If I’m the nflpa I’d make that part of the concession. We won’t push for guaranteed contracts in exchange the nfl makes quarterback salaries exempt. That would allow teams to pay more players. Especially the end of the roster guys who will likely never make huge star player money.
It is an interesting discussion. And it can go in so many directions including discussing roster building and weighted roster spend per position.
With all this said. I truly believe that Oline is where it is at. You have to spend there. IF you have a legit top 5 Oline, you will have a top 10 offense and your QB will good. As the Oline played drops the QB ratings drop. And yes an elite (top 1-2 QB) can in general overcome. It has diminishing returns as your QB takes more hits ect.
Also, as some have pointed out. Goff’s super power besides being really smart is he stays in games. Having continuity at the QB spot week in and week out is huge.
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Owners would never agree to that, the cap is what keeps them solvent / profitable. Mike Brown and Mark Davis aren’t going to be happy losing $60m a year to have a good QB and the fans of those teams will give up on their teams if they don’t.
I like what you wrote, but I disagree with this part. RBs are still important. Their importance is not what is driving down their contract values. The supply of “perfectly good” guys at the position is what is creating the current market conditions. Its the same thing that happens in fantasy football drafts. The QBs are important and typically the highest scorer on the team. BUT…you can still get a perfectly good one in rounds 7-10, so people stock up on positions like RB early and wait to grab a QB.
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The overall salary cap equalizes the teams.
After that let the free market decide on the relative value of each player outside of a minimum.
Some teams will be smarter than others with how they pay players.
Teams will have different strategies and philosophies on how to build and manage a roster.
Fewer rules and mandates let good GM’s and franchises be really good, and bad GM’s and franchises be very bad.
Much more interesting NFL that way.
That’s a phenomenon unique to fantasy football, where supply of high level QBs is bigger than the demand. There are a handful of special RBs who get drafted early in fantasy, but those guys aren’t getting paid or drafted IRL anything like as much or as high as they used to be.
League-wide ratio of pass yds to rush yds:
2023 - 1.94
2013 - 2.09
2003 - 1.70
1993 - 1.81
1983 - 1.58
1995 was the last time a RB was taken 1st overall in the draft. At that time only 15 QBs had ever been taken 1st overall, compared to 23 RBs. Now that number is 35 for QBs. Teams run the ball less, they pay their RBs less, they draft their RBs lower and all of that resource has been redirected to the pass game.
Anyone even half decent will want the Max. Non starter
As you can see every other position group fallows the trend of about 6.5% increase with the cap.
Where QBs since 1999 average a 8% increase
Since 2011 average a 10% increases
Since 2020 average over a 13% increase!
It has to slow down
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It will slow down when the cap increases slow down. But with all the streaming platform money coming to the NFL as well as international agreements, I don’t see that happening anytime soon
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In an era of such big money
Should small market owners be forced to step up or sell?
- are there really nfl small markets ? ( Lions explosion with competency for example )
@DBend144 the old cba rookie cap argument was to spread money and get vets paid. While contracts did go up
Like a CEO wage - QBs went up faster
But with all these stars now deserving to be paid so much …
Has it helped get regular vets paid or are they squeezed a bit … pushed off rosters early for cost controlled rookie but not good enough for a big star contract …
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The small market comment had nothing to do with money and in fact you kinda proved my point as how are the small market teams supposed to get the best quarterbacks to stay if they arent allowed to pay more? That was the crux of the conversation.
The cap in total is still what these teams are held to so asking them to step up, what else are they supposed to do? They need to hire well and hope they get the right players in the draft.
Also, Detroit isnt a small market.
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Who is a small market ? The QBs even paid at 30% comes out of the cap.
Traditionally I get the idea of small market but now with the money split from TV and the current value of the franchise
It doesn’t seem like there’s really small
Markets to leave
And the lions prove
It’s not about market , since they struggled in a large market before this new Hc fo
With the draft , small market team can Control the drafted QB so the QB can’t really leave for a better team or bigger market.
If the small market owner doesn’t have the cash flow behind the scenes , should they be “asked” to sell to a group who had the pockets ?
In this era of nfl
The money is so big
It’s hard for me to determine who the small market is
Raiders and Oakland but the cba and salary cap were supposed to keep small markets competing with big ones
Davis could’ve sold Raiders to local Oakland group to keep team in Oakland but then he wouldn’t be a team owner who inherited the team and he’d be forced to live off the few billion he could’ve sold it for
But he couldn’t compete in Oakland - a small market I guess if you don’t count all of the East Bay or think of Oakland as part of SF Bay Area
Of coarse the NFL is different. The injury rate is significantly higher. The owners want to protect themselves. And to be honest if the NFL went to fully garenteed contracts it would be devastating to the salary cap.
@Billysimsmademedo my comment of “small market” has nothing to do with money available and everything to do with the motivations of the players to go to the larger market teams or the better organizations.
Just look at the NBA, nobody wants to go to detroit or stay in OKC etc unless they are compensated more so to do so… in the case where you have a max player that can get said max contract from any organization, why would they choose to stay?
Just think it creates a competitive disadvantage for the teams that have historically struggled. When you have to pay qb 25 the same as qb 1 because there is a cap on what qb 1 is paid… who wins in that situation? Other players or the team that has qb 1?
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But the real talent acquisition is always best built through draft unless you’re absolutely getting the guy.
The lions over paying for Flowers was more Lions than Flowers
The NFL teams have so much control on the talent that the Laveon Bells and Kirk Cousins are far and few between
Eli Mannings …
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Absolutely true, so why do we need/want a qb pay cap?
I just don’t understand the competitive advantage a cap will give to teams that dont have the best qb in the league. We damn sure know that other player salaries arent going tp be increased because teams are forced to pay less to qbs.
If we want to help the rest of the league make more raise the floor on all positions dont cap the ceiling on 1 position.
Agree definitely in the floor. These guys are taxed at high rates and short careers and as fans we eat it up.
At the same time it seems crazy to get $50m plus a year to play football or do anything.
What else can Mahomes do to make $40m a year ?
I wonder if they capped the cost for tickets at $100
How much they’d still be able to afford to pay the players ? That would help the average fan
They won’t ever cap ticket prices as people will still continue to pay, is what it is.
I understand the hope for change/benefiting the average person but they are a business. The way i see it is the nfl will continue to grow and money will follow, we can either cap player salaries which will negatively impact competition for said players and wont have the desired outcome of pushing it to players at other positions… or the money just sits in the hands of 32 billionaire owners making them even more wealthy…
I stand by the idea that if we up the floor it will be the best way to curb the growth rate of qb salaries, push money to the other positions, and not negatively impact competition as teams still have the effective capability to try and pry better talent away from eachother which a max contract tends to prevent except for in smaller markets.
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Another problem is the members of the players union are young with a lot of turnover. The interests of those who last is a little different from those who benefit with a higher floor.
I know it doesn’t change
And I like the players getting it rather than the already really wealthy owners just getting more -
The players are spending it in our communities too in a different way than the owners. Car salesman , bottle service , restaurants , clothing …
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I’ve long believed a max as % of salary cap should be in place
It was obvious that QB salaries would increase at a faster rate than any other position
That’s great for the QBs
Not so good for the bottom half of the roster guys who put their bodies at risk just like anyone else
I’d like to see some of this solved by raising the minimums over a number of years so teams can plan.
While still having a % max for QBs
The pie is big but it’s bizarre to have QBs earn $50m and a bunch of guys making $1m - $2m
Market dictates yes, but like all markets, trends get out of whack
Much more complex a discussion than my pathetic contribution in this post 
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