Jags02

I'm now showing the Jaguars at $13.08 mil under the cap as of June 20th.

Salary Cap Spreadsheet - This is where I continually calculate the Jaguars cap situation by listing players according to their cap hits. It includes spreadsheets from the last few years as well.

2008 Raw Data - This is an alphabetical listing of every player that has spent any time on the roster along with any players that are counting as dead money. The information includes each player's base salary, cap hit, future salaries, amortization, known incentive information and notes regarding their contract.

Jaguars 2008 Roster - This roster helps me keep track of the active players. In the opening paragraphs I mention the Jaguars current cap situation followed by how many players are on the roster and in what capacity. I then spell out their transactions this year chronologically. The roster itself is updated whenever I update the cap and is sometimes more accurate than the roster on the Jaguars official site. I even discuss the potential for future compensatory picks.

Let me begin by explaining how I became so interested in the Jaguars salary cap...

Living in the Bay Area I grew up as a fan of the San Francisco 49ers. I was practically spoiled as a fan in the late 80s and early 90s because the franchise rarely lost football games. They were one of the league's few dynasties back then, but that was before the onset of the salary cap era. The salary cap literally destroyed the 49ers dynasty placing them in a position of having to gut the team of talent. Steve Young won the Super Bowl in 1994, but the team has been a shell of its former self since. As the 49ers cut players right and left, I felt like they were cutting me as a fan.

In the summer of 1995 I met my current wife, Mrs. Jags02, on a Compuserve message board. When she told me she lived in Jacksonville, Florida I had no clue that the city even existed. When she told me they landed an NFL team, my jaw hit the floor. I already knew that two new teams, the Jaguars and the Panthers, had joined the league, but at the time I thought they were the Jackson--as in Jackson, Mississippi--Jaguars. It wasn't long until I fell in love with both her and her new home team. I was practically a die-hard Jaguars fan before their inaugural season even began.

A couple years later I discovered football message boards, and talk of the league's salary cap peaked my interest. Already aware of how the cap devestated the 49ers, I began thinking about how big free agent signings can hurt a franchise. In 1999 when the Jaguars signed Carnell Lake, Kyle Brady and Gary Walker, I openly questioned the moves. The added talent enabled the Jaguars to make it to the Championship Game, but a couple years later they too were at the mercy at the NFL Salary Cap. If it wasn't for the Texans agreeing to take some expensive players from the Jaguars roster in their expansion draft, the Jaguars woes would have been even deeper. The team wouldn't make the Playoffs again until 2005.

For nearly a decade I've been learning all I can about the NFL's salary cap while logging every last bit of cap info about the Jaguars I can get my hands on. Occasionally I'll get inside info from various sources, but for the most part I've gone by published articles to acquire information. There are a few handy resources on the web that also help...

• USA Today's Salary Database is the most accurate and thorough source of archived cap information on the web. They're consistently updated through the prior season, but unfortunately they do not include information about the current year.
• The NFLPA's Active Player Search lists the current base salary details for every player in the league, and is typically updated within a couple weeks after a roster move occurs. They'll list additional details if you have a media or GM password, but otherwise you only get each player's base, a.k.a. "Paragraph 5," salary.
• Askthecommish.com is a good source for general cap information, and they often provide quotes of how far under the cap each team is. John Clayton at ESPN will also sometimes quote this information, as will "The Redzone." Although none of these sites have been updated recently.

For the past several years, I've been discussing the Jaguars cap situation while logging their every roster move in my Salary Cap Thread on the Jaguars Official Message Board. No matter how insignificant a signing might be, I'll at least touch on its salary cap ramifications. Often moves have no impact, but even then I'll say as much.

If you were to log in and ask me a question on the thread, I'm always quick to respond. Although I encourage you to check out my "Ask Jags02" section on this site where I'll have a weekly response addressing any questions you might have. You don't have to limit yourself to cap related questions either. I'll discuss anything from offensive line play to quarterback mechanics to future match-ups, or whatever else you might want to discuss regarding the Jaguars or the NFL.