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As always, my focus is in seeing how we build our team. Draft choices, Free Agents, and trades are how we get new bodies onto the roster, and it takes a combination of all three of them in order for us to improve.
Fans love to see an available player and scream that we should sign them. This happens every day, but I think that many fans don't really see the overall picture of what we have on hand, and the fact that we are constrained by who we have under contract... and whether or not those contracts can be shed without pain.
So I thought I'd put something together to show what we'll have going forward. ...and yes, I do realize things can change and even players who would kill our cap if released or traded... might be.
These are the veteran players under contract, as well as some general information about their likelihood to return. We only have 35 players under contract and only about 18M to resign Wilkins and whoever else we'd like to keep-- not nearly enough. We'll be short money next year; shorter than we have been in many years.
QBs (2) Tua, Thompson: Both are extremely cheap and both should be on the training camp roster. A third QB will likely be found in the bargain bin.
RBs (2) Edmonds, Ingold: To this point, Edmonds has NOT looked as good as advertised, and he is an easy cut that would save us 6M in cap space with very little in the way of dead cap. Right now, I'd say he's on VERY thin ice. Ingold makes a moderate salary and should return. You will notice that Mostert is NOT signed thru next year and is working very cheaply currently. He's likely to be resigned, but this will take up about half of Edmonds money-- meaning that you can't get happy and try to spend the whole 6M.
WRs (4) Hill, Waddle, Ezukanma, and Cedrick Wilson are all slated to return. Only Wilson is at some risk here... however, he can't be easily cut. His contract specifies that 5M of his salary is guaranteed next year, and this is likely the reason that the team has been so patient with his injury. Short of being traded, he's coming back. Cracraft and Sherfield are NOT signed through this year, but either or both could be retained for vet minimum... both probably will come to training camp. Hill counts for a 31M cap hit next year, and while he could be restructured to open some cap space, I will point out that this is what we did with Byron Jones and it is always extremely risky to do this sort of restructuring because it creates a future cap bomb when you might really need the money.
TEs (4) Smythe, Long, Conner, Carter. No stars, but they are all VERY cheap-- really... VERY cheap. Smythe's salary is the highest at a manageable 3.5M in new money. The rest make chump change and because of this, all of them will likely come to camp. Gesicki will be gone even if he does well down the stretch as there is no room under our cap for the money he will be offered.
OL (6) Armstead, Williams, Jackson, Hunt, Eichenberg, and Jones could all come to training camp next year. The only one who makes much of a salary is Armstead (at 20M). Our line is a controversial topic with most people, but I will say this much... it has been better this year, and that's even considering the injuries that we've sustained here. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season progresses, but if these guys solidify as a working line, it won't be hard to plug all 6 of them back into the roster next year. Shell and Little are free to move on. I thought Little looked fairly good prior to his injury, but that has been his history. Shell is 30 and is the very definition of journeyman.
DT (3) Wilkins, Davis, Seiler are the meat of our line, and all are signed through next year, but... and this is where it could get ugly. Wilkins will want to sign a long-term contract before the season begins and Seiler is woefully underpaid. Sure... on paper, all should return, but you just have to look back a bit to remember seeing Howard work us over for more money when he was already under contract. This could go from a strength to a problem in the blink of an eye.
Edge big (1) Ogbah. He's it, and he'll be 30, AND his back has been acting up. We have no credible back up for him at this point in time. Ingram (34 next year) and Van Ginkle are more of stand-up players, and neither is under contract next year anyway. We have exactly ONE Edge setting DE, who can rush the passer on the roster. ...and his money next year is guaranteed. He's coming back, healthy or not. Huge hole... no money to fix it.
