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Felger goes too far: cherry picks stat ("13% of cap"), ignores context, claims Belichick/Kraft only underpay QBs out of greed...


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Disclaimer - No, I'm not calling for an actual lawsuit, or anything. Rather, just take a moment to read and ask yourself just who Michael Felger really is...

Anyone listen to Felger yesterday? He was talking about how cheap Brady's contracts have been over the years & and rambled on with his usual shtick about how 'the cap is crap' and even went so far as to speculate that the only reason why Kraft does it is because he's is cheap, and Belichick goes along with it because he wants to keep money away from players since he makes $25 million per yr, and show everyone he that he doesn't need high-paid players to win, etc. Felger even went so far as to claim that the owners across the league are intentionally trying to conspire to keep money away from players. So, he's pushing it. But it's just ignorant speculation, right?

But, Felger cited a very specific and curious benchmark when he discussed Brady's contracts with NE: 13% of the cap.

He said that the only year Brady's cap hit was above 13% of the overall cap was back in 2006. Now this is true. But, what made him specifically cite 13%? I mean, there is very little consistency in the % of Brady's yearly cap hit. One year its 9.9% the next its 6.7% (See the percentages for yourself). So why use that specific percentage? Why use 13%? Oh, wait. I know why. Because, since the very beginning of the salary cap era, the most that a QB has ever been paid, in a Super Bowl winning season, is just 13% of the salary cap. That happened back in 1994 w/ the 49ers & Steve Young. To put it in perspective, 13% of the 2020 cap is just above $25 million. Now I don't expect everyone to know this. But for those who follow the cap, you've probably read about this throughout the years; 13% is widely considered the benchmark among cap-gurus of when a QB is making too much money to field a legit SB winning team. Google it. Go to sites like overthecap.com. This is nothing new. It's been discussed again and again. In fact, it's getting a lot of recent traction due to Dak Prescott & Dallas Cowboys negotiations.

So, back to Felger. I find it ridiculously curious that he specifically brings up 13% of the cap -- only in relation to Brady and NE -- but is seemingly unaware of the entire context in which that 13% benchmark comes from. I mean, does he genuinely not know? Is his use of "13%" a genuine coincidence? Well, remember he specifically, cited the one year when Brady's cap went above 13%. Key word: "above." And again, there's little consistency in Brady's cap hits over the years. So, it's pretty clear he is aware that 13% is used as the line-in-the-sand for when a QB's salary is considered to be too high for a SB win. So, he must know about this. So, again, the data in which 13% comes from is not just a tiny little detail that he forgot to mention. It's the entire crux of the discussion; it's the entire reason why 13% is viewed as such a benchmark. So, there's no way he's citing this info and not aware of where it comes from. There's just no way.

Now, here's the ugly part. With this in mind, when Felger tries to speculate on just what the motivation is as to why Kraft and Belichick keep the QB salary under 13%....how can he possibly jump to the conclusion that it's straight up greed without even bothering to mention all the above? Really. There's no excuse for this. I mean, even if he thinks this 13% theory is a bunch of junk, that's fine, but at least tell us the context of it. But he's now commenting on another person's thought's, ignoring the obvious context of where it comes from, ignoring that this goes well beyond NE, and trying to telling his audience that Kraft and Belichick only do this out of greed. That's completely ridiculous.

Is this who Michael Felger really is as a person? We aren't even talking sports anymore. This crap goes well beyond "contrarian" sports talk. He's taking personal shots at Belichick and Kraft when he knows the very info he's using supports their strategy. Again, if he wants to brings up that data, tell the story behind it, and then argue that he thinks its a bunch of non-sense & the Pats should just pay big names, that's fine. But he doesn't do that. He takes the info, completely ignores the history and context, makes it look like NE is the only team doing it, and then claims that it's just an excuse for the Pats to keep money from players.....Why? I don't get this guy. He already has a successful show. He can speculate all day on Brady vs Belichick. But this is how he functions. This is who he is as a person. He lies to his listeners to make them think their team is lying to them.
 
