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I was having a discussion with my brother-in-law, and he told me some of the salary cap rules they have in some other professional leagues, such as MLS and the NBA. So, I thought it would be great if the NFL would consider some of these:
1. The "true" franchise player. The NFL could allow one team to designate their "franchise player." Unlike the stigma that the tag now has, which basically is a forced year of service from a player, this tag allows you to pay one player as much money as you want with only a portion of it going against the cap. For example, the Saints could pay Drew Brees $30M this season, but only $20M goes against the cap. You could base it on a flat number or a percentage.
The benefit is that teams can keep the face of their franchise without crippling other positions, and the bitterness and greed that is so often associated with star players will come to an end. This, of course, could only be applied to one player per team. Another alternative is to have the "maximum contract" to one player, similar to the NBA, where the player makes max dollar and can't go higher (but again, the cap number would not be as high.)
2. The "draft" discount. Quite simply, if you draft a player and he's been a member of your team for his entire career, this could also be a cap discount. As much as I despise the Steelers, I think it's a shame that they can't afford to keep all the players they've drafted. The Steelers never pick up free agents, so their goal is really just to keep their own players. Mike Wallace will probably be a free agent next year because the Steelers cannot afford him. Their money is tied up in other players they've drafted and groomed. The Patriots will likely have a similar problem when Gronk and Hernandez both want huge deals in a couple of years.
The benefit is that teams can keep their drafted players and the turnstile of free agency is reduced. Teams can root for the same player throughout his career. You could potentially make other cap savings clauses for players like Wes Welker, who has been a Patriot for the last four years (a long time in an NFL career), and/or use a sliding scale so that each year of service with a team results in more cap savings.
In both cases, the following would happen: the team would want to take advantage of the salary cap savings and would likely re-sign their key players, and the player would not want to risk going onto the open market, where teams would then have to pay real cap dollars towards that signing.
Well, that's all I have so far. Let me know if you agree that the NFL should make a salary cap system that favors teams keeping their current rosters intact, especially the impact players that are often fan favorites.
1. The "true" franchise player. The NFL could allow one team to designate their "franchise player." Unlike the stigma that the tag now has, which basically is a forced year of service from a player, this tag allows you to pay one player as much money as you want with only a portion of it going against the cap. For example, the Saints could pay Drew Brees $30M this season, but only $20M goes against the cap. You could base it on a flat number or a percentage.
The benefit is that teams can keep the face of their franchise without crippling other positions, and the bitterness and greed that is so often associated with star players will come to an end. This, of course, could only be applied to one player per team. Another alternative is to have the "maximum contract" to one player, similar to the NBA, where the player makes max dollar and can't go higher (but again, the cap number would not be as high.)
2. The "draft" discount. Quite simply, if you draft a player and he's been a member of your team for his entire career, this could also be a cap discount. As much as I despise the Steelers, I think it's a shame that they can't afford to keep all the players they've drafted. The Steelers never pick up free agents, so their goal is really just to keep their own players. Mike Wallace will probably be a free agent next year because the Steelers cannot afford him. Their money is tied up in other players they've drafted and groomed. The Patriots will likely have a similar problem when Gronk and Hernandez both want huge deals in a couple of years.
The benefit is that teams can keep their drafted players and the turnstile of free agency is reduced. Teams can root for the same player throughout his career. You could potentially make other cap savings clauses for players like Wes Welker, who has been a Patriot for the last four years (a long time in an NFL career), and/or use a sliding scale so that each year of service with a team results in more cap savings.
In both cases, the following would happen: the team would want to take advantage of the salary cap savings and would likely re-sign their key players, and the player would not want to risk going onto the open market, where teams would then have to pay real cap dollars towards that signing.
Well, that's all I have so far. Let me know if you agree that the NFL should make a salary cap system that favors teams keeping their current rosters intact, especially the impact players that are often fan favorites.
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