[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Cap magic time!
You know the drill, renegotiations will be here again.

The short version once again: we're $67M over the cap, need $28M for draft picks and as a result need to free up roughly $95M to be able to make those draft picks and not get penalized for being under the cap by the start of the draft.

We've talked with all 53 players on roster, which includes the 9 free agents and I made the grand picture of what their demands will do to our cap situation and the ability to get that $95M figure worked out. There's one thing I would like to avoid: overdoing things on players that might be over their peak and give them a new deal before we've seen them in action in pre-season. That said, we need to get that cap space, doing nothing isn't an option.

The bad news first: this bunch is a greedy bunch, or maybe it's just their agents, but their demands are much richer than I would have imagined. I mean, for crying out loud, these guys come off the second worst season in franchise history and they all think they should be rewarded for it. Really, kids? I'll spare the details on the marginal and even the normal starters, let's get to the key players and what we can do here.

CB Kirk Hitchcock is listed at a $79M cap figure: a $26M salary and a $53M bonus figure. He's willing to give up $8M in salary, to receive $26M in bonus money for a new 3-year deal, so in fact he wants more guaranteed money and an even higher cap figure. No can do, Kirk. Our only option is a cap out, which will give him a $22M bonus, which will be spread over the two years of his contract.

WR Theodore Bondy is listed at $60.9M cap, wth a $29.4M salary and a $31.5M bonus figure. After yet another off-season, he wants a $40M bonus for a new 3-year deal (he's in the final year of contract) and is willing to give up $240K in salary. He's asking us to increase his cap figure by nearly $14M. Does he want us to release a couple of offensive linemen to make the odds of him making catches even slimmer? Instead, we'll have to be creative, completely tak away his salary request, turn it into a much higher bonus figure, like $70M and have his new cap figure be roughly $3M below his old figure. He'd better take it...

CB Jackie Richardson is under contract for a $25M salary and a $12.5M bonus figure for a $37.5M cap figure. He's asking for another $38M bonus, for an additional year to his 3-year contract and with an increased salary by $4M, meaning an increase of his cap figure by $17M. D'oh! We'll be forced to make a cap out move here, take about $22M off his salary and give it to him in bonus money.

LT Nathan Hadinger is more than happy with his cap figure of $41M with a $21M salary and a $20M bonus figure. He's willing to renegotiate, but his request will be insufficient to have a meaningful effect. Instead, cap out will be our resort here as well: nearly $18M of salary turned into bonus money.

And that's all symptomatic for the overall attitude across this team. There was little reason to try renegotiating with a lot of players, so as a result no less than 15 players will get a cap out offer. There are 6 players whom we will offer a renegotiated deal: WR Bondy, C Butch Pearson, G Michael Szott, DE Archie Exner, DE Gene Kondovski and KR Santiago Messenger.

If I've done my calculations correctly and all of them sign, we'll have cap relief of about $3.4M, with still 44 players signed and the required cap space for the 9 draft picks.

And we're going to need it, because there are a bunch of restricted free agents that I want to sign before the draft, to avoid losing them to other teams. We can't actually afford all the free agents, so we'll have to make decisions here. LB Moe Iveans looks like he's done, not to return to Maassluis next season. TE Renaldo Crawford and CB Jessie McNeil will be tough to keep, their demands are conform their ability and all, but we can't make everybody happy. Unless we renegotiate with LB Daquan Espino, who understands that he's no longer a clear cut all downs starting MLB and is willing to downgrade his 4-year deal. Generously, but I'm going to wait for it for a bit.

Never say never, but it most likely means we're not going to go onto the open market and try to sign a bunch of free agents from other teams. Interesting to see our former first round picks S Bart Guthrie and LB Craig McCorkle amongst the top25 free agents. We could use them, but can't afford them.

Looking at the draft class, it's a bit early to reveal my plans, but with the 1.9 pick in hand, I think we can be optimistic to get a game changer, or perhaps trade up to get one. We've sent our staff members out to interview 12 rookies and hope to get the reports back in time before the draft kicks in. Will we make a push for the top listed QB Keith Vitale? He's fast, smart, strong and agile, a complete prospect, he should be the 1.1 pick, right? Maybe, maybe not, let's not be that guy that puts his plan on the table for everyone to see. Vitale looks interesting, but he's only 53rd on our draft board...

Two more days until the clock officially starts. It'll be an interesting draft, no doubt.