Belichick Clarifies Cap vs. Cash Spending Comments

[h0c2000]

Cap is crap if it means you can't have any specific player.

Cap isn't crap if it means you can have all the players.

 

[Vindicate]

Do you all think Belichick shies away from cash spending too much?

 

[moosekill]

I think BIll is more conservative, which bodes well long term. He hasn't been afraid to spend when he thinks the player is worth it, but doesn't throw money around frivilously. He also has always refused to pay for past performance, which is what kills teams, but annoys some posters here a lot.

 

[RIpats88]

I think BIll is more conservative, which bodes well long term. He hasn't been afraid to spend when he thinks the player is worth it, but doesn't throw money around frivilously. He also has always refused to pay for past performance, which is what kills teams, but annoys some posters here a lot.

Does being conservative bode well long-term though? Patriots fans eat up cheaping out and not going after guys like DeAndre Hopkins because it worked when Brady was here.

Yet since Brady left the philosophy shows we are just an average to mediocre team.

A rising tide lifts all boats type of scenario where Brady covered up a lot of roster warts.

 

[h0c2000]

Do you all think Belichick shies away from cash spending too much?

I think Bill shies away from spending on the high end of any position. I think he wants to have median paid talent throughout his first string of the roster. Then I think he wants have a high end paid other 31 players on the roster. Not many players come out of a season unscathed.

 

[moosekill]

Does being conservative bode well long-term though? Patriots fans eat up cheaping out and not going after guys like DeAndre Hopkins because it worked when Brady was here.

Yet since Brady left the philosophy shows we are just an average to mediocre team.

A rising tide lifts all boats type of scenario where Brady covered up a lot of roster warts.

Yes but is Deandre the rising tide? He used to be a darn good wr. Is he still that, or has he passed his prime.

 

[Vindicate]

I think BIll is more conservative, which bodes well long term. He hasn't been afraid to spend when he thinks the player is worth it, but doesn't throw money around frivilously. He also has always refused to pay for past performance, which is what kills teams, but annoys some posters here a lot.

I think he also spends both time and money from a unit perspective. It'd be interesting to see spending on a unit or offense vs. defense side, and if there is fluctuation based on the strength of that unit.

 

[Wozzy]

Believing a NESCAC undergrad economics degree gives Bill special capology credentials is a special kind of dumb.
Most liberal arts NESCAC economics departments, including Wesleyan back in the day and currently, refuse to offer even basic accounting courses because they are not theory based and would provide actual practical knowledge which is a major no-no at these $85k/year woke incubators.
Sincerely,
An economics major from a NESCAC woke incubator

Sure, he’s not smart enough. Neither is Kraft, the billionaire who negotiated the lockout.

 

[FCB02062]

Krafty Bob got to bill, told him to backtrack...if you don't realize this you have your head in the sand and think the Patriots will go 17-0 and win the tournament

 

[Hyped]

Believing a NESCAC undergrad economics degree gives Bill special capology credentials is a special kind of dumb.
Most liberal arts NESCAC economics departments, including Wesleyan back in the day and currently, refuse to offer even basic accounting courses because they are not theory based and would provide actual practical knowledge which is a major no-no at these $85k/year woke incubators.
Sincerely,
An economics major from a NESCAC woke incubator

In biz skool...we used to have a saying, "Economics ain't business".

Economics is sociology really.... BUT that being said... economic models have real world applications specifically in resource allocation of finite supply of dollars/goods. This is where the economics of cap management are applicable. At the end of the day, BB has 200 million to manage a roster of 51 salaries amongst players of different skill levels/values.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I think Bill shies away from spending on the high end of any position. I think he wants to have median paid talent throughout his first string of the roster. Then I think he wants have a high end paid other 31 players on the roster. Not many players come out of a season unscathed.

I listened to part of the interview when they replayed it and from what I heard sounds like BB doesn't want to go all in one year and then try and climb out of the hole for 2-3 years with a losing record. Of course that tool Adam Jones didn't understand a word of it and called bullsh!t on BB but he's a dumb clown.

 

[Rob0729]

This is another example of why I think Belichick might have reached his expiration date. The Patriots have become a perennial middle of the pack team. They don’t have a lot of talent and their ceiling looks to be a 9-10 win borderline playoff team. And that is what they have been since Brady left. He doesn’t seem to want to be much more.

He really shouldn’t be trashing how the Bucs and Rams got their championships when they have been more successful in recent years than the Patriots.

Belichick is the same guy who tanked a whole season because he wanted to put his own guys in charge of the offense and their second year QB when they were grossly unqualified for the job. And now he is scrambling at the last minute to desperate build a o-line and depth because he didn’t properly address it during the off-season. Yet, he is looking down on teams that go for broke to “only” win one championship.

