The teams that went on a spending spree the last few years, and specifically last year with an uncapped year, and are now over the new salary cap, have been given a slight reprieve on keeping their current players.
From CBSSports.comTransition rules
- All teams will have about $3.5 million to fund veteran player salaries in 2011. That money comes from what would otherwise be performance-based pay.
- In 2011, each team can borrow up to $3 million in cap room from a future year, which would then be used for the veteran player costs. In 2012, that figure drops to $1.5 million, which can be borrowed.
We have speculated on some bigger names that could be cap casualties as the results of a new CBA, however teams such as Dallas, Denver, Green Bay, NY Jets and Giants have more room to keep their veterans with these terms. If I understand it correctly, it appears teams will have $6.5 million to effectively raise their cap space. Obviously the 3 million comes at a cost from next year's cap space. With the 2009 salary cap at $128 million and now drops to around $120, some teams face the tough decision of releasing players or take from next years funds.
This will of course limit the Panthers (and other team) access to some players, but I don't feel it can be viewed negatively as we don't know which players would have been released and thus couldn't pursue them anyway. We can just be happy that once again the Panthers are in good shape as we have plenty of space.