2008 Salary Cap thread......

[Royd92040]

The only one I like to see signed is Alan Faneca.

[TMC]

Well, I think you see Kemoeatu, Essex, Warren, and Washington get tendered. It will probably be the smallest tender, but they should get tendered. If the Steelers add draft picks that are better, they can always be released without any recourse.

As for the unrestricted guys, I can see the Steelers retaining Eason and Haggans if the price is right. I could also see them talking with Starks and Kreider. I think they will make a run at Faneca, but with some of the teams having massive amounts of cash, Faneca will get overpaid by someone desperate.

[slanchor]

i know the the steelers need to upgrade th OL but i would like to see them go after wr bryant johnson of the cardinals or bernard berrian of the bears .i have always likes nate washington but dont know if he will ever be any better than a 4th wr .let him walk and replace him with one of these two.berrian is only 26 and johnson is 6'3.as we stand know we have two wr that we can count on.and when holmes is not in the lineup are passing game is terrible.

[TMC]

Peter King listed the salary cap space expected for 2008 and the number of players signed.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/12/09/week14/4.html


Team Signed Players 2008 cap room
1. Tennessee 39 $40.85 million
2. San Diego 44 $33.03 million
3. Jacksonville 43 $32.69 million
4. Buffalo 49 $32.05 million
5. New Orleans 39 $31.69 million
6. Cincinnati 48 $31.45 million
7. San Francisco 48 $30.91 million
8. Cleveland 42 $30.31 million
9. Arizona 34 $30.27 million
10.N.Y. Jets 45 $27.72 million
11.Oakland 40 $25.98 million
12.Tampa Bay 48 $25.90 million
13.Miami 48 $25.56 million
14.N.Y. Giants 49 $24.47 million
15.Detroit 42 $23.50 million
16.Houston 43 $22.91 million
17.Dallas 40 $20.61 million
18.Kansas City 44 $20.27 million
19.Chicago 52 $19.80 million
20.Pittsburgh 43 $18.61 million
21.Green Bay 48 $18.37 million
22.Philadelphia 49 $17.17 million
23.Denver 49 $16.77 million
24.Minnesota 49 $14.88 million
25.New England 41 $10.93 million
26.St. Louis 45 $9.61 million
27.Seattle 44 $9.55 million
28.Indianapolis 48 $8.49 million
29.Carolina 35 $6.05 million
30.Atlanta 52 $5.79 million*
31.Baltimore 42 $5.00 million
32.Washington 45 -$20.72 million
* Not including unspecified potential rebate from contested return of Michael Vick's pro-rated signing bonus.


Now, I believe the Steelers free agents are:
QB Brian St. Pierre UFA
FB Dan Kreider UFA
OG Alan Faneca UFA
OG Chris Kemoeatu RFA
OT Trai Essex RFA
OT Max Starks UFA
DL Nick Eason UFA
LS Greg Warren RFA
WR Nate Washington RFA
DE Travis Kirschke UFA
OLB Clarke Haggans UFA

That would put them at 42 instead of 43....but they did add Marquis Cooper off of waivers and that could have pushed them back up 1. Either way......

[Vader]

I don't see Haggans or Faneca coming back. Faneca is going to get paid and won't stay for anything less than market value. I can see Woodley taking Haggans spot and they won't pay him to be a backup.

[GoSteelers]

I don't see Haggans or Faneca coming back. Faneca is going to get paid and won't stay for anything less than market value. I can see Woodley taking Haggans spot and they won't pay him to be a backup.


i think you're correct, faneca is as good as gone to the highest bidder, and woodley steps in as a starter and haggans leaves.
i'd like to see kreider come back.

[TMC]

I really do not see Faneca coming back either. There are some teams with massive amounts of cash and desperate needs. I would not be surprised to see Faneca get a 7 year deal nearing $60M in total cash. IMO, it would be wise for the Steelers to get an extension for Ben in before free agency starts and the numbers explode again.

As for Haggans, he is 31 in January and really needs to play in a 3-4 as a LOLB. He is not the fastest guy or the most fleet of foot and I do not see him commanding the money Porter got. He may hit free agency, but I think he ends up getting 2-3M a season and, IMO, I would pay him that to give my team a solid backup to both Harrison and Woodley. If either falters, you have someone that can step in and play. If Timmons moving inside is a reality, then we need a two OLBs at a minimum.

[TMC]

One more point, Ben is due a $8-$9M roster bonus in 2009, so the Steelers will probably want to get his extension done this offseason to avoid the crunch that bonus puts them under.

So, expect Big Ben to become Rich Ben this offseason.

[FAB802]

If I were him I'd make sure they fixed the line before I signed anything.

[Ike Kelly]

I really do not see Faneca coming back either. There are some teams with massive amounts of cash and desperate needs. I would not be surprised to see Faneca get a 7 year deal nearing $60M in total cash. IMO, it would be wise for the Steelers to get an extension for Ben in before free agency starts and the numbers explode again.

