Now that the offseason dust has settled, here's an overview of the team's cap situation. The figures reflect the recent extensions by Whitworth, Hall and Cook along with the Labor Day weekend cuts/trades/etc. There is still a chance additional players are extended to take advantage of the current cap room (possibilities: Pat Sims, Reggie Nelson) but some room will be held for NLTBE (not likely to be earned) incentives that the team would prefer be applied to the 2011 cap. The overall total of NLTBE bonuses is $10,268,050 but it will be more likely to be around $7M coming mainly from Andre Smith, Thomas Howard and Jon Fanene). Still plenty of room for another extension and a Carson buffer! With only 34 players under contract for 2012, I would think the front office would like to get a head start...
Roster Count: 67 (Active 53, Injured Reserve 2, Practice Squad 8, Reserve/Other 1, Suspended 1, PUP 2)
Total Cap $103,113,013
Room $17,881,987
Offense 42% $43,669,266
Defense 52% $53,787,822
Special Teams 2% $1,858,850
Dead Money 4% $3,797,075
TOP 10 CAP FIGURES
CB Hall, Leon $8,030,000
OT Whitworth, Andrew $7,500,000
DE Geathers, Robert $6,233,333
CB Clements, Nate $5,000,000
DT Peko, Domata $4,500,000
RB Benson, Cedric $4,500,000
TE Gresham, Jermaine $4,113,750
WR Green, A.J. $3,579,655
LB Lawson, Manny $3,500,000
OT Smith, Andre $3,185,500
(next would be LB Rivers, Keith $2,817,648)
With the NLTBE bonuses targeted for this year ($7M) and a potential but unlikely Carson return ($11.5M minus $676k per week of football he misses), I don't expect any new contracts until midway through the season.