The NFL Salary Cap Has Holes!
1-liner, NFL October 23rd. 2009, 12:30pmNFL Salary Cap: “There have been six shutouts, the highest number since 1994, and 20 blowouts of 21 points or more, the second-highest number in the past 39 years.” Blame is pinned squarely on teams that are gaming the salary cap. Like Tampa Bay. “… signed two free-agents, running back Noah Herron and defensive end Patrick Chukwurah, for contracts that totalled $25 million. Under the rules of the salary cap, the Buccaneers were charged that full amount for the players. But to actually earn that money, each player had to, among other things, block six punts apiece—an exceedingly difficult prospect. In the end, neither player ended up taking a single snap. Mr. Herron was paid $157,000 and Mr. Chukwurah $71,000, although the team’s salary-cap number reflected the full value of their contracts.” [WSJ]
38 Responses to “The NFL Salary Cap Has Holes!”
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October 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
In conclusion, TBL believes spending money is always good, which is why he’s happy that goddamn Democrats are back in power again.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Rush Limbaugh would have never pulled that kind of crap.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
To me, what the 49ers were doing in the 90s was much worse–signing star players to outrageously low contracts and then paying them in incentives that third stringers could reach.
I remember in 1994 the Saints offered Deion Sanders like 4 or 5 million a year, and he wound up signing with the 49ers for like 1 million and actually making around 5.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
ot but i have to ask..if theres out kicking your coverage or playing about the rim, what do we call what steve phillips did?
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
/fixed because I miss the glory days.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
hope they have these loopholes if they do a cap for baseball
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The Denver Broncos laugh at this salary cap manipulation.
/If you think this is bad, wait until next year when about eight teams start Marlins-ing it.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hahaha. Like he was ever going to sign with the Saints? Come on, going from the Falcons to the Saints back then was a lateral move.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
the article said 6 teams are “below” the floor already, so what is another 2 more teams. but next year, they can be above the board with their transactions.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I think you’re being too kind bsanders. Next year I think more than a 1/3 of the league will take the non capped year as a chance to get their finances straight. Detroit, Tampa,St Louis, Arizona, Kansas City, Oakland, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Miami. Those are the teams that I can see really shedding salary.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
will the redskins, cowboys and texans (yes texans, they make a lot of money every year) of the league go on a spending spree?
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Shitty team does not automatically mean cheap team. The Rams are right up against the salary cap, for example.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
you can probably scratch out the cowboys. seems as if jerry is getting ready for next year or he has no more money
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I meant eight more than the six already mentioned. I’m betting anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 the teams jump at the chance to purge.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
The ‘Skins are dead to me, so I won’t share my thoughts on their ability to stay under the cap every year.
/Takes shot, pours another
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
My understanding is while those teams might want to spend there isn’t going to be a lot available with double secret extra Franchise tags and increased service times and whatnot.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Yeah, all the year four FA eligible guys now have to wait until year six and teams will be able to “protect” a certain number of guys. Not sure how many it is or how the whole thing works exactly, but I’d point you in Mike Lombardi’s direction on NFP for more in-depth analysis.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Noah Herron? I remember him as a special teams player. And a weak one at that.
(insert joke about poor scouting abilities of Tampa and Steve Phillips that I would make if I weren’t so lazy today)
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
The ‘Skins are dead to me, so I won’t share my thoughts on their ability to stay under the cap every year.
I’ll have plenty of other games on, ill. come on back.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
The two highest salaries in the league last year were Oakland and Dallas. So I’m really not sure what the point here is.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
O/T:
I know Simmons isn’t terribly popular around these parts but this is paragraph reeks of truthiness:
/ O/T
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Actually its because of the big signing bonuses of the last two years and the overspending. His money going out this year is technically really low like 90 million but because of the way the cap works he is still right up against it.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Chicks that have tattoos on the back of their neck (almost always a “Chinese” character) are just as suspicious, though it does serve as a Rock’n'Jock style 50 point target.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Simmons skipped his NFL post this week to do an NBA preview with his picks at the end of it? So fucking pissed.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Jerry also put a lot of $$$$ into that stadium.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
booting a routine grounder?
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Shanking a punt?
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Giving Matt Morris ten million dollars?
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
porking the pigskin
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole… wheel of cheese? How’d you do that? Heck, I’m not even mad; that’s amazing. How ’bout we get you in your p.j.’s and we hit the hay.
/Sorry. That bit pretty much sums up my thoughts on the Dave Littlefield era.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
First, the Saints never had a losing record between 1987 and 1993. Second, that wasn’t the point. The point was that the good teams were signing superstars for huge contracts but having it count for a ridiculously low amount of money, violating the spirit of the salary cap and ruining competitive balance.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
It’s “cool” to knock Simmons, but it’s only because he made a career out of irreverent sports/pop culture humor on the internet long before everybody and their brother started their own shitty sports blogs in the hopes of being…Bill Simmons.
/not necessarily a knock on any of the bloggers who post here
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
When Deion signed with the niners, the incentives from that contract counted against the next season’s cap number. aka “Dead money” since Deion left for Dallas. (the reality is that deion allegedly received a ton of cash from Eddie D.)
The rules have changed since then. Now they break the incentives up into likely to be achieved and not likely to be achieved which is based upon a players past history (for rookies it is the round that they are drafted in).
“Likely to be achieved incentives” count immediately against the cap. The Bucs were probably signing players who they knew wouldn’t play, to contracts with outrageous “likely to be achieved incentives” so that the money would count against the cap in the current season.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Simmons’ writing changed when he moved to LA, waaaaay too much name dropping. Plus if I want to read about the NBA, I’ll just look at this site during the NHL Final, World Series, and Superbowl.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@Marcus_graham: makes you wonder why players haven’t revolted against the system.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Occasionally, yes. But, if you were friends with Dave Dameshek you’d never let the world know about it either.
Very true. I can’t muster an interest in that league, but Simmons is a big-time NBA fanboy so you have to allow for that. Nevertheless, I have to skip about 50% of what he writes because of this.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Fixed. I need to read my stupid comments before I hit “Submit”.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
wilhel: The players do not have any leverage. ZERO. The NFL is going to lock them out in after 2010 and things are going to get worse for the players (rookie cap, non-guaranteed “guaranteed” bonuses, Judge Goodell and a smaller piece of the pie)
Their only hope is if another league starts.