the road agents, i'm guessing we'll get another journeyman or two to round out the roster with some vets.

Thus the entire problem of acquiring Moss at his current contract.

If we acquire Moss at his current contract numbers he will be our free agency.


Here's what i'd do in free agency (I'm terrible with cap numbers as you guys already probably know, so please laugh at me..! :lol: :lol: )

Going strong after Deon Grant is the one thing I see as a necessity this off season - i'd throw this number at him - 5 years 33 mil, 6 mil roster bonus, 2 mil signing bonus - with about 8 mil of it hitting our cap this year.

Offer Green a solid 2 year contract at 4 mil base, no signing bonus, but loaded with incentives up to 6.5 per year. He probably wouldn't take the non-bonus contract, but it's all i'd be willing to offer.

Having us sit at around 9-10 mil before the draft.

After the draft i'd throw a 2 year - 6 mil - 600k signing bonus deal to LaVarr Arrington to see if he can make the team in training camp, if he has nothing left in the tank he'd cost us the signing bonus only. (Our stacked backfield from last year is now scary thin behind our three starters. )

And finally i'd sign a couple of practice squad rook's for low salaries - hopefully leaving me at about 4 million over the cap throughout the season to extend or sign a street free agent when someone goes down.

Now with this all said, i'd be extremely happy if we were able to work out a reasonable contract with Moss and get him through a trade, but as his contract sits now, he'd completely destroy any hopes of acquiring another high-end FA. And I feel that rather than going for it all in a one to two year span and giving Randy Moss more many than he deserves, that TT's doing it right by keeping our cap numbers low, picking up a few solid editions each year, and building the team from the bottom up.

[Rastak]

Couple of things I found:

How About That? A $109 million salary cap -- $7 million more than last season -- and better cap management has helped teams secure their own top-tier players while in many cases maintaining a healthy treasure chest heading into free agency. Fourteen teams are believed to have at least $20 million of cap space, including five -- San Francisco ($38 million), Tennessee ($36 million), Arizona ($32 million) and Buffalo and Cleveland ($30 million apiece) -- with at least $30 million. The Vikings have about $13 million, a sturdy sum, but less than division foes Green Bay ($25 million), Chicago ($16 million) and Detroit ($15 million).

From the Star Tribune this morning..... :D



The Vikings' salary cap space, widely reported at $12.4 million last month, will jump to nearly $30 million by tonight because of incentive calculations and other pre-market maneuvers

[HarveyWallbangers]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.

[Rastak]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


I was thinking the exact same thing...wondering what the final numbers will be for the NFC North....

[Packnut]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


After checking all the rumor sites, it appears the Vikings have all but locked up Graham so their bank-roll will be a little less.

[Packnut]

9. Daniel Graham, TE: Graham is the best blocking tight end in football and the rumor is he's all but set to go to Minnesota, where coach Brad Childress appreciates the hard-nosed approach Graham will bring. He can, at times, make plays downfield in the passing game but his forte is not receiving it's blocking. He'll disappoint by dropping some balls he should catch but if you need someone to protect your quarterback from assault or crack open the edge of an opposing defense for your running game, no one is better.



The above came from Borges at msnbc.com and I also saw the same rumors a few other places.

[Rastak]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


After checking all the rumor sites, it appears the Vikings have all but locked up Graham so their bank-roll will be a little less.


COOL. I hope that's true.....

[Packnut]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


After checking all the rumor sites, it appears the Vikings have all but locked up Graham so their bank-roll will be a little less.


COOL. I hope that's true.....

Me too. I'd like to see Minny use a large chunk of their cash to sign Graham.

[Rastak]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


After checking all the rumor sites, it appears the Vikings have all but locked up Graham so their bank-roll will be a little less.


COOL. I hope that's true.....

Me too. I'd like to see Minny use a large chunk of their cash to sign Graham.

Heh, we both like it!


Since there is very few guys worth anything in FA this year, it wouldn't bother me a bit to blow a chunk of it on him.

[Packnut]

I wonder if Green Bay will have more because of similar moves also. I guess we'll know tomorrow. They were pretty similar before resignings. Minnesota had slightly more. Since then, Green Bay has resigned Jenkins and Harris. Minnesota has resigned Henderson and K. Williams to bigger contracts. I have to believe they'll be pretty close--with maybe Green Bay having slightly more. You can go to 5 different sites and get 5 different numbers right now. Tomorrow, we'll know for sure what teams have.


After checking all the rumor sites, it appears the Vikings have all but locked up Graham so their bank-roll will be a little less.


COOL. I hope that's true.....

Me too. I'd like to see Minny use a large chunk of their cash to sign Graham.

Heh, we both like it!


Since there is very few guys worth anything in FA this year, it wouldn't bother me a bit to blow a chunk of it on him.

No doubt he will help your run game, but I'm not worried about the Vikes until they find a QB.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think Daniel Graham is the best FA TE. Now, that's not saying much because he's nowhere near a top 10 TE. It would be a nice signing though--if they money is right. If they do get him, I hope it's for big dollars. If we get him, I hope it's not for big dollars.
:D

I would say a guy like him is worth around $4M/year. Anything over that, and I think it's paying too much. One thing that FA has proven is that there is no guarantee that any FA signed will be a good signing--although I'd like to see Thompson make a couple of moves.