Green Bay's cap situation is tight Brad Biggs
It’s not a matter of not wanting to franchise tag Matt Flynn before trading him, it’s a matter of not being able to for the Green Bay Packers.
According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers simply don’t have the salary-cap room to make such a move – and they’d almost certainly need to have a trade worked out in advance to pull off such a plan.
The Packers have more than $113.3 million committed to their 2012 salary cap, leaving them about $7 million to handle a host of free agents, including tight end Jermichael Finley and center Scott Wells.
It’s going to be a tight fit for the Packers to get the business they need to complete done, and as Silverstein notes, the tag number for quarterbacks in 2012 will be $14 million. Yes, the Packers will probably do some housecleaning to clear up some room, moves that will be made no matter what, but not that many moves.
“It's not going to happen,” Silverstein writes.
The Packers might use the franchise tag, but it would likely be aimed at Finley, who has already said he would not be opposed to that. The tag for tight ends will be about $5.5 million.
There are a lot of things general manager Ted Thompson must consider, and extending the contract of quarterback Aaron Rodgers is one of them. Doing a tag-and-trade with Flynn doesn’t look likely.
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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune
Packers could clear 14 million in cap space tomorrow. There is still possibility tag and trade happens.
I will believe Flynn leaves without compensation when March 1st rolls around. With two players
on offense over 35 and a 32nd ranked defense there is plenty of cap room that could be cleared.
No, no don't franchise Finley. The Bears would move on him ASAP! He drops more passes than our TEs catch. He'd look GOOD with that C on his helmet.
I didn't think the cap numbers mattered until the final roster cut down. Those who think GB will get a high compensatory pick for Flynn are dreaming. He hasn't had enough production to make it a higher pick. Probably be a 6th rounder.
Valkrider - You obviously have no idea how compensatory draft picks are decided upon. It has nothing to do with his (or any players) current production. The way they figure it out through a combination of the contract he signs (probably a relatively large one) and his playing time and performance. The contract he signs alone should be enough to net a 3rd round pick (QB is just one of those positions).
The more you know...
Valkrider - You obviously have no idea how compensatory draft picks are decided upon. It has nothing to do with his (or any players) current production. The way they figure it out through a combination of the contract he signs (probably a relatively large one) and his playing time and performance. The contract he signs alone should be enough to net a 3rd round pick (QB is just one of those positions).
The more you know...
I am not as smart as everyone else here so bear with me. But, why didn't the Pack (or other team) spend excess cap money (now lost) last year to extend core guys like Rodgers etc.?
It is disapointing that the Packers spend all their time and efforts turning this guy into a seemingly legit QB and let him walk with only a comp pick for their work. Why did they hold onto this guy that long? Should have been fishing for a trade this past season(maybe they were). If Arodg goes down you are screwed anyways so it would have been a calculated risk. Hell Ted took a chance letting Jenkins go and trusting Neal. Flynn had a lot of value and scouts all around the league are excited about his potential even before that lions game. Those are the type of moves that can really make a differance to your roster. Oh well, hopefully Ted hits on his comp pick and none of this talk even matters. Defense, defense, defense!!!!!
Big Wayne....if they had traded him, who would've been the backup this year? What makes you think that he would've gotten the Packers anything higher than a 3rd rounder if they traded him before the 2011 season?
Cap money does not matter until final roster is set. Finley will sign a long-term deal and Flynn will be tagged and traded for a first round pick. If Peter King thinks Matt is worth a first round pick, then so do I.
BigDork... "Cap money does not matter until final roster is set."
Actually it DOES matter! During the offseason there is still a cap. Your teams highest pd 51, IIRC, players cannot exceed the Salary cap for the coming year. I would have thought on a site like this that you guys would know this kinda stuff. Guess you gotta count on Packer fans to keep you all informed. Theres a reason we're called the most knowledable fans in the NFL!
Trade Rodgers and get a ton of picks and rebuild the defense and get a running game going already. Rodgers is over-rated so get what you can now for him. Flynn will be fine.
Love hurts - That is master level trolling, well done!
I'm sure you all know more than Ted Thompson, 2 time executive of the year. This guy lives Packers football and has built a competitive team for probably a decade.
