NFL Players Association not happy with PATS

[shatch62]

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar?All=1

Plenty of room

With the salary cap raised to $102 million this season, it was no surprise to see that most NFL teams have a lot of cap room heading into the season. In fact, 10 teams, lead by Jacksonville, have at least $8 million or more in salary-cap space. The Jaguars are $12.7 million under the cap.

New Orleans has $11 million, Arizona $10.5 million and Minnesota, Houston and New England each have $10.3 million. I guess that means that the Patriots could pay Deion Branch if they wanted to and still have plenty of room. It has to be worrisome to the NFL Players Association that teams like New England and Houston, two of the clubs worth more than $1 billion and both generating revenues among the top 10 in the league, would be keeping the cap money and not spending it.

The teams with the least amount of space are Miami ($550,452), Atlanta ($897,916) and Oakland ($1.127 million).

*****
I love when the players association gets upset that the Pats don’t pay more to its players. What are the Pats suppose to do? Overpay to keep players here? The Pats offered Branch a three-year, $18.75 million extension with a signing bonus of $4 million this year and a $4 million option bonus in 2007. Now this was a low offer considering what guys like Givens got. If the Branch had come back with a counteroffer that was in the line of a signing bonus of $6-7 million this year with the rest of the deal the same it might have got done. Say it happened that way, the Pats available space would be around $3-4 million. Would the players association be OK with that #?

Seriously, name the guys on the team that should be in the top 5 paid at their position?

Brady, Seymour, Bruschi and Harrison. Vrabel is so valuable so I would say he could be a top 5er as well. Anyone else? Nope. Should the Pats over pay because they can? You could argue that the Pats should he signed a free agent or two but they cost more than the Pats thought they were worth. This approach has resulted in the Pats winning 3 SBs in the last 5 years. Hell, last years team was “awful†by recent Pats standards and they still won 10 games. How many team would have won 10 games with the injuries that the Pats had? How many games would the Colts have won if they lost their starting LT, C, RB (and all the back-ups) SS, ILB and DE for numerous games? 10, 9, 8???

The Pats win because they are SMART with their money but if you ask the Players Association they are simply cheap.

 

[grapedog]

F*** the NFLPA, if they gave two damns about their players they would work to get guarantee'd contracts, but that will never happen with Agents having their hooks into the NFLPA...

 

[mdhprime]

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar?All=1

Plenty of room

With the salary cap raised to $102 million this season, it was no surprise to see that most NFL teams have a lot of cap room heading into the season. In fact, 10 teams, lead by Jacksonville, have at least $8 million or more in salary-cap space. The Jaguars are $12.7 million under the cap.

New Orleans has $11 million, Arizona $10.5 million and Minnesota, Houston and New England each have $10.3 million. I guess that means that the Patriots could pay Deion Branch if they wanted to and still have plenty of room. It has to be worrisome to the NFL Players Association that teams like New England and Houston, two of the clubs worth more than $1 billion and both generating revenues among the top 10 in the league, would be keeping the cap money and not spending it.

The teams with the least amount of space are Miami ($550,452), Atlanta ($897,916) and Oakland ($1.127 million).

*****
I love when the players association gets upset that the Pats don’t pay more to its players. What are the Pats suppose to do? Overpay to keep players here? The Pats offered Branch a three-year, $18.75 million extension with a signing bonus of $4 million this year and a $4 million option bonus in 2007. Now this was a low offer considering what guys like Givens got. If the Branch had come back with a counteroffer that was in the line of a signing bonus of $6-7 million this year with the rest of the deal the same it might have got done. Say it happened that way, the Pats available space would be around $3-4 million. Would the players association be OK with that #?

Seriously, name the guys on the team that should be in the top 5 paid at their position?

Brady, Seymour, Bruschi and Harrison. Vrabel is so valuable so I would say he could be a top 5er as well. Anyone else? Nope. Should the Pats over pay because they can? You could argue that the Pats should he signed a free agent or two but they cost more than the Pats thought they were worth. This approach has resulted in the Pats winning 3 SBs in the last 5 years. Hell, last years team was “awful†by recent Pats standards and they still won 10 games. How many team would have won 10 games with the injuries that the Pats had? How many games would the Colts have won if they lost their starting LT, C, RB (and all the back-ups) SS, ILB and DE for numerous games? 10, 9, 8???

