Cap# for 2024: $255.4 million (!)

[Wozzy]

This why when people got hysterical of Mahomes big 10 year contract a lot of the more savvy analysist thought it was a brilliant move. The big cap hits were all later and were always going to be minimized by the cap increasing each year. There might be 2 tough years in the middle before it catches up. But it becomes a steal pretty quickly. If you are able, you should lock down young preemium talent years out because they'll be under market towards the end of that contract.

The Chiefs will have to rework Mahomes deal, and it won't be a cakewalk because they pushed the majority of his cap debt from the first two years of his new deal down the road.

They need to get Chris Jones, two of their best safeties in L'Jarious Sneed and Mike Edwards, two of their best LB'ers in Willie Gay and Drue Tranquill, their left tackle in Donovan Smith, both backup RB's including their third down specialist in Mckinnon re-signed or replaced. They already replaced their punter for a cheaper option because he was a free agent also, but they have to get to work because these aren't just "some guys," these are some of their best starters.

If there was ever an opportunity team for a cap rich team like the Patriots to feast on this offseason, the Chiefs would be a good option. I'd love to get our hands on Drue Tranquill or Willie Gay.

 

[Wozzy]

Big reward for teams that spend to the cap as it should be

The NFL cites this is the result from the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the COVID pandemic and an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.

Once this blip on the salary cap big picture is settled, the cap will do what it does every decade in between new tv deals… increase at roughly 5-6% annually.

The cap goes up for all 32 teams, salaries will follow suit and increase as well across the board. Unless you’re in a small window where you can win multiple championships, it’s never a benefit to burn money or spend like a drunken sailor.

The cap ignorant will undoubtedly use this new TV/gambling deal that gets negotiated once a decade to pretend like this is a normal annual occurrence. When in reality... it’s the largest jump from one year to the next since the introduction of the salary cap in 1994.

 

[slash83]

Gimme a good vet WR and go deep on defense. DT to pair with Barmore, CB to pair with Gonzo on the boundary, Edge rusher.

Set yourself up nicely to attack the offense in the draft.

 

[KCSVEN]

Gimme a good vet WR and go deep on defense. DT to pair with Barmore, CB to pair with Gonzo on the boundary, Edge rusher.

Set yourself up nicely to attack the offense in the draft.

I agree. Mainly because it seems the available offensive talent will be limited and will need to be overpaid. Many of the top free agents are going to be tagged, Pats should tag Onwenu.
It is likely that you'll have better chance to improve the defense thru free agency, maybe grab Ridley and someone like Jonah Williams for the offense and then go offense the first 3 picks with QB, tackle and WR.
Spend the rest of the cap space on defense and some depth pieces.

You'll also need a veteran QB like Brissett also.
There are quite a few teams with cap space to spare but many of them will be using franchise tags so they should be in a good spot to get the top of what's left in free agency.

 

[DaBruinz]

Hurts the patriots alot. Minimizes their cap soace advantage and will make it harder to sign their targets. BB’s cheapskate cP spending approach never paid dividends

Nope. Never paid ANY dividends.. Only 9 SB Appearances and 6 wins.. *SMH*..

 

[DaBruinz]

Agree on the first statement. Tee higgins price will skyrocket. Makes sense to franchise tag onwenu and sign him to a more optimal contract next year .

How will it "skyrocket"? He was getting Franchised. This is no secret.
Pittman is likely getting Franchised as well.

It makes more sense to sign Onwenu to a long term deal now than to wait.

 

[DaBruinz]

It's basically a guarantee juju and Parker have thier contracts "revised "

They'll probably both be kept until Camp, but I don't see either of them on the team come cut-downs unless there is an injury.

 

[Real fan 02]

They'll probably both be kept until Camp, but I don't see either of them on the team come cut-downs unless there is an injury.

Interesting.. even with juju and Parker both having signed new deals a season ago? I was thinking maybe a restructuring?

 

[Huckleberry1]

The cap increases for all 32 teams, the teams over the cap still have a lot of work to do. The teams under the cap will have more room to maneuver.

Bottom line is, as the cap rises the salaries for all free agents will rise... player agents are very aware of this increase.

The Pats are in a great position, they need to take advantage of it by spending and drafting well.

I’m seeing people on here who lwant to buy every free agent on the market, and that’s a terrible sporoach any time. The best free agents are going to get tagged, and then those under them in rankings are going to get paid like they are the best free agents. I would like to see them be more targeted on individual players who fit their needs, but not simply take the next guy up because the one they targeted is off the board with a tag. If they need to they can spend the money they need to reach the floor of required spending by the-signing guys like Barmore, Peppers, and Duggar than by going out and signing guys who are overpriced simply to sign free agents. Wilkins is a great example of this. He would be my #target in this class of free agents, but the dolphins claim they are going to tag him. However if they do they are still going to have to pay Tua, and given that I would re-sign Barmore and wait until next offseason, when the fish can’t afford to tag Wilkins again and then sign him. I would use the same logic with Higgins, and draft WR’s this year, and wait until next March when Cincy can’t afford to tag him again rather than sign Pittman to a similar deal. I realize people are excited about having all this $$$ for them to spend, and not having Bill as the one spending it, but I have never seen a team take the approach of buying all the best free agents and becoming a champion. And the best example of that flaming out was the Eagles “ Dynasty, when they signed scrabble and half a dozen other top free agents and proclaimed themselves the greatest and never won anything

I’m looking forward to this offseason, I just hope they are smart about it, and not just fanboys overspending for everyone they see.

