Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

[TL24x7]

Plus notes on what excess cap dollars the Ravens can roll into 2013.

LINK

[leachisabeast]

I think the Ravens will want to extend Michael Oher to a fair market deal to play RT, they could reduce Oher's cap number in 2013 by 1 or two mills, every little will help. Corey Grahame's cap number is still a bargain for the level of play he offers at the CB position.

[wickedsolo]

I think the Ravens will want to extend Michael Oher to a fair market deal to play RT, they could reduce Oher's cap number in 2013 by 1 or two mills, every little will help. Corey Grahame's cap number is still a bargain for the level of play he offers at the CB position.

Which could potentially make him (Graham) hold out for a bigger extension.

[leachisabeast]

Which could potentially make him hold out for a bigger extension.

He isn't in any position to hold out IMO, had he been to the pro bowl at some point, or played well at LT this year, he may have been in his rights too, but really its only his play off performance at RT that even warrants a contract extension in the first place.

[wickedsolo]

He isn't in any position to hold out IMO, had he been to the pro bowl at some point, or played well at LT this year, he may have been in his rights too, but really its only his play off performance at RT that even warrants a contract extension in the first place.

I meant Graham.

[leachisabeast]

I meant Graham.

I see, and yeah you could very well be correct about that. If Webb can come back healthy next season though, we are going to have the best CB tandem since Starks and McCallister.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

We are really going to be strapped for cap room.

If we have to franchise Joe, Ozzie is going to have to make some very, very tough decisions as some of the higher priced guys are going to have to be let go.

Even if Joe is extended, we still are going to struggle to keep guys like Ellerbe.

This is going to be a tough offseason.

BTW, I don't see anyway Graham holds out...this is his first shot at playing CB and frankly, he isn't a sure thing to start next season. He has played well, but I would be hugely disappointed and I think he would be too if he held out...almost 3 large is solid money for a guy who up until the midpoint of this season hadn't proven anything not just as a starter, but in any reserve role as a CB. I don't think he is in for any big payday just yet...give him one more season of this level of play.

[GOTA]

It's going to be a very different team next year. They really need to win this now.

[Ngata Da Vida]

It's going to be a very different team next year. They really need to win this now.

Are there realistic extension possibilities that will help spare some of the carnage (i.e., Q, Jacoby, etc.?)

What is the practical impact of numbers coming off from Ray, and possibly Ed? And what if, gasp, Haloti hangs it up too? God, I hope not.

[RavenScallywag]

Ed is a free agent, so nothing committed against cap next year. Take this with a grain of salt, but he said this week he's coming back next year for sure, this team or another team.

Ray saves us 4-5 Mil, which basically would give us enough room for the RFA, ERFA, and rookie pool, next to franchise tag for Joe.

Ngata isn't hanging it up. Not a chance.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

Are there realistic extension possibilities that will help spare some of the carnage (i.e., Q, Jacoby, etc.?)

What is the practical impact of numbers coming off from Ray, and possibly Ed? And what if, gasp, Haloti hangs it up too? God, I hope not.

Sure the team can do extensions and restructures...but the team hates doing those and I doutbt you will see much of it. Q probably will get extended, but not he and Jones IMHO. There is logic in not restructuring/extending many deals...if we did much of it this year, instead of being $10 million under the cap, we'd be $5 million over it for instance.

As for Ray and Ed, I don't know if Brian included Ray retiring (I'm assuming he did), but there isn't any numbers coming off of Reed as he is not under contract at all next year.

[Ravenswintitle]

The team has a lot of draft picks (11?) too and they have to sign those guys. This team will look very different next year; please win it all this year!

[Ngata Da Vida]

I guess with Ed I was figuring swap savings, i.e., a cheaper replacement for Ed @ his current number.

No idea who that would be, though. Matt Elam comes to mind, if he is available at the end of the first.

[LukeDaniel]

It's going to be a very different team next year. They really need to win this now.

Different, but not necessarily worse. The Ravens will get dramatically younger next year, and hopefully avoid the mistake the Steelers made of being married to their 30+ declining players for far too long.

I remember in the Denver playoff game, they mentioned that the Ravens were the oldest team in the NFL. They will probably move much closer to the middle of the pack, if not further, next year.

Let's not forget that the Ravens had 22 first or 2nd year players on their roster at some point in 2012.

Rookies: Upshaw, Osemele, Pierce, Gradkowski, Tucker, D. Thompson, C. Thompson, Rainey, O. Brown, A. Jackson, Tyson, Hamilton
2nd year: Torrey, J. Smith, Reid, McPhee, C. Brown, Bynes, L. Williams, Doss, B. Hall, Allen

That doesn't include Streeter or McAdoo (who is still the youngest guy on the roster)

With 11 incoming draft picks, we probably can count on roughly 28-30 out of our 53 spots on the 2013 Week One roster being occupied by players in their first 3 years in the league.