The Pats win because they are SMART with their money but if you ask the Players Association they are simply cheap.

What a wacky article. First off the team can be as under the cap as it wants. Secondly, do they not take in to account the possibility of deals being re-done this year? Hmm.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Czarnecki is a tool.

 

[FSUPatsFan]

The Pats are worth over a billion because of the way they have ran the team the last 6 years. The net worth is a product of winning. We win by not overpaying and having a lot of depth which increases competiton among the roster. We spent up to the cap every other year. Just because the cap was raised doesn't mean we should go and waste all that money right away. I'm sure BB has a plan for that money. Some time in the not so distant future the Pats will be right back near the cap.

 

[14thDragon]

What a wacky article. First off the team can be as under the cap as it wants. Secondly, do they not take in to account the possibility of deals being re-done this year? Hmm.

Actually no it can't. The new CBA has a clearly defined floor for spending. No team is anywhere near it though.

 

[RayClay]

NFLPA was not quoted in that article. That was completely czarjkljkl's, (sp?) opinion.

 

[basement zombie]

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar?All=1
New Orleans has $11 million, Arizona $10.5 million and Minnesota, Houston and New England each have $10.3 million. I guess that means that the Patriots could pay Deion Branch if they wanted to and still have plenty of room. It has to be worrisome to the NFL Players Association that teams like New England and Houston, two of the clubs worth more than $1 billion and both generating revenues among the top 10 in the league, would be keeping the cap money and not spending it.



*****
I love when the players association gets upset that the Pats don’t pay more to its players.

That was pure speculation - the columnist's opinion. No words or content from the NFLPA.

 

[DaBruinz]

The NFLPA needs to STFU and realize that the Patriots could easily cut their free money in half by paying Seymour's roster bonus. They seem to have forgotten that.

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar?All=1

Plenty of room

With the salary cap raised to $102 million this season, it was no surprise to see that most NFL teams have a lot of cap room heading into the season. In fact, 10 teams, lead by Jacksonville, have at least $8 million or more in salary-cap space. The Jaguars are $12.7 million under the cap.

New Orleans has $11 million, Arizona $10.5 million and Minnesota, Houston and New England each have $10.3 million. I guess that means that the Patriots could pay Deion Branch if they wanted to and still have plenty of room. It has to be worrisome to the NFL Players Association that teams like New England and Houston, two of the clubs worth more than $1 billion and both generating revenues among the top 10 in the league, would be keeping the cap money and not spending it.

The teams with the least amount of space are Miami ($550,452), Atlanta ($897,916) and Oakland ($1.127 million).

*****
I love when the players association gets upset that the Pats don’t pay more to its players. What are the Pats suppose to do? Overpay to keep players here? The Pats offered Branch a three-year, $18.75 million extension with a signing bonus of $4 million this year and a $4 million option bonus in 2007. Now this was a low offer considering what guys like Givens got. If the Branch had come back with a counteroffer that was in the line of a signing bonus of $6-7 million this year with the rest of the deal the same it might have got done. Say it happened that way, the Pats available space would be around $3-4 million. Would the players association be OK with that #?

Seriously, name the guys on the team that should be in the top 5 paid at their position?

Brady, Seymour, Bruschi and Harrison. Vrabel is so valuable so I would say he could be a top 5er as well. Anyone else? Nope. Should the Pats over pay because they can? You could argue that the Pats should he signed a free agent or two but they cost more than the Pats thought they were worth. This approach has resulted in the Pats winning 3 SBs in the last 5 years. Hell, last years team was “awful†by recent Pats standards and they still won 10 games. How many team would have won 10 games with the injuries that the Pats had? How many games would the Colts have won if they lost their starting LT, C, RB (and all the back-ups) SS, ILB and DE for numerous games? 10, 9, 8???

The Pats win because they are SMART with their money but if you ask the Players Association they are simply cheap.

 

[jaychamp]

F*** the NFLPA, if they gave two damns about their players they would work to get guarantee'd contracts, but that will never happen with Agents having their hooks into the NFLPA...

I think not having guaranteed contracts is one of the things that makes the competition in the NFL so great.

How many MLB players get huge contracts and then completely tank? Same thing would happen in the NFL IMO.

