Levi Brown headed to Steelers?

[crisper57]

Long-term, this means we can't use Levi as a crutch to forego drafting/trading/picking up a competent FA at LT. The "Wait to see if Levi improves" mentality is gone and that puts the onus on the Cardinals to really go out and find a solution outside the organization.

 

[Denny Green Fan]

This move is made to clear cap space and should be a clear indication ARZ is going to take one of these guys next year.

The Giants and Steelers are going to get to them before we do.

 

[WisconsinCard]

This is like Xmas in October if this is indeed true.


Hell yea, do it ASAP! I'm crossing my fingers, toes, ears& eyes praying for this miracle. This move will make the Cards better in the long run & hopefully the rest of this year.

I'm pretty damn sure Massie can't do any worse & IMO might be better given his athletic ability & that's who I would give the first opportunity too instead of Sowell.

Dear Steve Keim allow me to have a **** eating grin on my face in the next few days.

Well the voodoo doll worked, not how we expected, but he's gone.

 

[Totally_Red]

This is yet another indictment of the previous regime. Levi is ranked 60 out of 72 tackles ranked by PFF and he's 'earning' $6 million a year. Ya gotta love the new regime. They aren't going to sit on their hands and accept 'putrid' performance especially from highly-paid veterans.

Nothing personal against Levi Brown, but this opens the door for young players to get a chance. Those may fall on their face, but realistically Levi Brown had no future even if he made it through this season. At worst, the position is upgraded in the offseason and the Cardinals get something for someone not in their future.

 

[WisconsinCard]

Long-term, this means we can't use Levi as a crutch to forego drafting/trading/picking up a competent FA at LT. The "Wait to see if Levi improves" mentality is gone and that puts the onus on the Cardinals to really go out and find a solution outside the organization.

That is a very good point. I am from the school of thought you address your needs in free agency and draft the best players available.

 

[JeffGollin]

I don't think we'll know the entire story if only that the Cards will try to avoid embarrassing anyone in the FO or coaching staff.

The timing of the move is kind of weird (it has to disrupt the process of the OL getting familiar with one another).

Calling Levi "elite" and trading him 5 weeks into the season is even stranger..

Replacing our starting LT with a relative newbie with limited playing experience has to raise eyebrows.

So what happened? My theory -

Arians was trying to boost Levi's value by pawning him off as "elite." Someone in the FO and coaching staff convinced BA that Levi would have trade value if marketed properly. Levi didn't live up to the manufactured hype, Keim couldn't get the deal he wanted, he waited and waited to pull the trigger and finally decided to cut his losses and take what he could.

As far as Sowell, Potter, Massie etc. go, I don't think we've gotten an accurate depiction of how the coaches view each of them and wouldn't begin to guess what the Cardinals will do now or over the course of the season.

One remaining question remains in my mind - Do the coaches feel that Levi was playing so badly that - with possibly some adjustments to the playbook and blocking schemes - replacing Levi with any of those 3 guys won't be a net loss?

Like I said; I'd really like to know what our FO and coaches were & are thinking, but I don't think they'll ever tell us what really was going on.

 

[kerouac9]

So... When Steve Keim said "we're not rebuilding, we're reloading," what he actually meant to say was "We're not rebuilding, we're unloading."

 

[Azlen]

One thing that I haven't seen discussed in this thread is the message it sends to the rest of the team. They are quite clearly saying that you better listen to the coaches and work your ass off or you are out of here. Complacency won't be accepted.

 

[cardncubfan]

The best part about this is I don't have to see Bucky post in every single thread that Levi sucks.

 

[Mulli]

So... When Steve Keim said "we're not rebuilding, we're reloading," what he actually meant to say was "We're not rebuilding, we're unloading."

Which is also reloading...

Another great reason to want the Steelers to lose. A nice high 6th round pick.

