salary cap

[IbleedORANGEandBLUE]

lately, i have been thinking about our salary cap issues....

as everyone knows we are very tight against the limit, and in order to make any offseason moves at all, we had to re-structure a handful of big money contracts...

but is it just me, or does this not solve the problem? becuase the way i see it, we are going to have to pay up eventually... are we just going to keep putting off paying these guys until we have to do what the titans did this year? that would be a sad day, although i dont see us ever going that extreme...

i am just thinking long term, are we ever going to get out of salary cap trouble?

[JCMElway]

I believe we are in good shape for next year. This year we are dealing with a lot of dead money and Jake's bonus from the second half of his contract.

I believe that next year we will be more able to wheel and deal. Like paying a signing bonus for two first round draft picks........

Does anyone have figures for where we are next year with the cap? Wabbit? Heav? Any capologists out there?

Me myself, I'm a CRAPologist. Very knowledgeable in my field.

[IbleedORANGEandBLUE]

but does restructuring deals not push money back to later deals, causing you to have to deal with the same problems again and again?

just seems to me like a never ending cycle, where we are trapped and can never get out of it...but im more interested in what you guys have to say, than what i think so please let me know what you think...

[Hercules Rockefeller]

i am just thinking long term, are we ever going to get out of salary cap trouble?

Denver's real problem right now is that they've got some guys signed to decent-sized deals that are not part of the core anymore with Nalen and maybe even Rod being prime examples. Guys who are still pretty good players, but not long-term players on the team with pretty high cap numbers. Nalen's deal voids, but he's restructured so many times there might not be any savings. Another guy is Trevor, short of him being an All-Pro next year, he's not worth his cap number.

[watermock]

Denver doesn't have any salary cap problems.

Jake, as a QB, gets his pudding, and our Hero, Rod Smith, deserves his. Nalen might have to walk.

Big Al Wilson has a nice contract but it's right in line. "Mock just astatrted chlocjubg..."

Oh, we have to pay that corner a load. "clears the throat".

Bailey is done, Jake is done, get used to it. Wilson is done.

Denver should be fine come contract time next year.

They also have money to play with because they dealt their first rounder.

[eddie mac]

I believe we are in good shape for next year. This year we are dealing with a lot of dead money and Jake's bonus from the second half of his contract.

I believe that next year we will be more able to wheel and deal. Like paying a signing bonus for two first round draft picks........

Does anyone have figures for where we are next year with the cap? Wabbit? Heav? Any capologists out there?

Me myself, I'm a CRAPologist. Very knowledgeable in my field.

There will be plenty of dead money next year if Nalen and Rod Smith retire as many expect. With the constant backloading we will more or less be paying their 2006 base salaries even though they'll both no longer be with the team.

Bailey's base salary rockets next year as will Jake's and Al's comparative to this year. Plus Matt Lepsis, Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren will be looking decent money in 2006 if they perform to a required level this season. Lenny Walls has that **** for an agent so you can guess what sort of $$ he'll be looking in 2006 if he plays well this season. Pryce's huge contract goes up another notch or 2 as well. I think we'll be struggling again next year with cap issues, then again it wouldn't be the Broncos if we weren't.

[eddie mac]

Here's the highest Broncos base salaries for 2006:

Name
Position
Team
Compensation

Warren, Gerard DT Denver Broncos 6600000.00 Voided
Pryce, Trevor DE Denver Broncos 6530000.00
Nalen, Tom OL Denver Broncos 6000000.00
Bailey, Roland CB Denver Broncos 5500000.00
Plummer, Jake QB Denver Broncos 4300000.00
Wilson, Al LB Denver Broncos 3900000.00
Smith, Rod WR Denver Broncos 3000000.00
Ekuban, Ebenezer DE Denver Broncos 3000000.00
Lynch, John S Denver Broncos 2900000.00
Anderson, Mike RB Denver Broncos 2565000.00
Putzier, Jeb TE Denver Broncos 1500000.00
Brown, Courtney DE Denver Broncos 1400000.00
Elam, Jason P/K Denver Broncos 1300000.00
Alexander, Stephen TE Denver Broncos 1110000.00
Lepsis, Matt OL Denver Broncos 1000000.00

The Warren contract voids after this current season so although he has a salary for next year he'll never be paid it so it will not count against the 06 cap a couple of days before FA starts, it will prior to that.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Nalen's deal voids and so does Lepsis'. They've got to get Pryce off the cap next year.

