Cutting Howard now means...

[Merman]

Yeah, but we still owe him the amoritized bonuses for the remainder of his contract which would still be a $3 million cap hit for 2006. So would we save anything? No. Plus we would still need to "$ADD$" another salary on top of that to replace him which would be even more money against the 2006 cap space. Our best bet is to talk to him about re-structuring and keep him as the 5th CB behind "Madison's replacement" (which we can add with the $3.4 million we can free up by cutting Madison after June 1st to help sign), W.Poole, T.Daniels, and S.Mitchell. Look for this to happen. Potential CBs for next year:

An amortized bonus is never owed it is charged to Team Salary on a prorata basis, as it was already paid.

If Howard is released next year or traded there is a $1 million gross cap savings. Look at the computation where I made a mistake in base salary and add a million to the base salary.

A contract restructure reduces current Team Salary by moving the cap charge to the future. A salary reduction and/or an agreement to forgo a roster bonus reduces Team Salary.

[Ruderic]

The team may save money but not much against current cap.