2021 NFL Free Agency/Trade News & Discussion: March Edition

[jah]

This is a year with a large, completely unexpected drop in the cap, and teams are still able to do all sorts of restructures to keep their players.

How do you not see that such is true precisely because the cap is crap? I mean, you have to force yourself to be completely blind in order not to see it.

That you still haven't figured that out after all these years is amazing.

Can we be more specific about what "the cap is crap" means? If we're saying that it's not as hard as it may appear to create cap space, that's true. If we're saying that it is always possible, or even trivial, to create any arbitrary amount of cap space under any arbitrary constraints, it is absolutely not true.

It seems that either case would downplay the diminishing returns of restructuring contract and pushing money into the future. It works for a while, but there are always consequences. 2019 Patriots, 2020 (and most years tbh) Saints. Everything the Saints are doing to dig themselves out of the 2020 hole just puts them deeper in future holes. The fact that these things even need to be considered sure sounds to me like it means the cap matters a whole lot.

 

[BTTA]

No doubt they kicked the can, but could anybody have predicted this virus nightmare two years ago?

A few hundred leading scientists have been predicting it for about two decades. And they predict we'll have another one in the not too distant future.

One thing did happen that was way off at the edges of the predictive bell curve: we gave up on, or greatly delayed, responses that have been in place for years. That had far more impact on all this NFL cap drama than did the virus itself.

 

[Jim Beankie]

The great philosopher Roddy once said that, "Sooner or later, everybody pays the Piper." I think BB quoted him in an interview earlier this year (without referencing his subpar drafting) regarding the cap.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

A few hundred leading scientists have been predicting it for about two decades. And they predict we'll have another one in the not too distant future.

One thing did happen that was way off at the edges of the predictive bell curve: we gave up on, or greatly delayed, responses that have been in place for years. That had far more impact on all this NFL cap drama than did the virus itself.

clearly the Saints (as well as 99.99% of the rest of the world) missed that memo!

did any of those scientist put any money down on this in Vegas?

 

[long distance]

Prepare for some hard news tomorrow . Jete and Mia have lots of $ to spend

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Prepare for some hard news tomorrow . Jete and Mia have lots of $ to spend

If thuney signs with the Jets, it kind of makes the 2020 franchise tagging of thuney irrelevant!

 

[Love The Drake]

Prepare for some hard news tomorrow . Jete and Mia have lots of $ to spend

As long as Thuney doesn’t stay in the AFC East I don’t care where he ends up.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

As long as Thuney doesn’t stay in the AFC East I don’t care where he ends up.

we need caserio to step up.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I think the "cap is crap" mantra is poorly phrased. Makes it sound like the cap doesn't exist or something. It does, but teams can also do some ridiculous stuff to work around tight situations. The bill usually always comes due, eventually, but at times you also have contracts that use void years, signing bonuses and large back-end salaries that the player will never actually see... We will see a lot of that mind-bending financing this year.

I agree, but the bill always comes due. NO is kicking the can down the road, so they are spreading out the cap hits so they will have more dead money and less cap space over the next four years. For example, over 4 years it might be 2 free agents NO can not sign instead of 6 or 8 guys in one year. So you can manage the cap and spread it if you want to. BB chose to take the hit and now he has $65M in cap space. Let's see what he does with it, and then everyone can decide if they think taking the hit in 1 year or taking the hit in 4 years is the best decision.

 

[NormZauchin]

A few hundred leading scientists have been predicting it for about two decades. And they predict we'll have another one in the not too distant future.

One thing did happen that was way off at the edges of the predictive bell curve: we gave up on, or greatly delayed, responses that have been in place for years. That had far more impact on all this NFL cap drama than did the virus itself.

In 2005 the "liberal" president George W. Bush proposed a seven billion dollar plan to deal with future pandemics. His proposals never gained traction. In 2020, what he feared happened.

 

[jah]

No doubt they kicked the can, but could anybody have predicted this virus nightmare two years ago?

The Saints would have likely still been in some cap trouble had the pandemic never happened. There's a reason not every team is in their situation.

 

[long distance]

The best news tomorrow?
NO news about Andrews.

 

[KDPPatsfan85]

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

Got a feeling barrett is gonna get a huge deal from someone. Bucs won’t overpay for the guy.

 

[Deus Irae]

Can we be more specific about what "the cap is crap" means? If we're saying that it's not as hard as it may appear to create cap space, that's true. If we're saying that it is always possible, or even trivial, to create any arbitrary amount of cap space under any arbitrary constraints, it is absolutely not true.

It seems that either case would downplay the diminishing returns of restructuring contract and pushing money into the future. It works for a while, but there are always consequences. 2019 Patriots, 2020 (and most years tbh) Saints. Everything the Saints are doing to dig themselves out of the 2020 hole just puts them deeper in future holes. The fact that these things even need to be considered sure sounds to me like it means the cap matters a whole lot.

This discussion has been had lord only knows how many times. At this point, the only people who don't get it are the people who are purposefully not getting it.

It's not just a Felger/Mazz thing. BB's pointed it out. Media and GMs all over the league have pointed it out. The actions we're seeing this offseason point it out. The teams don't even pretend it's not, as can be seen by the fact that they acknowledge the difference between cap numbers and actual cash paid in the CBA. The cap is almost entirely just an accounting gimmick.

And I'm not saying that to deride it. In a game without contract guarantees, and with large in season turnover due to injuries, there has to be a way to account for all the needed moves. I just think that we all should be long past the time where we pretended that the cap, as a general rule, offers any real impediment to player signings beyond what the owner wants it to.

 

[yukon cornelius]

 

[Rob0729]

Many are writing that the Saints are paying the price for kicking the can down the road for several years but have they really?

They started the offseason at $90+ million over the cap and have had to cut some solid vets but none of those players were going to be core guys going forward and none were likely to be true difference makers next year....Cook, Sanders and Jenkins have all had good to very good careers but are nearing the end of their ultility and their production can likely be replaced, or close to it. Alexander is still young but will he ever be healthy enough to be the same player that he was during his last year in Tampa, after a torn pec, a torn ACL and, most recently, a torn achilles? To me, their losses so far are more “meh” than “wow”.

The Saints aren't paying the price because they are now in rebuild mode now that Brees is retired. Now if they had the Drew Brees of two or three years ago, they certainly will be paying the price now. But now that they are likely not going to do anything in 2021, they can afford to lose good but older players like Sanders.

Of course the COVID decrease int he cap has magnified their cap issues, but even if the cap grew they would be in cap trouble this year. Just not the cap disaster they had to deal with.

 

[Deus Irae]

It’s officially a done deal.


Nine hours after agent Joe Linta intimated 49ers General Manager John Lynch was premature in declaring an agreement with Kyle Juszczyk, Linta tweeted news of an agreement. The contract is for five years, and according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, it’s worth $27 million.

Done deal: Kyle Juszczyk agrees to five-year contract with 49ers

 

[mgteich]

Prepare for some hard news tomorrow . Jete and Mia have lots of $ to spend

the announcements many wait until TUES or WED

 

[venecol]

Yes. Too bad there aren’t more teams that are a shutdown CB away. Dallas could also be in the mix for Gilmore. Their division sucks. There’s no clear cut favorite right now in the NFC.

ARI is looking for a CB.