49ers will have approximately $26 million in cap space
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2009 8:01 PM PST
in News
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We'll have a Pro Bowl game thread a little later for the diehards. In the meantime, I thought I'd throw up a post for discussion about the 49ers cap space. It's obviously more of a mid-week post since it's so big, but what the heck, let's roll with it on a Sunday.
When you do a google search for 49ers 2009 cap space you get a vast array of articles throwing out also sorts of numbers. As was previously mentioned in the Golden Nuggets, Scot McCloughan said in one of his mailbags that the 49ers will have a significant amount of cap:
A: When it’s all said and done, we’ll be in the top 10 [in cap space] in the NFL for sure. We’ll have room and we’ll be one of the teams with the most room. We have enough room to possibly be aggressive and there’s enough room to take care of our own guys. Whatever we want to do, we’re going to do it. We have some cap room where we can improve our roster because of the room we have. We’re in very good shape.
In having to blow up the team and start over, that is one area where McNolan did an impressive job. Even if you think the team needs help in certain areas, it's a fact that the team has brought in some talented players (Justin Smith, Nate Clements) and not killed their cap space.
A search of our SB Nation sites brought me to our friendly rival over at Silver and Black Pride. One of their writers came across a site called Draftsharks.com. Draft Sharks did a rundown of every team's cap space, along with a little analysis. I tried to check it out at their website, but apparently it costs some bucks and I'm not going to fork that over. So, thankfully, the folks at Silver and Black Pride posted some pertinent information. Specifically as to the 49ers, they're ranked 9th in terms of cap space with $26 million in cap space:
9. San Francisco -- $26m under – In 2007 and 2008 the 49ers were top-3 in cap room, so they’re still hanging in there nicely. They can cut QB Alex Smith and OT Jonas Jennings and free up $7.3 million more. Smith is coming off the busted shoulder and simply isn’t a great player. Jennings has missed all or parts of 47 games the last 4 years. DE Justin Smith’s big contract last year has a bloated cap figure for 2009 - $10.5 million – but they’ll let it ride. Ninersnation.com is clamoring for the team to land free-agent DE Terrell Suggs at all costs.
Just for people's knowledge, the 8 teams ahead of them are (counting from 1st to 8th): Tampa Bay, Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, Tennessee, Miami, Buffalo and Detroit.
No site is likely to nail this number perfectly, but it fits in with folks seem to be saying. I also believe the 2009 number could be increased depending on the release/renegotiation with Alex Smith and what they do with Jonas Jennings. Either way, they've got a whole lot of money with which to work.
There are plenty of free agents to work with, but the question also is what you do with your own guys? One option is to do what the A's have done with pre-arbitration players. Sign them to a little more than they'd get at that point, but less than they'd get in a couple years on the open mark. A guy like Jason Hill seemed to take a step forward this year. His value really is only going to go up, it's just a matter of how much. Maybe you try and like a guy like that up now for 4 or 5 years.
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not
too long ago, the 49ers were in cap hell. I think that was around the time Hoselio Hanson was on the team. They have the available $ now they have to make the right choices. And they’ve made some good ones…justin smith. And at least the ownership as maligned as they are, is allowing the front office to spend the money. Its interesting to read that KC left money on the table in previous years. But the best part is that the Raiders may only have 4M in cap space and that Deangelo Hall started playing well once he went to the Redskins. For me, if the 49ers lose and the Raiders lose…then its still a win.
by save10 on Feb 8, 2009 10:01 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
If only the NFL consisted of the 49ers and the Raiders...
We would have been winners.
by Sultan of Seitan on Feb 8, 2009 12:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Suggs
Agreed that we should go after Suggs… Ray Lewis gets all the credit for Baltimore’s defense, but Suggs was a huge part of that.
-- Jay T.
by jaytierney on Feb 8, 2009 12:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Anything that lets us cut Smith works for me.
