Who goes to free up cap space?

Who goes to free up cap space? I'm reading miscellaneous rumblings about Tyler and Bobby -

So, who does everyone think goes, if anyone - and specifically re:cap - not performance/likeability?

If you look at the contracts the only players that can be cut for savings is Bobby, Lockett, and Dunlap. So it seems like the Hawks will stand pat.

Rob Staton's case for trading Jamal Adams is logical, and his points are strong.

It won't happen, probably. And the idea will be unpopular with many (though, most arguments against it that I've seen lean on fallacies of sunk costs):

http://seahawksdraftblog.com/why-the-se ... amal-adams

sdog1981":2z2d9n8y said:

If you look at the contracts the only players that can be cut for savings is Bobby, Lockett, and Dunlap. So it seems like the Hawks will stand pat.

Click to expand...

I haven't gotten to the point in the offseason where I'm ready to start looking at all the changes we have to make. I usually wait until closer to the official end of the season and nearer to the beginning of free agency, so I have yet to look at who is on the roster and how cutting could affect the cap. For that reason, I'll take your post at face value, but just because you can't cut someone can't mean you can't shed someone for cap space. You can always put players on the market for draft capital which would move their remaining contracts over to the new team. A lot of times, signing bonuses can preclude this, so not every player is going to save you a lot of cap room doing this. There is also the possibility (and I believe with the unique circumstances that are causing the cap to decline, it's likely that we may have to rework some deals and use future cap money to save current cap space. It's not something I think is wise to do under most circumstance, but it's something that may be a necessary evil this year.

Anyway, just wanted to point out there's more than one way to skin a cat (or adjust your cap number).

Jarran Reed is the obvious candidate to me. Over 8 million in cap savings.

Maelstrom787":deoetd93 said:

Jarran Reed is the obvious candidate to me. Over 8 million in cap savings.

Click to expand...

We could rework Reed and Dunlap, lock them up for another 3 yeas and push $10+ mil off of 2021 Cap. Allow ourselves an out after 2022.

nanomoz":38kk4o2y said:

Rob Staton's case for trading Jamal Adams is logical, and his points are strong.

It won't happen, probably. And the idea will be unpopular with many (though, most arguments against it that I've seen lean on fallacies of sunk costs):

http://seahawksdraftblog.com/why-the-se ... amal-adams

Click to expand...

That article is certainly.. something. I'm not sure who that is (appears to be just be a guy with a blog), but his points are well-articulated and though out at least. Oh the offseason lol let the takes fly!

My arguments against wouldn't involve sunk cost, and be more about the talent/player that Jamal is and the quality of players that you're putting on the field. Jamal is 25 years old and already one of the very best defensive players in the NFL; a true blue-chip player with 3 Pro Bowls, 2 2nd team All-Pros and one 1st team All-Pro; plays hurt, plays with passion and heart and is an all around tone setter and leader; the rare, rare defensive player capable of making plays at all three levels. A true cornerstone piece with his best football ahead of him.

I'd have no hesitation committing to him because you don't have to wonder how much he loves football and how bad he wants it (I think those would be fair questions of say Harvin/Clowney).

In trading Jamal you'd essentially be trading a dollar for what, you hope, would be four quarters.

kidhawk":tnyegy27 said:

sdog1981":tnyegy27 said:

If you look at the contracts the only players that can be cut for savings is Bobby, Lockett, and Dunlap. So it seems like the Hawks will stand pat.

Click to expand...

I haven't gotten to the point in the offseason where I'm ready to start looking at all the changes we have to make. I usually wait until closer to the official end of the season and nearer to the beginning of free agency, so I have yet to look at who is on the roster and how cutting could affect the cap. For that reason, I'll take your post at face value, but just because you can't cut someone can't mean you can't shed someone for cap space. You can always put players on the market for draft capital which would move their remaining contracts over to the new team. A lot of times, signing bonuses can preclude this, so not every player is going to save you a lot of cap room doing this. There is also the possibility (and I believe with the unique circumstances that are causing the cap to decline, it's likely that we may have to rework some deals and use future cap money to save current cap space. It's not something I think is wise to do under most circumstance, but it's something that may be a necessary evil this year.