Isn't it weird how 13% of the cap commits 50% of the success?
 
i can't believe felger still is on the air......pulling the plug on sport talk radio was the best thing i've ever done

if he made this whole rant without ever once mentioned that no team has won a lombardi in the salary cap era while committing more than 13% of their cap to the QB position, then he has zero credibility......which most of us knew
 
Bill just underestimated Brady's ability at 43. Idk if it had anything to do with being cheap. He made a grievous mistake.

Then he had no cap space last year to chase any QBs which is why we were stuck with cam newton
 
Isn't it weird how 13% of the cap commits 50% of the success?

So, here's the thing. No one is arguing the value of the QB. Instead, it's about the contract leaving enough cap room so that a GM can build a complete team around him. That's all.

i.e. like Brady only making $25 mil, is a key reason why Tampa had so few holes on the roster and so much depth. Few teams with an elite QB were so well constructed.
 
Bill just underestimated Brady's ability at 43. Idk if it had anything to do with being cheap. He made a grievous mistake.

Then he had no cap space last year to chase any QBs which is why we were stuck with cam newton

Also, can we please not turn this into a Brady v Belichick conversation? You have million threads on this....

This is about Felger...
 
Thread title is wildly misleading
 
Also, can we please not turn this into a Brady v Belichick conversation? You have million threads on this....

This is about Felger...

I just used it as an example. The worst argument felger makes is "the cap is crap"

When year after year we see teams go down the tubes because of cap mismanagement
 
Disclaimer - No, I'm not calling for an actual lawsuit, or anything. Rather, just take a moment to read and ask yourself just who Michael Felger really is...

Anyone listen to Felger yesterday?
Not me. Listening to him gives him exactly what he wants. Making long posts detailing what he said gives him what he wants.

Felger is in the camp of "better to have people talk about how stupid you are than not talk about you at all." So he goes out and provokes.
 
Felger is all about creating narratives that he and his co-hosts can discuss and absolutely beat into the ground for weeks at a time. Most of the things he talks about are things he creates in his own mind so he has something to talk about. That's really all it is. I used to listen for stretches at a time but couldn't take the nonstop negativity.
 
One of very few positives from WFH all the time since COVID hit.

Since last March I can count on one hand the times I have listened to Felger & Mazz and I can't remember the last time. Maybe before X-Mas week.
 
Not me. Listening to him gives him exactly what he wants. Making long posts detailing what he said gives him what he wants.

Felger is in the camp of "better to have people talk about how stupid you are than not talk about you at all." So he goes out and provokes.

Yeah, but this goes further than usual. Whine about the cap, or drafts, all you want; but don't take data from an ongoing discussion on NFL salary cap/history, make it sound like NE is the only one to do it, and then says it's nothing but greed.
 
I can try to change it. Suggestion?
The percentage portion of the discussion was triggered by a Kraft interview many years ago, where he was talking about how too high a percentage of the cap being paid out to QBs would hamper the ability of a team to bring in talent around him. It was not about greed, or anything of that sort. It was about team building philosophy, and he was questioning whether or not Brady winning down in Tampa would force a change in that philosophy.

The other part of the Felger commentary was about the Patriots being dead last in actual money paid out to players over the last 5 years. Felger didn't talk about that as a function of greed. He talked about it as a function of a team budget which allows for owners to make a profit, and he was fine with it. What he did was then speculate that the low payout might be because of the alleged high payout to BB as coach/GM being included as part of the overall budget.

So I'd drop the libel portion, and just use the two parts as a pair of at least semi-interstings sub discussions.

But that's just me.
 
Disclaimer - No, I'm not calling for an actual lawsuit, or anything. Rather, just take a moment to read and ask yourself just who Michael Felger really is...

