The Nfl

Caponomics With a projected $68 million salary cap in 2001, here are the teams that will be in the best and worst shape heading into the off-season.
BLOWING THE BUDGET
TEAM	2001 CAP FIGURE	OVER CAP
1. Jaguars	$102, 945, 843	$34.9 million
2. Chiefs	$97, 939, 675	$29.9 million
3. Cowboys	$82, 308, 001	$14.3 million
4. Bills	$80, 238, 218	$12.2 million
5. Vikings	$78, 614, 625	$10.6 million
MONEY TO BURN
TEAM	2001 CAP FIGURE	UNDER CAP
1. Bengals	$48, 287, 763	$19.7 million
2. Cardinals	$48, 456, 747	$19.5 million
3. Falcons	$52, 025, 025	$16.0 million
4. Eagles	$52, 787, 957	$15.2 million
5. Bears	$53, 117, 400	$14.9 million

Squeeze Play
The Jaguars must cut $40 million in payroll to get under the 2001 cap

The euphoria of playing in two AFC Championship games in four years has worn off in Jacksonville , and Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver can clearly see the mess his franchise has gotten itself into in an attempt to win an NFL title. "The lure of the Super Bowl is a powerful intoxicant," a chastened Weaver said last Friday in the conference room that adjoins his office. "We've made a few decisions that have come back to bite us in the butt. The model we set for our franchise in 1995 is still the right one, but we've wavered, and we have to get back on track."

Easier said than done. The basic model—building through the draft and re-signing your own free agents—may indeed be sound, but Jacksonville , its Super Bowl hopes laid waste by injuries during a star-crossed 7-7 season, now faces the most bloated payroll in the eight-year history of the salary-cap system. With a projected NFL cap number of $68 million per team in 2001 (up from $62.2 million this season), the Jaguars will have to slash $34.9 million from theirs, which stands at $102.9 million. To free space for the signing of minimum-salary veterans and the players it selects in the April draft, Jacksonville will need an additional $5 million or more with which to work. That means the club must lop $40 million off its payroll in the off-season to field a team, competitive or otherwise, for 2001.

One of the real headaches will be hammering out a new contract for quarterback Mark Brunell , whose cap number in 2001 is set to be an NFL-record $13.35 million. "I definitely want to stay, and I'm confident a new deal will get done," Brunell said on Friday. "Even with all the cuts we have to make, there will still be a core group of guys I know we can win a championship with."

How did Jacksonville get into this mess? Over the past three off-seasons the Jaguars handed out $17 million in signing bonuses to three aging defenders—linebackers Bryce Paup and Hardy Nickerson and safety Carnell Lake—who since signing have been plagued by injuries. Paup , 32, was waived last June. Lake, 33, went on injured reserve with an ailing foot before this season. The 35-year-old Nickerson , slowed by a bad knee that limited him to six games this year, was put on injured reserve last week. Lake and Nickerson will probably be released in the off-season. If that happens, the prorated signing bonuses of those three players combined will count $9.7 million against the 2001 cap.

"We've learned, painfully, that the value you get from free agency is overblown," Weaver says. Coach Tom Coughlin isn't as blunt. "We left our original model for two superbly conditioned athletes who had never gotten hurt," he says of Lake and Nickerson , "and they both got hurt." Now the Jaguars realize that they would be foolish to project that Nickerson (2001 cap cost: $4.8 million), coming off knee surgery, will be in the lineup next season ahead of rising rookie linebacker T.J. Slaughter (cap cost: $393,333).

Other cuts will also be easy, such as the release of defensive end Joel Smeenge, which would save $4.7 million. "The first $20 million in cuts are no-brain-ers," says Weaver . "It's the next $20 million that will be difficult."

For example, 30-year-old wide receiver Keenan McCardell , 11th in the NFL with 79 receptions, is due to count $4.2 million against the cap next year, but cutting him would save Jacksonville $2.1 million. Third-year wideout Alvis Whitted (2001 cap value: $471,350) has played well, but the Jaguars don't know what to make of rookie first-round pick R. Jay Soward, who has only 14 receptions. He's also been in Coughlin 's doghouse for most of the season and was suspended for Sunday's game against the Cardinals after showing up late for a team meeting. "I'd love to come back," McCardell said on Friday, "but it's a crazy business."

Very much so. In the early years Coughlin 's masterly personnel moves netted impact players at four vital positions—quarterback ( Brunell ), left tackle ( Tony Boselli ), pass-rushing linebacker ( Kevin Hardy ) and running back ( Fred Taylor )—and even with their struggles this season, the Jaguars are 56-38 in their six-year history. "I think people on the outside wonder if it's over for the Jaguars ," says Brunell . "Time will tell, but by no means are we done. Back in 1995, '96, we were a bunch of young guys who came together. We can do it again."

Coaching Candidates
Add McCarthy To the Mix