NFL - Discussion Thread

Dennis: Like I said, deep WR Class. Deep OL draft for the most part as well, but I have a feeling teams will be drafting them ahead of where they probably should. I personally have close to twenty 1st & 2nd Round Grades on OL Prospects...

OT - Sewell, Darrisaw, Cosmi, Mayfield, Jenkins, Little, Carmen

G - Slater, Vera-Tucker, Leatherwood, Eichenberg, Davis, Smith, Brown

C - Humphrey, Dickerson, Myers, Meinerz

Mike: More than ever before, the QB Contracts are going to kill a team. I think this is why a team like the Browns are waiting to sign Baker. Sure, they also might be doing so because he's been a bit of a roller coaster at times in terms of stats, but you have to imagine the cap this year is also playing a role. A team like the Bucs will probably continue to dominate, at least for this next year, since Brady is again going to reconstruct his contract to help his team win.

Compensatory Picks announced for the draft: https://www.google.com/amp/...aft/amp/

Niners and Saints each getting two additional third rounders. Rich get richer, but Saints needed them.

I wonder if you'll see some teams reach on some of these OL and CB draft prospects to avoid having to overpay in free agency. It seems like in free agency a lot of OL and CBs get paid and struggle to match the money.

I think that can certainly happen with the cap being as low as it is. That, or players are going to have to sign short contracts in hopes of performing big and reentering free agency when the cap jumps back up. I find it hilarious that the NFLPA told players not to settle for less money when everyone knew the cap was going to be way low after loss of revenue from covid. And now look thus far: Ben, Brady, Brown, and McCaffery have/will reconstruct; loads of players released, including Butler; and even David signed a short contract. I have a feeling very few players will actually get paid what they should like Dak. If I was a GM, I would even wait for the Draft.

Not sure how Covid affects the NFL's players wages to be honest. The NFL is a multi-billion pound business, a few hundred million in lost revenue is nothing. Greedy owners...

It is all tied into revenue based on the collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the NFLPA. Sure, the owners could spare the extra twenty million, but there are rules to follow. Not to mention, each owner took a huge hit last year already with practically no ticket sales.

On another note, the Saints have released ANOTHER veteran to gain cap space, this time CB Jenkins. He joins WR Sanders, P Morstead, TE Hill, OL Easton, and LB Alexander cut by New Orleans in the past week.

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Mar 11th 2021 »

Yeah the salary cap is tied to yearly revenue and the bargaining agreement guarantees a certain percentage split between the owners and players. I think in the NFL it's 50/50 or 52/48 or something. Apparently if they took all the losses this year to make the cap normal next year, it would only be 155m. But they're only lowering it a bit to mitigate some of the damage and it'll take a couple years for the cap to jump back up.

Though I do agree that it wouldn't hurt most of the owners to shell out an extra 20m. We're seeing the same thing in baseball too, and there there's no salary cap. A huge portion of money in baseball comes from ticket sales and concessions and there was none of that last year so they took huge losses. All of the owners could cover it but their thinking is why should they take all the loss while the players keep 100%.

In an argument of millionaires vs billionaires I'm pretty much always on the millionaires' side but it's also kinda tough to sympathize with them when they play a game for 4 months of a year and make millions regardless and then complain about COVID protocols when the average person is doing the same thing making 1% of their salary.

« Last edited by steelersrock01 on Mar 11th 2021 »

OMG... Chiefs released their starting LT & RT... We all saw what happened in the Super Bowl when those two guys were injured, and they thought to can them for some rookies or backups on the roster? Wow. I get being over the cap, but can some other positions you areloaded at or reconstruct some of the bigger contracts.

Mahomes will always make them the favorites, but more than ever before his rise, the Chiefs have clear weaknesses.

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Mar 11th 2021 »

I don't think it's as big a loss as it seems. Fisher tore his Achilles in the playoffs and Schwartz missed the whole year. No guarantees they'll be back to normal and there's a ton of OL in the draft and cheaper options in FA.

They have no money to spend. Still currently two million over the cap. They will either have to go with their backups or draft some linemen. OL are at a premium, no guarantee any elite ones will be left near the end of the first round.

Still a lot of offseason to go, these teams will all make room somehow. At least, the Chiefs will if they're smart. They saw how O line injuries completely stagnated their offense in the super bowl.

They have no choice but to unless they want to get penalized. Didn't the Cowboys or Redskins, can't remember which one, lost draft picks because they were over the cap? I think it happened for one of those two, or both, in the last decade.

Cam back to the Pats on a one year deal. It was really his only landing spot if he wanted to remain a starter.

Brady signs a four year extension, but it voids after 2022, meaning he will be a Buc for at least two more years if he keeps playing. The move saves the Bucs close to twenty million in cap this year. Repeat, anyone?

It?s looking like the recipe to building a Super Bowl team is drafting top quality rookies and keeping elite players around them who are prepared to take a pay cut to help the team. The window for the team winning Is within four years while the young players are cheap otherwise it?s back to the rebuilding stage. If that is the case Dallas are screwed


« Last edited by Sanzano on Mar 12th 2021 »

Yeah, that's always been the case. If you look at the super bowl winners from the past ~15 years, it's either teams that have a QB on a rookie contract, or Tom Brady, who has always taken a cut to keep his teams together. He's doing the same thing here with the Bucs and they've retained their entire core.

Chiefs converted part of Mahomes contract to be more signing bonus, saving them 17 million. If my numbers are correct, the Chiefs are now in the black by 15 million. Most of that is probably going to go to rookie contracts, but I wonder if they resign either of their OTs to veteran minimums.

Looks like Mahones has been pressured into doing a Brady to help the Chiefs, it will be interesting to see which other star players follow suit, particularly Dallas with their five overpaid players and Aaron Rogers who is difficult to deal with. It basically tells you what players want to win a Super Bowl and which ones are only playing for the money.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Mar 14th 2021 »

Well, they still get the same amount of money. Restructuring just spreads the cap hit further down the line. This way instead of the Chiefs having to take the cap hit for Mahomes up front as base salary, they can pay him as a signing bonus and spread the cap hit out out over 5 years for cap purpose. The rules are really complicated and confusing and to be honest I don't entirely understand them. But in these cases it's rarely the player simply taking a pay cut.

Yeah, only Brady really does that. lol

I guess when your wife has 300 million in the bank and you?ve got a couple of hundred million yourself giving away a few million to try and improve your legacy is an investment.