Anyone listen to Felger yesterday? He was talking about how cheap Brady's contracts have been over the years & and rambled on with his usual shtick about how 'the cap is crap' and even went so far as to speculate that the only reason why Kraft does it is because he's is cheap, and Belichick goes along with it because he wants to keep money away from players since he makes $25 million per yr, and show everyone he that he doesn't need high-paid players to win, etc. Felger even went so far as to claim that the owners across the league are intentionally trying to conspire to keep money away from players. So, he's pushing it. But it's just ignorant speculation, right?

But, Felger cited a very specific and curious benchmark when he discussed Brady's contracts with NE: 13% of the cap.

He said that the only year Brady's cap hit was above 13% of the overall cap was back in 2006. Now this is true. But, what made him specifically cite 13%? I mean, there is very little consistency in the % of Brady's yearly cap hit. One year its 9.9% the next its 6.7% (See the percentages for yourself). So why use that specific percentage? Why use 13%? Oh, wait. I know why. Because, since the very beginning of the salary cap era, the most that a QB has ever been paid, in a Super Bowl winning season, is just 13% of the salary cap. That happened back in 1994 w/ the 49ers & Steve Young. To put it in perspective, 13% of the 2020 cap is just above $25 million. Now I don't expect everyone to know this. But for those who follow the cap, you've probably read about this throughout the years; 13% is widely considered the benchmark among cap-gurus of when a QB is making too much money to field a legit SB winning team. Google it. Go to sites like overthecap.com. This is nothing new. It's been discussed again and again. In fact, it's getting a lot of recent traction due to Dak Prescott & Dallas Cowboys negotiations.

So, back to Felger. I find it ridiculously curious that he specifically brings up 13% of the cap -- only in relation to Brady and NE -- but is seemingly unaware of the entire context in which that 13% benchmark comes from. I mean, does he genuinely not know? Is his use of "13%" a genuine coincidence? Well, remember he specifically, cited the one year when Brady's cap went above 13%. Key word: "above." And again, there's little consistency in Brady's cap hits over the years. So, it's pretty clear he is aware that 13% is used as the line-in-the-sand for when a QB's salary is considered to be too high for a SB win. So, he must know about this. So, again, the data in which 13% comes from is not just a tiny little detail that he forgot to mention. It's the entire crux of the discussion; it's the entire reason why 13% is viewed as such a benchmark. So, there's no way he's citing this info and not aware of where it comes from. There's just no way.

Now, here's the ugly part. With this in mind, when Felger tries to speculate on just what the motivation is as to why Kraft and Belichick keep the QB salary under 13%....how can he possibly jump to the conclusion that it's straight up greed without even bothering to mention all the above? Really. There's no excuse for this. I mean, even if he thinks this 13% theory is a bunch of junk, that's fine, but at least tell us the context of it. But he's now commenting on another person's thought's, ignoring the obvious context of where it comes from, ignoring that this goes well beyond NE, and trying to telling his audience that Kraft and Belichick only do this out of greed. That's completely ridiculous.

Is this who Michael Felger really is as a person? We aren't even talking sports anymore. This crap goes well beyond "contrarian" sports talk. He's taking personal shots at Belichick and Kraft when he knows the very info he's using supports their strategy. Again, if he wants to brings up that data, tell the story behind it, and then argue that he thinks its a bunch of non-sense & the Pats should just pay big names, that's fine. But he doesn't do that. He takes the info, completely ignores the history and context, makes it look like NE is the only team doing it, and then claims that it's just an excuse for the Pats to keep money from players.....Why? I don't get this guy. He already has a successful show. He can speculate all day on Brady vs Belichick. But this is how he functions. This is who he is as a person. He lies to his listeners to make them think their team is lying to them.
I posted this EXACT thing in a response to a nutty Biffins post two weeks ago.

No team has won a SB with a QB consuming 13.1% of the cap. Young was 13.1% in 1994.

Biffins = Felger.
 
The Felger special: form your narrative first then find numbers/info to support it. And spew it on the radio enough that you can cite it as facts later.
 
Casual fans love Felgergarb and think he's insightful. If I try even gently to say that he's not an authority they look at me like I'm crazy.
 


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