Whats your salary cap philosophy

I'd cut Stewart, reason being you can get similar production for much less cost. Almost anytime you can take a slight drop in production in exchange for a huge drop in pay, I'd do it.

Some guys you just have to be bold and resign. This is Pollard. Offer him a nice 3 year ~11-12 million dollar contract and lock him up. It might be slightly overpaying him, but better than losing him. It's not much of an overpay, and he would probably take it.

Cut CJ and Wimbley to save money, and sign a cheap FA RB and draft one.

Take what cap is left and get one big name guy, like a TJ Ward, Jared Allen, Dansby, ect. It's better to sell yourself on one guy rather than try to get a bunch of them, spreading your cap room thinner. Again if you overpay a bit to get a player, that is still better than not getting him at all.

Use overwhelming force when going for Free Agents, and always try to structure their contracts to put more money on the later years. This way, you can cut them a few years down the line for minimal cap penalty, and you would have payed under market value for those first two or three years.

If you don't like what you're getting for free agents, take that money to lock up Vern. Structure his contract the way I said to allow yourself cheap pay now, and a cheaper cut a few years down the line if he doesn't pan out. Player agents tend to frown upon this method, but players don't seem to notice or care.

 

I don't think so. I'm talking about big name players here, not smaller guys like Walker and Pita last year. If you're going after one of the top end free agents and you focus on a handfull of them, you may not get any of them. You also won't have as much money to offer if you're throwing big offers all over the tables. As far as the big name free agents go, I'd rather pick my guy and get him, rather than offer a bunch of big name free agents big bucks, knowing that I'll still be lucky to get one of them.

 

They have to cut CJ & Stewart at least. Perhaps Fitzy, Fokou, Stevens & Wimbley. We need to end up with 18-22 mil after cuts, at least.

It'd be nice to re-sign Verner & Pollard first off. Secondly, I'd like to land one big name defensive free agent. The rest, let's add cheap, quality guys like Pollard & Pitoitua last year.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong (I did this using OvertheCap) but cutting CJ (6mil), Stewart (6.4mil) & Stevens (2.4mil) puts us at about 20.8 million in cap space. Wimbley & Fitzy may be save after all.

 

First I get excited. I ***** later when the player is not as good as I expected.

 

You're supposed to build your team via The Draft, not free agency. It's okay to sign some positional guys and maybe bring in one big name player, but teams that build themselves using free agents usually don't pan out too well.

That's another reason why I say to lock up Vern if you can't get that one big name free agent. I'd rather see us lock up one or two good players than try to get a bunch like last year. But you better draft well.