Salary Cap Situation

SI's Peter King has a good table of every team's salary situation heading into next year.  There are two takeaways here:  1) Look for the Eagles' cap space to expand after a couple of high-profile cuts, and 2) $17 million of cap room isn't what it used to be. 

There's going to be a lot of money chasing not enough quality players.  Veteran improvement may have to come in a trade:

Team Signed Players 2008 cap room 1. Tennessee 39 $40.85 million 2. San Diego 44 $33.03 million 3. Jacksonville 43 $32.69 million 4. Buffalo 49 $32.05 million 5. New Orleans 39 $31.69 million 6. Cincinnati 48 $31.45 million 7. San Francisco 48 $30.91 million 8. Cleveland 42 $30.31 million 9. Arizona 34 $30.27 million 10.N.Y. Jets 45 $27.72 million 11.Oakland 40 $25.98 million 12.Tampa Bay 48 $25.90 million 13.Miami 48 $25.56 million 14.N.Y. Giants 49 $24.47 million 15.Detroit 42 $23.50 million 16.Houston 43 $22.91 million 17.Dallas 40 $20.61 million 18.Kansas City 44 $20.27 million 19.Chicago 52 $19.80 million 20.Pittsburgh 43 $18.61 million 21.Green Bay 48 $18.37 million 22.Philadelphia 49 $17.17 million 23.Denver 49 $16.77 million 24.Minnesota 49 $14.88 million 25.New England 41 $10.93 million 26.St. Louis 45 $9.61 million 27.Seattle 44 $9.55 million 28.Indianapolis 48 $8.49 million 29.Carolina 35 $6.05 million 30.Atlanta 52 $5.79 million* 31.Baltimore 42 $5.00 million 32.Washington 45 -$20.72 million

* Not including unspecified potential rebate from contested return of Michael Vick's pro-rated signing bonus.

Comments

[Dan]

The salary cap rises each season.

Have you taken account of that upward departure for next season?

Dallas might sign Assante Samuel, keep Barber, keep Patrick Crayton, and use their two first round draft picks to get two immediate impact players, one for safety, one at linebacker.

They could procure a true shut-down defense for next year.

Combined with that offense, which will only improve, ... that team, for next year, is looking formidable indeed.

Dallas is the 4th ranked youngest team in the NFL.

That being the case, what will the Eagles do?

Will they try to a Super Bowl run with this team of aging wonders, or will they realize what they're facing, and blow this team up, and start rebuilding.

Reload, or rebuild.

But this team can't do both.

[Andrew]

These cap numbers are wrong VERY often. I've never seen these media types get the Eagles cap right. While they were all touting $12 million in left over cap for this year, the Eagles (Joe Banner) came out and said, nope, its only about $1.5 million this year.

I believe we are closer to $27 million in cap space with some carry forward credits in Reno Mahe's contract, and that does not include the cutting of a certain surplus defensive end. The Eagles should have $30 million+. The real question is whether there is anyone worth spending it on.

[Andrew]

Worried about Dallas? Why? Their current personnel are from Parcells, who has been a master at securing players at multiple teams. What is Wade Phillips draft record? Nothing. His 2 drafts in Denver and 3 in Buffalo produced just a handful of recognizable players, none of them great. Tom Nalen (7th rounder), Jason Elam (3rd rounder), Peerless Price (2nd rounder), Sammy Morris (5th rounder), Antoine Winfield (1st rounder). Jerry Jones trusted him so little that he hired his offensive coordinator before hiring Phillips. How many head coaches don't even get to put together their own staffs?

They look great this year because every close game (Giants 1, Bills, Vikings, Redskins 1, Giants 2, Packers, Lions) has broken their way with flukely last minute scores or unforced interceptions and unrepeatable plays like blocked field goals returned for a touchdown. If luck had been even in the year on these matters and they'd lost half those games, would we be all concerned about them if they were 9-4 right now? Good teams should blow mediocrities like the Bills and Lions and Redskins out of the park. 8 of 13 Dallas opponents have scored 20 or more, 6 of 13 have scored have scored 23 or more. Dallas is on pace to give up 338 points this year, which would tie the second most ever given up by a Super Bowl winner, and put them in a place to clinch a spot at defense as the head of the 40th percentile in modern NFL history since 1978.

What great defensive players are going to fall to Dallas with two bottom of the 1st round picks to improve this? Are you hearing any real buzz about a bunch of great players coming out this year that the rest of us missed? Honestly, I think the draft has been pretty empty for the past couple of years, causing a decided mediocrity in NFL defenses to emerge.

[Dan]

Take a look at the guys Phillips selected in his first draft for Dallas.

DEION ANDERSON, has the makings of a great fullback, great blocker, and the Cowboys thought he was their best pick, {he's not playing right now because he tore his rotator cuff}.

Spencer was the guy they got with the Eagle trade, and he's the guy that has made their pass rush come alive this year. Ellis and Ware compliment each other, coming off the ends, but Spencer can line up in the 3-4, and flow outside or in. He's a great pick.

I think those two men were their first two picks. And then there is the kicker, Nick Folk, who they picked. And what did he do, just boot a 53yd game winner against Buffalo, TWICE. Yea, just another average pick I suppose.

