Sherk. How much of that cap can be carried over to next season?

I believe Ballard has a plan but agree with Omaha that it isn’t to spend that cap on free agents. If I were to guess (and admittedly I’m usually wrong) that money is being saved to give to home grown players that prove themselves here. It is a long term outlook that rewards guys for doing the right things with this organization. To me it provides incentive for our own players and shows Ballard has confidence in his evaluations. Whatever it is it should be better than the last guy

He was slightly better than Walden. That is it. He wasn’t close to a game changer or great rusher.

All of it. If we end the season at, say, $45m under the cap for 2018, then we add $45m to next season's cap number. There is no limit to how much you can roll over.

That being said, in any given 4 year period, you have to use more than 91% of the cap or else pay direct penalities to the players union.

2015 / $152.423m / $143.402m / $09.021m / 94.08% of cap
2016 / $160.609m / $152.482m / $08.126m / 94.93% of cap
2017 / $174.578m / $157.498m / $17.079m / 90.02% of cap
2018 / $194.037m / $148.405m / $45.632m / 76.48% of cap

(94.08+94.93+90.02+76.48)/4 = 88.87% of rolling 4 year cap

So, for 2018, in order to avoid having to pay a penalty to the players union, we need to hit 84.97% of the 2018 cap or $164.873m spending or an increase of $16.468m over what we are currently spending (current costs and my projected costs. $16.468 OVER that amount).

That could be done by doing contract extensions, signing new contracts prior to the END of the season or whatever. It does not have to be money put into players at the beginning of the season.

However, it could also be done by just having Irsay write a big, fat check to the players union covering whatever amount under the rolling 4 year spend is. No impact on cap from my understanding; just straight money to the union AND the team still has to deal with being under cap spending so if they don't correct it the following season, they write a new check the following season to the players union.

But the best of both worlds for the union, get paid directtly AND still have the team have to give that same amount of money to players in contract eventually.

But, for a team like CLE who has been chronically underspending, that means writing checks every year AND having to spend stupid money in order to get near max cap in order eventually correct your rolling percentage.

I know Ballard wants to reward his young and rising players. The problem is, we don't have many of those at the moment.

Walk Worthy,

There's an article out there about how Ballard likes, "show me" contracts with the FA's he signs. IF those guys produce, he should pay them. It sets a standard, you come here and make plays, we will resign you to bigger money.

I would like to think that Ballard is positioning us well for "rewarding rising young players" in the future. That said, wouldn't it make more sense to sign Breelund at CB than write a $16.5M check to the players union?

It absolutely would

Ballard is simply not using all his resources to improve the team. With a healthy luck, this team can compete. There are no wasted years

Is this the guy who lost a deal with the Panthers because of an injury during this offseason?

I don’t think the money matters to Irsay. The guys a billionaire and buys shit for record amounts of money that I can only shake my head at. You give the Union 16 million but keep the same amount around to spend on someone you really value makes sense if you got it. Ballard obviously believes this is the way to build a team. It’s not like he’s putting money in Irsays pockets.He says he wants to build a core from within. He thinks bringing in high priced free agents sends the wrong signal and does not lend itself to building a team with the correct mental makeup. I like the idea of forging a team mentality then bring in players and have them bend to your vision. I also think that it’s a tall order to do It will be interesting to see if he pull it off

Ballard really seems to like this team, and thinks that we could surprise some people with a healthy Luck. I would not be surprised to see him make some in-season moves if we get off to a decent enough start to show that we are playoff contenders.