[eddie mac]

Nalen's deal voids and so does Lepsis'. They've got to get Pryce off the cap next year.
Is next year uncapped Herc or is that 2007?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

'07

[Atlas]

lately, i have been thinking about our salary cap issues....

as everyone knows we are very tight against the limit, and in order to make any offseason moves at all, we had to re-structure a handful of big money contracts...

but is it just me, or does this not solve the problem? becuase the way i see it, we are going to have to pay up eventually... are we just going to keep putting off paying these guys until we have to do what the titans did this year? that would be a sad day, although i dont see us ever going that extreme...

i am just thinking long term, are we ever going to get out of salary cap trouble?

Shanny does this every year. Unlike some teams the Broncos have a very good grasp of how to work the cap. Denver always is tight against the cap but they have never been in a situation like the Titans, Niners and Cowboys where they had to blow everything up and start over.

[Atlas]

There will be plenty of dead money next year if Nalen and Rod Smith retire as many expect. .
Nalens contact is up so there will be no dead money. Who expects Smith to retire next year??

[bloodsunday]

Warren, Gerard DT Denver Broncos 6600000.00 Voided
Pryce, Trevor DE Denver Broncos 6530000.00
Nalen, Tom OL Denver Broncos 6000000.00
Bailey, Roland CB Denver Broncos 5500000.00
Plummer, Jake QB Denver Broncos 4300000.00
Wilson, Al LB Denver Broncos 3900000.00
Smith, Rod WR Denver Broncos 3000000.00
Ekuban, Ebenezer DE Denver Broncos 3000000.00
Lynch, John S Denver Broncos 2900000.00
Anderson, Mike RB Denver Broncos 2565000.00
Putzier, Jeb TE Denver Broncos 1500000.00
Brown, Courtney DE Denver Broncos 1400000.00
Elam, Jason P/K Denver Broncos 1300000.00
Alexander, Stephen TE Denver Broncos 1110000.00
Lepsis, Matt OL Denver Broncos 1000000.00
According to my math, that's like half our cap on 15 players? I really doubt that Nalen, Brown, and Lepsis will be playing on those deals next year. Nalen will have to restructure and/or take a cut to stay around. Lepsis will void his and go FA, which means we lose him or pay him more. Brown is on a one year deal. The Broncos will either sign him long term or let him go, depending on how they view him after the year.

I think the point though is not the salaries, but the cap. With the exception of Bailey (Roland?), this is top loaded with players long in the tooth: Pryce, Nalen, Smith, Ekuban and Lynch. Any movement of those deals have potential cap implications (dead money) because of their bonuses. The Broncos just changed Pryce's deal into bonus money, meaning the cost of letting him go next year just got higher. It's a valid consideration. I have heard "reports" that their cap looks good next year, but who knows. If Warren and Brown play out of their minds this season, we'll have to resign them. Plus, there are going to be FA (anyone know who our FA are in '06) that we'll have to worry about.

[bendog]

Nalen's deal voids and so does Lepsis'. They've got to get Pryce off the cap next year.
When the deals void, the players become UFAs, correct? But, they have no cap cost unless they get a new contract?

If so, then my guess is Nalen retires, Lepsis resigns bigtime, Pryce is either cut or traded, depending upon how his health/value is.