Edge small (1) Phillips. He's it, and although he's avoided concussions this far, his history with them will always be concerning. Yeah, we all think he'll be good... but his backups are currently on the practice squad. (more on the PS later)
LBs (2) Baker, Tindall. Yeah... that's it. Sure, we could resign Riley and Roberts... again, but the lack of depth on our front 6 scares the Hell out of me. It should scare you too. Baker could be dealt if someone came calling as his salary (8.5M) might be addressed if things get tight. Moreso, if the team sees Tindall as more of a weak-side guy than a MLB to replace Roberts. Tindall, obviously, is really cheap.
Ss (3) Holland, Byron Jones, and Trill Williams (who I see as a tweener like Rowe). All coming back, all cheap. Not much to say here unless Jones' injury is way worse than expected.
CBs (5) Howard, Jones, Crossen, Iggy, Kohou. Obviously... an area that is VERY controversial on FH. Howard should be good for one more year. Jones would leave a pretty substantial dead-cap hole, but we'd actually gain 4M if he were waived. Still, not much of a gain there and he's already been restructured once. Crossen and Iggy are both pretty cheap, and despite rumours to the contrary, Iggy has played fairly well this year. Kohou is a gift. Unless Jones is moved or Iggy melts down, these 5 may all return next year (meaning that there really isn't much room to add another CB next year).
Specials (2) Sanders and Ferguson. Both are likely to return, though Sanders may face competition in camp.
As you can see... we can't spend the Gesicki money, or the Rowe money, or even the Ingram/Flowers money that random posters keep referring to. None of those guys are under contract and this STILL just leaves us 18M next year. It's gonna be tight... and I can already hear the screaming from certain posters when they want us to sign 47 new Free Agents on the first day. "Just restructure someone", they will squeal girlishly. #Sad.
Now, you may notice that I left the Practice Squad guys out of this, so I'll mention them now.
Cameron Goode SSLB, Verone McKinley S, Braylon Sanders WR, and Ben Stille Big Edge are all viable possibilities to make the roster next year... but sadly, they could be poached by any NFL team tomorrow... and we'd never see them again. Honestly, if they are any good, and we send them back down to the PS-- they are as good as gone, so it's hard to count on any of these guys going forward.
Lots of holes... no money. Bring on the draft.
Fans love to see an available player and scream that we should sign them. This happens every day, but I think that many fans don't really see the overall picture of what we have on hand, and the fact that we are constrained by who we have under contract... and whether or not those contracts can be shed without pain.
So I thought I'd put something together to show what we'll have going forward. ...and yes, I do realize things can change and even players who would kill our cap if released or traded... might be.
These are the veteran players under contract, as well as some general information about their likelihood to return. We only have 35 players under contract and only about 18M to resign Wilkins and whoever else we'd like to keep-- not nearly enough. We'll be short money next year; shorter than we have been in many years.
QBs (2) Tua, Thompson: Both are extremely cheap and both should be on the training camp roster. A third QB will likely be found in the bargain bin.
RBs (2) Edmonds, Ingold: To this point, Edmonds has NOT looked as good as advertised, and he is an easy cut that would save us 6M in cap space with very little in the way of dead cap. Right now, I'd say he's on VERY thin ice. Ingold makes a moderate salary and should return. You will notice that Mostert is NOT signed thru next year and is working very cheaply currently. He's likely to be resigned, but this will take up about half of Edmonds money-- meaning that you can't get happy and try to spend the whole 6M.
WRs (4) Hill, Waddle, Ezukanma, and Cedrick Wilson are all slated to return. Only Wilson is at some risk here... however, he can't be easily cut. His contract specifies that 5M of his salary is guaranteed next year, and this is likely the reason that the team has been so patient with his injury. Short of being traded, he's coming back. Cracraft and Sherfield are NOT signed through this year, but either or both could be retained for vet minimum... both probably will come to training camp. Hill counts for a 31M cap hit next year, and while he could be restructured to open some cap space, I will point out that this is what we did with Byron Jones and it is always extremely risky to do this sort of restructuring because it creates a future cap bomb when you might really need the money.
