Content Post CAP CRAP cheat sheet aka Dont go gently into FA

[RobertWeathers]

They've been doing this for literally 10 years. Mickey Loomis became GM in 2013. When have they gone through cap hell?

2 years ago.

 

[BTTA]

"The Cap is Crap" is a slogan for people who use credit cards as bank loans.

 

[TheRainMaker]

According to Andrew Brandt, he thinks teams are doing it all wrong with signing players other than QB's and delaying their salaries. So by the time it may turn out to be a bad signing, there's a big dead cap hit when they want to get rid of them.

Also, he debunks the myth that you can't build your team after paying your QB top dollar. He used the strategy in GB to pay as you go with players surrounding Brett Favre.

He also indirectly said Tom Brady was a bad negotiator during his time in NE and could've been paid among the top QB's in the league and not take the "home town discounts". He was Tom was only helping Bob Kraft rather than the actually salary cap.

 

[BTTA]

According to Andrew Brandt, he thinks teams are doing it all wrong with signing players other than QB's and delaying their salaries. So by the time it may turn out to be a bad signing, there's a big dead cap hit when they want to get rid of them.

Also, he debunks the myth that you can't build your team after paying your QB top dollar. He used the strategy in GB to pay as you go with players surrounding Brett Favre.

He also indirectly said Tom Brady was a bad negotiator during his time in NE and could've been paid among the top QB's in the league and not take the "home town discounts". He was Tom was only helping Bob Kraft rather than the actually salary cap.

Brady, IMHO and from more than arm's distance (like all of us), was just overwhelmed by the celebrity/billionaire life that Giselle offered him. He's one of very few athletes with a spouse who outdistances them in fame, money, attention, potential, etc. So his financial negotiations with the Pats were a small detail in his life. He was always more focused on building the Brady business brand, and that was about winning, not about salary.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Brady, IMHO and from more than arm's distance (like all of us), was just overwhelmed by the celebrity/billionaire life that Giselle offered him. He's one of very few athletes with a spouse who outdistances them in fame, money, attention, potential, etc. So his financial negotiations with the Pats were a small detail in his life. He was always more focused on building the Brady business brand, and that was about winning, not about salary.

Agreed. And now she is off to a billionaire since the kids are born and grown up. The famous women never seem to want to have kids with the billionaires (Darwinian), they only want to retire with them. Very common reason for the divorce - we grew apart. Brady's ten year, $375M, announcing career should be enough to keep him and the kids happy (since the crypto didn't work out).

 

[SlowGettingUp]

They've been doing this for literally 10 years. Mickey Loomis became GM in 2013. When have they gone through cap hell?

The two contrasting views of Saints and "cap hell":

Saints rank dead-last in PFF's 'salary cap health' rankings

Despite the New Orleans Saints ranking last in PFF’s “salary cap health” rankings, the team is set up for success in 2022, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

saintswire.usatoday.com

 

[RodThePat]

"The Cap is Crap" is a slogan for people who use credit cards as bank loans.

Creating cap space in the NFL is the literal opposite of using a credit card. It's taking money due in the future, converting it into a signing bonus and paying it up front. Which is why the limitations for owner expenditure are cash based, not cap based. Which is why the whole "the bill comes due" stuff is silly, the money has already been paid, the bill has come due, they just deal with the cap implications of having given out the cash (and if you're the Saints, you deal with it by restructuring other contracts).

Of course the Loomis way of doing business is on the extreme side and presupposes both that the cap will rise indefinitely (which it likely will save for another pandemic) and that the players you restructure won't get hurt or just start sucking. But you don't need to go the Saints route to realize cap constraints are incredibly lax and that you can create a whole lot of margin to make moves by spending cash.

 

[BTTA]

Creating cap space in the NFL is the literal opposite of using a credit card. It's taking money due in the future, converting it into a signing bonus and paying it up front. Which is why the limitations for owner expenditure are cash based, not cap based. Which is why the whole "the bill comes due" stuff is silly, the money has already been paid, the bill has come due, they just deal with the cap implications of having given out the cash (and if you're the Saints, you deal with it by restructuring other contracts).