The question will be whether to pay Big Ass.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

According to my math, that's like half our cap on 15 players? I really doubt that Nalen, Brown, and Lepsis will be playing on those deals next year. Nalen will have to restructure and/or take a cut to stay around. Lepsis will void his and go FA, which means we lose him or pay him more. Brown is on a one year deal. The Broncos will either sign him long term or let him go, depending on how they view him after the year.


Nalen's deal voids. Brown is not on a one-year deal, it is a five-year deal with an option bonus of $8M due next offseason. Pryce took a straight paycut, no money was pushed back into later years.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

When the deals void, the players become UFAs, correct? But, they have no cap cost unless they get a new contract?

If so, then my guess is Nalen retires, Lepsis resigns bigtime, Pryce is either cut or traded, depending upon how his health/value is.

The question will be whether to pay Big Ass.

Yes they become UFAs, but it also accelerates their remaining amortized bonus money. Lepsis will be on the cap next year for around $3M if his deal voids and he goes elsewhere. Nalen's dead money is pretty much incalculable because he's restructured so many times.

[kingpriest2]

YOu don't need to worry you go over the cap anyway. That is how you won your Super Bowls.

[TheReverend]

Next year we wont have to pay for cutting corners in 99. If we do end up tight on the cap next year lets just slide some Bentleys under the table to keep them around and take our penalty 5 yrs later again.

[bendog]

Right,but with Warren, assuming he gets voided, then does den get hit with his accellated bonus apportionment? I thought not.

Lepsis still has 3-5 years left, so I'd think they'd fold it all in, give him a big bonus and spread it out. Who knows what Nalen's hit will be, but I'd be surprised if they stretched him out.

[watermock]

Nalen's deal voids. Brown is not on a one-year deal, it is a five-year deal with an option bonus of $8M due next offseason. Pryce took a straight paycut, no money was pushed back into later years.

Well that's good to hear.

I don't see huge cap problems whatsoever. Nalen will be gone or restructure, Warren will be gone or restructure, and Pryce is still an unkown. Jake got his money, but he isn't paid, or should be, like a franchise QB. Al Wilson's contract is in line, Rod Smith is Rod Smith. He will always be the good soldier.

Our cap will be fine. We need to re-sign Lelie and Walls. Lepsis has to be the cheapest LT in the NFL. We have that patched. Kinda.

Other than overpaying Bailey, I don't see any short term problems.

[watermock]

Right,but with Warren, assuming he gets voided, then does den get hit with his accellated bonus apportionment? I thought not.

Lepsis still has 3-5 years left, so I'd think they'd fold it all in, give him a big bonus and spread it out. Who knows what Nalen's hit will be, but I'd be surprised if they stretched him out.

Denver picked up Warrens roster bonus and salary. Personally, I think he is slightly overpayed, but he's a monster if motivated. Problem is he's only signed for one year, but it's a honeymoon deal. 2.3 is his cap I think. He is alot better than people think, at least I hope so. He has all the tools, just lazy.

If your looking to me to tell you what the cards have in store on the DL, I have thrown the bones in the air and allready played Voodoo.

Da Bones say:

Happy Bus

[bendog]

not the cash. IF warren is voided, does Den have dead money on the cap for his bonus from his Clev contract?

[DarkHorse30]

Well that's good to hear.

I don't see huge cap problems whatsoever. Nalen will be gone or restructure, Warren will be gone or restructure, and Pryce is still an unkown. Jake got his money, but he isn't paid, or should be, like a franchise QB. Al Wilson's contract is in line, Rod Smith is Rod Smith. He will always be the good soldier.

Our cap will be fine. We need to re-sign Lelie and Walls. Lepsis has to be the cheapest LT in the NFL. We have that patched. Kinda.

Other than overpaying Bailey, I don't see any short term problems.

Good call....except for your Bailey comment. Good corners cost some cash and Bailey is one of the best corners available. He's made about 3.3M per year in his first two years and could likely restucture next year if necessary...like every other good player Denver has had...including Pryce.