Anyway, just wanted to point out there's more than one way to skin a cat (or adjust your cap number).

Click to expand...

Have to agree with you there. Teams always seem to find ways to make cap space with contract manipulation.

Extensions for Adams, Diggs & Dunlap, possible extension or restructure with Lockett. Outside shot of a re-structure with Wags.

Using the Over the Cap tool (on their website) doing the above "creates" 30+ million of cap space for '21.

Also the possibility fo doing an extension with J Reed, I believe his deal was only a two year deal, so one left.....

Myers is a possibility also.......doesn't generate a huge amount, but would help out (an extension, not cutting).

I don't see where the team has enough depth to cut any of the big contracts. With no draft capital it would be very difficult to replace these guys.

Don’t forget 35 year old Duane Brown. He had a pretty good season, but $11,350,000 potential savings if he’s traded or cut. Or, since he’s in the last year of his deal maybe Hawks extended and restructure his deal to make money for this season.

I get the feeling there are going to be a lot of cap casualties across the league this off-season. If they're smart I would only extend our vets who are in their prime and still have at least 2-3 years of quality play left in their tank. Some of our expensive vets will need to redo their contracts to stay. I can see Brown and Wagner as cap cuts or trades.

You have to ask are the Hawks a true contender this coming season, or not. If so you try and extend their contracts to save cap room. If not you either trade, rework or cut them. Personally I don't see a championship in the next few years so no reason to keep expensive vets right now. There will be plenty of much cheaper vets open to much lower contracts. That is where I would begin.

But we are talking about PC, so who knows.

nanomoz":1o02htsq said:

Rob Staton's case for trading Jamal Adams is logical, and his points are strong.

It won't happen, probably. And the idea will be unpopular with many (though, most arguments against it that I've seen lean on fallacies of sunk costs):

http://seahawksdraftblog.com/why-the-se ... amal-adams

Click to expand...

Extremely well written article, and Stanton makes a very compelling case for Trading Jamal.

My thought for several months now has been that they would probably trade Wagner and use that money to extend Adams. But after reading Stanton's article, I tend to agree with his take that if we can recoup a 1st rounder this year, like say the #18 pick from Miami that Stanton referenced, and then maybe a 2nd or 3rd next year, I would take that.

As Stanton said, that would not only allow us to draft two cheap and cost-controlled players, but free up a lot of cap space to fill some of our other holes, particularly on the OL. The more I think about this, the more I like it.

I'm a big Marquise Blair fan, and absolutely loved what I saw from him this past season before he got hurt. I believe Blair and Adams have very similar skillsets. Both fast, instinctive, intense, passionate, hard-hitting safeties that can make plays all over the field. If you replaced Adams with Blair and utilized the exact same schemes, (this is discussed in the Hugh Millen video attached to the Stanton article but mentions Ryan Neal instead of Blair), my sense is that we would see similar results to what Adams gave us. Not saying Blair is on the same level with Adams, but I think the difference would be negligible, and not worth the 18-20 million we would have to pay Adams.

From my perspective, this makes a lot of sense.

nwHawk":3l19ec4x said:

Don’t forget 35 year old Duane Brown. He had a pretty good season, but $11,350,000 potential savings if he’s traded or cut. Or, since he’s in the last year of his deal maybe Hawks extended and restructure his deal to make money for this season.

Click to expand...

Despite his age and cap hit, you cannot let Duane Brown walk. He's the leader and anchor on that OL, and one of just two (the other one obviously being Damien Lewis) dependable starters. Great left tackles are not easy to find at any price.

But the Hawks definitely need to plan for his replacement. That's going to be difficult without a 1st rounder for the next two years barring some sort of blockbuster trade, but that's why people like JS and PC make the big bucks. They're going to need to get creative.

Jamal Adams, Bobby Wagner, and J.Reed are the guys they have to take a hard look at, exploring trades to get picks. Extending Jamal would also lower his number, but I am with Rob and they should trade him to get back into this draft.

Carlos Dunlap might be extended, that would lower his number as well.

Duane Brown isn't going anywhere. He had a great year, and he is responsible for Wilson's blindside. He is cheap considering how much that position is normally paid.

