NFL Free Agency 2022 edition

[Rob0729]

More reports have been coming out recently about Kraft not wanting to spend this year after last years free agent spending spree. As an owner, you have every right as it's your money, but it's going to rub fans the wrong way and you're not going to give your team a fair chance to win. Very disappointing if this is true, which I am now believing this is the case. A good owner does not do that!!!!!

Personally, I feel that if Kraft is refusing to pay this year after the money they spent last year, they shouldn't have been as aggressive in spending last year. Some of the moves they had last year they could have gone without or with cheaper options if they knew they weren't spending this year because of the spending spree last year. I would rather have spent top dollar for a small handful of free agents over two years rather than just one. Spreading it over two years allows you to compete for the top, top talent each year rather than get the top, top talent and some lesser, but still expensive talent in one year.

 

[VectorPrime]

The cap. Is. Not. REAL

 

[gobesmug]

Okay I mean you’d like to put a good line in front of your franchise qb. The cap isn’t busted, let’s all stop with that nonsense.

It's not busted, but if you were Kraft, and Bill convinced you he could win without Brady then you see your team go 7-9.

Then next year get convinced to spend the most amount of guaranteed money ever in FA to see the results of that spending turned into the most embarrassing wildcard loss of all time, how much more money would you be willing to spend the next season?

 

[Zuma]

Personally, I feel that if Kraft is refusing to pay this year after the money they spent last year, they shouldn't have been as aggressive in spending last year. Some of the moves they had last year they could have gone without or with cheaper options if they knew they weren't spending this year because of the spending spree last year. I would rather have spent top dollar for a small handful of free agents over two years rather than just one. Spreading it over two years allows you to compete for the top, top talent each year rather than get the top, top talent and some lesser, but still expensive talent in one year.

Yes that's probably the case. Also because the new stadium renovations are very expensive. Kraft is refusing to help the team.

 

[p8ryts]

More reports have been coming out recently about Kraft not wanting to spend this year after last years free agent spending spree. As an owner, you have every right as it's your money, but it's going to rub fans the wrong way and you're not going to give your team a fair chance to win. Very disappointing if this is true, which I am now believing this is the case. A good owner does not do that!!!!!

I'm not certain I believe that. I'll wait and see what kind of football team we have in October before I start to criticize BB and or Kraft.

 

[ashley]

Yes that's probably the case. Also because the new stadium renovations are very expensive. Kraft is refusing to help the team.

Good point with the stadium costs, Lazar brought that up yesterday as well. A lot of money going into that.

 

[ashley]

I'm not certain I believe that. I'll wait and see what kind of football team we have in October before I start to criticize BB and or Kraft.

Very fair.

 

[Sicilian]

The cap. Is. Not. REAL

The cap is not HARD. It is very much real. You can push money to future caps, and just continuously do this, but that money ALWAYS hits eventually, often times after the player is gone due to dead hits. Not every contract can be restructured in a way that frees space, so eventually the ability to maneuver becomes limited if you do it to excess every single year.

Again, this makes the cap less limiting than the hard numbers would imply, but you couldn't have pro bowlers on deals near the top of the market at every position, no matter how you want to structure the deals. So the limitations provided by the cap are real, it's just got some bend to it.

 

[upstater1]

Personally, I feel that if Kraft is refusing to pay this year after the money they spent last year, they shouldn't have been as aggressive in spending last year. Some of the moves they had last year they could have gone without or with cheaper options if they knew they weren't spending this year because of the spending spree last year. I would rather have spent top dollar for a small handful of free agents over two years rather than just one. Spreading it over two years allows you to compete for the top, top talent each year rather than get the top, top talent and some lesser, but still expensive talent in one year.

Can you be specific?

Agholor's contract is below a lot of the contracts we're seeing. Judon's contract is now below. So is Kendrick Bourne's.