Of course the Loomis way of doing business is on the extreme side and presupposes both that the cap will rise indefinitely (which it likely will save for another pandemic) and that the players you restructure won't get hurt or just start sucking. But you don't need to go the Saints route to realize cap constraints are incredibly lax and that you can create a whole lot of margin to make moves by spending cash.

When future earnings are rolled forward as current bonuses, there's a financial claim made on future performance. Because injuries and performance disappointment are statistically required, it creates dead money, which is the best financial metric for how a team manages cap vs. performance (cap spent with 0 on the field return in a given year).

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Creating cap space in the NFL is the literal opposite of using a credit card. It's taking money due in the future, converting it into a signing bonus and paying it up front.

You can go to the bank, take out cash against your credit card, and have payments in the future. Same thing. Money due in the future on your credit card is paid out upfront by signing to create a bonus payment. How is that the opposite?

 

[long distance]

I agree.

My view is that the Patriots have this rap about "not spending" when they have been tight against the cap under the entire Belichick regime.
We remember the Lawyer Milloy situation - the Patriots could not afford one of their key players because they were right against the cap - 20 years ago.

I think the "Pats are cheap" myth is driven by the focus on the middle class. I think Belichick really pushes the next-man-up strategy, expects unpredictable injuries, and wants better-than-average replacement players. So he has 'overpaid' for the middle class - in that he has three or four starting safeties, four or five starting defensive tackles, and so forth. At the expense of fewer elite players.
Brady made this work because he just took less than he could have at QB all those years - so they had an elite QB, the elite QB, at middle class cost.
And he always attracted a few late-career vets who were willing to take a below-market salary to compete for a Super Bowl. Now you see Buffalo and Kansas City playing that same move.

And the Patriots famously had a lot of really solid Nov-Dec-Jan records - partly because their replacements, wherever they were on the field, were a little better than their opponents' late season replacements.

But without an elite, low-cost QB, and without that player attracting high-end vets at middle-class salaries, the model doesn't work.

Pretty much. The circumstances have changed dramatically yet the model stays the same.

I dont mind keeping the core philosophy of middle class but like you said in order for it to work you have to account for circumstances.

The fact that Andrews (middle class) is THE ONLY player on offense signed to a second contract in NE speaks volumes.
There are ZERO players of higher let alone elite value beyond their first contract on the entire roster atm.
And it is far from given this situation will soon significantly change only bc they are full of future cap.

This is the first time BB doesnt have any homegrown core left.
DMC and HT said goodbye this week. After Slater (ST only) and maybe Andrews it will be a long time before another such ceremony.
Bill used to have the whole top homegrown backbone: TB-Jules-Gronk-VW-High-DMC.
The only position missing in there was OL. He relied on Dante factor and churned. When Dante left the “model“ fell apart.

In the new circumstances Pats not only have difficulties to attract good cheaper vets but also signing their own top players on second / longer term deals. Middle class philosophy without adjustments to circumstances naturally brings - middle class results. Which is the most difficult place from which to improve (no attraction for top FA, no high picks).

Staying this course AFTER you already invested your highest pick in 15y on your next possible franchise QB - with LOADS OF CAP over all future years at your disposal - is just beyond BAFFLING (not to mention the absurd coaching experiments).
And especially after serious commitment in 2021 - which despite some misses in FA laid good foundations and went in the right direction.
Only to be abandoned in 2022 and it seems 2023 as well.

I dont mind “next man up“ - but what happened to “putting players in best situation to succeed“? Let alone your potential QB of the future.

 

[long distance]

re signing top home players this is an interesting little thread
goes against popular belief that extensions contain or should contain home discount & FA is expensive

investment in homegrown talent is not and should not be cheap (either extension or matching the market in FA) esp for top players
even if more expensive it is in the end more economical - homegrown talent is much more likely to play to the contract than FA
not to mention continuity in coaching, on the field and in the locker room..