How the draft has changed the salary cap

[seahawkfreak]

Nice post. I wish the NFL would dump the salary cap. I get why it is there, but I would like to see old school dynasties again.

LOL. I kind of agree until the Skins, Giants, 49ers and Bears run roughshod again. Really sucked when the NFC took over for 25+ years. Ironically Steelers kind of shit the bed in the 80s and most of the 90s.

 

[original poster]

This is the kind of quality post that keeps me coming back to .NET. Thanks OP! Well done.

And that's the exact reason why I do them, thanks

Great great post but one thing I would note that I didn't see there is the third option to reduce cap in 2018

It is not cutting nor extending it is simply taking any 2+ year agreements and converting an amount of the 2018 salary into signing bonus. That will divide that amount over the remaining years left.

It is a real viable option which I believe they used once or twice last year and that some teams use all the time. Chicago even has it as a standard clause that they can do this at any time without approval of the player (who would say no I don't want more cash right now but would rather wait to later...)

It's actually a pretty bad way of managing the cap. Teams that are run poorly do it all the time, teams that have made mistakes and need to dig themselves out of a hole do it as well but it's really not best practice.

In 9 instances out of 10, it just screams 'I didn't get the contract right in the first place'. John has done it a few times unfortunately. I'd hope he doesn't have to do it for a good couple of years.

It's simply an accounting tool to shift cash from one year to another, robbing Paul to pay Pete if you will, it's a credit card.

I don’t understand how you think it is “not getting the contract right”. It is less about the contract and more about your second point of borrowing from one future year to this year

I see it more as a risk money now to win vs having it in later years. Look at the Saints. It brought them to cap hell but how quickly were they competitive again and doing ok? They had a great team last year

Obviously best if you don’t have to do it, but I think it is a valuable tool that should be used sparingly when you deem it worth it

Your last sentence I agree with 100%. It is a tool that is available but it's far from 'best practice'. I appreciate there's two sides to it, though.

If you're the Cowboys and have a reputation for doing it all the time, it simply means you're not managing the cash flow correctly. Whether that be not projecting future years correctly or just handing out bad contracts that don't tie in correctly with your available cash. If the cap had gone down in the last few years, I'd be far more sympathetic, but it's done the complete opposite of that, it's just poor management.

On the other hand, if a team wants to make a run and feels a pass rushing 3tech is the final piece to the puzzle then converting base salaries into signing bonus isn't the end of the world as long as you're prepared (and able) to take the hit in future years.

 

[original poster]

The NFLPA was worked by the last CBA. They thought that teams would spend more of the rookie money on more veteran players in practice teams just load up on rookies and pay QB’s/DE’s. The old way a team would trade out of the top 10 just because they did not want to pay the silly amount of money needed to sign those rookies.

I have a feeling that rookies are going to get a lot more expensive when the next CBA is due (after the 2021 season IIRC, may be after the 2020 season, I can't quite remember, but it's one of the two).

 

[original poster]

Question for OP

You mentioned Seattle has $5,748,856 in available space.

What is the max amount of money a team can save that cap and use it for next year?

Don't quote me on this as it may not be 100% accurate -

I believe teams are forced (in theory) to spend 80% of their cap allowance over a span of 4 years. It may not be 80% exactly but I'm fairly sure it is but equally wouldn't be shocked if I was wrong.

Typically the league doesn't enforce this though as the CBA doesn't actually specify any penalty for not doing so.

I don't know the exact figures off the top of my head but I remember looking into it when I first learnt about this rule and I'm 99% sure the Browns have not spent 80% of their cap over any 4 year period in quite some time. Case in point that the rule isn't enforced.

Each and every time the CBA gets renewed there is always loopholes that get exposed and taken advantage of by teams. Prior to the 2011 CBA it was teams offering incentives that were clearly not realistic in order to carry over cap space.

Also, in the year of 'no salary cap' (after the 2010 season) while the CBA was being agreed on a few teams took advantage (Cowboys and Redskins IIRC) and loaded up new contracts with huge salaries in that specific year with much lower salaries in subsequent years. The league didn't like it at all and, I believe, both teams received huge fines and had draft picks removed.

Both teams also had their 2012 salary caps lowered, think the Redskins took a huge $30M+ hit while the Cowboys had theirs lowered by about $10M.

 

[mikeak]

^correct Cowboys and Redskins were penalized by the amount they went over. Snyder was caught with his pants down which is ironic as it now has come out he tried to get the tops of cheerleaders.... (sorry couldn’t resist in giving him crap for their sleazy practices)

One final note on borrowing from future - Seattle did it knowing the slate is clean in 2019. Incredible amount of cap room (and total lack of players lol) $74MM in 2019.

It is an interesting setup where they actually were able to go all-in last year. They traded draft picks, they borrowed from future years and they thought we were going to compete for the super bowl. Turns out they were wrong BUT while there is a price to pay this year they did not mortgage the future the way Bears, Saints and Dallas has in the past.

It will make 2019 a lot more interesting from a positive perspective. The building around RW is getting completely redone and I think the FO realistically is building for Super Bowl 2020 even if they will never admit it. A new mix of young players with lots of cap space over the next two years. Cheap short term FA signings this and next year, build through draft and then key targets in FA 2020. The money will be there — $134MM now for 2020 which of course will have huge reductions ($30MM+ for RW coming up) but still good long term position

By the way Cleveland is VERY close to 80% already for 2019. Fascinating only $34MM left for next year

 

[Jimjones0384]

This is the kind of quality post that keeps me coming back to .NET. Thanks OP! Well done.

This.

 

[rjdriver]

Post like these remind me of .Net days gone by. Excellent post, I read every word.

Question for OP..

I surprised you didn’t list Tanner McEvoy as a potential cap casualty. Should I assume from your post that you feel he is a lock to make the 53?

 

[original poster]

Post like these remind me of .Net days gone by. Excellent post, I read every word.

Question for OP..

I surprised you didn’t list Tanner McEvoy as a potential cap casualty. Should I assume from your post that you feel he is a lock to make the 53?

Thank you

I’d be a lot more surprised if McEvoy did make the 53 than didn’t in honesty, Definitely should have listed him in the ‘outside looking in’ list!

 

[chris98251]

Teams will adapt to whatever the new CBA is going to be, they will find a way to position money somewhere. There may come a time not long in the future where we have a position cap however, one player say making 45 million a year at this rate would be like in 5 years.

Remember not long ago Bradford was the highest paid Rookie QB ever with a 50 million dollar contract and look how things have escalated since.