NFL Thread

[Wildcard]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Uh, Packers?  WYD?

There's got to be more to the deal? I know Adams has a very high salary, but he's a top 5 (at the least) WR in the league and 2 picks doesn't seem like enough.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Wildcard

[twoods]

I’m guessing the Packers were dumping his high salary to pay for Rodgers’ high salary. Makes me laugh when these high paying players wonder why there isn’t a ton of talent around them- maybe because of your bloated contract not being able to pay for another bloated contract.

Edited March 18, 2022 by twoods

[Fukui San]

4 hours ago, grommit2 said:

OK football experts.
I see these contracts going by (4 years @ $50M/year, etc.  Wow.  
There must be a max.  If yes, what is that number?
Do all teams get to spend the same amount?
What, exactly, is the "salary cap"?
Thanks!

 

There is too much for a normal person like you or I to comprehend. I just listen to people who actually seem to know what their doing to tell me if a team has space or not. The Patriots' cap expert is a fan named Miguel and I just take his word as gospel.

But every year we read that a team is up against the cap, but then three players have their contracts tweaked and then they have $20 million to sign a new player. (Rams, Saints)

Or a team suddenly cuts a very good player for no discernable reason and someone says it's a salary cap issue. (Cowboys with Amari Cooper, Patriots every single year)

Nobody actually understands it, including half the teams. There are voidable years, and dead money, and baseline salaries, and signing bonuses, and likely to be earned incentives, and....  You can go mad.

Here's a recent article with a general primer with recent numbers about the current overall cap and teams' current space.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-salary-cap-space-2022-explained/uqpk28bey7jsnjyz873d1nca

Web sites like Spotrac and Over the Cap make it their thing to track salary cap issues. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Fukui San

[Calvada]

Re the Adams trade:  reports are that Aaron Rodgers was aware that Adams had no intention of playing for the Packers again when Rodgers signed the new deal.  So many questions:  why would Rodgers come back without his #1 WR?  Why was Adams so insistent he wouldn't play for the Packers?  Does that have anything to do with Rodgers?  Or does he love Derek Carr that much?  And who is going to play WR for the Packers?  Currently under contract: second and third tier guys, including Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Amari Rodgers.  Lazard is just OK, Cobb is an injury-prone senior citizen by NFL standards, and it's possible Amari Rodgers is completely screwed up (IMO) by the Packers' attempt to make him a punt returner last year. It certainly didn't help his development as an NFL receiver.  This combined with the fact that the Packers lost Tonyan, their #1 tight end at mid-season to an ACL injury, so he most likely will not be available at the beginning of the '22 season, makes me wonder who the heck is going to catch the ball?  

[ScorpioSoul]

Well, Panthers are out now on Watson. Leaves Saints and Falcons- will root against whatever team gets him. Cole Beasley is out in Buffalo. I am sure the moron will picked up somewhere else though.

[PurpleGirl43]

I think this explains his decision; I’m a GB fan, but I don’t blame him for leaving.  I’d love to know what the whole ‘GB isn’t what it seems’ comment is all about? As a Kansas State alum, I’d love to see GB go after Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett; I don’t think he’s looking to leave Seattle, but w/Russ gone, maybe he’d be willing to listen to offers from other teams?! 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by PurpleGirl43

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, twoods said:

I’m guessing the Packers were dumping his high salary to pay for Rodgers’ high salary. Makes me laugh when these high paying players wonder why there isn’t a ton of talent around them- maybe because of your bloated contract not being able to pay for another bloated contract.

Say what you will about Tom Brady, but he was willing to forego salary via restructuring in order to insure he had guys around him who wouldn't let him get killed.  And has the rings to prove the value of that strategy.  It's not like he left himself destitute in the process, either.

[Court]

1 hour ago, ScorpioSoul said:

Well, Panthers are out now on Watson. Leaves Saints and Falcons- will root against whatever team gets him. Cole Beasley is out in Buffalo. I am sure the moron will picked up somewhere else though.

I'll be furious if the Falcons sign Watson. In no way is he an upgrade from Ryan. Even if he was, why sign him with all the legal issues?  Get Ryan an offensive line and draft a QB this year. 

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, roamyn said:

LOLOLOL. Wonder how Aaron feels abt signing a new contract now.  He said he didn’t want a rebuild.

The wide receiver room will be rough. It's going to be a changed offense for sure. But they have two great running backs who can also pass catch.  The starting O-Line should be pretty solid. 

And Green Bay went 7-0 without Adams [various injuries] under LaFleur.

Plus, it looks like they're keeping many of the players who helped improve their defense.  This won't be a rebuild.

3 hours ago, Wildcard said:

There's got to be more to the deal? I know Adams has a very high salary, but he's a top 5 (at the least) WR in the league and 2 picks doesn't seem like enough.

I think it's a combination of factors.  I suspect he was upset that Green Bay didn't outright make him the highest paid receiver in the league last year with their extension offer.  It's what he has been after. Given their cap space, it makes sense why Green Bay would look for more creative offers but he's the best in the league and wanted his salary to reflect that.

