Our cap future

[dolphins4life]

Ok, so right now we have:

$20 million in guarenteed money to Joey Porter
$13.5 million guarenteed to Ted Ginn Jr.
$13.5 million guarenteed to Ronnie Brown
$30 million guarenteed to Jake Long

That's $75 million guarenteed to only four players.

When do we run into cap hell?  2009?  2010?

[Sunstroke]

Ok, so right now we have:

$20 million in guarenteed money to Joey Porter
$13.5 million guarenteed to Ted Ginn Jr.
$13.5 million guarenteed to Ronnie Brown
$30 million guarenteed to Jake Long

That's $75 million guarenteed to only four players.

When do we run into cap hell?  2009?  2010?

I challenge you to find more than a couple of other NFL teams who don't have the same issue with guaranteed monies. It isn't hell if everyone else is there, it's just a warm crowded room.

[Philly Fin Fan]

You've made reference to this in other threads. Do you realize that the guaranteed money is spread out over the life of the contract? For example- Long has $30 Million guaranteed, but its a 5 years deal. That means its an average of $6M a season guaranteed. (its not always evenly spread out, but I'm just using it as an example).

[DolFan619]

- RB Ronne Brown Contract Details: http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_contract.aspx?sport=NFL&id=3155

- LB Joey Porter Contract Details: http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_contract.aspx?sport=NFL&id=653

- WR Ted Ginn Jr. Contract Details: http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_contract.aspx?sport=NFL&id=4168

[CF DolFan]

For the first time in years we are actually in pretty good shape as far as the cap goes.  This thread reminded me though ... wasn't someone complaining not too long ago that we actually had too much money under the cap and weren't spending it?

[fyo]

We don't have ANY cap issues. We had one of the best cap situations going into this off-season (post-cuts), but for this year and the coming years. Even after the signings, we were still like $20M below cap for this year. As Philly pointed out, salaries (guaranteed, bonuses & other) are spread out over the length of the contract.

Cutting veterans can get you into cap hell NOW, but will help you in the long run. We cut veterans, yet were still in great cap shape. That only gets better going forward.

Sure, signing a #1 pick is expensive, but it's "only" the same as any top free agent signing. Having ONE top free agent signing doesn't put you in cap hell if you're the least bit careful with your expenditures.

[Sunstroke]

Here's a thought that should make Jake's contract more palatable for some of you... If there wasn't an NFL draft, imagine what Miami would have to pay to get a 22 year old, 6'7", 320 lb blue chip left tackle if all 32 teams were allowed to bid on him.

Exactly...

One more thought on Jake, though not cap related. I was majorly impressed by his answer to the reporter's question at his press conference about what he was going to spend all that money on. He said he hadn't thought about it...he just wanted to get in there and play football.

That's my kind of player there...

[DZA]

I hope Ronnie Brown remain a Dolphin after o '10. I am hoping to get his jersey