Cap news

[JAFF]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...t-180-million/

Last year, as part of the negotiations that allowed pro football to proceed in a pandemic, the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed that the 2021 salary cap would be no lower than $175 million. They have now agreed it will be a little higher than that.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the league has advised all teams that the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to bump the minimum salary cap per team to $180 million.


“This is not the final Salary Cap for the 2021 League year, which will be set following review of final 2020 revenue figures and other audit and accounting adjustments,” the memo explains. “This agreement simply increases the minimum 2021 Salary Cap by $5 million per club, from $175 million to $180 million.”

The memo provides no indication as to when the salary cap will be set. The uncertainty makes it hard for teams to create budgets, negotiate contracts, and target potential free agents.

Some around the league expect the final number to be $180 million. The increase of the minimum to $180 million could now make that higher.

[Racehorse]

Team owners want to make as much money as they can, but they don't want to break up their teams for a temporary situation. I would guess the cap will be closer to $190M, because many teams are over that number now.

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

Team owners want to make as much money as they can, but they don't want to break up their teams for a temporary situation. I would guess the cap will be closer to $190M, because many teams are over that number now.

The players want a lower cap, makes the teams renegotiate and spend money on players that arent rookies

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by JAFF

The players want a lower cap, makes the teams renegotiate and spend money on players that arent rookies

Makes no sense

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

Makes no sense

If the cap is lower, teams will be forced to renegotiate or cut players who can now renegotiate their deals to get under the cap

[Puck]

Originally Posted by JAFF

If the cap is lower, teams will be forced to renegotiate or cut players who can now renegotiate their deals to get under the cap

But then other teams have no money to sign them

[Ironshaft]

That is lower than had been anticipated. The expectation would be at $187.5m or $190m.

That means that as of this moment, there is only about $500m in free cap space that all the free agents are going to be chasing after.

This free agency class is missing out on $880m of additional free cap space had the cap ended up at $210m which was anticipated pre-COVID.

9 teams are currently over the cap and will need to make cuts to even sign their draft picks.

Another 3 teams are under the cap but don't have enough to sign their draft picks, spots 52 & 53 on roster and practice squad. They will need to make cuts to do so.

Another 4 teams have enough to sign everyone with just a bit left over to perhaps sign an RFA/ERFA tag or three.

And another 5 teams have between $15m and $22m in free cap space to sign veteran free agents meaning 1.5 quality guys or 3-5 tier 2 veteran free agents.

In the end, there are only 11 teams in the league with sufficient free cap space ($25m+ ) to be real "players" in free agency this season.

JAX = $64m (But who wants to play for that disfunction?)
NE = $64m (So it was all Brady?)
NYJ = $63m (East coast big city disfunction)
IND = $42m (Only AFC playoff team on the list)
CIN = $38m (Up and coming?)
WAS = $33m (Only NFC playoff team on the list)
LVR = $27m (Desert disfunction)
MIA = $26m (Almost Caribbean disfunction)
DEN = $26m (Rocky mountain disfunction)
HOU = $25m (Gosh, I wish BOB was still in charge)
LAC = $25m (West coast disfunction)

Good golly! 10 AFC teams and only 1 NFC team on that list. I wonder which conference all the free agents are heading to?

Of course, teams can start resorting to using the type of deals only congress can make but in the NFL, you actually have to pay back the debt and that can really screw you going forward.

It is seriously a good off season to have your team's GM be a frugal bastard.

[Racehorse]

IronShaft makes me miss Sherck's number crunching.

[Ironshaft]

Article from Stampede Blue (located here) makes the case that with normal 2021 cap needs (rookie class, practice squad, etc) AND reserving money for Nelson's 5th year option and extensions of Leonard and Smith in 2022, the Colts have about $18m in 2021 cap space that they can carry over into 2022 to devote to new LONG TERM veteran free agent signings.

I could quibble a bit with the numbers (I think that number is closer to $22-$23m) but this gives you an idea of how much the Colts can spend on new LONG TERM deals for veteran free agents.

If we are talking just one year contracts, then we can devote a lot more cap space to veterans in 2021 knowing they will fall off the books for 2022 and we then sign extensions for Smith and Leonard at the end of this season.

But if we are looking at locking up a valuable piece moving forward, then we can sign one super stud ($15m plus per year) or two studs (around $10m per year) and a couple of tier 3 guys.

Just puts it in perspective. Unless Ballard starts backloading contracts which would be WAY out of character, then while I hope we can hit on a few veteran free agents, I don't know that I think we will see a big splurg in veteran free agent signing this off season (unless the price is really depressed due to lack of money and way too many guys chasing it).

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Ironshaft

Article from Stampede Blue (located here) makes the case that with normal 2021 cap needs (rookie class, practice squad, etc) AND reserving money for Nelson's 5th year option and extensions of Leonard and Smith in 2022, the Colts have about $18m in 2021 cap space that they can carry over into 2022 to devote to new LONG TERM veteran free agent signings.

I could quibble a bit with the numbers (I think that number is closer to $22-$23m) but this gives you an idea of how much the Colts can spend on new LONG TERM deals for veteran free agents.

If we are talking just one year contracts, then we can devote a lot more cap space to veterans in 2021 knowing they will fall off the books for 2022 and we then sign extensions for Smith and Leonard at the end of this season.

But if we are looking at locking up a valuable piece moving forward, then we can sign one super stud ($15m plus per year) or two studs (around $10m per year) and a couple of tier 3 guys.

Just puts it in perspective. Unless Ballard starts backloading contracts which would be WAY out of character, then while I hope we can hit on a few veteran free agents, I don't know that I think we will see a big splurg in veteran free agent signing this off season (unless the price is really depressed due to lack of money and way too many guys chasing it).

Not sure what info the author of that article is relying upon, but I think he's severely underestimating the cost of extending Leonard and Smith. $10M a year for Smith? I'd guess more like $16-$18M. Leonard at $17.5M is likely low too - more like $20M in my view. And the Colts might try to extend Nelson too, so the $14.5M might be low too (and for the record, I think the actual number is more like $13.8M, so again I'm not so sure about this author's info).

All of these contracts could be financially engineered to minimize the immediate cap impact, but that sort of thing hasn't been Ballard's custom and practice in the past. Of course, he hasn't really needed to worry about cap issues in the past, so I don't feel confident in saying he wouldn't ever use such techniques. However, as others have discussed here, that sort of thing comes with potentially serious future consequences.