Anyone Smart enough to answer this?

[Ricco Suavez]

I love me some Steelers and I am a fan of every player on the team even if they sometimes fail. But a disturbing trend with my team if the way the cap has gotten out of hand. So my question is to anyone with intelligent answers, What does the front office do to get us under the cap and what hard choices are in store for us. I dont want some vague comments like we cut the dead weight , but exactly who do we cut and how much will it help us. What about the upcoming draft where will these new salaries count. I just would like to know if anyone in the know has answers.

[lloydwoodson]

"What it boils down to is we have a group of young men who are preparing themselves to take the lead headed into the future. We have a solid core of guys in that locker room but that core will change slightly as we go forward. We are looking to get younger on both sides of the ball going into the draft, and of course will expect every young player on this team to play to the standard. Certain verterans on this team have expressed a desire to retire for one or two weeks, and then sign with other teams. This is how we will clear some cap space- by trimming the fat." --- Coach T.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

Answers have been listed here 100 times.

Certain players have to go. They have resrtuctured Wood, Timmons, Taylor and Colon. They may only have 2 other players that make it worthwhile to resrucutre and thats Ben and Harrison. Probably saving about 6-8million by shifting to bonus's.

But to coin your phrase of dead weight it is what it is

Cap savings:
Ward: 3.4million
Smith:2.1million
Farriors: 2.8million, but we probably need him still, so extend and rework the deal to save 1.5mill
Hampton: 5.9mill, due to signing a stupid short contract they could not prorate longer.
Foote: 3mill
Kemo: 2.4mill
Scott: 2.2million

right there you have: 23million. Honestly, what are we cutting there?

Ward? Can be replaced
Smith, hasnt played in 2 years
Kemo, hasnt used his brain on the field in 2 years
Scott, who is he?lol
Foote, loyalty doesn;t have anymore priviledges here.
Hampton, something has to give here. If he is off his knee a bit, he is going to balloon up. Mclenden did pretty well

couple this with a couple restructures, there is 30million. Puts us 25million under the cap.

Plenty to give Wallace with bonuses and sign rookies and back ups.

[jiminpa]

This isn't the first time we've been over the cap. The FO saw this coming and planned for it. We may not like what they do, but they are looking to the long term future of the team. They have some restructures in mind and some cuts. Some players who may not be quite ready may get the nod, and some guys who we would love to keep may be released to go get their bigger paydays with teams who don't start every season with legitimate SB hopes.

[Ricco Suavez]

I thought we are still at 11 million over the cap as of now. By my addition that would put us around 17-19 million under cap with all the fore mentioned cuts. Will this be enough to sign Wallace and the new draft class. Do we have anyone else up to resign other than Wallace, I know we have Browns contract to think of next year, but hey, thats next year.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

Ricco

We cut Mcfadden and battle that was 3.5million savings, Colon 2.85mill, Woodley/Timmons 11.5million, Ike 3.3mill

Thats about 21mill, leaves us 2-4million over the cap.
1 swoop of the pen with Wards contract and we go under.

Plus the Steelers can borrow 2million to next year or something too. Its like giving your wife a freaking credit card, LOL

Now I read someplace there are benefits to holding players on a certain time before they cut them, like March they get more relief but I cant find the timing article I read last week.

[Ricco Suavez]

What about back up QB all of them are UFA I believe do we sign any back or look to keep one and draft one, your thoughts.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

Hey thats next year, lol... Thats the FO office motto and they trademarked it already, LOL

Well we do need an Olineman, and our draft picks.
Kapinos, MClendon and Redman are Ex rights Fa, but they are already in the 142mill number we started with that we are cutting down. I'm wondering did we borrow the 3million last year that the nfl gave us for cap relief. If so that bill is coming due as well.

Assuming 4 of the drafted guys will stick at 4/5million tops, they will need about 3 additional players

[Curtain_of_Steel]

I think they can draft a pretty decent QB 6th round, QB position are getting filled up across the league. He should be good enough to work as a 3. Leftwhich is probably ok to bring back, as you figure where is Batch really going? Let him go home, if we need him we can call him. But Leftwhich will come back for a million or so no market for him, if he is healthy he works.

[FrancoLambert]

Originally Posted by Curtain_of_Steel

Answers have been listed here 100 times.

Certain players have to go. They have resrtuctured Wood, Timmons, Taylor and Colon. They may only have 2 other players that make it worthwhile to resrucutre and thats Ben and Harrison. Probably saving about 6-8million by shifting to bonus's.

But to coin your phrase of dead weight it is what it is

Cap savings:
Ward: 3.4million
Smith:2.1million
Farriors: 2.8million, but we probably need him still, so extend and rework the deal to save 1.5mill
Hampton: 5.9mill, due to signing a stupid short contract they could not prorate longer.
Foote: 3mill
Kemo: 2.4mill
Scott: 2.2million

right there you have: 23million. Honestly, what are we cutting there?

Ward? Can be replaced
Smith, hasnt played in 2 years
Kemo, hasnt used his brain on the field in 2 years
Scott, who is he?lol
Foote, loyalty doesn;t have anymore priviledges here.
Hampton, something has to give here. If he is off his knee a bit, he is going to balloon up. Mclenden did pretty well

couple this with a couple restructures, there is 30million. Puts us 25million under the cap.

Plenty to give Wallace with bonuses and sign rookies and back ups.

To answer your question, we're cutting " a lot of dead and old wood."

It's time to re-tool, aside from McClendon, we've gotten as much out of those players as we can. Cut them, save money, and get younger.

It will serve us in the long run.