TMC,

Stacy Andrews is an UFA with the Bengals. How often has Pitt grabbed an inter-divisional player via FA? I could see him replacing Alan if we can't keep him.

Is it expected to realize if Pitt resigns Starks, that Mahan is going to LG, Simmons to C, Colon to RG and Starks to RT?

Although Marvel Smith may appearing to break down, which Starks looked promising in the two games he played. Maybe LT is his true home.

[TDX27]

If I were him I'd make sure they fixed the line before I signed anything.
I mentioned this before - Ben may be willing to give up a few bucks to keep Faneca. He seems to like Faneca and seems to have a decent relationship with him. So, who knows. I still don't think Faneca is worth what he thinks he is. He has definitely either lost a step this year or is playing below his standard on purpose.

[Coryea]

He has definitely either lost a step this year or is playing below his standard on purpose.

playing below his standard would only hurt him in Free Agency, he wouldn't do that to his teammates. The guys playing beside him can't be helping him much.

[FAB802]

I mentioned this before - Ben may be willing to give up a few bucks to keep Faneca. He seems to like Faneca and seems to have a decent relationship with him. So, who knows. I still don't think Faneca is worth what he thinks he is. He has definitely either lost a step this year or is playing below his standard on purpose.

I hope you're right. If he's willing to do that it would be great. But if Faneca is trying to break the bank Ben won't be able to help.

[thatrain]

Thoughts on Faneca getting the franchise tag? I'd love to see them do it - get another year out of him while they fix the O-Line, or even give him the transition tag - which means a smaller cap hit.

[leftcoaststeelerfan]

I really do not see Faneca coming back either. There are some teams with massive amounts of cash and desperate needs. I would not be surprised to see Faneca get a 7 year deal nearing $60M in total cash. IMO, it would be wise for the Steelers to get an extension for Ben in before free agency starts and the numbers explode again.

As for Haggans, he is 31 in January and really needs to play in a 3-4 as a LOLB. He is not the fastest guy or the most fleet of foot and I do not see him commanding the money Porter got. He may hit free agency, but I think he ends up getting 2-3M a season and, IMO, I would pay him that to give my team a solid backup to both Harrison and Woodley. If either falters, you have someone that can step in and play. If Timmons moving inside is a reality, then we need a two OLBs at a minimum.


Any chance we franchise Faneca so that maybe we get a draft pick in return?

[Milkman Dan]

Franchising Faneca would cost them more than the outrageous salary he wants.

As for taking an ex-bengal FA, see Von Olehoffen, Kimo.

[thatrain]

Franchising Faneca would cost them more than the outrageous salary he wants.

As for taking an ex-bengal FA, see Von Olehoffen, Kimo.

That's true, for this coming year. The beauty of Franchising a player is that you don't have to pay him that rediculous salary down the road, only for the one year. Cap room this year won't be a problem.. we're well under the cap. Even if we resign Ben this year, the first year of a new contract is rarely where you see the big cap hit. That applies for any FA's we sign, as well as rookies.

It may cost $9 million for '08, it costs zip for '09 and beyond. Wheras what it would cost to resign him would come in at around 6 mil this year, spiraling up towards 12 mil or more by the end of the contract.

Our offensive line is in shambles, and if we let our best OL walk in FA it will only be worse next year, regardless of what moves we make in the draft or FA. It makes sense to keep him for one more year while we fix the rest of the line, and then worry about fixing that hole at LG next offseason.

[TMC]

TMC,

Stacy Andrews is an UFA with the Bengals. How often has Pitt grabbed an inter-divisional player via FA? I could see him replacing Alan if we can't keep him.

Is it expected to realize if Pitt resigns Starks, that Mahan is going to LG, Simmons to C, Colon to RG and Starks to RT?

Although Marvel Smith may appearing to break down, which Starks looked promising in the two games he played. Maybe LT is his true home.

First, I think Stacy Andrews has to be on the radar of a few teams and I would be very surprised if the Bengals did not make a serious run at him before free agency begins. IMO, if anyone gets Andrews for less than 5M per season, it will be Cincy. So, I think he either stays put or gets overpaid.

I think that starting Colon over Starks has hurt Starks value tremendously. IMO, the Steelers would be wise to look at re-signing Starks. I think, at this point, Starks is a better RT than Colon. Colon may get better, but signing Starks could move Colon to LG. Then, we would have the starters signed for our line and could potentially upgrade with the draft. IMO, re-signing Starks would be a pretty smart move.

I do not feel that Starks is a left tackle and I would chase a LT in this draft.

I WOULD NOT franchise Faneca. The franchise cost of an OL in 2007 was 9.556M. That would cut our cap space in half immediately. The rookies will cost about 2M. That means you have 7M to extend any other players on the team, including Ben. I would rather spend the 9.556M on Ben and draft a LG.