Ok, I just saw this, and I have to give Reid and Co credit, it is freakin' brilliant.

It took me a while to figure it out, and I had my doubts, but I did the research and it is true. The Eagles have $29 million in cap space with 51 players signed BEFORE cutting Kearse or McDougle and after tagging LJ! That means after Kearse and McDougle are cut we will have around $35 million to spend!

So where is the proof? Ok, so most sites have the Eagles at around $15mil after tagging LJ. Cutting Kearse and McDougle will get us another $6 million (cap figure - cap hit). So that puts us around $21mil. So how do we jump to $30mil+?

First let's start with this site, I have followed this site for about 4 years, and it is incredibly accurate:

http://eaglescap.com/Charts/2008Chart.html

They have our salaries before cutting Kearse and McD adding up to $15mil under the cap just like all the other estimates (ESPN, CNNSI...etc). BUT what they have added is $13 million in LTBE credits, and put the total to $29mil before cuts. I was suspicious and decided to snoop around.

Here is what the Eagles did. It ends up that we had about $10 mil left under the cap last year. The Eagles figured out a loophole to transfer that cap space into this year's cap space through LTBE credits. If you look at last year's salary chart:
http://www.geocities.com/eaglescap/Contract-Documentation5.html

What the Eagles did is that they loaded contracts that they signed mid-season (i.e. Mahe, Patterson and others) with incentive bonuses that they couldn't achieve, and then those bonuses convert to LTBE credits (cap space) in the next year. So, look at Mahe, his "salary" was $4.5 mil, and we all know he didn't get paid that...it ends up the Eagles basically hid $4mil in an unreachable bonus, and now that got transfered to this year as an LTBE. Freakin' brilliant!

So they REALLY have no excuse, the question is just to find the talent to spend the $$ on. To be honest, none of the DEs are worth much, but I'm sure we'll spend big bucks on the secondary.

V

"Ok, I just saw this, and I have to give Reid and Co credit, it is freakin' brilliant."

Is it really though? They could have used that money to re-sign Stallworth or get another player. Instead they chose not to spend that money but they had to do something with it because teams have to spend a minimum amount of money, or else you just lose that extra cap room.

So they put 10+ million in bogus bonuses, so that they could save money instead of actually having to pay a player.

If they go out and make some big aquisitions this year, then I'll be ok with it.

I'm not saying that Stallworth is the answer or end all be all, but he was a very effective player for us. I could care less what he did in NE, it's a different system. He fit in our system and worked great with Mcnabb.

"They tried to get Stallworth"
No they didn't. If they really tried to sign him, they would have made him an offer before testing the market.

yea, thats all banner BS, they made no effort to keep him, and thats all they needed to do, they thought he was going to get more then he got and they weren't prepared to counter offer until it was too late.

and he wasnt a fit for NE, they already had Moss, they needed a welker type to compliment Moss, not stallworth.