"I’m Joey Devine, I’m what Joba Chamberlain would be if he was good and nobody had ever heard of him."
by mikev on Feb 8, 2009 1:36 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
a dream – probably too good to be true
"Those boos really motivate me to make something happen." - Bonds
by Persiflage on Feb 9, 2009 1:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I cant get my head around how the cap works...
so maybe you guys could explain it for me. We have $26m of cap space ok, so say for example we sign Terrell Suggs to a 5yr contract worth $50m spread out as follows –
yr1 $5m, yr2 $8m, yr3 $15m, yr4 $12m, yr5 $10m. of this $50m $25m is guaranteed and the other $25m is bonus money. How exactly would that affect the cap for 2009?
If this is unworkable example or a just plain stupid one, then please provide one for me that is more sensible and explain how it affects the cap. Would be grateful.
by Ninerfromacrossthepond on Feb 8, 2009 5:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
cap
There are sites that can explain it better, and I’ll find a link. One problem is that with the labor issues and the potential for a cap-less year next offseason, it affects things. Some bonuses are given because they can be spread over the course of a contract.
If the 49ers signed Suggs, it’s entirely possible his first year base salary will be quite low. For example, in 2008, Justin Smith’s base salary was 750,000. However, he gets a big signing bonus up front (part of his guaranteed money). Basically, he signed a 6-year deal and got an $11 million signing bonus. He gets the $11M up front, but for cap accounting purposes it’s divided up evenly over 6 years.
For 2009, he’s scheduled to earn a base salary of $3.5M and a likely roster bonus of $4.75M. That would mean a cap hit of $8.25M. However, his actual cap hit is over $10M because of the amortized signing bonus.
I’ll work on a salary cap column to try and explain some more of this (primarily by gathering from other sources). Of course, if anybody reading this has a more firm grasp on things, maybe they could become the official NN salary cap person.
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2009 6:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
signing bonuses
Are prorated over life of contract. If 50 mil contract has 25 mil in guarantees and its a 5 year contract, his cap hit will be at least 2.5 millon per year (25 mil / 5 years). The remaining 25 mil in base salary is often backloaded in the final years of the contract to provde teams with some security and the ability to rework things down the road, but always look first at a signing bonus and then how many years the contract is for. From there, you’ll get the most elementary understanding of what their financial implications are for a team.
That’s the very simple part, where it gets tricky is in all these Performance Bonuses that help teams get under the salary cap. I don’t have the time to go further than that, but all should be aware of how signing bonuses are prorated.
by Blitzburgh on Feb 9, 2009 7:10 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
The cap is pretty complex...
… and the 49ers have worked it to their benefit over the past four years or so. With contracts like Nate Clements and Justin Smith, I think the 49ers issue “roster bonuses” early on in order to make the signing bonuses a little smaller. I’ll explain what I mean in a bit.
First, using your example, I don’t really understand what you mean by half is guaranteed and half is bonus money. That would imply that his entire contract is guaranteed (like baseball), which wouldn’t happen. So I’m going to assume that you just meant that $25M is bonus money and the other $25M is base pay.
If you leave out any complications like roster bonuses, workout bonuses, and performance incentives, then all of his bonus money is in the form of signing bonus. Signing bonuses, as mentioned above, are provided immediately, but are divided (for salary cap purposes) over the course of the contract. That would mean that Suggs will count AT LEAST $5M against the salary cap every season.
On top of that, the $25M in base pay is divided throughout the years, and usually on an increasing scale. So suppose the first year he makes $3.25M in base pay. If you add that to the pro-rated signing bonus, his cap figure would then be $8.25M. The following year, he gets a slight bump in base pay, maybe to $4.3M. That would make his cap figure then become $9.3M. It goes on like this for the remainder of the contract. I’m pretty sure there’s a set percentage that the base pay has to increase by, but I’m a little too lazy to look that up.
Now back to what the 49ers have done recently. As Fooch points out, Justin Smith is due to receive a $4.75M roster bonus. The roster bonus is a way for teams to push guarantees up to an earlier point in the contract when they have more cap space (as the 49ers have had in recent years). That way, as the player gets older, his cap figure may actually be smaller than it was when he started, which makes cutting them hurt less later on (when they become a little useless).
