Thursday was a very busy day around the NFL and a lot of the action and announcements have a direct impact on the Ravens’ Salary Cap and the team’s pursuit of a long-term contract for Quarterback Joe Flacco.
EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE TAG AMOUNT: The first bit of news – good news, at that – was the disclosure that Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has agreed to restructure his contract. Like Tom Brady’s restructure earlier in the week, this restructure operated to reduce the Exclusive Franchise Tag tender amount by $497K. This reduction, couple with the $880K reduction from Brady’s restructure, has now reduced the Exclusive Tag amount from $20.463M to $19.086M.
So, if the Ravens decide to use the Exclusive Tag on Flacco, the amount of the Tag would presently be $19.086M (although, pursuant to the CBA, they would only have to carry Flacco at the Non-exclusive Tag amount until April 20th).
That number could go down further if another quarterback (or two), who is presently in the top 5 (Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers), restructures his contract before Monday’s deadline for the Ravens to use the Franchise Tag on Flacco.
OFFICIAL RETIREMENTS OF RAY LEWIS AND MATT BIRK: While not unexpected, the retirements of Lewis and Birk became official when the Ravens added the two players to their “reserve/retired” list. This list allows the team to remove both players from their Salary Cap, while also retaining their contractual rights over the remaining years of both players’ deals. While the team will still have to carry $4.35M in dead money against the 2013 Salary Cap, this maneuver does open up $6.4M in additional Salary Cap space for the team.
SALARY CAP SET AT $123M: The next bit of good news came Thursday evening, when it was announced that the league had set the Salary Cap at $123M. This amount is about $2M higher than expected and is great news for the Ravens as it may make it easier to use the Franchise Tag on Flacco, if necessary, or keep a player they otherwise may have been forced to release.
NON-EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE TAG ADJUSTED: One negative ramification of the increased Salary Cap is that the Non-exclusive Franchise Tag tender amounts are tied to the amount of the Cap. As such, the Franchise Tag for quarterback has now increased from the estimated amount of $14.6M to $14.897M. While only a marginal increase, it does reduce the difference between the tender amounts for the Exclusive and Non-exclusive Tags, and with a couple more restructures between now and Monday, may lead the Ravens to be more comfortable with using the Exclusive Tag (if needed).
PRESENT SALARY CAP SPACE: With the announcement of the $123M Salary Cap, the team presently has an Adjust Salary Cap of $124,182,377. This amount includes the $123M Salary Cap plus the carryover of excess 2012 Cap space of $1,182,377. That number will be adjusted downward by March 12th, when teams will be required to carry a charge of $504K for off-season workout bonuses.
Also, at some point over the next week, the team’s Adjusted Cap will likely be increased or decreased based on the carryover of 2012 earned and/or unearned incentives. Once factored in, the Ravens adjusted Cap will be finalized and from March 12th through the end of the league year, the Ravens will have to keep their Salary Cap under that Adjusted Cap number.
With Lewis and Birk now officially off the books, the Ravens presently have 47 players under contract for a Cap commitment of $105,919,179. With an Adjusted Cap of $123,678,377 (including the workout bonus deduction, but pending the incentives credit/debit), the Ravens currently have $17,759,198 in Cap space.
But, a HUGE word of caution when considering that number, and possibly hearing this number (or something comparable) over the next week or so – those numbers only apply to the 47 players currently under contract, many of whom are minimum salaried, camp-fodder types, and does not include the team’s 6 Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) and the team’s 10 Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs). Once those players are tendered – and depending on which ones are tendered (the team has historically tendered most of them) – that will reduce the team’s Cap space by approximately $8-11M.
That Cap space would, of course be before Flacco would be added in and before the release or restructure of a player (or players).
6 Responses
Thanks, Brian!
As usual, excellent summary.
Gareat as usual. Love the way you keep us informed!
i personally am getting tired of the whole mess players concerning players contracts.the only thing that can be done for the ravens to keep this superbowl team together is that every one has to take a pay cut.i know its a hard pill to swallow but its the only way. these guys signed up for this very violent sport so they were not blind when they signed up.injury is part of the plan.the guys that made up the superbowl winning team are essential to this team building perrenial winners.
while i love joe being a beautiful nightmare for other teams,he has to understand the importance of having those pieces around him that made it all happen.they all said that want to stay in baltimore,but i dont see any of them standing up for the team and saying,you know what restructure my contract so that we can make it happen.i also think that they agents are causing all the raucous.they have some kind o mind control over the players that they represent,because they have all the players saying that its out of theyre hands ,which cant be further from the truth.
the buck has to stop with the players,agents work for players,and only the players should have the final say not agent.the only team that they agent is concerned with is themselves and theyre percentage of the contract.the players have to understand this.most nfl players are college graduates,so they should be smart enough to handle theyre own business if they can read and write and count.why they need a agent in the first place is beyond my way of thinking.just imagine if the average person had to have some one count theyre money there wouldnt be any money let becuase of the agent counting for them.
we are talking football a game for which these guys are are getting paid miilions in a bench warmer is getting enough to live comfortably.we are also talking about a game a game a game a game a game. i remember being over joyed just to be able to play with finess and just be outstnading at the gamethe contracts these guys have right now at the moment is enough or them to live the rest of thyre lives comortable and happy.in closing if these guys want to stay in baltimore as they have indicated,stand up and do the right thing and put the team first lets get another and bring it home
We have a great front office so they’ll get it together and make moves that will work out top to bottom for the organization if we play like a team like this year everything will be fine lets keep our continuity and win our 3 superbowl GO RAVENS!!!
Joe Flacco deserves to be paid big he waited till he proved he is an “ELITE” QB just give him the money and rebuild. keep who we can and run with it. and the people who are not satisfied with just having won the “SUPERBOWL” WELL THAT’S SELFISHNESS.
That answered some questions. But now the Cap with Flacco’s 20.1 million will the Ravens be able to keep players like Reed Ellerby and Kruger. I would like to see all three come back.