2015 SALARY CAP COMMITMENT
The Ravens presently have $137,858,517 committed to the 2015 Salary Cap, but it is important to remember that this number is based on only the 41 players that are currently under contract for 2015.
Obviously, that is far from a full roster.
Initial projections estimated that the Cap would see an increase of $10M, moving the Cap up to around $143M, but recent reports indicate that the NFL has told teams to expect the Cap to end up somewhere in the $138.6-$141.8M range. That does seem a bit low and last year the NFL made a similarly conservative estimate, only to see the Cap increase from $123M to $133M.
Hopefully for the Ravens, the NFL’s estimates are again low and the 2015 Cap sees another $10M increase, putting the Cap into the $143M range.
The team’s present Cap commitment will change once the Ravens season is over, as the team will likely sign most, if not all, of its 11 practice squad players to “future contracts” for the 2015 season.
2014 SALARY CAP CARRYOVER
The Ravens will carry over $5,791,927 in excess 2014 Cap space into 2015. There will be no future adjustments to that number as the Cap does not change after the end of the regular season.
OTHER 2015 SALARY CAP ADJUSTMENTS
GRIEVANCES: The Ravens do have 3 pending grievances – Ray Rice for his release and TE Matt Furstenberg and WR Mike Willie for injury grievances. Under the terms of the CBA, 40% of the amount grieved counts against the Cap until the grievance is decided or settled. If resolved after the season, the team will receive a credit or debit adjustment on the following year’s Cap. Those 3 grievances counted a total of $1,654,165 against the 2014 Cap (Rice for $1,411,765; Furstenberg and Willie $121,200 each). So, once all of the grievances are resolved, the Ravens could receive anywhere from a $1,654,165 credit against the Cap (creating that much additional Cap space) or a debit against the Cap of up to $2,481,247 (meaning that much less in Cap space).
Rice’s grievance is obviously the big ticket item of the three and Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun has reported that the hearing on that grievance is set for January 15th, so that matter should be resolved well before the beginning of the 2015 league year on March 11th.
INCENTIVE ADJUSTMENTS: The Ravens’ 2015 Cap will also see adjustments for incentives earned that didn’t count against the 2014 Cap (“Not Likely To Be Earned” incentives) that were actually earned and incentives that did count against the 2014 Cap (“Likely To Be Earned” incentives) but weren’t earned.
The total of these incentive adjustments are usually not disclosed until the beginning of the 2015 league year in March.
One incentive that is known is Elvis Dumervil’s one-time 12+ sack incentive that earned him an additional $1M bonus when he reached that statistical milestone (which also raised his remaining base salaries by $1M).
WORKOUT BONUS ADJUSTMENT: All teams will have an adjustment of $561,600 added to their Cap for team workout bonuses. This number is essentially the total amount of CBA mandated workout bonuses that could be earned by the players in the offseason. This amount is a debit from the Cap. Once training camp begins, this debit will be removed and the actual amount of workout bonuses earned by the players will be added onto the Cap.
2011/2012 CAP ADJUSTMENT REPAYMENT: When the new CBA was agreed upon in 2011, the Salary Cap saw a reduction and, for a few years, stagnation. Foreseeing this, the terms of the CBA allowed for teams to borrow ($3M in 2011; $1.5M in 2012) against future Caps, but forced teams to repay that amount during the 2014 through 2017 league years. The CBA leaves it up to the team to decide when to repay those amounts. In 2014, the Ravens repaid $1.125M of that amount. This amount, 1/4th of the $4.5M due to be repaid, would seem to indicate that the team intends to repay that amount each year from 2014 to 2017. So, if they follow that pattern, the team will have a negative adjustment to the 2015 Cap of $1.125M.
2015 SALARY CAP PROJECTION
It’s really too early to make an accurate projection for the team’s 2015 Salary Cap. The team presently is very tight against the Cap (with only 41 players under contract), but will obviously make moves – releases, restructures, contract extensions – to create needed Cap space. Even with such moves, it does not appear that the team will have any major surplus of Cap space.
Those issues, however, can wait until the 2014 season is over.
3 Responses
Were ALWAYS tight to the cap. The Ravens need to look at their accounting people or whomever manages this. How do teams like the Redskins, nah well use winning teams like the Patriots and Broncos always seem to make hits in FA and continue to strengthen their team while we always are tight and have to get guys off the scrap heap? We need to get far far better at structuring contracts. Pitta, Rice, jacoby, Ngata, webb all are Horrible attempts at a contract. No flexibility and very un team friendly. Theres other but those the big ones this year.
Justaslowz06 We also have won two SB’s. The Broncos haven’t won a championship since 98′, and the Pats have won one more. So what are you saying.
cifoz68 Justaslowz06 Yes we’re won two SB’S 12YRS apart. What are you saying?