Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

[Chadman]

Chadman has been doing this kind of thread for a couple of years now, so we'll keep this going until we get bored of it...or not.

The aim is to see if history can show us trends in drafting for the Steelers to help us better evaluate which direction the team might go, to keep an eye on the FA moves & how they effect the off-season rebuilding for next season, to discuss rookies, to formulate ideas, to post mock drafts...basically, whatever you want to jot down- go for it.

Chadman will, as time permits, put a few stats together, some theories as we go forward- that sort of thing.

Hopefully it won't be boring. But if it is, feel free to start another Tebow thread...

[SidSmythe]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Chadman has been doing this kind of thread for a couple of years now, so we'll keep this going until we get bored of it...or not.

The aim is to see if history can show us trends in drafting for the Steelers to help us better evaluate which direction the team might go, to keep an eye on the FA moves & how they effect the off-season rebuilding for next season, to discuss rookies, to formulate ideas, to post mock drafts...basically, whatever you want to jot down- go for it.

Chadman will, as time permits, put a few stats together, some theories as we go forward- that sort of thing.

Hopefully it won't be boring. But if it is, feel free to start another Tebow thread...

What's wrong w/ Tebow threads?? He could be our starting QB someday

[Chadman]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

We'll start this year with a look at the Steelers financial stand-point heading towards March 1 & Free Agency.

Things look grim, there is no doubt. No official figure has been given for the Salary Cap for next season, but most 'experts' have the cap sitting around $125 million to $130 million. For arguments sake, let's go down the middle & say $127 million will be the Cap for next season.

So, where is the Steelers money tied up? Let's have a look at the players under contract for next season & their base salary, cap charge, and year of contract expiration- highest to lowest-

1. Ben Roethlisberger $11,600,000.00 $16,920,000.00 Contract End 2015
2. LaMarr Woodley $3,400,000.00 $11,500,000.00 2016
3. Troy Polamalu $6,250,000.00 $11,300,000.00 2014 (He resigned-not sure)
4. Lawrence Timmons $2,625,000.00 $9,125,000.00 2016
5. James Harrison $5,565,000.00 $9,030,000.00 2014
6. Casey Hampton $4,890,000.00 $8,056,668.00 2012
7. Ike Taylor $5,750,000.00 $7,562,500.00 2014
8. Heath Miller $4,274,000.00 $7,070,500.00 2014
9. Willie Colon $4,500,000.00 $5,700,000.00 2015
10. Chris Kemoeatu $3,577,000.00 $5,261,666.00 2013
11. Hines Ward $4,000,000.00 $4,610,000.00 2013
12. Brett Keisel $2,825,000.00 $4,500,000.00 2013
13. Ryan Clark $3,000,000.00 $4,250,000.00 2013
14. James Farrior $2,825,000.00 $3,825,000.00 2012
15. Larry Foote $3,000,000.00 $3,600,000.00 2012
16. Aaron Smith $875,000.00 $2,984,191.00 2012
17. Jonathon Scott $2,200,000.00 $2,700,000.00 2012
18. Bryant McFadden $2,500,000.00 $2,666,668.00 2012
19. Maurkice Pouncey $666,125.00 $2,166,750.00 2014
20. Rashard Mendenhall $700,000.00 $2,077,500.00 2012
21. Ziggy Hood $615,000.00 $1,743,535.00 2013
22. Shaun Suisham $1,350,000.00 $1,687,500.00 2014
23. Will Allen $1,280,000.00 $1,605,000.00 2012
24. Cam Heyward $679,774.00 $1,523,870.00 2014
25. Arnaz Battle $1,037,500.00 $1,362,500.00 2012
26. Greg Warren $825,000.00 $925,000.00 2012
27. Jason Worilds $540,000.00 $895,000.00 2013
28. Emmanual Sanders $540,000.00 $735,357.00 2012
29. Marcus Gilbert $465,000.00 $733,503.00 2014
30. Curtis Brown $465,000.00 $595,300.00 2014
31. Stevenson Sylvester $540,000.00 $578,854.00 2012
33. Jonathon Dwyer $540,000.00 $565,948.00 2012
34. Antonio Brown $540,000.00 $564,359.00 2012
35. Cortez Allen $465,000.00 $562,875.00 2014
36. Al Woods $540,000.00 $540,000.00 2012
37. Chris Carter $465,000.00 $505,700.00 2013
38. Baron Batch $465,000.00 $476,628.00 2014
39. Wesleye Saunders $465,000.00 $478,628.00 2013
40. Miguel Chavis $465,000.00 $465,000.00 2012
41. Morrty Ivy $465,000.00 $465,000.00 2012
42. Damon Cromartie-Smith $465,000.00 $465,000.00 2012
43. Eric Clanton $465,000.00 $465,000.00 2012
44. John Clay $390,000.00 $396,667.00 2012
45. Chad Spann $390,000.00 $390,000.00 2012