 

[Big Bucks]

Can we trade cap for draft picks please. would gladly give Kansas 20m cap for #32, imagine a slide scale of 1m cap a spot so.. #23 pick is 30m cap.. #18 pick is 35m cap.. #8 pick is 45m cap... #1 is 52m cap space. Imagine that set scale by NFL.

Does Kansas have any dead money contracts with a year remaining to that value of 20m..

swap player with 1 year dead money 20m or players to that 20m dead money plus #32 for a 7th

 

[Big Bucks]

Trade for Michael Thomas... some see him past his prime going wrong way... Saints save money Good vet for a year or two for us.. mentor to Harrison. Swap our 2nd for there 1st.. Saints have decent upcoming players at WR and returning to balanced run attack.

 

[Wozzy]

I’m seeing people on here who lwant to buy every free agent on the market, and that’s a terrible sporoach any time. The best free agents are going to get tagged, and then those under them in rankings are going to get paid like they are the best free agents. I would like to see them be more targeted on individual players who fit their needs, but not simply take the next guy up because the one they targeted is off the board with a tag. If they need to they can spend the money they need to reach the floor of required spending by the-signing guys like Barmore, Peppers, and Duggar than by going out and signing guys who are overpriced simply to sign free agents. Wilkins is a great example of this. He would be my #target in this class of free agents, but the dolphins claim they are going to tag him. However if they do they are still going to have to pay Tua, and given that I would re-sign Barmore and wait until next offseason, when the fish can’t afford to tag Wilkins again and then sign him. I would use the same logic with Higgins, and draft WR’s this year, and wait until next March when Cincy can’t afford to tag him again rather than sign Pittman to a similar deal. I realize people are excited about having all this $$$ for them to spend, and not having Bill as the one spending it, but I have never seen a team take the approach of buying all the best free agents and becoming a champion. And the best example of that flaming out was the Eagles “ Dynasty, when they signed scrabble and half a dozen other top free agents and proclaimed themselves the greatest and never won anything

I’m looking forward to this offseason, I just hope they are smart about it, and not just fanboys overspending for everyone they see.

People used to balk at BB's method of avoiding overpaying one player and spreading the wealth around to multiple free agents, what we'd call "value vet free agents." But these players very often became significant contributors to Super Bowl contending teams.

Meanwhile Josh McDaniels takes over a Raiders team that needed a total overhaul, spends his entire wad on two players... superweapon Devante Adams and mentally unfit Chandler Jones, and a season later he is fired.

It's about bringing the best 90 players to camp to compete, not overpaying a couple of guys who fans have totally overvalued. The Chiefs deciding to trade Tyreek Hill rather than making him the highest paid weapon in the NFL is why they went on to win two more rings and the Dolphins just had to cut their All Pro CB because they're over the cap. It's a team game.

 

[venecol]

I’m excited for the Pats to spend all their money in free agency.

With a lot of money added to a mediocre free agent class these contracts are probably going to be aggressive.

The increase makes it more likely the Pats and other teams use their franchise tag.

For who?
Dugger at $17.1M? or
Onwenu at $21M?

100% if that amount comes straight off the cap. No thanks. These guys aren't elite.

 

[Huckleberry1]

For who?
Dugger at $17.1M? or
Onwenu at $21M?

100% if that amount comes straight off the cap. No thanks. These guys aren't elite.

Agree with this. You don’t tag a guy because losing them would create a hole, you use the tag on great players you really want to keep. If you lose a good player because you didn’t tag them then just fill the hole, don’t overpay them,

 

[mgteich]

Interesting.. even with juju and Parker both having signed new deals a season ago? I was thinking maybe a restructuring?

Why would they restructure?

 

[venecol]

We gonna spend, spend, spend like drunken sailors.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

For who?
Dugger at $17.1M? or
Onwenu at $21M?

100% if that amount comes straight off the cap. No thanks. These guys aren't elite.

I would franchise either of those guys if it looked like they were going to price the Pats out of their range with another offer.

This team is going to have 100 mm in cap space, it makes more sense to franchise a good player rather than let them leave even if they aren’t elite.

Belichick the gm was so over fixated on contract value that he left positions (like tackle last year) understocked because there wasn’t a good value contract to be had at the position. I’d rather the team throw money out there in free agency to improve the team rather than handwringing on contractual value.

Having 100 million in cap space means we need to stop counting our cap space by the penny.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

We gonna spend, spend, spend like drunken sailors.

With the amount of cap space they have it’s kind of necessary.

I also expect the cap to continue to rise each year, so a deal that might seem rich now won’t look that way in a couple years

 

[venecol]

With the amount of cap space they have it’s kind of necessary.

I also expect the cap to continue to rise each year, so a deal that might seem rich now won’t look that way in a couple years

But that's why you don't waste $ on a tag. You can't manipulate it since it's only for 1 year. You tag players like Higgins, Winfield, Jr., a franchise QB, not an average to good player. Even if you were paying two players $21M apy, you could sign them both with the $21M by deferring their 1st yr hit into the future. I strongly doubt Pats tag any player.

 

[mgcolby]

Once JC Jackson is released this should be close to $92 million $102 million (thanks @Joey007 for pointing out). Obviously a ton of money. Does make it easier to retain some of their own free agents while also making some splash signings, especially if they backload deals.

I remember when that was the entire salary cap.