the closest anyone ever came to a day of reckoning was the saints, who had to cut someone they actually didn’t want to cut a year or two ago and that’s it. The packers were a zillion over the cap this offseason and it didn’t matter they were fine, they didn’t even cut randall cobb like everyone thought would be the first tor 2nd thing they’d do (his deal did get reworked but they didn’t need to do that even). Okay they probably can’t go on a free agent spending spree next year, but that’s their big punishment.
extensions end up saving space in year 1 (the penalty is you can’t cut the player you just extended in year 1 cause you’d be ****ed) so you can extend absolutely everyone if you wanted to
It’d be funny if the Rams have some season down the track where they can only sign minimum players because of a $200m dead cap hit from all the retirements
The Saints have made it work for a long time, but they definitely are paying a bit of a price now. This offseason sucked for them as they had to create so much space. Their hands were pretty much tied in FA. While they added two solid players (Maye and Matthieu), they also lost two starters (Armstead and Williams). There were only able to keep the rest of their guys by kicking the can down the road a bit more. That was all good and well when they had Brees and were title contender, but now all they are doing is keeping together a fringe playoff team. They already are the most over the cap for 2023 and that’s without a real QB (unless they really like Winston).
Sure, they can do their cap magic again next year, but seems pointless and feel it would be better to just bite the bullet, clean their books so that when they do have good team, they have the space and flexibility to go on spending spree.
All in for the first super bowl. Doubling down for a second. They would happily trade some lean years for another ring. Certainly a different approach than the 2000-2019 patriots.
Right - I agree it makes sense for Rams and other SB contenders, but think at some point you need to bite the bullet and do a cap reset rather than keep together a mediocre team.
Also, Patriots only worked cause Brady was giving them an extra 10% in cap space by taking a huge discount.
This is basically what the Lions did. They just ripped the band-aid off last year and ate like 70 mil in dead cap. They probably could have worked some cap magic to try and bring in an FA or two to keep some semblance of hope alive but I much prefer how they did it. They did have to restructure Goff’s contract just to get under the cap and still field a pro football team, but for the most part they just put together the youngest roster in the NFL full of bargain bin free agents.
I know it seems like the salary cap is all just funny money and good teams make it work. It’s not completely off base, but the reason good teams are able to make it work is that they draft incredibly well and get a lot of value from their day 2 and 3 draft picks that cost in the 1 to 2 million per year range. The bad teams are the ones with all the 8 to 15 mil/year free agents getting outplayed by rookies and second year guys. The Rams also got good value out of their big signings, which is another thing that drags teams down.
That seems the right call. If managed properly Maholmes should give you 10 more solid shots at SB. Can always start going all in in year 6 or so to maximize the end of his prime. No reason to go all-in when you have young elite QB.
True elite QBs are easily still the most underpriced asset, so you’ve got such a big leg up on the league when you have one, that you don’t need to mortgage future to stack rest of roster and be SB contender.
think they were letting armstead go anyway, he often only plays part of a season
I guess you have a point on williams but if they wanted to keep him they would’ve found a way, his cap hit this year is lower than the saints cap room.
another issue people aren’t realizing in here is there aren’t that many people that get to free agency that are worth spending that money on. Only time a NFL team was actually hamstrung was the time the cowboys and skins got punished for not breaking the rules cause the cheapass owners wanted to stay that way.
The rams have all the money to blow they want up front (ie the packers can’t quite do what they are doing right now) so they are, and they’re still more than fine against the cap, they’re really only stuck with donald/ramsey/kupp/stafford for 2 seasons (okay stafford for 3 and donald probably 3 but you get the idea, even in 3, the cap is projected to go up so the hit isn’t as relevant)
(oh right and allen robinson, which if they get the bears robinson last season lol them)
if you’re wondering why coaches weren’t more aggressive before
tony la russa walked someone with 2 strikes to face a guy hitting .150 on the year and it backfired so hard he’s getting fire tony chants at games now.
you remember that boosters in college programs have gotten coaches canned, it’s happened in the nfl too with owners pals and suite owners. (and at least once in nfl history, an owners lady demanded it)
