Justin Tucker: The First of Many Salary Cap Casualties (Opinion)

[GrimCoconut]

Sounds like the Ravens & his (Tucker) agent have been discussing this deal for some time. Apparently it's been going on for about a year and a half. I'm guessing it'll work out quickly or he'll get the tag and make this thread irrelevant.

[beanfigger]

Sounds like the Ravens & his (Tucker) agent have been discussing this deal for some time. Apparently it's been going on for about a year and a half. I'm guessing it'll work out quickly or he'll get the tag and make this thread irrelevant.

I agree, but I doubt it happens soon. Probably pretty close to the end of the league year.

[usmccharles]

I agree, but I doubt it happens soon. Probably pretty close to the end of the league year.

Tucker is an elite talent at his position yet doesnt command a double digit salary, wont even be over 5 imo.  Ravens tend to keep their guys that excel and are affordable.  We can make it work and i think we will.  I believe 3.6mill is the average of the top 5 and i see him comming around 3.8mill

[Radinho84]

That's not gaining cap space. Whether or not you take the full cap hit in 2016 or spread it out over two seasons doesn't change the total amount of cap hit. Again, you seem to have this false idea that having a bunch of cap space is a great thing, when the only sustainable way of building a team is through the draft.

 

As far as keeping the guys drafted recently, obviously we've still go practically everybody on a rookie deal worth keeping. If we go back in the Harbaugh era:

 

2008 - Kept - Joe Flacco, Ray Rice. Walked= Nobody significant

2009 - Kept - Lardarius Webb. Walked = Michael Oher, Paul Kruger

2010 - Kept - Dennis Pitta. Walked = Art Jones

2011 - Kept - Jimmy Smith. Walked = Torrey Smith, Pernell McPhee

 

So in every single one of those seasons, we kept at least one of those guys on a significant long term deal. Of the guys we let walk, only Kruger and McPhee stand out to me as players I actually would like to still have on this team. Given that we also swapped Kruger for Dumervil at a cheaper rate, its basically McPhee and nobody else.

one could also argue that the ones that demand higher cap spaces due to higher valued contracts haven´t been resigned. contract for a LT or DE is much more money compared to a TE...

[GrimCoconut]

Tucker is an elite talent at his position yet doesnt command a double digit salary, wont even be over 5 imo. Ravens tend to keep their guys that excel and are affordable. We can make it work and i think we will. I believe 3.6mill is the average of the top 5 and i see him comming around 3.8mill

Yeah. I think we'll keep Tucker for around 3.5 - 4 M a year average. The average of that range is 3.75M, which sounds right.

[usmccharles]

Yeah. I think we'll keep Tucker for around 3.5 - 4 M a year average. The average of that range is 3.75M, which sounds right.

Yea i just rounded.  I cant remember where i posted it, but i was curious to know the inflation rate on kickers.  All the kickers with that average price had existing deals, i think most were on their third year deal, but i could be wrong.  Maybe doesnt really make a difference with kickers?  Does that make sense. 

[CorvusCorax]

Get cut?? Who is saying Tucker is getting cut? I'm saying we wont be able to resign him because of our salary cap limitations and that is even taking into consideration that the Flacco contract is extended which is in no way a gimme. It is possible we could tag him but even with that it could be as high as a $5 mil hit and the sad truth is we will not have that kind of room. After all is said and done we are going to end up somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 mil in cap space which is hardly enough to spend lavishly on anyone. So no big name game changer's coming to our organization this year for sure.

 

Cut, not resigned, their, there, they're, you're, your, whatever. Right?

/sarcasm for the sarcasm impaired

 

 

Salary cap or not it's the win/loss column that is most important. In that column, Tucker has proven himself. 

He's worth the money. 

 

I'm also expecting some players to take a pay cut/ restructure/ get released. It should be able to stretch our salary cap a bit more as well, just not sure how much. Only time will tell.

[rmcjacket23]

one could also argue that the ones that demand higher cap spaces due to higher valued contracts haven´t been resigned. contract for a LT or DE is much more money compared to a TE...

Correct, that's part of it. The main guys on that list being McPhee and Kruger, but that also ignores already having one or two highly paid rushers on the team at the time their contract came up.

 

Kruger's case was unfortunate timing that involved a lot of cap space invested in veterans that were leaving and we were just coming off a SB win. McPhee was allowed to leave due to us already being invested in Suggs and Dumervil.

 

I could care less about Oher. He wasn't worth retaining. Fans will probably come in here NOW and say he was based on what they've seen this year, but they certainly were nowhere to be found saying that last season when he signed a large deal with the Titans and was benched and cut after one year.

[rmcjacket23]

Get cut?? Who is saying Tucker is getting cut? I'm saying we wont be able to resign him because of our salary cap limitations and that is even taking into consideration that the Flacco contract is extended which is in no way a gimme. It is possible we could tag him but even with that it could be as high as a $5 mil hit and the sad truth is we will not have that kind of room. After all is said and done we are going to end up somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 mil in cap space which is hardly enough to spend lavishly on anyone. So no big name game changer's coming to our organization this year for sure.

So you agree we will have $10M in cap space (which we will of course have more than that, as everybody has already shown you but you refuse to listen to logic for some reason), but we won't be able to afford $3-4M for arguably our biggest FA priority? Who else would we spend that money on? Some veteran WR?

 

Makes no sense to me. He will be back.

[usmccharles]

Get cut?? Who is saying Tucker is getting cut? I'm saying we wont be able to resign him because of our salary cap limitations and that is even taking into consideration that the Flacco contract is extended which is in no way a gimme. It is possible we could tag him but even with that it could be as high as a $5 mil hit and the sad truth is we will not have that kind of room. After all is said and done we are going to end up somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 mil in cap space which is hardly enough to spend lavishly on anyone. So no big name game changer's coming to our organization this year for sure.

how often do we get a big name game changer? Boldin, ssr, doom I guess.... We never spend lavishly

[Cillmatic]

Tucker commands well over average salary, he's been the best kicker in the league for 2 years, this was the first year he looked lesser.

[baltimorefan328]

Sorry, Adrian Peterson's taken and there aren't any other backs who don't need a line.

See Demarco Murray

[Wildabeast88]

Get cut?? Who is saying Tucker is getting cut? I'm saying we wont be able to resign him because of our salary cap limitations and that is even taking into consideration that the Flacco contract is extended which is in no way a gimme. It is possible we could tag him but even with that it could be as high as a $5 mil hit and the sad truth is we will not have that kind of room. After all is said and done we are going to end up somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 mil in cap space which is hardly enough to spend lavishly on anyone. So no big name game changer's coming to our organization this year for sure.

We never spend big in free agency usually winning in March means you suck. Remember the Dolphins signed all these big names Suh etc and they sucked in the entire 2000 decade the Redskins big ame after big name always last place. What teams in every year in the playoffs Ravens Pats Steelers Packers Seahawks last few years guess what none sign ig name free agents only exception is the Broncos. Look at all the big name contracts in free agency those teams all sucked

[ellicottraven]

Doom and Tucker will both be there.