My guess he probably won't take the $ chance on Flynn. I also believe most people are way over evaluating the trade compensation for Flynn. Although Flynn is solid, his arm strength isn't close to Rodgers. Put Flynn on an average team, I believe you will see an average QB.
Look for TT to lock up Finely. Pay only Wells what he is worth on a 3 year deal or let him walk. Save the $ to extend Rodgers, Jennings, Raji, Matthews, etc. You can only pay so many players premium prices, and would guess he'll use that premium money on premium players only. Finley is just scratching the surface, and which TE on the roster can replace him? None that I see. One year of drops only won't turn off the Pack on Finley. Offense is Rodgers, Jennings, Finley for a decade.
It will not happen. First, it is against the collective bargaining agreement and with the length of collective bargaining talks last year, they are more likely to enforce that than before. Second, why would Flynn do it. He would be weakening the team he is going to by, in essence, forcing compensation for himself in a tag and trade.
Finley will probably get Franchised at least so they have some space to work out a longer term deal. He didn't break thru this year so he will likely get a good base deal but loaded with incentives.
They want to sign Wells too. They really need to as they can't let the O-line quality degrade. Sadly Driver will go also. He wants to play till 40 and they have too many guys who need to see the ball.
Nobody is going to give the Packers a #1 for Matt Flynn. Maybe Peter King thinks he is worth a first but King doesn't manage anybody's cap. Jeff's right, Flynn has an opportunity to let the market work for him
Why look to extend Raji? He was poor this season. Couldn't pressure the pocket. Hope Raji was watching Wolfork against Baltimore. That's how a Tsckle applies pressure. Make Raji prove he was worthy of a #1. AJ Hawk is a guy who should also be worried. The Packer D-line could hinge on how Neal responds. Time to play and avoid nagging injuries. He plays like they think he can and the D-line can rebound. If not, they are screwed
Sliverstien is wrong again. Go figure... I'd be surprised when one day he's right! Heck, a broken clock has more on the ball than him.
First it was, Finley will be resigned early in the year... Then when that didn't pan out, certainly by the bye week... No dice Clay? He'll be franchised! I wonder what will be said when Finley id dressed in a Bucs uni? I bet he'll have seen it the whole time!
Thompson will not give big money to a guy who spends more time in a hot tub than a USC booster girl. And the one season he plays? He can't run the right routes and drops the ball at the highest rate for all TE. The only reason reporters want Finley is that he talks to them and gossips - yeah, Thompson knows that.
Flynn doesn't see a dime of the tag from the Pack, he gets it from the team he's traded to, and of the 14 mil (which is guaranteed) most can be written in the bonus which is cap friendly if he doesn't work out.
I guess the GB media beat guys are gonna have to find a new chump for inside info...
Articles like this piss me off, but I don't expect anything less from the Journal Sentinel sports department... here are a few HUGE points that prove Silverstein wrong.
1) The new NFL CBA allows teams to rollover cap space from the previous year, which in our case is about $6 million.
2) Many NFL financial analysts, including former Packers front office man Andrew Brandt, believe the salary cap will be set at around $125 million. So that's about $5 million more cap space.
3) I am of the belief that Chad Clifton will retire, which gives us another $5.5 million. I am also of the belief that Driver will be cut (sad, I know...), since we have Tori Gurley ready to come up from the practice squad and guys like Randall Cobb and James Jones ready for bigger roles on offense. Anyways, that nets us another $5 million extra.
So in total we add Silverstein's original number ($7 million) with the cap space rollover ($6 million), the cap threshold increase ($5 million), Chad Clifton coming off the books ($5.5 million) and Donald Driver coming off the books ($5 million).
**That has us at roughly $28.5 million cap space, and that's even with the possibility of guys like Woodson and Hawk restructuring as well as Nick Collins' future in question.
To say we don't have the cap space to Tag and Trade Matt is just ridiculous.
Feb 01, 2012
05:15 PM
i think anybody who knows anything about football has been saying ever since week 17 that there was no legit chance that this would actually happen.
in the end, it likely means the difference between a high 2nd round pick (via trade to mia/cle/sea) vs. a low 3rd round (compensatory) pick anyway. not worth the risk.