I've seen some numbers thrown around about our cap situation and who we can and can't keep. I have my own ideas about who we should try hardest to keep around, namely Freeney and Mathis. I did some research on cap number calculations, last year's rookie contracts, expected franchise tag values at different positions and then stole some numbers off of Coltzilla's page (so major hat tip to him).

There are are million ways this postseason can play out. If Manning is released it doesn't matter what our cap will look like because we will have a ton of space available and will be rebuilding with cheaper contracts anyways. If we keep Manning and don't take Luck we will add a serious amount of cheap talent from trading down and so keeping a ton of high paid veterans wont be as important. The most important cap situation will be if we keep Manning and draft Luck. That is the situation I will look at.

After the jump is a list of all 53 players on a theoretical 2012 roster with both Manning and Luck. I am assuming a 125 million cap next year so someone alert me if that is way off. I also drafted theoretical players based on need and then gave them contracts comparable to players at their draft position last year. I put the franchise tag on Mathis, resigned Wayne, Tamme and Saturday, cut Clark, Addai and Bullet and left Freeney and Brackett alone. I feel that Mathis is the most important FA we have and would be well worth the 11 million likely franchise tag. Wayne should not be extremely expensive next year because of the flood of good FA wideouts and it will be important to keep at least one of Wayne/Garcon as a #1 guy. Saturday looked solid and healthy this year and if he is able to come back he should. Clark could be brought back for another 3-4 million but Tamme's '10 and his own '11 might have made him expendable. I love Addai but he just doesn't play enough to warrant his salary while Brown has developed enough to take his spot. I had a hard time finding Bullet's salary so there may be a cap hit with him if he had any bonus money. I also don't know how Collins is going to affect our 2012 cap if any. Anyone know?

If the below sheet proves true we could still be able to add a RG, CB, or WR in FA if we need and there is value there. For example we could sign either a guard or corner in FA and then draft the other at #33. Freeney may also be open to restructuring and extending his contract and therefore reducing his 2012 cap number by maybe 3-5 million. The same goes for Mathis to avoid the franchise tag.

This post is just an example of how we could go for it all next year. We would need a healthy Manning and offensive line and a great GM to find depth in the draft and cheap free agency. It would definitely take some good fortune and expert guidance but this roster is not a total lost cause.

If you see something blatantly wrong with my numbers please tell me and I'll do my best to correct it. Here they are after the jump: