Chargers payroll sees big increase - Ingles

The Chargers brass had quietly yet consistently indicated over the past couple years that team president Dean Spanos would open his wallet once the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was in place.

Spanos wasted no time, trusting his lieutenants with the wallet, the vault and the cookie jar to the point that the Chargers committed $39.45 million in 2011 salary and bonuses to 13 veteran players in the 2½ weeks after the NFL lockout ended.

That figure is based on the 2011 “cash” committed to veteran free agents expected to make the team but does not include the $11.424 million guaranteed to franchise player Vincent Jackson, $1.835 million to restricted free agent Mike Tolbert or $2 million to safety Bob Sanders, who agreed to terms in March but signed on Aug. 4. Cash to those three players puts the one-year money spent on veteran free agents since July 28 at $54.709 million.

Always frugal – though never quite as cheap as portrayed by some -- the Chargers this year went on a spending spree that was monumental by their standards.

For the record, the Chargers’ payroll is at 97.7 percent of the salary cap. All that means is that they found a way to structure contracts so as to fit under the $120.375 million cap. (For instance, the cash commitment to Eric Weddle this year is $14 million, but his cap number is just $3.6 million, as his $13 million signing bonus is prorated over five years for purposes of the cap. And right tackle Jeromey Clary counts just $3.5 million against the cap, as his $6.8 million signing bonus is prorated.)

The Chargers’ opening-day cash commitment for 2011, regardless of the precise makeup of the final 53-man roster, will be over $132 million. That represents a nearly $25 million increase over the 2011 opening-day roster, and it comes despite the new CBA meaning the Chargers committed approximately $2 million less in first-year money to their eight 2011 draft picks than they did to their six picks in ’10.

It is not known where the Chargers rank in cash spending this season, though it is believed the $132 million would put them in the top 10.

What they did to get there is unprecedented in general manager A.J. Smith’s tenure.

The Chargers signed just five free agents before the 2010 season, including street free agents and re-signing of their own players, at a cost of slightly more than $4 million. In fact, the Chargers did more over the past three weeks in free agency than they did from 2005-10.

That inactivity being noted, the team had in the previous two years extended the contracts of quarterback Philip Rivers, tight end Antonio Gates and left tackle Marcus McNeill at a combined average annual cost of almost $30 million through 2015.

And the Chargers’ current salary report indicates the emphasis they have placed on building the offense. The five top-paid players and 11 of the top 16 -- based on each player’s 2011 cap number -- play offense.

Also, based on 2011 cap numbers for each player, the projected starting offense will have an average compensation of $5.62 million compared to $2.5 million for the defense. This doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of commitment to defense. More so, it owes to a recent youthful makeover of that unit’s starting lineup and bargain prices with which the Chargers secured veterans Takeo Spikes ($2.1 million signing bonus, $1.525 salary for 2011), Travis LaBoy ($400,000 signing bonus and $1 million salary)and Sanders ($1 million roster bonus, $1 million salary).
An examination of the Chargers’ salary commitments also illustrates how the team parlayed passing on linebacker Kevin Burnett into the signing of five other players.

Where Burnett ended up getting a four-year, $21 million deal from the Miami Dolphins and the Chargers might have willing to pay him an average of $4 million with a first-year payout of about $8 million, the team instead moved money penciled in for him to up the salary and bonus structure for Antwan Barnes, Jacques Cesaire, Dante Hughes and LaBoy.

And it is highly likely that what general manager A.J. Smith refered to as money vice president Ed McGuire had in a cookie jar with Malcom Floyd’s name on it had previously been earmarked for the Burnett fund.

Looking forward, the movement of the past few weeks lends veracity to the belief the Chargers will again be aggressive in spending to keep their own players.

To do so in-season, with just $3 million in cap space, will take ingenuity. But it is likely the team will soon begin to work through its list of stars it wishes to extend. This article was written by Kevin Acee and appeared in The San Diego Union Tribune.