Syracusecards
DA's pass went that way
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- Oct 27, 2004
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Samari Rolle is pretty good and I wouldn't mind bringing in Hopkins.
Titans Facing Another Cap Squeeze
It has become an annual ritual for the Tennessee Titans -- scrambling to get beneath the salary cap and doing their best to keep the team's core intact while losing a few players here and there.
The Titans are about $25 million over the NFL's projected salary cap for next season of approximately $85.5 million per club. Owner Bud Adams, General Manager Floyd Reese and Coach Jeff Fisher must make decisions about how to proceed by the time the team is required to be in cap compliance in March.
The Titans face tough choices about whether to release key players -- like wide receiver Derrick Mason, offensive tackles Brad Hopkins and Fred Miller, cornerback Samari Rolle, safety Lance Schulters, defensive end Kevin Carter and kicker Joe Nedney -- who are under contract for next season but have hefty salary-cap numbers. They will have a difficult time keeping cornerback Andre Dyson, an unrestricted free agent, and defensive end Carlos Hall, a restricted free agent.
It's nothing new for the Titans, who scrambled to get under the cap last offseason and didn't have room to maneuver to use their franchise-player tag to retain defensive end Jevon Kearse. He signed with the Eagles via unrestricted free agency, and Tennessee lost free-agent defensive tackle Robaire Smith to the Houston Texans. The Titans traded wide receiver Justin McCareins, a restricted free agent, to the New York Jets and released veteran tailback Eddie George in the summer after failing to agree to a reworked contract with him. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys but looked old and slow and lost his starting job to Julius Jones once the rookie got healthy.
The Titans have been among the league's most consistent winners under Fisher. Entering this season, they were coming off a string of four seasons with at least 11 wins in a five-year span. But they slumped to 5-11 this season, with quarterback Steve McNair playing in only eight games because of a sternum injury.
A team facing a salary-cap crunch can take one of two approaches. It can restructure as many contracts as possible, limit the number of players it must release and try to patch up its cap situation as best it can to remain as competitive as possible and then face the ever-worsening cap problems in the future. Or it can simply cut the players with cumbersome contracts, absorb the resulting cap hits in the next season or two, live with the undermanned roster and the losses that are likely to result in the short-term and clear up all the salary cap problems once and, hopefully, for all.
But even if the Titans are tempted to perform such a housecleaning this offseason, they probably won't have the option of doing so if McNair decides to play next season. McNair, who underwent surgery for his sternum injury after having his season ended early, said late in the season that he would contemplate retirement in the offseason because of his inability to stay healthy. He probably wouldn't want to return to a team that's starting a rebuilding project. So the Titans probably can't take a starting-over approach if McNair continues playing, and it seems likely that he will opt to return next season. If he retires, though, it probably would be the perfect time for the Titans to attempt to fix their salary cap situation all at once.
The other NFL teams with major salary-cap overages are the Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins, each about $15 million over next season's projected cap.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Seattle Seahawks are approximately $30 million under the projected cap but have a list of 16 players eligible for unrestricted free agency that includes quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, tailback Shaun Alexander and left tackle Walter Jones. The San Diego Chargers are about $25 million under the cap but must deal with the free-agent status of Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals each are more than $20 million under the cap.
Titans Facing Another Cap Squeeze
It has become an annual ritual for the Tennessee Titans -- scrambling to get beneath the salary cap and doing their best to keep the team's core intact while losing a few players here and there.
The Titans are about $25 million over the NFL's projected salary cap for next season of approximately $85.5 million per club. Owner Bud Adams, General Manager Floyd Reese and Coach Jeff Fisher must make decisions about how to proceed by the time the team is required to be in cap compliance in March.
The Titans face tough choices about whether to release key players -- like wide receiver Derrick Mason, offensive tackles Brad Hopkins and Fred Miller, cornerback Samari Rolle, safety Lance Schulters, defensive end Kevin Carter and kicker Joe Nedney -- who are under contract for next season but have hefty salary-cap numbers. They will have a difficult time keeping cornerback Andre Dyson, an unrestricted free agent, and defensive end Carlos Hall, a restricted free agent.
It's nothing new for the Titans, who scrambled to get under the cap last offseason and didn't have room to maneuver to use their franchise-player tag to retain defensive end Jevon Kearse. He signed with the Eagles via unrestricted free agency, and Tennessee lost free-agent defensive tackle Robaire Smith to the Houston Texans. The Titans traded wide receiver Justin McCareins, a restricted free agent, to the New York Jets and released veteran tailback Eddie George in the summer after failing to agree to a reworked contract with him. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys but looked old and slow and lost his starting job to Julius Jones once the rookie got healthy.
The Titans have been among the league's most consistent winners under Fisher. Entering this season, they were coming off a string of four seasons with at least 11 wins in a five-year span. But they slumped to 5-11 this season, with quarterback Steve McNair playing in only eight games because of a sternum injury.
A team facing a salary-cap crunch can take one of two approaches. It can restructure as many contracts as possible, limit the number of players it must release and try to patch up its cap situation as best it can to remain as competitive as possible and then face the ever-worsening cap problems in the future. Or it can simply cut the players with cumbersome contracts, absorb the resulting cap hits in the next season or two, live with the undermanned roster and the losses that are likely to result in the short-term and clear up all the salary cap problems once and, hopefully, for all.
But even if the Titans are tempted to perform such a housecleaning this offseason, they probably won't have the option of doing so if McNair decides to play next season. McNair, who underwent surgery for his sternum injury after having his season ended early, said late in the season that he would contemplate retirement in the offseason because of his inability to stay healthy. He probably wouldn't want to return to a team that's starting a rebuilding project. So the Titans probably can't take a starting-over approach if McNair continues playing, and it seems likely that he will opt to return next season. If he retires, though, it probably would be the perfect time for the Titans to attempt to fix their salary cap situation all at once.
The other NFL teams with major salary-cap overages are the Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins, each about $15 million over next season's projected cap.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Seattle Seahawks are approximately $30 million under the projected cap but have a list of 16 players eligible for unrestricted free agency that includes quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, tailback Shaun Alexander and left tackle Walter Jones. The San Diego Chargers are about $25 million under the cap but must deal with the free-agent status of Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals each are more than $20 million under the cap.
