Building the Dolphin roster through the pain of other teams... | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Building the Dolphin roster through the pain of other teams...

Feverdream

Feverdream

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These are the teams who are presently over next year's cap (via overthecap.com)

The 4th column is the number of players that they current have on their signed roster for 2021. For instance, the Chiefs are already over the cap by 23 million dollars, and yet, only have 36 signed players. As good as they are, they are already sliding into cap Hell. The 7 or 8 cheap drafted players that they get this year won't even fill their roster.

These are the teams that MUST shed players or even worse, convert their stars contracts into bonus money (which will only delay the pain into 2022 and beyond). Some of these teams are looking at a complete tear down and are in danger of losing every single good player on their roster. Sometimes you can't even cut a good player, because this only causes their past bonuses to be immediately payable vs. the cap and you actually make things worse. For instance, Michael Thomas of the Saints. His cap number is 18 million, but they would actually LOSE 4.2 million by cutting him (so he isn't really available).

I bring this up, because many people look at Miami cap number (approximately 26 million in space), and think, "Gosh, we should go spend all of that... RIGHT NOW), but this just isn't the way to build for the long haul, this just leads to problems almost immediately... and as you can see from the Saints and the Eagles... eventually the payment comes due... and while this is okay with an older team, because they've got to win RIGHT NOW because they are out of time, but the Dolphins are THE youngest team in the NFL.

I could go on at length, but instead... I encourage you to go to overthecap.com and get into the details on just which signed players (from other teams) are truly available. Look for teams in cap Hell who have players that, when traded or released, (and the situations ARE different) would generate savings against the cap for those teams. Some of these teams will be jettisoning 5-10 effective veterans just due to not being to pay them.

Good Luck.

​
Titans$8,051,211($2,508,789)35$171,976,469$722,320
Bills$2,787,152($3,152,848)42$175,331,692$2,041,156
Bears($89,572)($10,649,572)35$181,073,580$1,870,992
Raiders($7,622,096)($15,542,096)39$187,083,331$1,220,765
Vikings($8,387,671)($11,027,671)47$188,380,357$507,314
Texans($13,559,400)($16,859,400)46$199,248,959$361,441
Chiefs($13,752,129)($23,652,129)36$194,630,603$693,526
Rams($20,928,472)($24,888,472)45$194,677,707$8,591,765
Steelers($21,009,219)($31,569,219)35$202,576,260$362,959
Packers($21,041,244)($27,641,244)41$200,938,102$353,142
Falcons($24,394,641)($37,594,641)31$194,684,522$7,810,119
Eagles($70,724,761)($70,724,761)52$269,284,972$539,789
Saints($95,050,739)($99,010,739)45$276,015,521$381,218
 
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Feverdream said:
These are the teams who are presently over next year's cap (via overthecap.com)

The 4th column is the number of players that they current have on their signed roster for 2021. For instance, the Chiefs are already over the cap by 23 million dollars, and yet, only have 36 signed players. As good as they are, they are already sliding into cap Hell. The 7 or 8 cheap drafted players that they get this year won't even fill their roster.

These are the teams that MUST shed players over even worse, convert their stars contracts into bonus money (which will only delay the pain into 2022 and beyond). Some of these teams are looking at a complete tear down and are in danger of losing every single good player on their roster. Sometimes you can't even cut a good player, because this only causes their past bonuses to be immediately payable vs. the cap and you actually make things worse. For instance, Michael Thomas of the Saints. His cap number is 18 million, but they would actually LOSE 4.2 million by cutting him (so he isn't really available).

I bring this up, because many people look at Miami cap number (approximately 26 million in space), and think, "Gosh, we should go spend all of that... RIGHT NOW), but this just isn't the way to build for the long haul, this just leads to problems almost immediately... and as you can see from the Saints and the Eagles... eventually the payment comes due... and while this is okay with an older team, because they've got to win RIGHT NOW because they are out of time, but the Dolphins are THE youngest team in the NFL.