Some of the moves Denver has made this offseason is right in line with keeping the dead money at a minimum.

You want to talk about overpayment, KC has been paying Warfield 4M for 3 years....'05 is year number 4. Then consider Charles Woodson has put Oakland on the hook for 19M over 2 years. Now THAT'S some serious dead money...oops, it's salary, not a signing bonus.....to paraphrase Howard Dean, "Blaaaeeearrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!"

[bloodsunday]

Nalen's deal voids. Brown is not on a one-year deal, it is a five-year deal with an option bonus of $8M due next offseason. Pryce took a straight paycut, no money was pushed back into later years.
According that last post, Nalen is on the books for $6 million next year. Perhaps the team or he has an option to void the deal, but technically he has a contract. Nonetheless, the club wouldn't take him back at that figure.

Brown is on a one year deal "logically". There is no way Denver pays him $8 million in bonuses. If he is injured or sucks, they cut him. If he plays well then we have a decision to make -- pay him the 8 million or gamble on letting him be a free agent. Both could be costly. It is really an incentive to Brown to pay well and force Denver to make the decision.

Pryce only "restructured" his contract to my knowledge. That means they took his salary and converted part of it to bonus money in order to spread out the cap hit. The terms weren't disclosed, other than to say that he saved us $3 million TOWARD THE CAP this season. If you know other wise, I'd love to see a link or know the source. I am near certain he just restructured.

[bloodsunday]

YOu don't need to worry you go over the cap anyway. That is how you won your Super Bowls.
Ignorant retard. Do you really think we wouldn't have won had we properly accounted for the funds? There's always another way to move the money around -- as you can tell by the moves being made every day in the NFL.

Is it cheating when Bill Bellichick has his CBs hold Indy's WR to the point that they change the rule the following season? Is it cheating when Denny Green and Tom Coughlin hold excess offseason workouts? You still have to go out and win games. Sports is a business today and lots of teams are pushing the rules to the limit everyday.

[bloodsunday]

Our cap will be fine. We need to re-sign Lelie and Walls. Lepsis has to be the cheapest LT in the NFL. We have that patched. Kinda.
See this is what I mean. There is always stuff like this that comes up. With our luck all three of these guys, plus Brown or Warren, will have huge years and then we'll be stuck bidding on them next year. Until Denver starts taking care of long term players (Lelie and Walls?) before their contracts come up, it will be difficult to estimate the cap because there are constantly more plays to resign.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

According that last post, Nalen is on the books for $6 million next year. Perhaps the team or he has an option to void the deal, but technically he has a contract. Nonetheless, the club wouldn't take him back at that figure.

Brown is on a one year deal "logically". There is no way Denver pays him $8 million in bonuses. If he is injured or sucks, they cut him. If he plays well then we have a decision to make -- pay him the 8 million or gamble on letting him be a free agent. Both could be costly. It is really an incentive to Brown to pay well and force Denver to make the decision.

Pryce only "restructured" his contract to my knowledge. That means they took his salary and converted part of it to bonus money in order to spread out the cap hit. The terms weren't disclosed, other than to say that he saved us $3 million TOWARD THE CAP this season. If you know other wise, I'd love to see a link or know the source. I am near certain he just restructured.

No the deal voids, he's already hit whatever the requirement is for the deal to void. Lepsis' deal automatically voids because he's hit the requirement too, and so will Warren's. It doens't matter that they still show up as of now as being on the books for next year, their deals void and will not be there come March 1, 2006.

No Brown is not on a one year deal "logically". That phrase doesn't apply when we're talking about future caps. He's on it for next year, and his cap number will be around $4M plus any incentives he hits.

I know what a restructure is, and if you want TO START TALKING IN CAPITALS, get the figure right with what Pryce saved the team. He did not save $3M TOWARD THE CAP this season, he saved a little over $2M, and unless it was misreported by the press, he took a straight paycut and none of the money was guaranteed.

