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A Forum GM Challenge

So Be

So Be

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http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/

Free Agency is close to being here, and there are many mixed opinions on what our team should do. Time for some serious thoughts and plans. The above link will give you all FA's and what they cost last year. You can go up top to their tool bar to see what other players are getting at every position. Doing a little homework will scare many away but, it will add a lot to what you think and plan for our team.

I'm going to start by giving you two budgets to work with. The first is cap space available for players I believe will not be kept at their current deal. Then if you want to go over that budget, add in $18M for a Suh restructure. You have to add in from scratch to restructure guys like Wake, Cameron etc.or keep players at their current deals.

Contracts Cap Savings

Coples- $7.5M
Cameron- $7.5M
Jennings- $4M
Jordan- $$3.2M

Grimes- $6.5M
Wake- $8.4M
Misi- $3.7M
Mitchell- $2.5M

That's $43.5M to spend. The draft will net cost a few mil and keep $5M for injury protection. You have $35M to spend or $53M with Suh.

Remember that the first year on a multi year deal is cheap with the signing bonus (average is 25% of the real figure) and that one year deals kill cap space.

Anyone care to play?
 
I would start at cutting Coples, Cameron, Jennings, Misi, Mitchell, for a saving of 25.2 mil. I would let Jordan decide his own fate, if he fails another test then we're off the books completely. I would not restructure Suh, but I would restructure Wake and Grimes to friendlier deals, trying to get to cap hits of 5 and 3 million respectively. So adding another 3.9 million to the 25.2 mil, with a total of 29.1 million to then take 5 million for the draft, leaving 24 million to mess with. So with that in mind here's what I would try to do with 24 million:

1. Resign Shelby to a 4yr, 12 million dollar deal--->21 mil left
2. Resign Matthews 4yr, 16 million----->17 mil left
3. Resign OV 5yr, 40 million--->9 mil left
4. Resign Kelvin Sheppard, 1yr 2mil---->7 mil left
4. Sign Vladimir Ducasse, Guard, 2yr 4 million---> 5 mil left
5. Sign Dwight Lowery, FS, 2yr 2.5 mil---> 4.25 mil left
6. Sign Jeremy Lane CB, 2yr 2.5 mil---->2.25 mil left
7. Sign Tony Moeaki TE, 2yr 2 mil, ----> 1.25 mil left
8. Sign Sean Spence LB, 1yr 1.25 mil----> 0

So with my money I'm keep my edge rushers in tact, keeping the trio of Parker/Matthews/Landry in tact, rolling with Shep at ILB for one more year, getting a decent backup pass catching TE who was productive in KC before disappearing in ATL , signing a starting FS, a RG that is big and powerful, and a tall corner that is pretty solid, and a backup ILB that can compete with Shep and play special teams. I'll add my first 4 round mock in here to have an overall look of what the team would be:

Andrew Billings, DT- We get another anchor to our line, instant starter to eat up blocks for Suh to be more of the attacking DT specialist that we wanted him to be. You don't give 100 million to a player to take on two blockers, which he did most of last year, you pay him to be a force. We will cut Mitchell, and Phillips will take his place as the pass rushing DT off the bench. Suh, Billings, and Phillips is a very good trio of DTs for the future

2. William Jackson, CB- Tall corner with ball skills that we so desperately need to go up against Brandon Marshall and Sammy Watkins in our division, can play press or zone. If we cut McCain, Taylor, and let Michael Thomas walk, we need to add another skilled corner within the first three rounds of the draft; Lippett and Bobby McCain hopefully will come to camp with some more muscle and technique. Also, I'm hoping they put Aikens back at CB because I do think he has talent but FS is just not his position.

3. Kamalei Correa, LB/DE- 6'3 250, looks very aggressive with good hand technique and athleticism. I can see him as our SOLB if we decide to cut Misi, or DE in relief for Wake.

4. Sean Davis, FS/C

So as of now the team would be:

QB- Thill, Logan Thomas
RB- Ajayi, Williams
TE- Sims, Moeaki
WR- Parker, Matthews, Landry, Stills
LT- Albert, Billy Turner
LG- Jamil Douglas, Dallas Thomas
C- Pouncey
RG- Ducasse
RT- James
LE- Wake, Shelby, Moore
DT- Suh, Billings, Phillips
RE- OV, Jordan, Fede
SOLB- Correa, Vigil, McCain
ILB- Shep, Spence
WOLB- Jenkins, Hewitt
CB- Grimes, Lane, Jackson, McCain, McCain,Lippett
FS- Lowery, Davis
SS- Jones, Aikens
K- Franks
P- Darr

Not saying this is the end all be all of, but good thread to really see what is the best way to shape the team for next year.
 