Who are we talking about? Jonnu Smith is a disappointment only because his numbers are so low, we expected so much more, all the FAs signing elsewhere are not going to be resounding successes. Sometimes FA signings fail. Jonnu might be such a failure. But maybe both Nelson and Jonnu will do much better this year with a 2nd year QB who isn't moving as slowly through his progressions.

 

[Zuma]

Good point with the stadium costs, Lazar brought that up yesterday as well. A lot of money going into that.

I was being sarcastic but for those that want to believe Kraft is holding back...another reason.

 

[Ross12]

The cap. Is. Not. REAL

The whole "the cap is not real" phrasing is highly disingenuous. It is very real, it's just flexible.

It's basically just refinancing. Money that was owed this year is refinanced into money that is now spread out over a longer term. Since the cap has generally been going up a good amount year-over-year, this approach doesn't usually have a huge downside unless you really get aggressive. However, when the unexpected happens, like 2021 when the cap went downward due to COVID-19 impact, many teams were caught with their pants down and the Pats were able to take advantage of a unique market situation since they were not taking this approach with the frequency that others do/did.

 

[JayNM]

More reports have been coming out recently about Kraft not wanting to spend this year after last years free agent spending spree. As an owner, you have every right as it's your money, but it's going to rub fans the wrong way and you're not going to give your team a fair chance to win. Very disappointing if this is true, which I am now believing this is the case. A good owner does not do that!!!!!

Any links Ashley? I havent read about it...

If it's true, Kraft needs to go now

 

[upstater1]

More reports have been coming out recently about Kraft not wanting to spend this year after last years free agent spending spree. As an owner, you have every right as it's your money, but it's going to rub fans the wrong way and you're not going to give your team a fair chance to win. Very disappointing if this is true, which I am now believing this is the case. A good owner does not do that!!!!!

Is it the Boston talking heads saying this stuff?

Because this has been said about Bob kraft from the very beginning of the franchise.

He was too cheap to pay for a stadium.

He was too cheap to pay for FAs.

This despite paying huge amounts in the late 1990s, or being middle of the road or better in terms of money expended.

Where did this all come from?

 

[PowerRunRevival]

Don't the Patriots make money every single year? Wouldn't the large cash outlay be returned to Kraft in the form of revenue? It would really rub me the wrong way if this lack of free agency moves are due to Kraft not wanting to spend when his return on money investing into the team is always greater than what he spends.

I seriously doubt that Kraft would be fine with the Patriots creating holes at CB, LG, RG because he's not willing to spend. That lack of investment now would cost the overall product and probably revenue.

 

[JMC00]

It's not busted, but if you were Kraft, and Bill convinced you he could win without Brady then you see your team go 7-9.

Then next year get convinced to spend the most amount of guaranteed money ever in FA to see the results of that spending turned into the most embarrassing wildcard loss of all time, how much more money would you be willing to spend the next season?

What an absolutely moronic take. That spending got them back to he playoffs and almost won the division with a rookie QB. Kraft is just a cheap f**k, he's never wanted to spend money. Got real comfy with Brady taking way below market team friendly deals. Also your take makes literally no sense, he spent to get back to the playoffs and then lost so now he doesn't want to spend. Listen to how dumb that sounds.

off to the ignore list you go.

 

[Sicilian]

The whole "the cap is not real" phrasing is highly disingenuous. It is very real, it's just flexible.

It's basically just refinancing. Money that was owed this year is refinanced into money that is now spread out over a longer term. Since the cap has generally been going up a good amount year-over-year, this approach doesn't usually have a huge downside unless you really get aggressive. However, when the unexpected happens, like 2021 when the cap went downward due to COVID-19 impact, many teams were caught with their pants down and the Pats were able to take advantage of a unique market situation since they were not taking this approach with the frequency that others do/did.