The other thing they can do is convert a good chunk of Wilson's base salary to signing bonus, saving a lot of space.

No way they trade Adam's. Not going to happen. Wags either.

The money is in cutting or restructuring. Jarran and Duane both could have some trade value as well. Duane isnt a lock to stay. You can find suitable lt if you look hard enough. Duane is fantastic in run blocking, but was beat in pass blocking just like the rest of the line. He is also replaceable.

Sign back wright, carson, neal, poona.

Let shaq walk to get his money.

All free agents signings and draft picks go to oline and cb.

jamescasey1124":3n81yg0c said:

No way they trade Adam's. Not going to happen. Wags either.

The money is in cutting or restructuring. Jarran and Duane both could have some trade value as well. Duane isnt a lock to stay. You can find suitable lt if you look hard enough. Duane is fantastic in run blocking, but was beat in pass blocking just like the rest of the line. He is also replaceable.

Sign back wright, carson, neal, poona.

Let shaq walk to get his money.

All free agents signings and draft picks go to oline and cb.

Click to expand...

Signing back Wright, Carson and Poona ain't happen. Our LBing core have become a whos who at the senior center. Trading Bobby Wagner is a vilable option and one that makes the most scence. Brooks can start in the middle this year, he has the speed to do the job.

We need Brown this season or we will have to spend to much draft capital on our OL. What we need is a blue chip LG, OLBer's and CB to replace Griffen.


If we could get a 2nd and a 3rd from Wagner, this would get us back on track cap whiz but drafting capital as well.

jamescasey1124":1htdkupf said:

No way they trade Adam's. Not going to happen. Wags either.

The money is in cutting or restructuring. Jarran and Duane both could have some trade value as well. Duane isnt a lock to stay. You can find suitable lt if you look hard enough. Duane is fantastic in run blocking, but was beat in pass blocking just like the rest of the line. He is also replaceable.

Sign back wright, carson, neal, poona.

Let shaq walk to get his money.

All free agents signings and draft picks go to oline and cb.

Click to expand...

Hard disagree on Duane Brown, who allowed only 2 sacks on the year as well as earning an elite grade from PFF. You'd have an easier time digging through the Earth to China than you would replacing an LT who played at a top-5 level this year. There's only the slimmest of chances that the trade comp for him would replace his caliber of play.

Also, the line did fine. High pass block win rate, better subjective grades like from PFF. I'd say the issues were more caused by ball-holding and scheme issues than anything else.

The board has been beating the "fix the OL" drum for 10 years. Trading away elite talent isn't how you do that.

Our cap space relative to other teams is pretty decent and that matters more than our actual cap space.

It's still far from certain that the cap will even be lowered next year. The owners and league are taking a hard stance on it now to signal they are willing to go through with it. However, it's going to be a negotiation point shortly and the owners are just looking to get something in return.

If the cap does end up lowering temporarily, then that will dramatically increase the volume of free agency while also decreasing the average contract price in free agency. In this rare scenario, it would be worth it extend and restructure contracts with long-term implications because the potential free agent contracts will be good deals.

The team drafted Brooks because they know Wagner’s contract will be an issue.

And they will be playing Brooks more and more. He has a lot of promise and potential. I think he can be real good. It’s time to play Brooks full time and free open some cap space to get more solid pass rushers and offensive lineman.

Wagner will be traded is my guess.

TheLegendOfBoom":35ynt2g0 said:

The team drafted Brooks because they know Wagner’s contract will be an issue.

And they will be playing Brooks more and more. He has a lot of promise and potential. I think he can be real good. It’s time to play Brooks full time and free open some cap space to get more solid pass rushers and offensive lineman.

Wagner will be traded is my guess.

Click to expand...

It's tough but you can't ignore this one. Brooks really started playing better and better and we aren't replacing the Bobby of the LOB days. Brooks having a solid showing for a rookie year plus the decline of Bobby (though is still not a huge decline yet) means this may be the right time to recoup draft picks from a team that is one or two pieces away. I think this one makes the most sense coupled with a lot of early re-signing for the purpose of restructuring deals to push money to future years will be the most interesting things to watch.

Not sure who other than Russ could have a no trade clause?