A side plot to consider w/ the 2010 uncapped season...

[Miguel]

Pat Kirwan's points - "I also believe a number of the players looking at the prospect of 2010 and 2011 being uncapped and preventing them from being free agents will try to sign long-term extensions with their teams in the near future..... For all practical purposes, free agency will not have any teeth in 2010"

are in stark contrast to the contention that lots of players are going to take one-year deals in 2009 in order to get a big payday in 2010.

 

[Urgent]

From the CBA:
(iv) Amounts Treated as Signing Bonuses. For purposes of determining Team Salary under the
foregoing, the term “signing bonus” shall include:......(12) In a Player Contract, or any renegotiation or extension of a Player Contract, that is executed in the
Final Capped Year, each of the following, if it is to be earned or paid to the player in the Final League Year
(which is an Uncapped Year): (a) any Salary advance which the player is not and cannot be obligated to repay;
(b) any off-season workout bonus that is contingent upon the player’s participation in less than 32 days of the
Club’s off-season workout program; (c) any off-season roster bonus; and (d) any off-season reporting bonus;"

Based on my understanding of the above, I would say no.

Interesting.
So how do you interpret "off-season roster bonus?"
Is there an in-season roster bonus?
Or has that loophole - factoring in large non-guaranteed roster bonuses during the potentially-uncapped years - been effectively closed by the CBA?

I guess the Stallworth contract would be a decent analogy.
The structure of that - a smaller front-year agreement, and then a large bonus that triggers the continuation of the contract - is parallel with what I was asking about.
It sounds like that deal, if structured on the eve of the uncapped year, would account for the Year 2 roster bonus as part of the signing bonus. Is that right?

 

[patchick]

Pat Kirwan's points - "I also believe a number of the players looking at the prospect of 2010 and 2011 being uncapped and preventing them from being free agents will try to sign long-term extensions with their teams in the near future..... For all practical purposes, free agency will not have any teeth in 2010"

are in stark contrast to the contention that lots of players are going to take one-year deals in 2009 in order to get a big payday in 2010.

I think some of each could happen -- the provisions create multiple classes of players with different motivations.

Players drafted in 2005 & 2006 would be looking for extensions because they're losing a year of free agency. Top-tier 6+ vets likely would also, to avoid the franchise tag explosion. But some mid-level players with 6-8 years experience might indeed be tempted to sign 1-year deals to position themselves for FA in the ultimate seller's market year, when fewer players than normal and more money than normal would available. Among current Patriots, Jarvis Green might fit that mold (and possibly Stephen Neal, although he's a little too old).

 

[spacecrime]

This is the big risk -- a total disintegration of the cap system. The current system has made the NFL a financial powerhouse with a compelling on-field product. I'd hate to see a baseball/hockey-style mess.

Me, too. Maybe it's just pessimism because some don't see it this way, but I see salaries going through the roof. I agree with the OP that if possible players will do one- or two-year contracts to get in on the bonanza.

The only bright side is at least Kraft has a successful (financially) franchise. This is where teams like the Pats and Cowboys and Giants and other teams that did the marketing work will reap the benefits, and those that were satisfied not to bother with naming rights etc etc and to just receive money will be screwed. Reap what you sow, I guess.

Still, I think the NFl will be better off with the cap. Maybe there will be some last-minute negotiations. Or maybe that Rule of Eight will actually maintain parity. I don't believe it will, though.

 

[Miguel]

Interesting.
So how do you interpret "off-season roster bonus?"

Anything before Week 1.

Is there an in-season roster bonus?

yes.

Or has that loophole - factoring in large non-guaranteed roster bonuses during the potentially-uncapped years - been effectively closed by the CBA?

It appears so.

I guess the Stallworth contract would be a decent analogy.
The structure of that - a smaller front-year agreement, and then a large bonus that triggers the continuation of the contract - is parallel with what I was asking about.
It sounds like that deal, if structured on the eve of the uncapped year, would account for the Year 2 roster bonus as part of the signing bonus. Is that right?

