Race To Free Agency
Thursday night at 11:01 p.m. CST, the 2009 NFL season will officially begin.
That’s when the salary cap kicks in again, now at $127 million limit per team after an NFL adjustment on Tuesday.
That’s also when contracts end and players become unrestricted and restricted free agents.
Right now, it’s busy all around the NFL as teams work their roster and salary cap situations before the deadline ahead of them.
As to the cap, a team’s top 51 contracts count against the $127 million figure between now and the day after the final cutdown before the regular season. Then, the team must have all 53 players fitting under that cap.
When it comes to working room under the cap, only the Tampa Bay Bucs have more room than the Chiefs, according to the NFL Network’s Adam Schefter. Here are the top five teams with cap money and the five teams with the lowest cap totals before the close of business on Thursday afternoon:
| # | Team | Available | Â | # | Team | Available | |||
| 1. | Tampa Bay | $61 million | Â | 28. | Washington | $8.1 million | |||
| 2. | CHIEFS | $57 million | Â | 29. | Pittsburgh | $7.4 million | |||
| 3. | Philadelphia | $48 million | Â | 30. | Indianapolis | $6.6 million | |||
| 4. | Denver | $37 million | Â | 31. | New England | $3.2 million | |||
| 5. | Green Bay | $34 million | Â | 32. | Carolina | $1.9 million | |||
The Chiefs have six players who will be unrestricted free agents (UFA) tonight if the club does not reach agreement on a new deal: DE Jason Babin, LB Rocky Boiman, S Oliver Celestin, G Adrian Jones, S Jon McGraw and LB Pat Thomas. Hard to see Pioli/Haley interested in anybody but McGraw, who quietly had one of the best special teams seasons in the league last year.
The Chiefs have three restricted free agents (RFA): C Rudy Niswanger, S Jarrad Page and WR Jeff Webb. Restricted free agents are players with three years of NFL service. Right now unrestricted free agency does not begin until after player has four years in the league.
To retain rights to a restricted free agent, the Chiefs must make a tender offer to the player. The size of that offer affects any compensation back to the Chiefs should another team sign one of their RFAs and the Chiefs refuse to match the offer. There are four possible tenders, all one-year contracts at:
- $2.792 million, that brings compensation of a first and third round picks.
- $2.198 million, that brings first-round compensation.
- $1.545 million, is a second-round pick in compensation.
- $1.01 million, brings compensation equal to the round the player was drafted in. If he wasn’t drafted there is no compensation.
Niswanger, Page and Webb all received tender offers, so at the least the Chiefs have the right to match any offer they might get.
A lot of action around the league on Tursday afternoon. Here are some of the moves:
Bills — released G Derrick Dockery and TE Robert Royal.
Cardinals — released long snapper Nathan Hodel.
Colts — signed veteran starting center Jeff Saturday.
Cowboys — released quarterback Brad Johnson.
Dolphins — signed safety Gibril Wilson (5 years/$8 million guaranteed) and safety Yeremiah Bell (4 years/$10 million guaranteed).
Jets — released G Brandon Moore, RB Noah Herron and DE Sean Conover.
Saints — signed TE Dan Campbell, who was released earlier this month by Detroit.
Steelers — released G Kendall Simmonso and LB Mike Humpal.
I hear Warner and Collins might be hitting the market neither guy wouldn’t be a bad pick up to come in and challenge Tyler for the starting job. Also will give Tony and the fans a shot at us becoming the 2009 version of the Cardinals by competing for a title
Why the Chiefs are at all interested in Webb is an oddity. Not much out there yet, sort of doubt Warner can catch lightning with one more team.
Webb should be cut. Tendering him is crazy. Chiefs really should try to re-sign Babin who (at the very least) is a solid #3 DE and could help the transition to 3-4 if the chiefs choose to go that way.
its also interesting that Pioli left New England in relative cap hell, as he comes to KC which has huge cap savings thanks to CP/Thum.
Maybe they want to give Webb a reasonable offer so that they get compensation if another team should try to sign him. Other wise they will end up releasing him if he doesn’t show the new coaches something.
Once again, the Chiefs need to figure out what their identity is before plunging into the FA market. 3-4 or 4-3? It makes a difference in what type of LB/DEs you sign. Also you don’t have 3-techs (Glenn Dorsey) in a 3-4, but you do need a big ass in the middle. I’m not sure you can design an offense that fits both Thiggy and either of those vets. Are we a spread team? Are we a pro set team?
I am truly amazed by findthedr, he seems to find the positive in every situation. I will make a wager, Pioli will not be as successful as CP was! Also his tenure here will be much shorter. Oh, one more, Brodie Croyle will be our starting QB at the end of training camp
It will be very hard to compare the rule of King Carl and Mr. P two different times, many different players, so many different variables. Kind of like comparing apples and chocolate truffles, does not compute. However I will bet that we will all be very happy in the years to come, let us all watch and enjoy. Let us use the W-L columns as our gauge.
GO CHEIFS!!! THE RIGHT 53 2009
The Chiefs know who they are internally defensively. No need to let us know though. Their FA signings will give us some clues.
On offense, they’ve already dropped some serious clues that Thiggy’s the guy and the spread lives. Retaining Chan, speaking well of Tyler, interviewing Nate Davis specifically about some spread plays.
The Titans and Cards are both going to lock-up thier starting QB’s, Collins and Warner wouldn’t look as good with the chiefs this year anyway…