I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

I suck at that. I'm the redskins so I am behind the eight ball already. I did my coaching from the off season, and I still had Mark Brunell on my team. I tried to trade him but there were no good offers so I cut him. Saved some money and of course got a penalty. During FA I had to get an 85 or above P, LG, and RE. I only got one of those and it was Stacey Andrews. I picked up a few small Free Agents on the defensive side of the ball because LaRon Landry was pissed about the talent around him. Well in the Draft I fixed that for him. I was able to trade up to #16 to get Aquib Talib, and then at #21 I took Brandon Marriweather. So long story short. I am in week 2 of the pre-season. I have 260k in cap space for 2008, and I am at -3.65 million for 2009. My team has marginal talent and a few quality FA next year. I am so strapped going forward I have no idea what I am going to to in 2009. If I can just get to 2010 I've got about 38+ million in free cap room then. Oh well I am loving the game and despite all that I have an approval rating of 83 right now.

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

try signing some of your stars with short contracts to longer contracts, maybe portis, jansen,

should reduce their cap hit for the current season and give you some room

but its gonna bite yer *** in about 3 years

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

This is one of the twists that makes this game interesting.

You're up against the cap, but you've got very little talent. On top of that, your owner's clamoring for a star P, LG and RE. What do you do?

In my opinion, you ignore the owner. Sure, you'll lose approval points, but not so much that you'll be crippled. If you can get your roster to where you need it by, essentially, starting over then you'll start winning. THAT'S where you'll get the approval points.

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

Yeah I only went after the LG because that was a need position and it will help the whole offense. I have a solid secondary(Laundry, Talib, Marriweather, Rodgers, Smoot) right now that is signed through at least 2010 so they won't be a real concern. Next year I want to address the LT, DE and LB positions. I figure with all those players back there if I can get some pressure on the QB I will have a really good defense.

Funny thing though the Giants were hard pressed to trade me Sinorice Moss. They wanted to much. So I passed and every week it would come up. I just got to the point where I would ignore the pop-up. Well I go into the FA pool and there he is for only 600k. I snatched him up quickly, that helped. I only had 4 WR before I made that move. I'm at work but I'm gonna check and see who are my FA this off-season. Gotta get some room somehow.

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

The salary cap is the engine that makes the NFL go. It's the single most important number you have to crunch in that game.

Bill Walsh (R.I.P.) suggested the following breakdown--

Quarterbacks- 10%
Runningbacks- 7%
Wide Receivers- 12%
Tight Ends- 5%
Offensive Line- 21%
Defensive Line- 17%
Linebackers- 12%
Defensive Backs- 13%
Special Teams- 2%

Now, one might fudge these a bit based on the type of team they run... a bit more in WR if you run a lot of multiple sets, for example, with the difference taken off of RBs since it's the fullback that leaves the game for the WR. The important thing is to find a breakdown that you're comfortable with and stick too it, at virtually all costs. Clearly, you go to 12% QBs if it means keeping a Brady or Manning, but unless you're talking Hall of Famer, don't pass your positional cap. Be disciplined about it... in the long run, you'll have a more successful team.

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

I am struggling with the Cap with the Browns as well. I had a goal of signing a OL of 85 or better so I picked up Jake Scott in FA and then another goal of trading up in the draft and getting a RE. Since the Browns had no picks in the first three rounds, I sacrificed the 09 draft with the first and second round to move up to draft Chris Long and I am pretty much cap strapped now, but still have a little room to move around. It keeps the game interesting for sure!

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

I started with the Skins as well. I added Andrews as well as Ken Hamlin, Kavika Mitchell, Faine and stupid Berger the P to fulfil that goal. I also added Dumerville for RE. In the draft i made alot of trades and picked up Jeff Otah and Calais Campbell, Mario Manningham and Andre Woodson. I also got Balmer and Jamall Charles but they turned out horrible. My cap space was in big trouble but i had gotten rid of Andre Carter, Jon Jansen, Brunell and Todd Wade.

So anyway, i ended up going 9-7 and missed the playoffs and was afraid i'd be in big trouble going into 2009 but after cleaning out the dead weight i actually have 16 mil to spend this year. :google:

Re: I may be the worst Cap manager ever.
 

Again, I think we need to use caution when it comes to fulfilling those season goals. Without a pick in the 1st 3 rounds, any logical owner would (should?) know better than to try and move up into the 1st round. So you lose a few approval points? In the long run, you're better off losing those points than to give in to some crazy owner.