Omar Khan says .... RELAX!!!

LINK

When the LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons contracts were made public in August 2011 there was some concern about the large roster bonuses in 2012 and how they might effect the salary cap. According to the "experts" they could not be prorated over the life of the contracts because the bonuses were not guaranteed. According to some of us "amateurs" it seemed highly unlikely Omar Khan would write up a contract that would force the Steelers into such a devastating financial position.

Chalk one up to the amatuers. With a swipe of a pen the Steelers shaved 6.5M off their expected 25M cap woes by guaranteeing Woodley's bonus and 2012 salary. 25M is now down to 18.5M and it's expected he will do the same with Lawrence Timmons before the end of the league year. Our 25M problem will be more like 14M before we cut anyone. 

Where do the remaining dollars come from ...

Casey Hampton 5.9M
Chris Kemo 2.4M
Hines Ward 3.4M
James Farrior 2.8M
Larry Foote 3.0M
Aaron Smith 2.1M
Bryant McFadden 2.5M
Will Allen 1.3M
Arnaz Battle 1.0M

You could restructure Casey and Hines down to veteran minimums and give them a signing bonus of some kind to save roughly 7M. In Hines' case I think you could tell him no bonus and save another 400,000.

Now you're down to 7M without cutting anyone. I think the writing is on the wall for Battle, Allen, McFadden, Kemo and A. Smith. That's a total of 9.3M which solves the problem heading into the new league year.

Naturally they need money to sign rookies and restricted free agents but there are more savings on the horizon if you can wait on guys like Farrior and Foote. A cut after June 1st would allow them to save even more cap room because the original prorated signing bonus money will be considered dead money in 2013. If they were to release Farrior after June 1st they could save another $1M - approximately the amount it will take to keep someone like Keenan Lewis.

As Mano often says the Salary Cap is a fluid number. All these predictions are meaningless. Khan always finds a way.

RELAX

Ooooo .... 80's tunes! HERE ya go!!!

 

The other side of the coin is that they increased their cap hit after this year by doing that.

The other side of the coin is that they increased their cap hit after this year by doing that.

True but they can do the same thing next year and then in 2014 the league gets a huge revenue boost. 

Kemo and McFadden are the first two cuts I would make.  Then restructure Ward and Hampton if they want to come back.

When we all need to start worrying is when they start repeatedly striking out in the draft. The answer to the salary cap has always been about getting production from young players - cheap labor.

When we all need to start worrying is when they start repeatedly striking out in the draft. The answer to the salary cap has always been about getting production from young players - cheap labor.

I agree.  Ziggy Hood and Cameron Heyward need to step up this year.

This message has been removed by the administrator.

I'm not saying anything bad about Hayward.  I'm just saying he needs to take over for some of the older guys on the d-line who make a lot of money and will not be with the team.

I agree that Ziggy Hood needs to step up this year given the amount of playing time he has received the past 2 seasons and his failure to produce, but you're being a little hard on Heyward.  He went through the typical Tomlin rookie freezer, seeing insufficient playing time. 

I agree with the Ziggy Hood comment but don't agree with the Heyward comment, Heyward has got to make even more strides this year, and be ready to start.

Who knows what Smith will do, retire/stay, he's owed way too much money for the little production that we've gotten out of him 3 out of the last 4 years, so say Ziggy gets that spot because he knows the system better.

Then you have Keisel who pulled his groin in the playoff game, he's been solid but he's had some injuries along the way also, not quite as severe as Smith but he's missed time none the less due to his body breaking down more as he gets older.

The only other guys we have are Al Woods, Corbin Bryant, and the guy from Temple name escapes me at the moment, all these guys were PS players last year, SO IPC, we should bring Heyward along slowly. I really don't think saying Heyward needs to step it up is being harsh at all.

I remember an article in 2010 I believe, Art II wanted the rookies to be more prepared and that they need to contribute more. So last year was his rookie year, now this year he will have OTA's and minicamp for him to make strides.

As far as the people I would cut, A.Smith, Ward, Mcfadden, Battle, and Allen. I would also restructure Hampton, and if he doesn't want to, he gets cut. Hampton will most likely start the year on the PUP due to his torn ACL, if we're expecting Mendy to begin the year there, and he prides himself on being in physical shape, you know Hampton isn't going to be back in time.

It's a must that we draft a future NT this year and that he would get significant playing time in his rookie season.

 Ward is useless as a 5.  He's not a "mentor" for the young money crew as some like to posit because Ward's too selfish to take on any sort of mentor role. 

Ward was usless in the Bruce Arians and Big Ben offense where checking down and hitting an open WR for 5-7 yards rather than forcing it 15 plus yards downfield or taking a sack.  If Ben uses his check downs Ward will be effective for the Steelers.

Brown and Sanders have both given props to Hines for his mentoring. The Young Money crew needs to have soembody around to keep them grounded.  Wallace looked pretty good early but his ego was bigger than his production by the end of the season.

Ziggy had a better 10-11 season than 11-12 but my theory is lets see what he does with a healthy Woodley on that side.  It was pretty obvious that Woodley got better when Hood took over for Smith.  I'd be willing to bet he looks more like the Ziggy of 10-11 than 11-12 with Woodly back.

I read that the Steelers will still need to add an additional 12-17 players to the roster in addition to cutting 25 million from the cap.  If that is true they will still have plenty of holes to fill with very little money.

Frankie says RELAX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OnpkDWbeJs

enjoy,

bb

That was a great movie

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2012/0
2/steelers-release-cornerback-bryan
t-mcfadden-wr-arnaz-battle/

O.Khan is da man.. there is about 4 million more off the cap.....



enjoy,

bb

Omar Goes to Hollywood!!!!!!


Bryant McFadden and Arnaz Battle are already gone. Smith's career is over.

Chris Kemoeatu should be next, but everyone here knows I've been looking for an upgrade there for months.

Hines will have to restructure to stay since he'll be the 4th or 5th WR. The Steelers don't overpay veterans at the ends of their careers. As much as Hines has done, he also understands this.

James Farrior and Larry Foote could see the axe, Casey Hampton too, although I'd be much more worried about losing Big Snack than the others. Foote and Farrior just can't cover the ground they need to. Hamp can still clog the middle and NT is vital to the entire front line scheme of the 3-4 defense. You need a guy who will demand a double team to keep the LBs free.

Now, everyone in your best Captain Kirk voice: KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

http://insidepittsburghsports.com/s
tory/cap-analysis-indepth-look-at-t
he-steelers-cap-situation-for-the-t
op-25-paid-players-on-the-roster/46
663/

Good article about Woodley's restructured deal and how it affects future years.  Sorry can't cut and paste the article.

Wow smcndfan! Thanks for the info. That is great news!

If Tiops is right it means we can save another 3.5M by restructuring Troy's deal down to the minimum salary $825,000 and giving him the rest of his 2012 salary (5.4M) as a signing bonus. It would add 1.8M to his 2013 and 2014 salary cap but well worth it to help keep things in order in 2012. 

Does anyone know how much the NFL salary cap usually goes up each year?