But we can’t use our cap space because no one wants play here

[signbabybrady]

 

[Ross12]

they shouldn't be using free agency to get tier 1 players
they should be drafting those players. resigning them. using free agency to fill in the voids and middle class of the roster

That is definitely the intended purpose. Unfortunately, due to a lack of having such players, they must do so to some extent for now.

 

[Ring 6]

they shouldn't be using free agency to get tier 1 players
they should be drafting those players. resigning them. using free agency to fill in the voids and middle class of the roster

You get them however you can.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

All encompassing, absolute statements are rarely, if ever, smart. The world doesn't operate in absolutes.

1) It's pretty obvious that Mayo and Co. weren't making good impressions in meetings.
2) Last year's staff had little in terms of experience elsewhere with players to recruit them.
3) They had no QB last year.
4) In general, this is not considered an attractive place to play by NFL players. Organizationally they seemed to have gotten senile and dysfunctional which doesn't help.
5) Last year they seemed to view themselves as ground floor of a rebuild and had a general reluctance to "overpay" for guys.

They could have signed more players last year if not for #5, meaning if they were willing to overpay more. But this year, it feels like they made huge progress in #1-3, which makes players' aversion to coming here (#4) more manageable and therefore on #5 they had to overpay less. With Maye here and Vrabel inspiring more confidence, I think their willingness to overpay was greater too.

They seemed kind of half in on things last year. They weren't sure about the coach or the QB last year. They were like hedging their bets, almost weary that it'd all flop and they'd have to pivot to re-doing the rebuild. This year, they feel all in that they have a starting point in place and thus are willing to overspend more.

 

[n1997y]

they shouldn't be using free agency to get tier 1 players
they should be drafting those players. resigning them. …

Why not both?

They don’t grow on trees, and it’s not like you get to draft lots of them.

Get them any way you can. The more you have the better.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Not to speak for @rkarp1 but I don't think he meant they shouldn't try for tier 1 FA players, I think he meant that in general, there really aren't tier 1 players in FA. There are exceptions but it's probably not a viable way to address the top of your roster. Teams don't just let those guys walk. If anything they trade them ahead of FA.

 

[JayNM]

around 50m cap space remaining

enough for 3 to 5 pieces, at our current pace.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

around 50m cap space remaining

enough for 3 to 5 pieces, at our current pace.

How are you getting to $50M? Is it just going by the AAV of deals? If so, we likely have probably up to double that cap space because all deals are backloaded to some degree.

 

[JayNM]

How are you getting to $50M? Is it just going by the AAV of deals? If so, we likely have probably up to double that cap space because all deals are backloaded to some degree.

Summing up our signing today, per year on average (so a "bar math" thing) we are getting just past 80m. Could be wrong, problably am wrong bc we dont know the details yet

 

[n1997y]

Not to speak for @rkarp1 but I don't think he meant they shouldn't try for tier 1 FA players, I think he meant that in general, there really aren't tier 1 players in FA. There are exceptions but it's probably not a viable way to address the top of your roster. Teams don't just let those guys walk. If anything they trade them ahead of FA.

It’s in a thread about using cap space to get players to come here, so it seems to me to be saying don’t spend the money tier 1 FAs will demand to come here. I say if the cap space is there and it fits the team budget signing tier 1 FAs is a good idea, precisely because of the point you make. There aren’t lots of them as FAs. There just aren’t lots of tier 1 players overall, and not many of them hit the market because teams that draft them resign them. So signing the ones that hit FA makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[Ring 6]

Summing up our signing today, per year on average (so a "bar math" thing) we are getting just past 80m. Could be wrong, problably am wrong bc we dont know the details yet

That’s not how the cap works. First year cap is much less than average over the contract.

 

[JayNM]

That’s not how the cap works. First year cap is much less than average over the contract.

Usually

 

[Hawaiipatsfan2]

they shouldn't be using free agency to get tier 1 players
they should be drafting those players. resigning them. using free agency to fill in the voids and middle class of the roster

A lot easier said than done.

 

[Ring 6]

Usually

Always with 3+ year contracts.

 

[JayNM]

Always with 3+ year contracts.

Shaquil Barrett Contract Details, Salary Cap Charges, Bonus Money, and Contract History | Over The Cap

Shaquil Barrett contract and salary cap details, including signing bonus, guaranteed salary, dead money, roster bonuses, and contract history

overthecap.com

nuh huh

 

[BobDigital]

I've said a similar thing and stand by it. This is not a destination certain players like. My exact words were something like the NFL is starting to feel a bit like the NBA. But we do have a hard cap so it isn't exactly the same. Also this kind of thing only applies to certain players at the top. The less cash you make the more you go where the money takes you. But certain big name FAs who are going to get paid somewhere no matter what huge sums of money will likely dismiss Boston out right.

 

[Ring 6]

Shaquil Barrett Contract Details, Salary Cap Charges, Bonus Money, and Contract History | Over The Cap

Shaquil Barrett contract and salary cap details, including signing bonus, guaranteed salary, dead money, roster bonuses, and contract history

overthecap.com

nuh huh

That link doesn’t say anything other than Tampa had a $134,000 cap hit for him in 2024

 

[JayNM]

That link doesn’t say anything other than Tampa had a $134,000 cap hit for him in 2024

awww

 

[Ring 6]

awww

You are aware that Barrett signed a 1 year contract in 2019 then played on the franchise tag in 2020 then signed a long term deal where the AAV was 13.6 mill and his first year cap hit was 5 mill right?
You are aware this does not support what you are claiming it does, right?

 

[JayNM]

You are aware that Barrett signed a 1 year contract in 2019 then played on the franchise tag in 2020 then signed a long term deal where the AAV was 13.6 mill and his first year cap hit was 5 mill right?
You are aware this does not support what you are claiming it does, right?

hmmm