The 2012 Ravens had 8 players born before 1980. Of those eight, seven (Lewis, Reed, B. Williams, Birk, Chris Johnson, Kemoeau, McKinnie) are probably gone. Only Ayanbadejo likely will be back because of his extremely low cap number.

There's an outside chance, depending on what happens with Dejo and Quan and Leach, that Sam Koch (born 1982) might be oldest player on the 2013 roster.

[alienrace]

Good post Luke. They will definitely be younger next year, but I wouldn't think worse. There are some good young players that are coming into their own. Not to mention the nucleus we have on offense is rock solid and should be prolific for years to come.

Given the state of our division, I would expect us to win it again next year.

[LukeDaniel]

Ray saves us 4-5 Mil, which basically would give us enough room for the RFA, ERFA, and rookie pool

The rookie pool is a very small factor. Once we extend our ERFA offers (around $500k a piece), that will get us to our 51. Only your 1st, 2nd, and early 3rd round picks will make much more than the $500k of the lowest guy on the rule-of-51 ladder.

The Ravens are drafting 31st or 32nd, so their 1st rounder won't really make much more ($400-$600k) than the guy he'd be replacing on the 51. Our 2nd rounder, being #61 or 62, probably is only going to up the cap # $200-$250k. By the time we get around to drafting our 3rd rounder(s), that 3rd rounder probably isn't going to affect the cap # at all.

The 2013 draft class, even with 11 picks, probably won't alter our cap by more than $1.5 million in its entirety.

[LukeDaniel]

Good post Luke. They will definitely be younger next year, but I wouldn't think worse. There are some good young players that are coming into their own. Not to mention the nucleus we have on offense is rock solid and should be prolific for years to come.

Given the state of our division, I would expect us to win it again next year.

Well, I think the Steelers are 2-3 years away from being back in a position to be able to contend for the division. The Bengals and Browns are two ascending teams for sure though.

[leachisabeast]

If everything goes to plan, it wont be that bad, a lot of players will have to be cut, in my mock offseason document the following players get cut/retire:

Ray Lewis (obviously already gone)
Bobbie Williams
Matt Birk (I think he retires)
Jameel McClain
Jacoby Jones
Vonta Leach
Brenden Ayanbaedjo

That saves around $17.34M and will put us in better position, it will allow us to sign one or two solid FAs while re-signing Kruger and Ellerbe (depending on how much they want) and the contracts will be back loaded, or they will be contracts were the first year cap hit is minimal. Yeah you can look at that list and say, yeah that's a significant amount of talent gone, but you have to make these tough choices, I believe we're still a play off team without these players anyway.

I have Flacco signing a 6 year $100M deal
Cap hits (There will no doubt be a bunch of incecitives and other shit involved):
- 2013: $8M
- 2014: $16M
- 2015: $20M
- 2016: $22M
- 2017: $17M
- 2018: $17M

Guaranteed money: $50M

Paul Kruger signs a 5 year $40M deal, averaging at around $8M a year.

- 2013: $4M
- 2014: $8M
- 2015: $10M
- 2016: $12M
- 2017: $6m

Guaranteed money: $14M

Dannell Ellerbe signs a 5 year $25M deal, averaging at $5M a year.

- 2013: $2.5M
- 2014: $5M
- 2015: $7M
- 2016: $7M
- 2017: $3.5M

Guaranteed money: $7M

Bryant McKinnie re-signs for a 1 year $2M deal.

These I feel are the four important players to re-sign, if we can get this done, along with a solid draft, it would be a very good offseason. I also have Oher and Boldin getting extended.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

If everything goes to plan, it wont be that bad, a lot of players will have to be cut, in my mock offseason document the following players get cut/retire:

Ray Lewis (obviously already gone)
Bobbie Williams
Matt Birk (I think he retires)
Jameel McClain
Jacoby Jones
Vonta Leach
Brenden Ayanbaedjo

That saves around $17.34M and will put us in better position, it will allow us to sign one or two solid FAs while re-signing Kruger and Ellerbe (depending on how much they want) and the contracts will be back loaded, or they will be contracts were the first year cap hit is minimal. Yeah you can look at that list and say, yeah that's a significant amount of talent gone, but you have to make these tough choices, I believe we're still a play off team without these players anyway.

Are you sure that will save that much money? Are you taking dead money into account with those players?

[leachisabeast]

Are you sure that will save that much money? Are you taking dead money into account with those players?

Yeah, however, there will be additional dead money for Ray and Jameel carried over into 2014... btw you think this is bad, 2014 is going to be tight, unless the cap limit increases.