Money goes just as fast out the door as it does coming in. 6 free agents signed, 5 players re-signed, much higher quantity of RFA's (almost double then normal) at a much higher cost. Just because money went out the door with players leaving doesn't mean some of it wasn't already spent on the all the other players yearly raises and more bonuses given out, especially workout bonuses, sure leadership has something to do with workout attendance but don't be fooled, the new workout bonuses we are handing out plays a big part. For example lets say 50 mill left in salary, 15 mill of that was already spent on 2010 increased salaries because of players getting their usual yearly raises(about 5-10 increase in their yearly base salary) and bonuses.
Have they spent as much as last year no they have not(again about 12 mill less which equalls about what Warner made), but then again 30 out of 32 teams are so far spending less then last year on player salary. On average each team is spending 10 mill less on player salary then the year prior. Good piece of evidence if the NFLPA wants to charge the league with collusion actually, although it is still really hard to prove.
But that budget is much higher for the players lost for the players signed. You can't just throw out numbers of players and expect that to make the difference. Are you telling me the Cards didn't already have the tenders in mind at the beginning of last offseason for guys like Breaston, Lutui, Branch, etc.? Of course they did. Even if Breaston earned a 1st round tender instead of a second (and I don't think they intended to do that from the beginning), it's not like it makes up for the $2.75 million that the Cards got rid of when they shipped off Q.
Teams are spending less on free agency, to be sure. I don't have a problem with that--really. But they can't essentially carry $10 million in extra payroll through the season and tell me that they did everything they could to win if they don't shore up their pending free agents.
Who were these players getting a ton of yearly raises? Antrel was due a yearly raise and he got cut. They cleared some $5 million when they traded McFadden, and you know that it's no DRC or Toler who got $5 million raises. Who got the $5 million that left with Chike Okeafor, because I'm pretty sure it wasn't Cody Brown. I know that Anthony Becht and Matt Ware didn't get that money.
I'm not accusing the Cards of being cheap. I'm hoping that they spend the money wisely by extending guys in-season. My expectation is that we get two "big" ones done (Dockett and Fitz) or one big one done (Dockett) and then extend a bunch of young guys (Hightower, Keith should he work out, Sendlein, etc.) like the Cards did some five years ago with Hayes and Dockett.
If the Cards get to Christmas without new contracts for any of these guys, I'm going to worry that they're sitting on a war chest when they're getting $100 million in television revenues whether games are played or not.
