One important thing to note is that teams are only required to have a minimum salary of 84% of the cap this year (this is a ramp up year due to the new CBA, and it goes to 90% in 2007 for the rest of the CBA years). This means teams are allowed to be up to $16.32 million under the cap this year. Just because the teams have a bunch of cap space does not mean they will spend it. It is going to take the league a couple of years of free agents under the new cap to increase player salaries overall. Competition for free agents is what drives up salaries.
That being said, the Seahawks or any other NFL team would not be wise to waste all of the current room they have to spare under the cap. The idea is to use as much cap as you can (wisely) this year, so you do not get into a salary cap nightmare situation like the Tennessee Titans find themselves in right now. One of the smartest teams, as far as salary cap management, has been the Philadelphia Eagles. For most of last season they were $9.427 million under the cap with the next highest teams having $5.858 and $4.14 million. One tool that teams use is the ability to increase the current season’s base salary through Week 9 of the current season. The team can essentially resign a player during the season, including the current season and the difference in salary for that year essentially becomes a signing bonus (and it does not get amortized over the life of the deal). This is why we saw Brian Westbrook and David Akers sign extensions with Philadelphia last November. This is part of the reason the Eagles were able to sign Westbrook and still have the most cap room in the league right now with a whopping $19.25 million. With the large, league-wide increase in cap room, we will likely see moves like this done by many NFL teams, especially as the deadline approaches.
The Seahawks have some interesting players that this could impact, and we have a lot of time to evaluate them this season before we make any decisions. The most interesting position is on our offensive line. The following players are all only signed through 2006: Floyd Womack, Robbie Tobeck, Chris Gray and Sean Locklear – in other words, all of our starters besides Walter Jones (signed through 2012). Tobeck and/or Gray may very well retire after this season, but Sean Locklear is young and has played well. The Seahawks would be wise to sign him to an extension, using an increase in his $425,000 salary this season as his signing bonus before he hits the market in free agency.
The same can be said for Ken Hamlin and Craig Terrill. If Hamlin turns out to be healthy (we have two months of regular season games to see) then he will be a priority to resign. He currently makes $500,000 and will command a lot more if we let him become a free agent. Jerramy Stevens and Chuck Darby have contracts that expire in 2007. We have time to see Stevens after he recovers from his knee injury.
Marcus Trufant, Michael Boulware, and Leroy Hill are all young players that figure to play prominent roles in our defense for years to come. They also all have contract expiring in 2008 and this year make a combined total of $1.325 million. This is a great opportunity to lock those players up in long term deals while giving the team flexibility in the future to use cap room to sign free agents. Often times you see teams that are unable to hold on to talented, young players once their rookie contracts expire because they cannot afford to resign all of them.
This is a great chance to stay ahead in the salary cap game and keep a great team intact for years to come, which might be a lot more valuable than signing an aging, veteran cornerback for a couple of seasons. Once you get behind, you end up chasing it year after year and it takes some horrible seasons to recover. Look at the Titans and 49ers if you need an example. Ironically, it can get even worse when you are at the bottom because you draft high and spend more money on the top picks.
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