Lots going on here, so like last time I'll try to keep as specific as possible. As always, very strong and well-worded piece.
Re: Brandon Lloyd, I'm not sure of the ins and outs of his contract so perhaps someone could help me out. I know he had a 5M signing bonus, but it was reported that he had near 10M guaranteed, though I don't know how the remaining 5M in structured. As far as I can tell, he's not going to have burned through 6M of that at the start of the 2008 season, and his cap hit in '08 is 4M + change. If I'm reading that correctly, then even by 2008 we still won't be able to cut Brandon Lloyd to save money without doing so after June 2nd (or per the June 2nd rules). Even then we aren't "saving" anything, rather just paying a lot more in '09 towards Brandon Lloyd despite that he won't have played a game for the Redskins in --by that point-- over 12 months.
Re: Redskins capology, I don't know if the 'Skins are any better or worse than other teams at managing the cap. We have a different (worse, in my opinion) personnel acquisition strategy, but it has alternate costs associated with it as well. Throwing away draft picks for free agents saves us money on those draft picks at the cost of paying more for potentially very bad players that succeeded in one situation and might not in another. We tie up larger portions of our salary in our starters than most teams (and that is presumed here, not because it is fact but because I suspect it to be the case -- I could very well be wrong). We don't spend anymore on players than the other 31 teams in the league are allowed to, and frequently we don't even spend as much on actual players as the other 31 teams as we tie up millions of dollars in dead space or else actually have a lower cap figure than others.
Based on Warpath's Salary Cap Summary (per April 30th: http://www.thewarpath.net/Warpat...edskinsCap.htm)
we've got some difficult decisions ahead. With 128M contractually obligated dollars spent on the '08 cap (which will be around 116M) some people will need to be cut or restructured or take paycuts. That 128M does NOT include Chris Cooley, Lemar Marshall, Prioleau, and a few other veterans. It also doesn't include LaRon Landry or any of our 2008 draft picks.
The way we'll survive this is by replacing overpaid players with lesser quality -- and thus cheaper -- players. If our personnel scouting is good, which it as likely as not won't be, that might not be a downgrade. Cutting Shawn Springs in '08 straight up and signing someone to a lucrative deal that pays them 2.5M in their first year (which is in the territory of what you'd pay an early to mid 1st rounder, for instance), is cost neutral in '08 and saves us 8.5M on the '09 salary cap.
Anyways... should be interesting to see how this all plays out. Again, excellent piece. Lots I agree with here.
Thanks for this well thought out analysis of the current Redskins. As a dyed in the wool Skins fan, I usually start sweating through the cautious optimism for the upcoming season sometime around mid-April. However, with the personnel issues, coaching confusion, and all the other stuff going on, it's becoming difficult to muster ANY optimism. I can't, and won't give up on the Skins, but they sure know how to make it difficult to believe.
Eric- thanks and thanks for reading. I will never abandon the Redskins. I want them to be a better football team and sometimes it depresses me to see them get into these jams.
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