These are the players under contract for next season for the Steelers, not including the new "Future Contract" players signed- Troy Smith, Myron Rolle, Marshall McFadden, Mike Blanc, Trevis Turner, Jamie McCoy, John Malecki, Corbin Bryant & Jarred Johnson- as Chadman does not have the cap figures they were signed to.

The total salaries add up to $143,380,391.00.

If you then include "dead money"- money that we lose through previous roster cuts & signing bonus penaties- $2,432,992.00 (most due to cutting Max Starks)- the new Steelers salary total is..

$145,813,678.00!

This puts the Steelers at a "not so friendly" $18,813,678.00 over the 'projected' cap of $127,000,000.00!

Now- the cap projection could be under the real salary cap. It could be up around $130 million. That said- it could be lower too. Steelers fans should hope for higher!

So the Steelers are, approximately, roughly around $19 million over where they need to be! Time to panic yet?

The list above doesn't include our UFA's, RFA's & ERFA's either. If the Steelers are to re-sign any of these, further money from the exsisting roster must be found.

UFA'S
QB- Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich, Dennis Dixon

RB- Mewelde Moore

WR- Jerricho Cotchery

OL- Max Starks, Trai Essex, Doug Legursky

DL- Chris Hoke

CB- William Gay

ST- Dan Sepulveda, Jason Kapinos

RFA & ERFA-

RB- Isaac Redman

WR- Mike Wallace

TE- David Johnson

OL- Jamon Meredith, Dorian Brooks, Ramon Foster

DL- Steve McLendon

CB- Keenan Lewis

S- Ryan Mundy

[focosteeler]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Casey Hampton $8,056,668.00
Chris Kemoeatu $5,261,666.00
Aaron Smith $2,984,191.00
Bryant McFadden $2,666,668.00
Will Allen $1,605,000.00
Arnaz Battle $1,362,500.00

these 6 add up to ....$21,936,693.00

if we need more room

Hines Ward $4,610,000.00
James Farrior $3,825,000.00

add in these 2 to the first 6.....$ 30,371,693.00

Hopefully my math is good. What kind of penalties would we be facing if we got rid of these guys?

[Slapstick]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Most of those guys are either in the final season or in the next-to-final season of their contracts...by that point, most of the cap figure is salary (unless it's a first contract, like Mendenhall!), but there will be dead money from their signing bonuses as well...

Don't forget Foote and J. Scott, who count another $6+ million combined against the cap...

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Casey Hampton $8,056,668.00
Chris Kemoeatu $5,261,666.00
Aaron Smith $2,984,191.00
Bryant McFadden $2,666,668.00
Will Allen $1,605,000.00
Arnaz Battle $1,362,500.00

these 6 add up to ....$21,936,693.00

if we need more room

Hines Ward $4,610,000.00
James Farrior $3,825,000.00

add in these 2 to the first 6.....$ 30,371,693.00

Hopefully my math is good. What kind of penalties would we be facing if we got rid of these guys?