TEs (4) Smythe, Long, Conner, Carter. No stars, but they are all VERY cheap-- really... VERY cheap. Smythe's salary is the highest at a manageable 3.5M in new money. The rest make chump change and because of this, all of them will likely come to camp. Gesicki will be gone even if he does well down the stretch as there is no room under our cap for the money he will be offered.
OL (6) Armstead, Williams, Jackson, Hunt, Eichenberg, and Jones could all come to training camp next year. The only one who makes much of a salary is Armstead (at 20M). Our line is a controversial topic with most people, but I will say this much... it has been better this year, and that's even considering the injuries that we've sustained here. It will be interesting to see what happens as the season progresses, but if these guys solidify as a working line, it won't be hard to plug all 6 of them back into the roster next year. Shell and Little are free to move on. I thought Little looked fairly good prior to his injury, but that has been his history. Shell is 30 and is the very definition of journeyman.
DT (3) Wilkins, Davis, Seiler are the meat of our line, and all are signed through next year, but... and this is where it could get ugly. Wilkins will want to sign a long-term contract before the season begins and Seiler is woefully underpaid. Sure... on paper, all should return, but you just have to look back a bit to remember seeing Howard work us over for more money when he was already under contract. This could go from a strength to a problem in the blink of an eye.
Edge big (1) Ogbah. He's it, and he'll be 30, AND his back has been acting up. We have no credible back up for him at this point in time. Ingram (34 next year) and Van Ginkle are more of stand-up players, and neither is under contract next year anyway. We have exactly ONE Edge setting DE, who can rush the passer on the roster. ...and his money next year is guaranteed. He's coming back, healthy or not. Huge hole... no money to fix it.
Edge small (1) Phillips. He's it, and although he's avoided concussions this far, his history with them will always be concerning. Yeah, we all think he'll be good... but his backups are currently on the practice squad. (more on the PS later)
LBs (2) Baker, Tindall. Yeah... that's it. Sure, we could resign Riley and Roberts... again, but the lack of depth on our front 6 scares the Hell out of me. It should scare you too. Baker could be dealt if someone came calling as his salary (8.5M) might be addressed if things get tight. Moreso, if the team sees Tindall as more of a weak-side guy than a MLB to replace Roberts. Tindall, obviously, is really cheap.
Ss (3) Holland, Byron Jones, and Trill Williams (who I see as a tweener like Rowe). All coming back, all cheap. Not much to say here unless Jones' injury is way worse than expected.
CBs (5) Howard, Jones, Crossen, Iggy, Kohou. Obviously... an area that is VERY controversial on FH. Howard should be good for one more year. Jones would leave a pretty substantial dead-cap hole, but we'd actually gain 4M if he were waived. Still, not much of a gain there and he's already been restructured once. Crossen and Iggy are both pretty cheap, and despite rumours to the contrary, Iggy has played fairly well this year. Kohou is a gift. Unless Jones is moved or Iggy melts down, these 5 may all return next year (meaning that there really isn't much room to add another CB next year).
Specials (2) Sanders and Ferguson. Both are likely to return, though Sanders may face competition in camp.
As you can see... we can't spend the Gesicki money, or the Rowe money, or even the Ingram/Flowers money that random posters keep referring to. None of those guys are under contract and this STILL just leaves us 18M next year. It's gonna be tight... and I can already hear the screaming from certain posters when they want us to sign 47 new Free Agents on the first day. "Just restructure someone", they will squeal girlishly. #Sad.
Now, you may notice that I left the Practice Squad guys out of this, so I'll mention them now.
Cameron Goode SSLB, Verone McKinley S, Braylon Sanders WR, and Ben Stille Big Edge are all viable possibilities to make the roster next year... but sadly, they could be poached by any NFL team tomorrow... and we'd never see them again. Honestly, if they are any good, and we send them back down to the PS-- they are as good as gone, so it's hard to count on any of these guys going forward.
Lots of holes... no money. Bring on the draft.
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