I could go on at length, but instead... I encourage you to go to overthecap.com and get into the details on just which signed players (from other teams) are truly available. Look for teams in cap Hell who have players that, when traded or released, (and the situations ARE different) would generate savings against the cap for those teams. Some of these teams will be jettisoning 5-10 effective veterans just due to not being to pay them.

Good Luck.

​
Titans$8,051,211($2,508,789)35$171,976,469$722,320
Bills$2,787,152($3,152,848)42$175,331,692$2,041,156
Bears($89,572)($10,649,572)35$181,073,580$1,870,992
Raiders($7,622,096)($15,542,096)39$187,083,331$1,220,765
Vikings($8,387,671)($11,027,671)47$188,380,357$507,314
Texans($13,559,400)($16,859,400)46$199,248,959$361,441
Chiefs($13,752,129)($23,652,129)36$194,630,603$693,526
Rams($20,928,472)($24,888,472)45$194,677,707$8,591,765
Steelers($21,009,219)($31,569,219)35$202,576,260$362,959
Packers($21,041,244)($27,641,244)41$200,938,102$353,142
Falcons($24,394,641)($37,594,641)31$194,684,522$7,810,119
Eagles($70,724,761)($70,724,761)52$269,284,972$539,789
Saints($95,050,739)($99,010,739)45$276,015,521$381,218
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ANUFan said:
Oh my! Very nice... @Kdawg954 loves this stuff!
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What is often overlooked is Miami will likely carry ~$10mm over into the '21 season. That's not much spendable cap.

Still don't expect Miami to spend big in FA. The good news is there could be so many good players available because of cap, Miami may get some pretty good FA's without spending a lot
 
illscriptures said:
Big contract looming.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm hesitant to make those contracts like most here, but I'm starting to lean towards paying established players over rolling the dice. We have a fair amount of young predominately untested talent to consider in the coming years. Wouldn't want to have to lose some of those people. On the fence on this still.
 
illscriptures said:
I think they are willing but they have to feel they are great players. They handed a big contract to Byron Jones.
Click to expand...

Correct, but I think that changes in '21. Not saying no top players, but I have serious doubts about top 3 money
 
Miami has nowhere near the cap space to afford any major F/A. The draft pool is valued at about $10m-$12m alone. Not sure Miami will be in a buyers position.
 
Not nit-picking, genuinely curious, I thought that I had heard we were the 3rd youngest team in the NFL, not the youngest.
 
All of the above is the major reason why I have pooh poohed almost every FA signing idea, both this year and in the upcoming offseason. With young, rising teams, the WORST thing you can do is to spend all of your cap, because this is the LEAST sustainable thing that a young team can do.

Yes, I know that some here would love to sign this WR or that RB, or whomever, but that's like going on vacation before you pay your bills. It's a one year sugar high, followed by a crash into coma. This is cap football... and it's the new reality.

We've had dozens of threads about sustainability, but none of them have really focused on the cap. Some of them have made the point obliquely, as when it was suggested that a good defense couldn't be kept together... but they've always ignored the fact that you could just change your QB and get the same relief... as New England has just done. ...and yes, I understand that keeping a star QB is, more or less, mandatory, but this obscures the overall reality is that cap sins will gut you.

It can be dealt with in many ways, but long term... if you want to have a dynasty, rather than just a quick flash in the pan, followed by a worse collapse, you have to address your cap costs EVERY YEAR, even when you are under that cap. New England might have had a hall of fame coach and QB, (as we had Shula and Marino) but what made them a dynasty (and us an also ran) was their front office dexterity. They've moved off of players a year early for over a decade. They've loaded up on draft picks and then reloaded... and don't for a moment think that they won't do this again next year. They aren't dead... it's just that with the Patriots, 6-10 is the lowest they'll ever go. Their FRONT OFFICE is why they win.
 
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