With that said, the $26M dollars will go a long way in helping continue that. If the 49ers sign Haynesworth and/or Suggs, I’d imagine a large chunk of their guaranteed money will again be in the form of a roster bonus, that way aging players don’t hurt the team as bad as they used to.
I hope this helped.
by sfgfan on Feb 9, 2009 10:17 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
base salaries
Base salaries are actually not required to increase each year. For example, Justin Smith’s base in 2008 was $750,000. In 2009 it’s $3.5M. In 2010 it’s $2.625M. It increases each year after that. For Smith, his cap hits each year are approximately:
2009 – $10.583 million
2010 – $5.958 million
2011 – $7.333 million
2012 – $8.209 million
2013 – $9.834 million
Those are from Rotoworld so may not be 100% accurate.
by Fooch on Feb 9, 2009 11:10 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Arizona
If they have the 2nd most cap space, why not fork some of that cash over to Boldin. The dude is deserving and pretty damn loyal. He came back from that vicious hit, in what, 3 weeks? I don’t really get it.
But anyways…hopefully the niners have a successful offseason with their excess space.
by good as gold on Feb 8, 2009 8:53 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Because they're going to have to pay Fitzgerald too.
"I’m Joey Devine, I’m what Joba Chamberlain would be if he was good and nobody had ever heard of him."
by mikev on Feb 8, 2009 10:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Fitzgerald
He actually signed a 4 year, $40M extension last offseason, so is signed through 2011. He got a $15M signing bonus in the deal. Apparently also, if he’s franchised in 2012 the tender has to be for $23M!
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2009 10:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Draft and the Cap
We need to cut Alex Smith and then resign him at a reasonable price. Then definitely don’t draft any of those bum quarterback in the draft. They may have all the physical tools but if you can’t post good numbers in college at the most talented schools in college you definitely can’t play on what is a mediocre team in the NFL. I also think we should stongly take a look at TJ Housh——— instead of Johnson. And then take a look at a long term fix at the other corner in Deangelo Hall. Draft a pass rushing DE/OLB in the first rd and come back and draft for depth on the Offensive line. This my be the ticket to a playoff birth this year and with some experience gained on the OLine we could be back to the BIG SHOW in a couple years.
by lylniner on Feb 9, 2009 8:15 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
DeAngelo Hall/Long term fix...
Wow, not terms I’d put together anymore. Everything else you said, I’m OK with.
by StepUp on Feb 9, 2009 9:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Credit to Nolan for not putting us in cap hell. This time around the team does have talent and money to build from, unlike 4-5 years ago.
by bignerd on Feb 9, 2009 5:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
This is where I think Nolan gets a lot less credit than he deserves.
When Dennis Erickson left, this franchise was garbage – top to bottom. There was no talent, there was no free money, and there was no system in place that didn’t deserve immediate incineration.
Right now, we’ve got good young players along with a solid bunch of veterans. We’ve got a fairly stable coaching staff (albeit moreso on the defensive side of the ball than the offensive). We’ve got money to spend. Most importantly, we as fans are not stashing our red-and-gold jerseys far into the depths of our closets, afraid to face the fact that we have to watch our team embarrass itself again in a couple months.
Mike Singletary has a lot to build with. A good chunk of that foundation, he can thank his buddy Mike Nolan for.
by shlecko on Feb 10, 2009 12:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
It's not hard to build a cheap crappy team
But I’ll give Nolan props for not building an exspensive crappy team. Thanks Mike!
by methodrampage on Feb 10, 2009 7:24 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Singletary
Singletary’s also said (I think it was during his first news/press conference after being given the permanent job) that he’s building off of what Nolan has built, and that he’ll never forget that.
I pretty much agree with you, and apparently Singletary does as well.
by sfgfan on Feb 10, 2009 9:52 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
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