He just seems that he is living in the past. I think he refuses to embrace how much of an offensive league the NFL has become. And he still thinks he can build a team the same way he did with Brady.

If this team doesn’t make the playoffs this year, it will be time for the team to rebuild. And that will mean with a new coach and not a guy who is going to be 71 next season.

 

[RodThePat]

I think BIll is more conservative, which bodes well long term. He hasn't been afraid to spend when he thinks the player is worth it, but doesn't throw money around frivilously. He also has always refused to pay for past performance, which is what kills teams, but annoys some posters here a lot.

Can anyone give out some examples of financially responsible teams in the salary cap era that managed to remain competitive long term (say, 6+ years) without a top tier QB in place? Because it seems to me having Favre, Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Brees, Mahomes, Roethlisberger gives you a whole lot of leeway in roster building.

And for anyone confused about cash spending vs. cap spending, there's an easy example here: the Jets are spending 310 million dollars on their 2023 team, the Patriots are spending 218 million on theirs. Both teams are perfectly cap compliant. Not saying the Patriots should be doing what the Jets are doing, just showing how much of a gap in spending is possible even within the constraints of the cap.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Does being conservative bode well long-term though? Patriots fans eat up cheaping out and not going after guys like DeAndre Hopkins because it worked when Brady was here.

Yet since Brady left the philosophy shows we are just an average to mediocre team.

A rising tide lifts all boats type of scenario where Brady covered up a lot of roster warts.

You don't go to 8 straight conference title games and 4 Super Bowls with a lot of "warts" on the roster. Just silly. Those teams had multiple pro bowlers and solid players up and down the roster.

The longer Tom is gone the more folklore becomes reality.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Can anyone give out some examples of financially responsible teams in the salary cap era that managed to remain competitive long term (say, 6+ years) without a top tier QB in place? Because it seems to me having Favre, Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Brees, Mahomes, Roethlisberger gives you a whole lot of leeway in roster building.

And for anyone confused about cash spending vs. cap spending, there's an easy example here: the Jets are spending 310 million dollars on their 2023 team, the Patriots are spending 218 million on theirs. Both teams are perfectly cap compliant. Not saying the Patriots should be doing what the Jets are doing, just showing how much of a gap in spending is possible even within the constraints of the cap.

Ravens. 49ers. Titans.

 

[RIpats88]

You don't go to 8 straight conference title games and 4 Super Bowls with "warts" on the roster. Just silly. Those teams had multiple pro bowlers and solid players up and down the roster.

The longer Tom is gone the more folklore becomes reality.

Its folklore to think every roster that went to the conference finals had no 'warts on the roster"

2006, 2011, 2013, 2015 all ring bells of years where they made it to the conference finals with sub-par rosters. you take brady off those teams they probably don't sniff the playoffs let alone the conference finals.

 

[mgcolby]

Bill also told us that MattP and Joe Judge could coach offense.

Wow that is the best retort you had?

Knowing and fully understanding something that is completely static and believing in another person's ability to perform a task are not quite the same thing, no?

 

[RodThePat]

Ravens. 49ers. Titans.

The Titans haven't been competitive for 6+ years, the Ravens have a top tier QB in Lamar Jackson and also haven't been competitive for 6+ years considering they sink whenever he's injured and the 49ers have also been up and down during that timeframe (6-10 in 2017, 4-12 in 2018, 13-3 in 2019, 6-10 in 2020, 10-7 in 2021 and 13-4 in 2022). To remain consistently competitive year in and year out for a long period of time, high level QB play is a requirement.

 

[mgcolby]

Thank you, this is helping a lot. So when it comes to the "cap is crap" theory, are people referring to the obfuscation that can be done via cash spending?

Yes. Essentially they are saying you can make any deal work if you really want to. Which for the most part is true. The Redskins did it for years and then used a loop hole in the CBA (2013/2014ish) one year to essentially wipe the slate clean.

So, say you strapped for cash you can in leu of bonus guarantee the 2nd year of the deal lets say and then give a low season one cost to fit within the cap etc... and get the player now. However, that bill is due the following season. When teams spend year after year it always affects them several years down the road because they are pushing that dead money back. We dealt with a lot of dead cap money in 2020. 2021 was a clean slate if you will which is why they went ham in FA.

Bottom line cash is crap in any singular situation, in a vacuum if you will. But for the long term competitiveness of the roster. The cap is not crap.

 

[Rob0729]

Ravens. 49ers. Titans.

The 49ers have made a lot of aggressive moves to build their team from trading for Lance to trading for McCaffrey. They don’t go crazy with the spending, but they have mortgaged the future in other ways.