Except that Stallworth had an option bonus for 2008. Option bonuses are already treated as a signing bonus.

 

[Miguel]

Among current Patriots, Jarvis Green might fit that mold (and possibly Stephen Neal, although he's a little too old).

Jarvis Green and Neal are already scheduled to be UFAs in 2010.

 

[Miguel]

Re: A side plot to consider w the 2010 uncapped season...

Or that agents will work to make sure they players are not FAs in an uncapped year.

I guess that you did not see that Devin Hester, Andrew Whitworth, and Domata Peko who were all scheduled to be UFAs in 2010 signed an 4-year extensions to the rookie deals they signed in 2006 AFTER the owners opted out of the CBA. I am sure that I missed other similar extensions.

 

[patchick]

Jarvis Green and Neal are already scheduled to be UFAs in 2010.

Right, sorry, I was a year off.

 

[spacecrime]

Re: A side plot to consider w the 2010 uncapped season...

I guess that you did not see that Devin Hester, Andrew Whitworth, and Domata Peko who were all scheduled to be UFAs in 2010 signed an 4-year extensions to the rookie deals they signed in 2006 AFTER the owners opted out of the CBA. I am sure that I missed other similar extensions.

Didn't see but anecdotal evidence changes nothing. Guss Scott turned down a signing bonus to opt for a series of one-year deals. Maurice Clarrett turned down a signing bonus in hopes of making more.

These didn't signal an change in the way business done, and more than individuals do. Plus the OP comment was about players signing one-year deals in 2009. And I don't kow two of your examples (which might imply they aren't teh top-level talent the OP was referring to) and Hester was a very special case of a guy being WAY underpaid for his production and not representative of anything.

We won't know until next year (2009)if a significant number of players take one-year deals hoping for a big contract in 2010.

Until then, the OP has a viable hypothethis. As the thread title says, it is a side plot to consider. THere is nothing wrong with considering it, because you, me, and Carruci do not know what will happen. We all have opinions, and you just can't point to special cases like Devon Hester as proof that players won't sign any one-year deals in hope of a bigger payoff in 2010.

We'll know next year, and until then the OP's "side plot to consider" is worth considering.


EDIT: If Hester hadn't signed the extension, would he even have been a FA in 2009 to be eligible to sign a one-year deal in 2009? Wasn't he drafted in 2006?

 

[patchick]

Re: A side plot to consider w the 2010 uncapped season...

I guess that you did not see that Devin Hester, Andrew Whitworth, and Domata Peko who were all scheduled to be UFAs in 2010 signed an 4-year extensions to the rookie deals they signed in 2006 AFTER the owners opted out of the CBA. I am sure that I missed other similar extensions.

Miguel, all three of the players you name were drafted in 2006, so in fact they were not scheduled to be UFAs in 2010.

 

[Miguel]

Re: A side plot to consider w the 2010 uncapped season...

Miguel, all three of the players you name were drafted in 2006, so in fact they were not scheduled to be UFAs in 2010.

DOH!!! I went looking for players drafted in 2006 because they were easiest to find.

 

[Miguel]

Re: A side plot to consider w the 2010 uncapped season...

Until then, the OP has a viable hypothethis. As the thread title says, it is a side plot to consider. THere is nothing wrong with considering it, because you, me, and Carruci do not know what will happen. We all have opinions, and you just can't point to special cases like Devon Hester as proof that players won't sign any one-year deals in hope of a bigger payoff in 2010.

We'll know next year, and until then the OP's "side plot to consider" is worth considering.

It is also worth considering who will become UFAs in 2009 and how much cap space teams will have in 2009. There is nothing wrong to question why a player would take a one-year deal in 2009 when he can get a big payday in 2009. Yes, a top talent who suffers a serious injury in 2008 is likely to take one-year deal in 2009 but that has nothing to do with 2010 being uncapped.