In early December Youth Jamaal Williams Jersey , when the Green Bay Packers put outside linebacker Nick Perry on injured reserve, we at APC discussed all the options for what the team could do with him this offseason. Any decision the Packers make — from a conventional release to a post-June 1st cut to keeping him on his current contract for 2019 — will force the Packers to take a substantial hit on the salary cap over the next year or two.At the time, the most palatable option seemed to be cutting him with a post-June 1st designation, which frees up about $10 million in salary cap space for 2019 and another $7 million in 2020. It remains this author’s opinion that this is the best option moving forward.A similar situation is now setting up with tight end Jimmy Graham, however, who is scheduled to have a cap hit of $12.67 million in 2019. As with Perry, the team has three feasible options: a straight-up release, a post-June 1st release, or keeping him through 2019 and dealing with him in 2020. Given Graham’s production — 55 receptions for 636 yards and two touchdowns — his price tag for his age 33 and 34 seasons looks difficult to justify.Below, you will find a breakdown of the financials of each of these situations as well as a discussion of how the decisions with both Perry and Graham could work together.Graham’s ContractThe contract that Graham signed last March is scheduled to pay him $30 million over the three years from 2018 to 2020. That included an $11 million signing bonus, which would apply to the salary cap as a $3.667 million charge each of the three years. Graham’s cap hit in 2018 was just under $6 million, as the deal backloaded significant dollars onto years two and three.The current cap hits are scheduled as follows:2019: $12.667M2020: $11.667MA final note is that $5 million of Graham’s 2019 compensation is in the form of a roster bonus, which is scheduled to pay out on the fifth day of the 2019 league year.Conventional ReleaseThis is simple: if the Packers cut Graham normally, they take a $7.3 million hit on their cap, due to the final two years of his signing bonus deferral accruing in 2019. That frees up $5.3 million in cap space immediately, and it gets him off the books entirely for 2020.2019: $7.3M dead cap, $5.3M cap relief (immediate)2020: no dead cap, $11.7M cap reliefPost-June 1 ReleaseThe post-June First cut option gets slightly tricky, thanks to that roster bonus, but here goes. The move would free up some cap space immediately, some more as of June 2nd, and most (but not all) of his cap hit in 2020.The rule states that a post-June 1 cut puts the current year’s guaranteed money (or signing bonus deferral) on the current year’s cap http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-aaron-rodgers-jersey , and all future years’ obligations go on the next year’s cap. Therefore, the Packers take one hit of $3.7M each of the next two years. However, the post-June 1st cut results in the player’s 2019 full cap hit remaining on the books until June 2nd. This means that the Packers would get $9 million of extra cap space — but not until that date. Thus, the schedule looks as follows:2019: $3.7M dead cap hit, $9M in cap relief on June 2nd2020: $3.7M dead cap hit, $8M in cap reliefIf the Packers are going to cut Graham, they may as well do it outright without the post-June 1 designation; that would allow them to use the $5.3M in open cap space immediately for free agent signings rather than leaving it on the books until the summer. This makes even more sense when we add Nick Perry into the mix, as you’ll see shortly.Keep Graham for 2019The other option is, of course, to let Graham remain in Green Bay on his contract for a second season and presumably cut him before 2020. In this case, the Packers keep his $12.67M cap number on their books this year, then take a $3.67M dead hit in 2020 to open up that $8M number that season.The difference here is the $9M in total cash Graham is scheduled to receive in 2019. That’s the amount that the Packers would save by cutting him in 2019 instead of 2020, with the timing of when those savings kick in being determined by the cut designation. Given his production in 2018, this writer feels that this $9 million could probably be put to better use elsewhere, and a cut is the wiser option.Cutting Graham and Nick PerryPerry’s situation is similar to Graham’s, but the amounts of cap savings are a bit different. As we discussed previously, cutting Perry outright saves the Packers about $3.3M immediately. However, the $10.7 million cap savings over the summer that would result from a post-June 1st cut is a big number, one that could feasibly cover the Packers’ entire draft class (which currently has a pool of $10.35M, per Overthecap.com). Thus, the post-June 1 cut makes sense for him. Use the cap savings from Graham to help sign some free agents, then use the Perry savings to sign the draft class.That’s just one scenario. If the Packers were to cut both players Randall Cobb Jersey , there are four combinations of designations possible: either, neither, or both players could get the post-June 1st designation. Here is how cap space would open up in all four scenarios:Both Graham & Perry designated as post-June 1st cutsImmediate: No cap reliefJune 2nd: $19.7M cap relief2020: $14.9M cap reliefGraham released immediately, Perry post-June 1stImmediate: $5.3M cap reliefJune 2nd: $10.7M cap relief2020: $18.6M cap reliefGraham post-June 1st, Perry released immediatelyImmediate: $3.3M cap reliefJune 2nd: $9M cap relief2020: $22.3M cap reliefBoth Graham & Perry released immediatelyImmediate: $8.6M cap reliefJune 2nd: no additional relief2020: ~$26M cap reliefAgain, given that the Packers will need to sign their draft class this summer, the option of cutting Graham outright and using a post-June 1 designation on Perry appears to be the best. It frees up a nice chunk of space immediately to help sign some free agents, opens up an even bigger chunk over the summer, and gets two albatross contracts off the books with a substantial savings against the 2020 cap. And keep in mind that any unused cap space from this year’s cap will be applied to 2020, so the added flexibility of having more money during the 2019 season can only help.The question now becomes whether Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball see the numbers the same way. Way back in 2011, current Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets under Rex Ryan. 2011 was a turbulent season for New York as, following up a near-Super Bowl run in 2010, things fell apart completely. That season is captured wonderfully by Nicholas Dawidoff in his 2013 book, “Collision Low Crossers,” in which Dawidoff was given unprecedented access to