Poll: Would you support a salary cap discount for teams to retain players?

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Something I've thought about for a while is whether or not it would be good for the league to offer teams a cap discount for re-signing or extending their own players. While I think the salary cap and free agency are overall good concepts, I've always wished that teams would keep their own players for longer. The Patriots have thirteen players remaining from Super Bowl 49, which was a mere four seasons ago: Brady, White, Edelman, Slater, Gronkowski, Cannon, Hightower, Chung, Ebner, Harmon, McCourty, Allen, and Gostkowski.. That's less than 25% of the 53-man roster.

I've always enjoyed continuity in sports; it's great to have some interesting shakeups in the offseason with some major free agent signings and some journeymen changing teams, but I've always thought it would be better to have more guys who spend their career - or a large portion of it - with the same franchise. We hear about the pre-free agency sports leagues from our parents generation and part of that is appealing as a fan.

As a compromise, what if the league allowed a 10% cap discount (just throwing out a number, could be different) to a team who is either extending a player or re-signing them in free agency (they'd need to have played for them last.) For example, if the Patriots had matched the Dolphins offer to Amendola, they would still be actually paying him the same amount, but there would be a 10% discount on books when it comes to the salary cap.

I'm sure the owners would absolutely hate the idea since it would likely cost them more money, but I'm curious if people like this concept, in a perfect world (where Roger Goodell was never born and Archie Manning had a vasectomy at age 20).

 

[maineman209]

My first thought is that players' agents would simply increase salary demands commensurately.

Still, it's an idea worth thinking about and discussing.

 

[Fatmancryin]

I voted Ray Lewis killed a guy or 2.

I would have to say I am 50/50.

 

[Clonamery]

Then no more compensatory picks.

 

[Angelpats]

Doesn’t really help. Look at the nba.

 

[Ivan]

My younger brother and I talked about this idea for years. Starting with their first year of unrestricted free agency the team gets a 10% discount against the cap, and that increases by 10% a season, so by their 15th season they don’t count against the cap. Both player’s and team’s would like this because it offsets the advantage younger players have by their rookie deals being constructed by the rookie deal caps. Fans would like it because it makes it easier to keep their favorite player’s. The owners would be the ones who would take issue because it could increase their expenses, but that’s offset by their ability to keep Dan favorites and team continuity.

 

[Ring 6]

What you are essentially saying is raise the cap.

 

[Tony2046]

My younger brother and I talked about this idea for years. Starting with their first year of unrestricted free agency the team gets a 10% discount against the cap, and that increases by 10% a season, so by their 15th season they don’t count against the cap. Both player’s and team’s would like this because it offsets the advantage younger players have by their rookie deals being constructed by the rookie deal caps. Fans would like it because it makes it easier to keep their favorite player’s. The owners would be the ones who would take issue because it could increase their expenses, but that’s offset by their ability to keep Dan favorites and team continuity.

So Brady would have had no cap hit for the last three years?

 

[farn]

As always, I chose Lewis.

However, NO NO NO. I would not like that type of cap as that’s one of the reason BB wins : while others are sentimental or bound by owners, BB’s ruthless cutting of favs keeps NE ahead.

 

[Soliel]

I think it’s a fine idea, I’m the kind of fan who gets quasi emotionaly attached to certain players. Like, brady, Welker, Vereen , the list goes on and on. I think that with proper parameters and limits, it would be nice.

One thing though. In my mind, part of patriots greatness revolves around the fact that we win a lot of games and slug it out n the playoffs year after year With All New team mates. Not all but a ridiculous amount of new people every season. Yet the beat goes on.

 

[PlainOldEd]

If this rule were in place, would Jordan Richards still be here?

 

[Froob]

Nah, I like the way the cap works as is.

 

[Soliel]

If this rule were in place, would Jordan Richards still be here?

Have you seen the YouTube vid where Jordan Richards believes he is Ronnie Lott?

 

[PlainOldEd]

Have you seen the YouTube vid where Jordan Richards believes he is Ronnie Lott?

Was he at one of those hypnotist/comedy shows?

 

[Gronk]

I like that the NFL is a hard cap. The main change I wish the players would force is to make all contracts guaranteed - this might suppress some of the exploding contract numbers initially but at least it would be real money, and maybe the teams would have to learn to be less reckless. And after all, it would even out over time as you can see guaranteed contracts haven’t exactly hurt wages in the NBA or MLB. There’s a lot more players in football, and thus far more unintended consequences to consider, of course.

I do think that accounting for the discount as a cap measure only is an interesting idea (so in theory not hitting player or team pockets), but any softening of a hard cap makes it not a hard cap at all. As someone mentioned what’s to stop the player/agent - one who perhaps doesn’t have a formal offer to be matched from another team - from saying “come on coach, you only have to account for $9m, just pay me $10m”.

It starts small - keeping a WR3 like Dola, maybe backup OL you really like, or allowing the Bulls to pay Michael Jordan $30m each of his last couple years (as the Patriots surely would for Tom Brady). But 20 years down the road the Warriors have like $150m in contracts against a $100m cap, and all they have to do is be willing to write a big luxury tax check.

 

[Observer]

What you are essentially saying is raise the cap.

No, he is suggesting a benefit for player retention. That's not the same as an indiscriminate raising of the cap.

 

[PlainOldEd]

Isn't there some version of this in place for the end of the roster guys? Like where a vet making 1.5m only counts 750k against the cap... I thought I remembered that from somewhere....?

 

[Observer]

I actually like the idea because I prefer having a few very good teams and a few very bad teams vs. having all teams be about average.

 

[amazinPats]

No I don't support any cap reduction for player retention. It runs counter to the whole point of free agency. If you don't want to allow free agency then you end it. If you want to allow it then you do. You can't allow free agency then put into place a program that deincentivizes it at the same time. Makes no sense.

 

[Clonamery]

Have you seen the YouTube vid where Jordan Richards believes he is Ronnie Lott?

He chewed off a finger?