Curran: "In my estimation... [Gonzo would like to] be treated as if he's at the table in 2027." [previous title: "say goodbye to gonzo"]

[Mack Herron]

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Spending cap space and actual cash spending are two different facts, Kraft has been at or near the bottom just about every year in cash spending.

So New England could spend if they wanted and go over the cap.

 

[Real fan 02]

So New England could spend if they wanted and go over the cap.

Absolutely agree. I looked at ownership in the fashion of a spoiled child. Brady spoiled them for years taking less for the overall team success and we had unmatched success of course. However ownership became spoiled with that because it maximized thier profits. It wasn't until the Herald reports last in cash spending and the NFLPA surveys that then it seemed like spending became a focus. Just my 2 cents!

 

[PatsFanInVa]

somebody tell me how you can spend cash in excess of the cap on players, consistently, with no repercussions.

Don’t just say “cash and cap are different.” Duh, you can spend now on future obligations vis bonuses and “look great” if your goal is to look spendy.

NE last year went the second furthest of any team and had the most remaining cap room. That’s a good thing. I’m old enough to remember everybody complaining about the free agent spending spree that got us Hunter Henry and, unfortunately, jonnu Smith. But I digress.

I am interested in a database tracking the mysterious cash metric that’s “different from the cap” over a decade long period. Or do you mean were last in spending over the cap?

It looks to me like we’re mad at good cap management, and your local sports media is all reporting each others reporting. And of course, “wahhhh the Pats don’t spend enough” is a fan favorite.

Just give me the “actual cash” source - where’s the database and who is the source? Tracking the cap itself is a sort of cottage industry by now, but what is this “actual cash spent,” where is it tracked, and why do its keepers maintain that “cap isn’t cash,” I.e. that, over 10 years, if you spend to the cap exactly, you’re underspending on personnel. Are we talking about payments outside of contracts? Because the cap applies to contracts, and such payments are illegal under the cap.

Again, there are plenty of tactics that can show up as low spend in one year bc money is freed up. But it seems that over 10 years the temporary distortions would be absorbed. By what magic are the Pats spending according to the cap but never having to actually pay the $? Or are you talking about spending over the cap? Or is this just everybody saying “Reiss reports that The Athletic reports” etc., with no public database behind it?

 

[Triumph]

What does Belichick have to do with anything?

A 6 time SB winning head coach passed over for the HOF.

Kraft passed over for the HOF.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

The only way to be assured your contract isn't 'obsolete' is to get some ridiculous contract that nobody would want to come close to matching.

Which obviously would be a stupid thing for the Patriots to do.

Or he'll just have to 'accept' that whatever deal he signs will, at some point during its life, be obsolete.

That is just how cap economics work.

And the elephant in THAT room is that YOU might become obsolete.

Again, we don’t know how crazy his side is being, but signs are that he embraces the outlaw look.

What the heck, I’m a patient man.

 

[upstater1]

Yup, but if you mention that Kraft is cheap then some posters get uptight and nervous and want to defend Kraft. Kraft purposely minimizes yearly cash spent, probably to reduce the risk of money not well spent in FA.

Not spending money in FA (being cheap) will not improve the draft. Kraft is cheap and BB sucked at drafting from 20182019 onwards. That was a deadly combination..

2014-2019 for BB (only good draft in that span was 2016). But I'd argue he had one bad draft 2020 thru 2023. Some of last year's SB team's talent came through the 20-23 drafts:

Onwenu, Anfernee, Barmore, Rhamondre, Marcus Jones, Gonzalez, Kayshon Boutte, Demario. Even Jake Andrews is still in the league.

2022 was a really bad draft (Cole Strange, Tyquan). But the others were OK and par for the course.