[eddie mac]

No the deal voids, he's already hit whatever the requirement is for the deal to void. Lepsis' deal automatically voids because he's hit the requirement too, and so will Warren's. It doens't matter that they still show up as of now as being on the books for next year, their deals void and will not be there come March 1, 2006.

No Brown is not on a one year deal "logically". That phrase doesn't apply when we're talking about future caps. He's on it for next year, and his cap number will be around $4M plus any incentives he hits.

I know what a restructure is, and if you want TO START TALKING IN CAPITALS, get the figure right with what Pryce saved the team. He did not save $3M TOWARD THE CAP this season, he saved a little over $2M, and unless it was misreported by the press, he took a straight paycut and none of the money was guaranteed.

Any idea of the hit we'd take next year if Rod retired?

[bloodsunday]

No the deal voids, he's already hit whatever the requirement is for the deal to void.
Well he show up on that list. I'm not the one that found it, I'm just reading it.

No Brown is not on a one year deal "logically". That phrase doesn't apply when we're talking about future caps. He's on it for next year, and his cap number will be around $4M plus any incentives he hits.
It applies in that you have to plan to work on his deal. That's my point. He is not dummy, the contract was made in a way that makes Denver deal with him this offseason. Ideally (for him) he plays well, Denver doesn't pay the bonus and cuts him, then he gets a long term deal here or elsewhere. Either way, it is very unlikely that his deal will be present in the form its listed next year.

I know what a restructure is, and if you want TO START TALKING IN CAPITALS, get the figure right with what Pryce saved the team. He did not save $3M TOWARD THE CAP this season, he saved a little over $2M, and unless it was misreported by the press, he took a straight paycut and none of the money was guaranteed.
What article did you read that said he took a staright pay cut?

According to Pryce
"Pay me now or pay me later, who cares?" Pryce answered when asked if he'd be open to restructuring his contract. "I'm not in a situation where I need the Broncos to give me a bunch of money right now. They've been doing it since I was in the NFL."

http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=334&storyID=4022

"After a few days of negotiations, the Broncos and Pryce's agent, Peter Schaffer, finalized a new contract that will keep Pryce with the Broncos and give the team more than $3 million in salary cap room. The deal is official, but terms were not disclosed.

Pryce, who had appeared to be on his way out of town via trade or release, has three years remaining on his contract. Before the restructuring, Pryce had a salary cap number of $9,166,000. In April 2001, Pryce signed a seven-year, $60 million contract, including an $11 million signing bonus."

http://www.orangemane.com/BB/showthread.php?t=24663

[Beantown Bronco]

I have a hard time believing the Players Association would ever allow a straight pay cut. I'm sure the contract was restructured so the money cut out of this year's portion gets spread out over the rest of the contract....like it's always done.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

"After a few days of negotiations, the Broncos and Pryce's agent, Peter Schaffer, finalized a new contract that will keep Pryce with the Broncos and give the team more than $3 million in salary cap room. The deal is official, but terms were not disclosed.


That's not what he saved, that's what his savings positioned them at under the cap.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

I have a hard time believing the Players Association would ever allow a straight pay cut. I'm sure the contract was restructured so the money cut out of this year's portion gets spread out over the rest of the contract....like it's always done.

They'll allow it if he wants to sign the deal, they'll also allow it if they know that's the best deal a player is going to get. Trevor wasn't going to get a base salary of $3M from anyone this offseason, at best he was probably going to get a deal similar to Courtney's with a large bonus due next offseason.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Any idea of the hit we'd take next year if Rod retired?

I'd bet around $7M, he's got about $5.5M remaining from his signing bonus.

USA Today has updated their database for the 2004 season.

[Atlas]

I have a hard time believing the Players Association would ever allow a straight pay cut. I'm sure the contract was restructured so the money cut out of this year's portion gets spread out over the rest of the contract....like it's always done.

Players take straight pay cuts all the time. If it is take a pay cut get cut. Anderson took a pay cut a couple years ago.