 

[gmabel830]

According to sportrac (which has already made the update), looks like we have about $2.75M in dead cap money this year and $4.2M in dead cap money next year for Levi due to bonuses paid out.

Though that is certainly better than keeping him and paying him the remaining $3.6M salary this year and $6M salary next year.

 

[crisper57]

According to sportrac (which has already made the update), looks like we have about $2.75M in dead cap money this year and $4.2M in dead cap money next year for Levi due to bonuses paid out.

Though that is certainly better than keeping him and paying him the remaining $3.6M salary this year and $6M salary next year.

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't a trade mean the Steelers take on his contract? It's not like we cut him. Why would there still be cap hits for a transaction like this?

 

[GuernseyCard]

According to sportrac (which has already made the update), looks like we have about $2.75M in dead cap money this year and $4.2M in dead cap money next year for Levi due to bonuses paid out.

Though that is certainly better than keeping him and paying him the remaining $3.6M salary this year and $6M salary next year.

Do you subtract 2.75 from 3.6 to reach cap savings in 2013?

 

[gmabel830]

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't a trade mean the Steelers take on his contract? It's not like we cut him. Why would there still be cap hits for a transaction like this?

The Steelers are responsible for the remaining $9.6M in salary that he is owed. But the Cardinals have already paid him bonus money that for salary cap purposes they allocated over the life of the contract (teams spread signing bonus money up over the life of the contract so they aren't faced with a huge salary cap number the first year a guy signs a new contract). So basically, the Cards have previously paid Levi ~$6.7M in real cash bonus money that was allocated to our salary cap this year and next year. So, that money becomes dead money on our cap, while the Steelers will just owe the remaining salary to be paid.

 

[gmabel830]

Do you subtract 2.75 from 3.6 to reach cap savings in 2013?

I don't think so -- I think the 2.75 is for bonus money that was previously paid to Levi (which we are responsible for on our cap), while the 3.6 is the remaining actual salary Levi will get paid this season.

The 2.75 this year probably doesn't really even matter, our team is basically set and I'd imagine we can bring a guy in if we need to within our salary cap for this year.

 

[kerouac9]

According to sportrac (which has already made the update), looks like we have about $2.75M in dead cap money this year and $4.2M in dead cap money next year for Levi due to bonuses paid out.

Though that is certainly better than keeping him and paying him the remaining $3.6M salary this year and $6M salary next year.

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't a trade mean the Steelers take on his contract? It's not like we cut him. Why would there still be cap hits for a transaction like this?

Do you subtract 2.75 from 3.6 to reach cap savings in 2013?

My understanding on this is that the entirety of Levi's remaining bonus ($5.6M) accelerates into this year's cap, as well as the amortized salary that he was making over the first four weeks of the season ($1.1875M), which means that nearly $7M will be put on the 2013 cap. Brown already had a cap hold of $6.4M in 2013, which means at the additional cap money is fairly minimal.

What I don't know is whether the Cards can split the accelerated bonus into the 2013 and 2014 cap. I don't believe that the case, but it's possible.

 

[Totally_Red]

My understanding on this is that the entirety of Levi's remaining bonus ($5.6M) accelerates into this year's cap, as well as the amortized salary that he was making over the first four weeks of the season ($1.1875M), which means that nearly $7M will be put on the 2013 cap. Brown already had a cap hold of $6.4M in 2013, which means at the additional cap money is fairly minimal.

What I don't know is whether the Cards can split the accelerated bonus into the 2013 and 2014 cap. I don't believe that the case, but it's possible.

Kent Somers tweets that $4.2 million goes into next year and it would make sense to use the salary savings to extend some of the one-year contracts.

Kent Somers ‏@kentsomers41m
Way I read CBA, $4.2 million of Brown's signing bonus would count toward 2014 cap, not this year.​

 

[gmabel830]

My understanding on this is that the entirety of Levi's remaining bonus ($5.6M) accelerates into this year's cap, as well as the amortized salary that he was making over the first four weeks of the season ($1.1875M), which means that nearly $7M will be put on the 2013 cap. Brown already had a cap hold of $6.4M in 2013, which means at the additional cap money is fairly minimal.