the Jets’ coaching staff and players for the entire 2011 season. For a fan of Wisconsin sports, the book turns out to be an extremely interesting read as two of the main characters of the story are Pettine and current Wisconsin Badgers’ defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, then a safety for the Jets.Every member of the coaching staff is viewed as a workaholic, and no one more than Pettine, who is portrayed as a 23-hour-a-day film rat, but the contrast between Pettine and Ryan is stark. Ryan is presented as defensive savant, who only needs to study the tape once to see what others still can’t see after five or six rewatches. Pettine, on the other hand Authentic Corey Linsley Jersey , is a paragon of detail-oriented preparation, someone who broke into the league as an underpaid technology-forward tape watcher for the Ravens (while secretly cashing out his 401K in order to hide a substantial pay cut from his then-wife), but who doesn’t see the game at the same level as Ryan. Ryan is Mozart, Pettine is Salieri. While they work well together if Ryan is leading the way, Ryan can’t help but criticize and interfere when Pettine is given more power.Ryan and Pettine spend much of the book bouncing ideas off of each other, often forgetting whose idea it was in the first place. However, it’s an uneasy relationship, with Ryan giving Pettine more and more responsibility, only to quickly grab it back when he disagrees with something he sees. Everyone in the locker room that year loved Ryan, but not so with Pettine. As a defensive coordinator’s defensive coordinator, he played the role of bad cop to Ryan’s jovial good cop while taking much of the blame (sometimes deservedly) when things went wrong. Pettine wasn’t exactly Ryan’s fall-guy, but it’s unsurprising that the gang split up after the season.Working for guys like Ryan can be difficult. They see and understand things at such a high level compared to almost everyone else, that it’s actually difficult to learn much of use from them. Bill Belichick, who is also discussed at length, is similar in that he primarily needs coaches to execute his vision, not necessarily to bring additional ideas to the table. It is, I believe, the chief reason so many of his assistants fail when they leave the Patriots. There is a lot to like about Pettine, as his pro-technology, meticulous nature, and old-school work ethic likely make him an effective, process-oriented coach. That said Youth Lane Taylor Jersey , I suspect he excels at the tactics of coaching more than the strategy, and some of his defense’s numbers on early downs vs. late downs bears that out. The Packers, while well-prepared on 3rd and long, were eaten alive on first and second down.Likewise, the book makes clear that Ryan really isn’t a great fit as a head-coach. He is too willing to delegate on offense and completely unable to delegate on defense, leading to a lack of overall chemistry and a volatile relationship on both sides of the ball. I’m sure it’s commonplace on NFL teams for offensive and defensive players to have uneasy relationships, but in this instance, Ryan’s lack of offensive direction compounded the problem. I doubt there is a universe where a Mark Sanchez-led offense succeeds, but there probably is one where the the Jets’ offense doesn’t repeatedly beat itself, allowing the defense to secure more wins.Everything came to a head for these 2011 Jets in a late-season game against the Giants that saw Sanchez throw the ball 59 times despite being in a close game. With Pettine calling the defense, and Jim Leonhard missing his second game of the season, the Jets’ defense allowed an unusual number of big plays, including a 99-yard touchdown to Victor Cruz. It was the nail in the coffin for the pairing.It’s possible that Pettine will yet succeed, but the book made me long for Ryan as the superior defensive mind. If I were looking for someone to combat the new, innovative offensive minds in the game, it wouldn’t be Pettine, who needs to process a lot of information before cranking out alternative plans. Jim LeonhardPerhaps the biggest surprise of Collision Low Crossers is the juxtaposition of the all-world Darrelle Revis, perhaps the finest corner to ever play the game, with the supremely talented but deeply flawed Antonio Cromartie and the less-talented but hugely important safety Jim Leonhard. Leonhard is the current defensive coordinator for the University of Wisconsin, where he also starred as a ball-hawking safety. In the book, Leonhard is portrayed as a coach-on-the-field, responsible for making the calls for one of the NFL’s best defense while relying on his football intelligence to allow him to compete with faster http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-clay-matthews-jersey , stronger players. When Leonhard is lost for the season to a knee injury for the second year in a row, the defense goes to pieces for the second year in a row, as no one behind Leonhard is capable of implementing the defensive calls as well or as quickly. In fact, when the coaching staff and front office are seeking his replacement, they don’t focus on forty times or agility drills, but on Wonderlic scores (eventually settling on journeyman safety Gerald Alexander and his solid, if unspectacular 25). Leonhard also comes across as a superb locker room presence, able to laugh at himself in the way confident people can without actually sacrificing any charisma, while diffusing petty squabbles. Everyone on the team seems to respect Leonhard, and he comes across as one of the few people outside or Ryan who really seems to understand the Ryan defense at a deep level. It’s no surprise that Leonhard is a rising star as a college football coach, and if he isn’t a high-level head coach in the next several year, I’ll be shocked. I actually found myself preferring Leonhard to Pettine as a coaching candidate once I was finished reading. “Collision Low Crossers” is fundamentally a book about the Jets, but for any Packers or Badgers fan wondering about their team’s defensive coordinator, you won’t find a more in-depth profile. It’s a pretty breezy read, and it offers plenty of insight into the inner workings of a football team including a few fascinating one-off facts. For instance, the Jets did not value wide receivers in the draft because “they only touch the ball a handful of times per game,” which explains a lot about their offense. They also didn’t trust Penn State pro-day times because the PSU facility sloped noticeably downward, and running drills were all downhill as a result. It’s well worth your time, especially if you happen to be interested in the direction of the defenses for the two highest-profile football teams in the state of Wisconsin.