 

[lobster]

The link should have been to the previous blog entery "Flag on the Play", not the current blog post:
http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar/2006/09/08/Flag_on_the_play

The quote is from the section "Plenty of room". What likely worries the Players Association a lot more is the fact that in the last 2 years the Pat's haven't signed any free agents from other teams to one of those major contracts - or "pay-days" as they are called by the players. Going into free agency and landing a major contract from another club seems to be very important to a lot of the players. Instead the Pat's have focused on building the team with the draft and mid-level contracts to free agents from other teams.

That could have been some of the rationale behind the Player's Association agreeing to expedite Chayut's pathetic grievances, with that the Players Association lawyer Kessler trying to embarrass the Pat's in the media at every opportunity.

The result was a huge win for the Players Association with Branch getting his "pay-day" in spite of not even being a free agent. The fans booing the Pat's must have been an extra and unexpected bonus.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The day someone writes a piece about how the NFLPA is thrilled with the way the Pats do business is the day we should all cas in our chips.

As I recall Mr. Gene was waxing poetic about the fabulous cash over cap star studded Redskins during the recent labor negotiations. How's that working out...:bricks:

 

[shatch62]

That was pure speculation - the columnist's opinion. No words or content from the NFLPA.

This article doesn't use a Union Quote but the Players Association has complained about the pats before.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/02/03/union_prepares_for_fight/?page=full

Upshaw claimed high-revenue owners such as Bob Kraft and the Cowboys' Jerry Jones have repeatedly taken advantage of the present system because ''they're not spending on the players. They're not spending to the cap. They're spending on everything else."

An NFLPA source familiar with those numbers said the Patriots had spent only $76 million on player salaries last year despite a cap of $85 million, while Jones spent only $66 million on revenue of more than $300 million. The source produced NFLPA documentation to support those figures. Washington's Daniel Snyder was not lumped in that group because, according to the union's figures, he spends to the cap.

----
Love the part about Snyder being the guy the union loves. Since he has taken over the 'Skins in 1999 they have gone 54-59:
Year Record Coach
2006 0-1-0 Gibbs
2005 10-6-0 Gibbs
2004 6-10-0 Gibbs
2003 5-11-0 Spurrier
2002 7-9-0 Spurrier
2001 8-8-0 Schottenheimer
2000 8-8-0 Turner, Robiskie
1999 10-6-0 Turner

Yeah, that is a great way to run a team

 

[mdhprime]

Actually no it can't. The new CBA has a clearly defined floor for spending. No team is anywhere near it though.

I did not know that. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

If anything is really bothing the NFLPA (and this guys opinions are not proof of that), it would be that all teams didn't pony up to the new CAP right away... not that just the Patriots didn't do it.

Because so many teams are not throwing stupid-high dollars at any and all FAs, it will take longer for the CAP raise to impact the players (and their agents).

A lot of teams are still being fiscally responsible (including tying their own FAs up to reasonable contracts), which doesn't translate into the instant and large windfall that the NFLPA, players, and agents were hoping for.

Eventually all the teams will reach the CAP, but it is not happening as fast as they wanted.

 

[Patters]

The title of this thread is misleading.

Nowhere in the article does it say that the NFL Players Association unhappy with Pats? The only reference I see is a sportswriter speculating that the NFLPA should find it "worrisome" that teams like the Pats have so much cap room yet. I assume the NFLPA is happy as long as the players are happy. Sure, they'd like to get the players more money and the owners would like to pay less, but that's just the way it is.

 

[Aldogg]

Its a shame when we are smarter than these writers. We would have spent to the cap, just we refused to overpay for marginal talent. As others have stated, our plan with that money was sign Law when he was released, resign Branch and a couple of other guys, and keep the rest for injury replacements. Its not our fault KC offered more money, Branch wants to get paid as a top 10-15 WR, and instead of throwing stupid money around like a Snyder will do, we will bring in players that fit our system.

 

[Miguel]

NFLPA was not quoted in that article. That was completely czarjkljkl's, (sp?) opinion.

Why let a fact like that stop the NFLPA bashing???

 

[RayClay]

Why let a fact like that stop the NFLPA bashing???

Don't get me wrong, big name players should pay guys like Borges, Cafardo and the Czarina for their ceaseless shilling.

I'm just not aware of a contractual arrangement.

 

[BTTA]

NFLPA was not quoted in that article. That was completely czarjkljkl's, (sp?) opinion.

OK, what's the floor? We know what the CAP is.