The godfather posted in the Simmons thread- “this is a wins for the salary cap isn’t real folks.” To which Dead quickly replied- “the Salary Cap isn’t real folks don’t understand the salary cap.”
I think it’s actually quite possible that both are true… see the top 10 in odds to win the SB in 23’
Chiefs
SF
Philly
Buff
Cincy
Jets
Dallas
Chargers
Detroit
Miami
only KC and SF may have to maneuver a few bucks to make room for their rookie class and some in season wiggle room….
Then fast forward to 2024…. Only Miami, Buffalo and LA run into trouble next year…
if GMs know what they are doing, then the cap does seem “less real.”
The salary cap stopped being real the minute they started allowing cap to roll over year to year and start borrowing from future caps. The only reason IMO they still have a salary cap is so owners can control player wages to an extent.
The salary cap is VERY real. You can push things off down the road but eventually down the road gets there. The system is set up though so you might only have to spend 1-2 years in “salary cap hell” before you are able to escape and start over again.
If they keep drafting really well, then the cap stays our friend….
for years I’ve been saying “don’t sign 2nd contracts to 4th rounder thru UDFA” level talent in multi year deals…. It’s the Trey Flowers, Rick Wagner, Jesse James, Robby Anderson,JC Jackson, etc type deals that kill teams.
The Lions used to be notorious for paying other teams fodder on big multi year deals….
It does appear that the league as a whole is getting smarter…. I knew the online projections for Evan Brown and Elliotts contracts were absurd, and that played out as they got roughly 2.5 and 1.4M respectively.
You simply don’t pay somebody else’s replacement level players over 2-3M a year.
Anyone that believes this, doesn’t truly understand what the salary cap is.
Any of the salary cap games that are played by Mickey Loomis, Howie Roseman or Les Snead (or anyone else for that matter) are just temporary differences that will reset, the bulk of the differences reset within a year (and they start the process over again).
For people who don’t think the cap is real, look at the players that the Rams, SF, Eagles and Packers this year and other teams lose each year. They lose these players because the salary cap is very real.
It doesn’t seem like it’s to keep teams from Moving though it does keep incompetent owners from
Selling
I still don’t understand lions fans defending salary cap as it hasn’t been our friend and there’s a decent chance it’ll gut this team in a couple seasons , unless Brad always drafts well. Plus we’ll learn if it was even enough to get lions to Super Bowl or two games above .500
Then perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Rather than is it real, it’s more of a question of who manipulates it the right way.
For their efforts, including the players they’ve lost, the Rams have a Super Bowl.
Since the point is to win a Super Bowl, and not an award from AICPA, I don’t know there’s a drawback to Snead’s approach. At least not from where Lions fans have historically sat.
Okay…. You assume that signing all your guys is something each team actually cares about…
The Eagles could draft Broderick Jones and fill RG and future RT need… then E Forbes, T Spears, M Mims and suddenly you don’t have a hole on the roster….
Next year they will need an Edge, DT, and C- they already have 33 under contract for next year, and 4 more from this draft class is 37…. They are projected to have 24M after voided years- then this and next year will cost 15M combined in rookie pools…
Hurts- will be extended
Cox
Barnett
Graham
Kelce
T Edmunds
So next year they sign 2 defensive starters and fill 3 in the draft
I see both sides…. I think the extreme approach for the Rams worked, but they will pay the toll the next 4/5 years.
If I were Snead I would trade Donald, Kupp and Stafford right now. Eat all the dead cap right now, and maybe even take picks only on 2024 and 2025- the Rams have now where near the horses to win anything beyond a wildcard round game this year.
Take a 1st for Stafford and a first for Donald, and maybe a 2nd and 3rd for Kupp…? Start over with 190M in cap space and two first rounders including likely the #1.
the problem with responsibly managing the cap, is that every year there will be 1-2 teams going all in, and the 1-2 favorites already in position.
As long as the NFL stays popular and the cap keeps going up it’s pretty easy for teams to create contracts that treat the future cap like a no interest credit card
If we ever have more years of no cap growth or diminishing cap, then it will be much more real and teams will be in a real bind
But right now with the new TV contracts kicking in there’s a lot of room to ostensibly sign whomever, and to mix metaphors, kick the piper down the road
I erased some words to add emphasis to this golden point. Well said.
The best analogy I can come up with for the salary cap is having an annual christmas decoration contest between everyone in the neighborhood. And there is a committee that gives every person in the neighborhood the same $1,000 to work with. Every year the money given to each household grows. So the $1,000 quickly grows to $1,200 and then $1,400 and beyond. Since you know you will be given money each year and it will most likely grow each year, you can make some decisions that impact future money allocations. So the awesome guy you hired to play Santa when you had a $1,000 budget might not make sense and fit in the budget. But when you consider putting him under contract and paying him more years down the line when the budget is $1,600…it suddenly becomes a good business transaction. And where Mr. Santa may hamper the ability to add more Xmas decorations in a year in the future…it quickly takes care of itself and resets. So even a bad decision only haunts the books for a year or two and then you move on.