The numbers here for these guys are their cap hits, not their salaries. Teams save the salary and any unclaimed bonuses (like a roster bonus due prior to next season) but still must account for the pro rated SB and any other bonuses collected along the way. That would give us the following (if my numbers are right) for the players you listed:

Hampton $4.89M
Kemo $3.577 and we have to decide to carry dead money in '13 or take extra hit now
Smith $875K this was supposed to be his last year but it looks like he deferred some of last year's money to restructure and we have to pay up now.
BMac $2.5M
Allen $1.28M
Battle $1.0375

Other candidates (who would also be in their last seasons so no additional penalty)

Farrior $2.825M
Foote $3M
J. Scott $2.2M

[papillon]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Heath Miller - 7 million, who knew?

Pappy

[Chadman]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Sorry all- now updated with their 2012 salary & contract end year..

[Chadman]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Looking at the Salary list, here's a few thouhgts on how money can be saved-

1. Extend Ben's contract by a year or 2. Give him some or all of his salary as a signing bonus & stretch him out. It'll bite the FO on the bum in future years, but it might keep this team competitive through Ben's career. Not sure of the figures, but if you gave Ben his 2012 salary as a signing bonus, pretty sure the Steelers will save somewhere around the $3-$4 million mark.

2. Cut/Extend/Re-do Casey Hampton's contract. If the Steelers cut Hampton before March 1, they are believed to be saving $5.89 million. That would obviously go a long way. By cutting him outright, the Steelers run the very real risk of him signing elsewhere as there are not a lot of quality NT's available. If the FO feels they need him going forward, an extension with his salary converted to signing bonus is a possibility. NT's can play until mid-to-late 30's, but we saw something of a drop-off of Casey's play this year.

3. Kemo- cutting Kemo before March 1 saves the team $2.4 million. This seems the likely course of action.

4. James Farrior- at 37, he'll cost nearly $4 mill against the cap for a player that will get rotated out of the game by a younger player. Cutting him saves $2.825 million.

5. Larry Foote- probably will find his career as a Steeler depends on James Farrior. If cut, he'll save $3 million. However, if Farrior is let go or retires, Foote could get an extension & walk into the starting line-up. Given the potential upheavel of the team, this is a strong possibility.

6. Aaron Smith- should retire, saving $2.9 million.

7. Hines Ward- cutting Hines saves around $4 million. That said- he might take an outright pay-cut & save the Steelers $2 million or so to stay as the #4 WR.

8. Bryant McFadden- given that the younger CB's looked ok this season, Chadman expects McFadden will be cut, saving $2.5 million.

9. Jonathon Scott- signed a surprisingly well paid contract, then lost his job. Now will likely be cut. Could get re-signed to be the swing OT, or the Steelers could just bring back Essex. Cutting Scott saves $2.2 million. This situation might be directly influenced by what happens with Max Starks.

10. Will Allen. Can't beat out Mundy, and Mundy is only ok. Good ST player, but given the cap situation, you can't pay someone this sort of money to be a ST player. Cutting Allen saves $1.3 million.

11. Arnaz Battle- see Will Allen. Cutting Battle saves a little over $1 million

[Chadman]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

If the Steelers follow the "Chadman Way" and do all the suggested cuts, minus Larry Foote who survives due to Farrior being cut, they will save, by Chadman's calculations, $28.04 million.

Now, some of you are saying "You've gone too far Chadman! we only need to lose $20 million!". But that's not true. $20 million only gets the Steelers under the cap. They will only have around 40 players on the books. They'll need to sign their draftees & a few FA's before the season starts.

$28 million is about the right amount of money required...maybe a little far...but not much.

Factor in that Wallace & Redman will likelt get significant pay increases, along with Keenan Lewis & Steve McLendon too. And if Hampton is cut, re-signing Hoke becomes pretty important.

The money will dry up quickly.