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NoblePhin said:
I would start at cutting Coples, Cameron, Jennings, Misi, Mitchell, for a saving of 25.2 mil. I would let Jordan decide his own fate, if he fails another test then we're off the books completely. I would not restructure Suh, but I would restructure Wake and Grimes to friendlier deals, trying to get to cap hits of 5 and 3 million respectively. So adding another 3.9 million to the 25.2 mil, with a total of 29.1 million to then take 5 million for the draft, leaving 24 million to mess with. So with that in mind here's what I would try to do with 24 million:

1. Resign Shelby to a 4yr, 12 million dollar deal--->21 mil left
2. Resign Matthews 4yr, 16 million----->17 mil left
3. Resign OV 5yr, 40 million--->9 mil left
4. Resign Kelvin Sheppard, 1yr 2mil---->7 mil left
4. Sign Vladimir Ducasse, Guard, 2yr 4 million---> 5 mil left
5. Sign Dwight Lowery, FS, 2yr 2.5 mil---> 4.25 mil left
6. Sign Jeremy Lane CB, 2yr 2.5 mil---->2.25 mil left
7. Sign Tony Moeaki TE, 2yr 2 mil, ----> 1.25 mil left
8. Sign Sean Spence LB, 1yr 1.25 mil----> 0

So with my money I'm keep my edge rushers in tact, keeping the trio of Parker/Matthews/Landry in tact, rolling with Shep at ILB for one more year, getting a decent backup pass catching TE who was productive in KC before disappearing in ATL , signing a starting FS, a RG that is big and powerful, and a tall corner that is pretty solid, and a backup ILB that can compete with Shep and play special teams. I'll add my first 4 round mock in here to have an overall look of what the team would be:

Andrew Billings, DT- We get another anchor to our line, instant starter to eat up blocks for Suh to be more of the attacking DT specialist that we wanted him to be. You don't give 100 million to a player to take on two blockers, which he did most of last year, you pay him to be a force. We will cut Mitchell, and Phillips will take his place as the pass rushing DT off the bench. Suh, Billings, and Phillips is a very good trio of DTs for the future

2. William Jackson, CB- Tall corner with ball skills that we so desperately need to go up against Brandon Marshall and Sammy Watkins in our division, can play press or zone. If we cut McCain, Taylor, and let Michael Thomas walk, we need to add another skilled corner within the first three rounds of the draft; Lippett and Bobby McCain hopefully will come to camp with some more muscle and technique. Also, I'm hoping they put Aikens back at CB because I do think he has talent but FS is just not his position.

3. Kamalei Correa, LB/DE- 6'3 250, looks very aggressive with good hand technique and athleticism. I can see him as our SOLB if we decide to cut Misi, or DE in relief for Wake.

4. Sean Davis, FS/C

So as of now the team would be:

QB- Thill, Logan Thomas
RB- Ajayi, Williams
TE- Sims, Moeaki
WR- Parker, Matthews, Landry, Stills
LT- Albert, Billy Turner
LG- Jamil Douglas, Dallas Thomas
C- Pouncey
RG- Ducasse
RT- James
LE- Wake, Shelby, Moore
DT- Suh, Billings, Phillips
RE- OV, Jordan, Fede
SOLB- Correa, Vigil, McCain
ILB- Shep, Spence
WOLB- Jenkins, Hewitt
CB- Grimes, Lane, Jackson, McCain, McCain,Lippett
FS- Lowery, Davis
SS- Jones, Aikens
K- Franks
P- Darr

Not saying this is the end all be all of, but good thread to really see what is the best way to shape the team for next year.
Click to expand...

Thumbs up for the effort.

LD
 
Very important to consider the signing bonus on any contract over one year. The first year cap hit is going to be much less that the average per year. For example. sign OV to a 5 year $60M deal, give him a $10M signing bonus with a $2M first year salary. He still banks $12M but our cap only takes a $4M hit because the bonus is prorated at $2M a year over 5 years. You have a lot more to spend.

The hit will go up a bunch next year but we have lots of space to take care of that in 2017. As of now, we would have $63M with only 24 players under contract. That's with Grimes, Misi, and Mitchell on the books for a combined $18M. If they are not here, we have $81M and will likely restructure Tannehill's $20M hit for more.

This is why I question the need to restructure Suh this year.
 
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I'm working on a combined effort with a few friends. I put up a starting point and am getting opinions on filling in the blanks. Would like to do the same here. To make it simple, I am giving the numbers I would pay in year 1, and going with the $35M budget.

Vernon- 5 year $60M, $10M signing bonus, and a $4M cap hit this year.

Miller- 5 year $25M, $5M signing bonus, and a $2M cap hit this year.

Brooks- 4 year $24M, an $8M signing bonus, and a $3M cap hit this year.

CB- 5 year $40M, $10M signing bonus, and a $3M cap hit this year.

Total- $12M this year and the increases next year can easily be absorbed.

Wake- Restructure with a $5M cap hit this year

Cameron- Restructure with a $5M cap hit his year.

Combined total- $22M with $13M or so left on my budget without tapping the Suh fund.

Missing needs

LB

Swing OT

FS

Backup QB

Opinions?
 
I too question the need to restructure Suh, and I'm glad we have enough cap next year because Jarvis Landry, Reshad Jones, Dion Sims, and Jelani Jenkins are the free agents that I would be trying to keep on the team.
 
with the 13 million left, you could make a run at Reggie Nelson at FS, get like a Joe Webb for backup QB, and shall I go there and say sign Jake Long to be our backup OT?


Who's CB that's getting that 40 million dollar contract?
 
NoblePhin said:
I too question the need to restructure Suh, and I'm glad we have enough cap next year because Jarvis Landry, Reshad Jones, Dion Sims, and Jelani Jenkins are the free agents that I would be trying to keep on the team.
Click to expand...

All of the above named players are under contract through next year and not anything to worry about.
 
NoblePhin said:
with the 13 million left, you could make a run at Reggie Nelson at FS, get like a Joe Webb for backup QB, and shall I go there and say sign Jake Long to be our backup OT?


Who's CB that's getting that 40 million dollar contract?
Click to expand...

I could see Nelson but not the other two.

There are 3-4 VG options at CB. Not sure who best fits what Joseph wants to do. The money is realistic to get one, which I really want to do.
 
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