It's bad enough deluding ourselves with the talent on the Eagle team, let's not delude ourselves about what the Cowboys are going to do next year.

That team is built for MULTIPLE Super Bowl wins.

Jimmy Johnson wrote on his spot at Fox Sports that he thinks the Cowboys actually have an advantage over the Patriots. The Patriots are a finished product, and their defense is not going to improve. That's not the case with the Cowboys.

I think the Cowboys, if they get there, will defeat the Patriots.

The Cowboys are a physical team, they're receiver corps is better than the Patriots, their QB play is the equal to the Patriots. And their defense doesn't have to do what the Eagles did in the 2d half, which was hold them to 7 pts. All the Cowboy defense has to do is hold Brady to 31 to 34 pts. If they do that, Romo will take care of the rest.

And the Cowboys will win.

And we all know Jerry Jones has a track record of improving his team through free agency, such as Deion Sanders and Terrel Owens.

So look for them to resign key players like Marion Barber and Crayton, and augment through defensive acquisitions.

The Cowboys are doing it right.

Laurie should sell the team.

We've had enough of absentee landlords as Eagle owners.

[BrianS]

Dan, I'm as depressed as you at the prospect of another extended run of Dallas dominance, but let's give Lurie a break. I assume you recall the Norman Brahman years, and Leonard Tose almost gave the NFL the Phoenix Eagles.

Since 2000, the Eagles have been in the hunt every year, and Dallas hasn't won a single playoff game. They've been through multiple head coaches and QB. It's been a mess down there.

Would you say that one of the biggest reasons for their turnaround this year is the play of Tony Romo?

If so, how much of that do you chalk up to luck? He's an undrafted free agent. Do you really think Dallas thought he was their QB of the future? If so, they would have drafted him. It's like Brady -- can you blame all the other teams that passed on Brady multiple times, including the Patriots, or do you just admit that sometimes teams get really, really lucky. Nobody, not even the Pats, thought Brady was future hall-of-famer. (And yes, obviously Romo's been well-coached and Jason Garrett's done a great job).

Another "luck" factor is the sudden change in behavior from Terrell Owens. We should probably be mad at Lurie/Banner for not taking greater steps to keep TO out of the division (I know they had trouble trading him, but they should have been focused on controlling where he went, rather than getting a good return -- take a 7th round pick in 2012 rather than letting him go to to Dallas). But TO is a model citizen only after getting a coach and QB run out of town. Of course he's happy -- Jones lets him run the team! And TO's 34 years old with a pretty extensive injury history. He's having an incredible season, and as the Eagles situation demonstrates, he's a WR of a caliber that's very difficult to match. Terry Glenn, also no spring chicken, has played very well for Dallas, but this is not a QB/WR corps that is going to grow old together like Dallas' offensive nucleus of the 90's.

If someone, anyone, even the f'ing Patriots, can keep Dallas from winning the superbowl in one of the next 2 years, who knows what things will look like after that. Teams rise and fall quickly. Did ANYONE think Dallas was going to be this good going into the season?

Sure, the Cowboys are doing right -- right now, but after how many seasons of doing it wrong?

[Me]

Spencer has two sacks and 28 tackles on the season. He's not the reason for anything.

[BrianS]

Also, since I had to say some complimentary things about Romo, TO, and the Cowboys in the post above, let's just make one other thing clear:

F*** Dallas!

[Andrew]

I'm so glad you are so expert that you can already pick the Cowboys as winners of the next 3 Super Bowls AND declare this years Cowboys draft talent as excellent.

How much money are you laying down in Vegas on these verities? And when do you start your NFL GM job?

Could I gently remind you that the Cowboys are on track for coughing up 338 points this season a mark reached by only 2 Super Bowl winners in the modern era (83 Raiders, 06 Colts)? I doubt they are able to hold the Patriots to under 40. I doubt they can beat the Packers with Woodson and KGB healthy.

[Dan]

Too the contrary about Spencer, his presence adds another complication to a blocking scheme, letting Ware and Ellis have big days, which they are.

The Cowboy Coaching staff has a defensive scheme they call their "Cowboy" look which is built around Ware, Ellis and Spencer.

Wade Phillips himself says that he's trying to create more situations for Spencer, Ware and Ellis to be on the field, TOGETHER, because good things happen.

Want an example? Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys hadn't pressured Kitna all day, BECAUSE they didn't get that triumvirate on the field together. BUT when they did, which was the penultimate Lion offensive possession, it was that trio which finally got pressure on Kitna, forcing a mis-throw, and letting Romo get on the field with 2 minutes and some spare change.

So yes, Spencer is a HUGE addition to that defense.

As for the Cowboys as a whole, I knew they were going to win the division, and I knew that the moment they decided NOT to hire Norv Turner, and opted instead for a Defensive Mr. Fix it, Wade Phillips.

Every place Phillips had gone theretofore, he took a team that hadn't gotten to the playoffs, and got them to the playoffs. So when I realized that the Cowboys were 9-3 at one point last year, before their December swoon, I knew that the Cowboys defense would greatly improve, which would allow Romo and company to do their magic.

And that's exactly what happened.

And that team isn't done yet.