2 other players that might be able to be restructured are the LB brothers- Timmons & Woodley. Both only just got their pay increase, but there is a little trick included in both contracts. Both have 'Roster Bonus Payments" attached for this upcoming season- Woodley gets $5.5 million & Timmons gets $4.4 million. If the Steelers guarentee those roster bonus payments, before a certain time in March (not sure of the date), they can absorb those roster bonus payments over the life of the contract- similar to Signing Bonus payments. If both players do this, roughly $8 million is saved.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

Factor in that Wallace & Redman will likelt get significant pay increases, along with Keenan Lewis & Steve McLendon too. And if Hampton is cut, re-signing Hoke becomes pretty important.

Here were the RFA tender amounts for this past season (the 2012 figures aren't out yet, but I'd expect a slight increase for this year, but not by much...maybe $100-$150K more for each or something like that).

$3,317,000 - 1st & 3rd round compensation
$2,611,000 - 1st round compensation
$1,835,000 - 2nd round compensation
$1,200,000 - original round compensation

If I had to guess, the team wants to keep both Wallace and Lewis, and in order to guarantee that they do so, they'd probably give Wallace the highest tender (requiring 1st and 3rd compensation) and Lewis the lowest tender (requiring original round compensation, which in his case would be a 3rd round pick). No one is going to give up a huge blockbuster contract plus a 1st and a 3rd for Wallace, and no one is going to give up a significant contract (one that our front office wouldn't match) and give us a 3rd round pick for Lewis.

McLendon and Redman are exclusive rights free agents, so they aren't breaking the bank by any means. All we need to do is offer then a minimal level contract (not sure of the exact figure, but I don't think it's even more than a half million), and the only choice they have is to take it or leave it...they cannot negotiate with any other teams at this point. Essentially, at this point in their young careers, the team has them by the short and curlies.

I think Hoke is done regardless (had a metal plate put in his neck). His ability to enjoy life with his wife and 4 kids is much more important than playing another year of football.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

From what I gather the Hokester is done. Mister Pittsburgh is thinking draft a NT in Rnd 1 or 2, get Casey down to a low salary to stick around, and have Zigmeister flash as the emergency NT. Let's get real here...doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a huge manbeast in the middle of the Dline and eat up blockers unless you are not strong enough coming out so a rookie could start at NT with Hampton backing him up and rotating here and there.

[Chadman]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

From what I gather the Hokester is done. Mister Pittsburgh is thinking draft a NT in Rnd 1 or 2, get Casey down to a low salary to stick around, and have Zigmeister flash as the emergency NT. Let's get real here...doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a huge manbeast in the middle of the Dline and eat up blockers unless you are not strong enough coming out so a rookie could start at NT with Hampton backing him up and rotating here and there.

Could agree with that. Could you draft a rookie & have him alternate with McLendon & Hood perhaps?

[steelblood]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

I'd cut Hampton, Ward, Smith, Kemo, Foote, Farrior, Battle (23 million).

I'd give Wallace the high 1st and third round tender and a 2nd round tender to Keenan Lewis. I wouldn't offer any of UFAs a contract to start FA except Legursky and it would be a club friendly offer of about 900K.

Then, I'd restructure as needed to get under the cap (which Rooney believes will be only 124K) to sign a budget UFA or two and sign draft picks.

It really isn't that painful. Most of the guys we are cutting are either done or on a steady decline. It is time for them to go.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Chadman's 2012 Off-season Free Agency & Draft thread

From what I gather the Hokester is done. Mister Pittsburgh is thinking draft a NT in Rnd 1 or 2, get Casey down to a low salary to stick around, and have Zigmeister flash as the emergency NT. Let's get real here...doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a huge manbeast in the middle of the Dline and eat up blockers unless you are not strong enough coming out so a rookie could start at NT with Hampton backing him up and rotating here and there.

Could agree with that. Could you draft a rookie & have him alternate with McLendon & Hood perhaps?

If they get a rookie NT they feel can play day one, sure.