No June 1st Designation for Shaun

by: Michael Steffes

As I have been speculating about in this space since the Lofa and Marcus deals, the Seahawks have decided to release Shaun Alexander without the June 1st designation. Clare Farnsworth of the PI is reporting this.

This was the smart move. The Hawks had accumulated over 10 million dollars in cap space. By not designating Shaun as a June 1st, they just lost 125,000 of that space. However, if he had been designated, two years of prorated bonus would be charged against next years cap. That would have totaled 4.6 million.

Essentially, by freeing up enough space through the offseason, they were able to use 125K of cap space this year to free up an extra 4.6 to spend next year. If they so choose.

I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but I have been quietly keeping up with the Salary Cap Data. As always, the link remains in the right sidebar. I currently show the Hawks with 107 million committed against what projects to be 121 million dollar cap in 2009. Expect someone to add some likely to be earned incentives once the team figures out how much money they have after signing the draft picks. This will add more cap space for next year. END