TomBrady'sGoat

There is so much whining about the Pats being below cap, not paying Deion what he wanted, and losing free agents without signing any. What annoys me is that rarely does anyone mention that NFL teams just received a huge bump to their salary caps due to the recent CBA and that this is a one-time event that hurt the Patriots more than most other teams.

Not that I need to tell Pats fans, but the team is built on smart spending. The Pats do not overpay for free agents, instead picking up those players other teams undervalue or can no longer afford to pay.

The salary cap bump meant that other teams could overpay for our free agents. The only way to re-sign Givens was to overpay, because the Titans found themselves with cap room burning a hole in their pocket. It also meant that teams didn't have to cut guys whose cap numbers were getting higher. Refusing to overpay and slim free agency pickings due to so few guys being cut forced the Pats into a situation where they lost players w/o bringing many in.

Why not adjust and overpay? Because this was a one-time event and it would ruin precedent. The Pats dealt with Bruschi, Harrison, Brady, Seymour, Vrabel, etc. under the pretense that they don't overpay. They will in the next few years deal with their free agents under the same pretense. Would it have been wise to blow this all up so they could compete for free agents this one off-season?

When the cap doesn't increase by $15M next year things will return to normal. The Pats will lose free agents, but not to contracts quite as ridiculous as those signed by Givens and Branch. Good players will become available when their teams need to cut them for cap purposes. Rinse and repeat.

If any, the mistake the Pats made was not trying to lock guys up before the new CBA. Their success was stockpiling draft picks, minimizing their needs in free agency.

Now stop whining. Considering the disadvantage at which the Patriots were operating, I think things look pretty good.

Gumby

That is a very good point.

To take it from the Chayut-Branch point of view: this very much helps explain why he took the position of holding out.

They knew the money would not be there next year to pay exhorbitantly. .

TomBrady'sGoat

I initially mentioned the Branch situation and decided to cut it out because it made the post a little haphazard. I think Branch/Chayut were brilliant to demand a new contract. 'Reggie Wayne money' will probably be much harder to come by next year.

mgteich

The parties agree to a $15M increase in the cap and then some teams don't spend it. I guess the players need to negotiate better next time, and have a higher mandatory use of cap. The idea of a $15M average increase in cap is that the players would actually receive the money, not that the owner would pocket it.

MoLewisrocks

Some days you really confound me. I guess the Pat's should just go out and find a stiff or two to get this money spent down on. Overpay them if you must just spend that money damnit.

hwc has a point you know when he says if we had offered some player more, say Ty Law or Deion Branch - they would just have used that increase against us as leverage with their other bidder. At the 11th hour on the verge of the last capped season scenario the NFL had the largest increase in available cap in one of the piss poorest FA markets in recent history where by most expert accounts the most significant player available was our former 34 year old PK.

The league and this franchise will be here at least through 2008, hopefully longer. Belioli plan for that contingency too.

oldskool138

The Pats are going to spend close to the cap this year. They're going to take what they have left and use it to pay off some guarantied money to Brady and Seymour. This will free up a bunch of money for them down the road, when other teams (i.e.- Seahawks and Titans) are still shelling out the big bucks on cap heavy contracts.

The Pats are not being penny-wise, pound-foolish here. They're letting other teams spend their money like drunken sailors while they're saving it for a better free agent signing in the future.

Blowing your cap on a player like Deion Branch is not financially smart. You can't pay a player based on past performances. You have to speculate how they will perform in the future. Piolli and Belichick do this very well.

RAWKY

This one time 15 million bump, I am sure contributed to the Dieon holdout as well.
He knew that this year was his best chance to cash in.

Many factors favored Branch this year and all were against the Pat's.

But that is life and we will move now on.

I appreciate that BB has the conviction and courage to do what he believes is best for the T E A M regardless of the preception in the media or the public.

This is a rare quality in leadership today and one most other teams suffer without.

MagicMarker

I've heard...

The league, as a whole, is well under the cap. Something like $200 M ($6M per team)

Because of that, most teams will lock up their free agents this year

Also, the cap could go up to $109M (another $7M increase) next year.

The cap will be around $150M by 2010.


If those are true, it makes sense to overpay your guys now to long term deals, because salaries will be 50% higher in 4 years.

Now, I don't remember where I heard those things (and I don't see how the cap goes up that much unless the TV deal has big jumps in it). Has anyone else heard this stuff?

Miguel

MagicMarker's recall is correct.

Branch did not want to be franchised next year.

Why???

Because he knew that he would be the best wideout and probably the best offensive player available in free agency. The money is not going to dry up next year, folks. This year teams are required to dish 84% of the cap in cash to the players. Next year that figure goes up to 90%. On Sunday I said to the guys sitting in front of me at Gillette that Branch would get a $7 million per year contract in 2007. He got close to $6.5 million per year contract in 2006.

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Digger44

Awesome awesome awesome post. This board needs new members to keep posting stuff like this.