Any possible use for the cap space?

[El Duderino]

The Packers i believe will be something like 10-11 million under the cap after draft picks are signed if i remember what i a read awhile back correctly.Corey Williams is the one impending free agent that could be signed to use some of this money if the two sides can reach an agreement.

Either way with Williams,the team should still end up with a pretty sizable amount of cap space left.Given the odds look slim we'll sign anyone of high financial value outside the organization this season and cap space doesn't roll over,i'd hope Thompson can find some way to use the left over cap space and not just let it wither away.

Is there some site that lists player contracts to see if maybe there are some bonuses for next year that Thompson push on to the cap this year?Is there anything else that can be done with the cap space that could benefit the team?

Especially if Williams isn't resigned,i'd really hate to see all that cap room get put to zero use.To bad we don't have a GAD for NFL cap issues because it would be nice to know that the team could do something positive with the room Ted has done created.

Favre is likely gone after this year which would will free up another large chunk of cap space.So if Ted can put left over money this year to buy off money from next years cap,we should be 20 million or more under it next offseason.Granted,Thompson could sit on it again,but i'd still rather the team had more options than less.

[trwi7]

Can't he just buy an inflateable pool strip down to a speedo and roll around in the pool picking up dollar bills and rubbing them all over his body?

[MickeyDavis]

It used to be teams saved money for the June 1 cuts but the June 1 rule isn't there anymore.

Corey will be an interesting thing to follow. He had a great second half last year, then we go and draft a guy who plays the same position #1. The Packers will probably gamble and see how he does this season but if he continues where he left off he's going to be expensive.

Depth on the DL is a great thing to have, I'd like to see him get extended now if the price is reasonable.

[eagle13]

Corey will be an interesting thing to follow. He had a great second half last year, then we go and draft a guy who plays the same position #1. The Packers will probably gamble and see how he does this season but if he continues where he left off he's going to be expensive.

Depth on the DL is a great thing to have, I'd like to see him get extended now if the price is reasonable.

Agreed! Plus he can also play DE in a pinch. That would be very logical use of dollars. Hope TT doesn't play cheap when we have tons of dollars because he has Harrill now.

It would make Harrell an even more questionable pick if we loose Williams. I doubt Harrell can rush the passer as well as Corey.

Seems to me Corey should get about what Cullen got.

As to rest of cap money - TT can structure all rookie contracts front loaded and use most of it up. This was alluded to in an JS article months back.

[Reggie White]

The June 1 rule is still there, but teams haven't had to cut borderline players over the last couple of years because the salary cap has risen so fast that they haven't needed to free up cap space. The new NFL TV deal and labor agreement created a three year period of HUGE increases in the cap. Remember when the Raiders and Redskins were $30 million OVER the cap a few years ago. The cap in 2000 was $62,000,000. The cap in 2005 was $85,000,000 ... an increase of $23 million oer 6 seasons. The 2006 cap was $102 million, and 2007 is $109 million. That's an increase of $24 million over 2 seasons. All teams are flush with cap space.

This should be a time to be locking up your core players to long term contracts and have a lot of the money be accelerated into this year. Ron Wolf did that with Reggie White. The year they signed him, there was NO salary cap ... it didn't start until the following year. Wolf was aggressive with the Packers money and going out and signing free agents in addition to Reggie in 1993 like Harry Galbreath, Tunch Ilkin, Bill Maas, Mark Clayton, and Mark Prior (did I miss any?). None of those guys counted against the cap that year.

Thompson should be aggressive with free agency in years like this, so that when the increases in the salary cap slow down, they've got people locked up and have a competitive advantage because then they can focus their newfound cap dollars on free agents that other teams can't afford because they didn't lock up their core players.

[Icness]

The June 1 rule is still there, but teams haven't had to cut borderline players over the last couple of years because the salary cap has risen so fast that they haven't needed to free up cap space. The new NFL TV deal and labor agreement created a three year period of HUGE increases in the cap. Remember when the Raiders and Redskins were $30 million OVER the cap a few years ago. The cap in 2000 was $62,000,000. The cap in 2005 was $85,000,000 ... an increase of $23 million oer 6 seasons. The 2006 cap was $102 million, and 2007 is $109 million. That's an increase of $24 million over 2 seasons. All teams are flush with cap space.

This should be a time to be locking up your core players to long term contracts and have a lot of the money be accelerated into this year. Ron Wolf did that with Reggie White. The year they signed him, there was NO salary cap ... it didn't start until the following year. Wolf was aggressive with the Packers money and going out and signing free agents in addition to Reggie in 1993 like Harry Galbreath, Tunch Ilkin, Bill Maas, Mark Clayton, and Mark Prior (did I miss any?). None of those guys counted against the cap that year.

Thompson should be aggressive with free agency in years like this, so that when the increases in the salary cap slow down, they've got people locked up and have a competitive advantage because then they can focus their newfound cap dollars on free agents that other teams can't afford because they didn't lock up their core players.

Exceptional post sir

I'll give you three guys that I expect Thompson will have an interest in once they get cut:
1. The loser of the Oakland backup RB battle, either Jordan or Fargas. Not so much Fargas, but if Jordan is released (I'd put that at ~33% now) he's a definite target.
2. Eric Shelton. The Panthers tried dealing him for late round picks and got nothing, and they might decide to just sit on him for depth for another year. But I expect him to be released, and he's a strong motivator away from being a very capable power back to pair with Morency.
3. Damien Woody. Good veteran mentor for a young OL, if he's in shape. The Lions are almost certain to part with him if none of their younger guys gets hurt soon; he's got a fat roster bonus Sept 1st and he's lost his starting job.

[Johnny Newman]

We can always restructure players we have and front load them. So we have more in the future.

[schweig]

I'm curious to see who they try to extend with the space. If I remember right, they had some room going into last year and made sure it was all put to use by the end of the season.