What I don't know is whether the Cards can split the accelerated bonus into the 2013 and 2014 cap. I don't believe that the case, but it's possible.

OK - I was just going by what Sprotrac said, since they updated him to off the roster/on to dead money list. I'd much prefer if we just had to eat the dead cap money in 2013 if we have the cap room to do so, as I don't see us spending big money to bring in a new guy for this season and it would be better to get the dead money off our books earlier rather than later.

 

[GuernseyCard]

My understanding on this is that the entirety of Levi's remaining bonus ($5.6M) accelerates into this year's cap, as well as the amortized salary that he was making over the first four weeks of the season ($1.1875M), which means that nearly $7M will be put on the 2013 cap. Brown already had a cap hold of $6.4M in 2013, which means at the additional cap money is fairly minimal.

What I don't know is whether the Cards can split the accelerated bonus into the 2013 and 2014 cap. I don't believe that the case, but it's possible.

Cap hit does not accelerate into current year for deals after June 1.

$2.75 hit in 2013. $4.2 in 2014.

(from tweets)

 

[TJ]

Kent Somers tweets that $4.2 million goes into next year.

Kent Somers ‏@kentsomers41m
Way I read CBA, $4.2 million of Brown's signing bonus would count toward 2014 cap, not this year.​

This is correct. Cards were most likely gonna cut him after this season, so either way, we were gonna take the bonus hit. At least now, we save on this year's salary and get compensation.

Overall, this is the best-case scenario given the circumstances.

 

[Duckjake]

Which is also reloading...

Another great reason to want the Steelers to lose. A nice high 6th round pick.

I agree. But it seems like we are reloading a .44 Magnum with .22 shorts.

 

[crisper57]

The Steelers are responsible for the remaining $9.6M in salary that he is owed. But the Cardinals have already paid him bonus money that for salary cap purposes they allocated over the life of the contract (teams spread signing bonus money up over the life of the contract so they aren't faced with a huge salary cap number the first year a guy signs a new contract). So basically, the Cards have previously paid Levi ~$6.7M in real cash bonus money that was allocated to our salary cap this year and next year. So, that money becomes dead money on our cap, while the Steelers will just owe the remaining salary to be paid.

Thank you. The salary vs. bonus thing is always so much fun to pull apart!

 

[seesred]

I was hoping the front office had the guts to move this guy and get back something. At the end of the season he would have just been released. This shows me that BA knows what he is doing. Rome wasn't built in a day and the Cards despite our Oline are 2-2. Now they can focus on the other Oline positions
and we just might see the changing of a guard. Levi is gone and I'm a happy camper I wish him well. Great move FO!

GBR
40

 

[Cheesebeef]

I was hoping the front office had the guts to move this guy and get back something. At the end of the season he would have just been released. This shows me that BA knows what he is doing. Rome wasn't built in a day and the Cards despite our Oline are 2-2. Now they can focus on the other Oline positions
and we just might see the changing of a guard. Levi is gone and I'm a happy camper I wish him well. Great move FO!

GBR
40

Man, I'm happy to see Levi gone, but if this FO really knew what they were doing, they would have found a replacement for this utter piece of football crap before the season, instead of just leaving a gaping hole at LT (which is what we went into the season with).

 

[crisper57]

Man, I'm happy to see Levi gone, but if this FO really knew what they were doing, they would have found a replacement for this utter piece of football crap before the season, instead of just leaving a gaping hole at LT (which is what we went into the season with).

Does this mean that we are forced into drafting a LT again next year? If so, will we have to package picks to leapfrog other teams to get our guy? If so, does that mean we forego drafting our QBOF next year?

There are a lot of questions that make this trade questionable at this time. To me, they are all drowned-out by cheering AZ fans.