to a ridiculous contract?

At this point, wouldn’t a restructure of Branch, Peterson and/or both clear more cap space than cutting either outright?

I also read somewhere that because of the way the deal was structured, we could clear space by cutting Wahle … which makes some sense if you figure he won’t be an ideal fit in a shift to a zone blocking scheme.

1.Russell, regardless of cap-number
2.Babs, unless a very low number
3.Duckett (Schmitt to replace)
4.Jones and draft a 2nd round RB
5.Lose Weaver (Schmitt to replace)
6.Restructure JP and/or Walt
7.Cut Kerney if we have to (since we have LoJack and Tapp, at least)

seems like you can get rid of; Duckett, Wahl, Russell. Restructure JP, and Walter. And while that I thinking of it, didn’t Ruskell say they were in a good cap situation?

He could be a candidate for restructure, but maybe not cut. He has a large contract, 49mil? Or am I crazy. ..

JP counts 7.3 million against the cap this upcoming season? Mike Wahle has a 5 year contract totaling 20 million? Anyone know how much longer (and how much) we will be paying Shaun Alexander?

Duckett is earning 7.1 million over the first two years of his contract, which is 5 years long, we should keep him.

This offseason is going to be interesting. I just read today that the Cardinals stand at 40 million under the cap next season.

I think Hasselbeck gets the starting job next season and a chance to show if he can bounce back. Grant and Peterson still played well in ‘08, so I can’t see either of them being cut and I don’t know what to think about Walter Jones.

Some people that I think will be cut: Whale, Russell, Kerney and maybe Julius Jones.

What a horrible year to have the #4 pick.

I think you have to consider Walter the most likely on that list, Kerney would be the most expendable but the D-line looks horrible without him.

• Tapp
• Mebane
• Red
• LoJack

Ugh

This hurts to say so bad, but… Big Walt has to go. I feel like a real heel, but we need to get younger. After that, so long Pat Kearney. Another season of seeing you almost sack the opposing QB only to fall short while they sling it downfield and make a play, NO MORE!

We do not know how much money would alotted to us to sign rookies.
We also have no clue how we are doing with unfulfilled contracts. IE Bonuses that are not achieved when a contract expires counts as added cap space. Last year, Porkchop gave us a couple million. I bet Rocky Bernard’s contract has some of that considering we resigned him after 2005.
Also Shaun Alexander and Marcus Tubbs do not count as dead cap because we absorbed it last year. I wonder what is included in that 9 million? Chris Gray? Robinson(LS and WR)? Does it include the people for the 80 person rsoter? Future contracts etc. It is hard to believe we are in this cap situation but since it is stated, I would cut:
Walter Jones – if injury is serious or affects adversely
Russell – great excuse to unload his uselessness
Big Play Babs or Kelly Jennings
Mike Whale – I know it is wahle
Anybody else would probably be useless.

It seems bizarre that the Cardinals, with Fitzgerald’s enormous salary, would be so far under the cap. Is it because they have a raft of UFA’s who can’t be counted against the cap until they’re signed? What about RFA’s?

If that’s the explanation, I think I’d like to see these numbers accompanied by some additional data. For each team, how many players are already under contract next year? How many starters will they have to re-sign or replace via the draft or free agency?

Without that further info, it’s difficult to draw any conclusions about which teams are in better or worse shape than others.

Jennings – Tye Hill 2.0. Showed promise, lost confidence in abilities, shell of former selves.
Wahle – Good signing at the time, didn’t work out.
Duckett – Even if we don’t resign Weaver, why can’t we just use Schmitt in this role?
Russell – Seriously, even if he’s willing to play for free, he doesn’t belong anywhere near the Pacific Northwest.
Grant – Why the hell are we paying him so much again? He’s not bad but not nearly elite.

So I assume the overall motto is that we’ll be extremely fortunate to retain our star players, let alone sign new ones in FA?

is before the cap increase, and most years (if not all of them), the cap increases a little. Also, cap numbers can be hard to project and we may have less or more than 9 million based on how all the math works out in the next month. Most estimates I’ve seen have us a little over 15 million in cap space after the cap increase.

That’s still not enough to sign a major free agent (like Hayneworth) and the draft picks without spilling some blood, but its not as hopeless as having only $9 million.