Official Chargers News - Injury Updates

[CTrout]

Rishard Matthews, Dolphins WR is another player I think would be a good signing. He could be a really solid #2. Reminds me of Emmanuel Sanders from a few years back, a young player on the verge of breaking out.
Plus he's from SD!

[SDFan]

How much were Gaither and others costing us this past year?
How much has Telesco added to the pay-for-no-play part of our budget?

I thought Gaithers was already off the books in 2015? Can't even remember who the other big signing flop from AJ era was that was cut- but we still had the Cox contract and Butler costing a ton while barely playing and losing his starting job and Flowers unable to stay on the field.

[Steve]

Gaithers was off the books last year. We did have a fair amount of dead money, just not from Gaithers and Meachum.

2015 dead money
Jarret Johnson $2,500,000
Jimmy Wilson $2,250,000
Donald Brown $1,789,215
Ryan Mathews $1,633,750
Jacoby Jones $1,223,529
Chad Rinehart $1,000,000
Mitch Unrein $875,000
John Phillips $666,668
Nick Novak $375,000
Adrian Phillips $360,000
Ben Beckwith $318,000
Torrence Allen $318,000
J.D. Walton $175,294
Brandon Taylor $160,969
Reggie Walker $160,000
Chris Davis $137,118
Vincent Brown $116,470
Brandon Ghee $115,000
....

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/san-diego-chargers

The total amount was $15,480,595, but almost all of it is the players listed above. Scrubs tend to cost almost nothing. Also, I think there is a misprint in that Mathews shouldn't have cost us anything.

This coming season, we already have some money off the books.
2016 Dead Money
Donald Brown $1,083,334
Jacoby Jones $800,000
Nick Novak $375,000
Mitch Unrein $125,000
Tyreek Burwell $6,667
Titus Davis $5,000
Brian Parker $4,667
Gordon Hill $4,000
Curtis Grant $2,667
Tyrell Williams $2,334
Chris Davis $2,000
Ben Beckwith $2,000
Johnny Lowdermilk $1,667
Dreamius Smith $1,334
Manny Asprilla $1,334
Jahwan Edwards $1,334
Demetrius Wilson $1,000
Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe $834
Ryan Mueller $667
Eric Frohnapfel $667
Cameron Botticelli $667
TOTAL $2,422,173

Which is basically nothing, since the cap is estimated to be $154 mill. We aren't going to be able to spend all the money we have in FA anyway. We will probably be releasing several players and moving on, but we don't need to do it for cap space, more to free up roster spots for players that may contribute (yes Donald Butler, Tatoo is coming to take you off the island with a June 1st designation) and Donald Brown in a regular cut. Then there will be others that make sense to bring back, but if the plans work out, will be out of work by the time TC cuts come (Robinson, Scfiries....).

[Lightningwill_420]

I thought Gaithers was already off the books in 2015? Can't even remember who the other big signing flop from AJ era was that was cut- but we still had the Cox contract and Butler costing a ton while barely playing and losing his starting job and Flowers unable to stay on the field.

That was my point. Our problems are Telesco.

[Mister Hoarse]

I have a feeling Donald Brown will still be here. He was effective down the stretch. It would probably help if Spanos would let his GM carry cap space over for a change.

[6025]

Didn't Jarrett Johnson retire? If so, that still counts for dead cap space?

[SDFan]

Gaithers was off the books last year. We did have a fair amount of dead money, just not from Gaithers and Meachum.

2015 dead money
Jarret Johnson $2,500,000
Jimmy Wilson $2,250,000
Donald Brown $1,789,215
Ryan Mathews $1,633,750
Jacoby Jones $1,223,529
Chad Rinehart $1,000,000
Mitch Unrein $875,000
John Phillips $666,668
Nick Novak $375,000
Adrian Phillips $360,000
Ben Beckwith $318,000
Torrence Allen $318,000
J.D. Walton $175,294
Brandon Taylor $160,969
Reggie Walker $160,000
Chris Davis $137,118
Vincent Brown $116,470
Brandon Ghee $115,000
....

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/san-diego-chargers

The total amount was $15,480,595, but almost all of it is the players listed above. Scrubs tend to cost almost nothing. Also, I think there is a misprint in that Mathews shouldn't have cost us anything.

This coming season, we already have some money off the books.
2016 Dead Money
Donald Brown $1,083,334
Jacoby Jones $800,000
Nick Novak $375,000
Mitch Unrein $125,000
Tyreek Burwell $6,667
Titus Davis $5,000
Brian Parker $4,667
Gordon Hill $4,000
Curtis Grant $2,667
Tyrell Williams $2,334
Chris Davis $2,000
Ben Beckwith $2,000
Johnny Lowdermilk $1,667
Dreamius Smith $1,334
Manny Asprilla $1,334
Jahwan Edwards $1,334
Demetrius Wilson $1,000
Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe $834
Ryan Mueller $667
Eric Frohnapfel $667
Cameron Botticelli $667
TOTAL $2,422,173

Which is basically nothing, since the cap is estimated to be $154 mill. We aren't going to be able to spend all the money we have in FA anyway. We will probably be releasing several players and moving on, but we don't need to do it for cap space, more to free up roster spots for players that may contribute (yes Donald Butler, Tatoo is coming to take you off the island with a June 1st designation) and Donald Brown in a regular cut. Then there will be others that make sense to bring back, but if the plans work out, will be out of work by the time TC cuts come (Robinson, Scfiries....).

how do they figure dead money if a guy is still on your team- or gets picked up by another team like Unrein was?

[CTrout]

how do they figure dead money if a guy is still on your team- or gets picked up by another team like Unrein was?

Not sure those lists make much sense. Like you said many of those names are still on our roster. Last year's dead money makes no sense either. Mathews 1.6 ?? He played out his contact so what dead money would there be?

[richpjr]

how do they figure dead money if a guy is still on your team- or gets picked up by another team like Unrein was?

Not sure how you can have dead money for a guy still on the roster. For someone picked up by another team, wouldn't any signing bonus still be dead money?

[Steve]

JJ counts because he still had bonus money being spread out over the length of the contract. The salary doesn't count, but the remaining bonus still does. You can't take advantage of spreading bonus out for years, then when you terminate the contract the bonus money has to count Trades are the same deal. Trade a player, their bonus is accelerated vs the cap, the new team only gets stuck with the salary. That is a big part of why teams don't trade players, plus with so many contracts being backloaded, you get stuck with the high part of the salary.

We cut Brown during the season. At that point the bonus got accelerated, but evidently we elected to keep paying his salary, since he is getting $3 million plus a roster bonus. Once we cut him, his money comes off the books, even though we brought him back a week or two later.

Unrein got picked up by another team, so it is just the regular deal. All his bonus money gets taken off the cap. Since it was after June 1st (during the season is after June 1st), last years money counts against last year, all the rest (this year in Unrein's case) comes off of this year. I would like to get Unrein back, he was much better player then Reyes was.

The thing about Ryan Mathews was that he was a FA, and had no contract to accelerate the bonus for. He signed a deal with Philly, therefore no cap hit against us.

This is the kind of thing that kills teams for FA mistakes. Bonus money being accelerated against the cap. The Broncos never seem to have to cut their FA, so it never comes back to haunt them. They give a lot of their money up front too, so it is easier for teams to get players to sign. Players would always rather have the money up front and in the clear then have to wait years to accumulate it.

[6025]

So if Rivers retires today we're screwed? Is it technically termination if the player quits?

[Mister Hoarse]

If Rivers retires we are screwed.
If Rivers is traded we are screwed.
If Rivers gets hurt we are screwed.

Viva Felipe Rios!