TTown wrote:i've always been more of an nba cap guy myself, or at least i was until the new cba came into effect. what are we looking at if we cut rice? obviously the team just won a super bowl without him, and a healthy percy harvin seems like an upgrade in terms of on-field talent. rice never really lived up to being that legit #1.
I'm not big on the NFL cap either. I believe the general idea is, when you sign a player, part of the money is guaranteed and part of it isn't. I don't know what the 2014 cap will be, and based on different things I've read we have somewhere between $13 million to $0 of cap room.
Rice signed a 5 year/$41 million deal with a $ 6 million signing bonus included. It appears the guaranteed money is determined by adding the signing bonus [which is spread out over the course of the contract] and the first two years of base salary. The amount of dead money--i.e. cap hit if a player is cut--is pro-rated based on the amount of the signing bonus still owed. Rice's cap hit this next season appears to be $9.7 million if he's on the active roster, but it's only a $2.4 million cap hit if he's released.
On KJR this morning, Mitch asked if people would resign Tate if he wanted a deal similar to Brian Hartline's from last season [5 years/$30 million]. The average annual value of that contract is, basically, $6 million. Hartline's cap hit in that first season was only about $2.5 million. In 2015, it jumps up to $6.2 million. That cap hit seems great for 2014, but in the second year when you might have to deal with a re-signed RW/ET/Sherman...things get tricky.
So if you cut Rice and sign Tate, cap-wise you're at the same place you were if you just kept Rice for 2014. Tate's a tough call. I really like the guy. I wish he was taller and didn't backtrack post-reception so much, but his drop rate is as low as you'll find in the league.
TTown wrote:tate, baldwin, and kearse all seem like quality #2's and #3's. we could always go after another speedster in the draft.
I don't know that PC/JS go for speed in the draft at WR. The depth WR [Kearse, Lockette] do a decent job getting downfield and over the top of the defense, and a healthy Percy can maybe do the same or draw more attention underneath. What Pete always loves to have at WR is a big sure-handed guy like Rice or Mike Williams. We won't have a chance--I believe--at drafting Mike Evans or Kelvin Benjamin. We might have a shot at Brandon Coleman or Allen Robinson. I don't know that Marquise Lee, Odell Beckham, or Sammy Watkins is an ideal fit for what Pete wants.
The team's foundation is defense-defense-defense, and the conventional wisdom is to anticipate the team drafting defense early and often in the 2014 draft. We have some guys along the DL that are either free agents [Bennet, McDaniel, McDonald] or have big contracts [Mebane, Bryant, Clemons] that some people might argue don't match their production. I don't think I would as a healthy Bryant takes away the run, Mebane is a force in the middle, and Clemons came on late once I think he was finally healthy.
Personally, I think the team re-signs Michael Bennett, cuts Clemons [sorry Clem], keeps Bryant/Bane Avril, mixes Irvin between SAM LB and LEO, leans on base defense LB corps of Wright/Wagner/Smith. The team had the luxury of not needing Jessie Williams, Jordan Hill, Greg Scruggs, and Benson Mayowa to do anything but either get healthy or get their feet wet. The coaches love to coach guys up, and I think some of those younger guys really get a shot in the rotation along the DL next year. Hill and Williams were slotted to line up next to each other in the middle of the line and McDonald was a camp cut. Once Williams landed on IR and Hill injured his tricep, that plan went out the window and McDonald came back.
Ultimately I think this works out well for everyone. The new guys get their shot but aren't asked to do it all. The vets we don't keep--like McDonald--hopefully get a chance to get a nice little contract elsewhere. If I'm Jacksonville, I prey on the guys the Seahawks can't keep just as I did last year. Give McDonald say...a 3 year/$10 million contract? Be steady on the defensive line and mentor the young guys?
I feel confident that we could be even stronger next season personnel/talent-wise than we were this season. Having Percy alone (knock on wood) seems to ensure that.