Another way to imagine this is that the true cap number is whatever the cap number is going to be three or four years from now, rather than what it's listed at today. So you can restructure deals to fit today on the basis that the additional cost in future years will be a similar percentage of the cap, and that's your real limiting number. So if the cap this year is $200m, and it's projected to be $250 by 2025, then realistically you can finagle the money around a $250m cap THIS year with the right accounting.

Like you said, this is flexibility, but it still doesn't mean that Kraft could spend a billion dollars per year on players and somehow "make it work" under the cap. There will always be a limit, it's just higher than the official cap number in a given year.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

I was skeptical at first but the more that I've been hearing, the more I believe this is true, unfortunately

He is the owner and he knows we need to sign quality players if we wants to make the playoffs , what signal does this sent to your own players and future free agents if the owner is not ready to spent
I mean some teams are doing this every year

 

[upstater1]

The whole "the cap is not real" phrasing is highly disingenuous. It is very real, it's just flexible.

It's basically just refinancing. Money that was owed this year is refinanced into money that is now spread out over a longer term. Since the cap has generally been going up a good amount year-over-year, this approach doesn't usually have a huge downside unless you really get aggressive. However, when the unexpected happens, like 2021 when the cap went downward due to COVID-19 impact, many teams were caught with their pants down and the Pats were able to take advantage of a unique market situation since they were not taking this approach with the frequency that others do/did.

If we look back, teams get hit every once in a while.

I was looking at the Bills in 2025-6 when Von Miller is 36 years old. He'll have a $24m dead cap hit that year if they cut him. Allen will be into his 3rd contract before then, and will likely be up near $55m-$60m a year if Aaron Rodgers' deal is any sign. Tre White will have a cap hit of $16m that year if he hasn't extended.

No one else is signed for then though they have abut $5m in dead money.

They are looking at $100m for just Josh Allen and Tre White in cap hits. Projected cap for that year is $265m.

That's $165m for the rest of the players, or about $3m each.

Another factor for the Bills, they've expended four premium picks on pass rushers last 2 years, and these guys are all out of their rookie contracts by that year. They're not going to come back to a place where 3 of them have been backups to Von Miller. So the Bills will have lost the services of a 1st rounder, 2 second rounders and a 3rd.

How?

 

[Ross12]

Can you be specific?

Agholor's contract is below a lot of the contracts we're seeing. Judon's contract is now below. So is Kendrick Bourne's.

Who are we talking about? Jonnu Smith is a disappointment only because his numbers are so low, we expected so much more, all the FAs signing elsewhere are not going to be resounding successes. Sometimes FA signings fail. Jonnu might be such a failure. But maybe both Nelson and Jonnu will do much better this year with a 2nd year QB who isn't moving as slowly through his progressions.

I agree. I think we need to take a step back and realize that Bill wasn't just "spending big" last year - he was taking advantage of a unique market situation in which he had a lot of cap space and almost every other team had none or negative cap space. Because of this, he was able to sign a lot of deals that represented good value and created a foundation upon which to rebuild his roster. Some of his bank of cap space next year will go towards extending/re-signing guys who were signed last year that performed well. This year there's not as much value to be had in the market, and there's less money to spend without borrowing from future years, so Bill is less active. I am thinking he may just be looking to fill holes via the draft this year, refine the core of the roster and then add some more talent in free agency next year.

 

[JMC00]

Don't the Patriots make money every single year? Wouldn't the large cash outlay be returned to Kraft in the form of revenue? It would really rub me the wrong way if this lack of free agency moves are due to Kraft not wanting to spend when his return on money investing into the team is always greater than what he spends.

I seriously doubt that Kraft would be fine with the Patriots creating holes at CB, LG, RG because he's not willing to spend. That lack of investment now would cost the overall product and probably revenue.

He is 100% fine with it. This was the guy that self admitted that he laughs at other teams "winning FA" by spending a lot of money.

Pats could work the cap and free up like 40m but it would mean money being PAID NOW to players. The money is Kraft's money and Bill has to get approval, Bill has a lot of power but it's still Kraft's wallet.