He also doesn't know how long Rodgers is going to stick around.  If it's just one more season, I bet he'd rather play with his good buddy rather than see who follows Rodgers. 

Green Bay probably could have gotten more from another team but their trade partner had to be somewhere Adams was willing to go.  He wasn't going to play on the franchise tag so he had to agree on the place he was going or the trade wouldn't go through. A team isn't going to give up a haul to have someone potentially leave after one season if they weren't willing to sign an extension.  A first and second rounder is better than nothing.

And they just cleared a ton of cap space.

2 hours ago, Calvada said:

Re the Adams trade:  reports are that Aaron Rodgers was aware that Adams had no intention of playing for the Packers again when Rodgers signed the new deal.  So many questions:  why would Rodgers come back without his #1 WR? 

For weeks, there have been rumors that Rodgers and Adams weren't as linked as people assumed when it came to contracts.  I think a lot of people assumed this meant that the Packers upsetting Adams with the franchise tag wouldn't affect Aaron's decision but now it looks like it might have been about Rodgers realizing he wouldn't have Adams.

I remember laughing when I read rumors that Adams was buying or building a house in LV.  I guess there was something to that.

I do have to think GB must have been surprised by this because it really does empty the wide receiver room and I think they'd want to try and keep some others.  But like I said above, they haven't lost with Adams out in the past three seasons and Rodger's over reliance on him proved to be detrimental in the NFC Divisional Round game.

[Irlandesa]

5 hours ago, PurpleGirl43 said:

I think this explains his decision; I’m a GB fan, but I don’t blame him for leaving.  I’d love to know what the whole ‘GB isn’t what it seems’ comment is all about? As a Kansas State alum, I’d love to see GB go after Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett; I don’t think he’s looking to leave Seattle, but w/Russ gone, maybe he’d be willing to listen to offers from other teams?! 

 

Can I ask where this came from?  I did a quick Google search and nothing is coming up.  In fact, I don't think Davante has spoken out about his franchise tag in public or made these comments about Rodgers. It doesn't even sound like him. The only  I kind of thing it would have been all over sports media if he had.

The only communication I feel we've gotten from him has been a report that he told Green Bay he wasn't playing on the franchise tag.

[Mountainair]

8 hours ago, ScorpioSoul said:

Well, Panthers are out now on Watson. Leaves Saints and Falcons- will root against whatever team gets him. Cole Beasley is out in Buffalo. I am sure the moron will picked up somewhere else though.

Thank good for that. As a Panthers fan I’d rather lose with Sam Donald than have to completely sit out the next season. No way I’d support them if Watson was QB. 

[merylinkid]

14 hours ago, grommit2 said:

OK football experts.
I see these contracts going by (4 years @ $50M/year, etc.  Wow.  
There must be a max.  If yes, what is that number?
Do all teams get to spend the same amount?
What, exactly, is the "salary cap"?
Thanks!

 

You kinda got this answered but let me give you the short answer:

Salary Cap:   Max a team can spend on players.   It is set each year based on a formula the League has using revenues from various sources.   How much a team spends is a complicated formula as it includes contracts for players no longer on the team.   But that's the general idea.

There is also a Salary Floor.   that is the minimum a team can spend on players.   This is to keep a team from cheaping out on salaries in order to "save" money.   Obviously paying players less means the better players are not going to go play there.   So if you had a team cheaping out on playing players you get a worse team on the field.   Which goes against the League's goal of parity.

Now between the Salary Floor and the Salary Cap is the range.   The teams can pay the players whatever they want WITHIN that range, provided they pay at least League minimums set for each position (and years of play for the player).   But the pie is only so big so you have to be careful that one player doesn't take up too much of the team's available cap in any given year.   That's why you get the HUGE salaries that SOUND great, but in reality are actually 4 year deals with the big salary bump in year 5 which everyone knows is unlikely to actually hit because it would ruin the salary cap situation.   

TL:DR:   Players' contracts are some of the most creative fiction writing in the world because of the max that teams can spend on players each year.

[cambridgeguy]

One other big thing about NFL versus NBA and MLB contracts is guaranteed money.  In the other two leagues the vast majority of the money is guaranteed with some fairly minor bonuses built in for hitting certain performance milestones.  In the NFL most players don't have the leverage to pull that off, so regardless of how awesome the contract sounds when it's announced it's possible a lot of that money will never make it to the player because they get cut.

[Lamb18]

I'm glad Cleveland isn't going for Watson after all. I wouldn't think Stefanski would want a guy like that on the team. But I don't know how much say head coaches have in the players they get.

I am so sad that Conklin is leaving the Vikings. @Lantern7, the Jets are gettingna good guy. He improved each year. I just hope they don't trade Theilen. There's been whispers about that. 

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Say what you will about Tom Brady, but he was willing to forego salary via restructuring in order to insure he had guys around him who wouldn't let him get killed. 

Exactly!  It's the smart thing to do if you want longevity in this league.  

[Ohiopirate02]

8 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Say what you will about Tom Brady, but he was willing to forego salary via restructuring in order to insure he had guys around him who wouldn't let him get killed.  And has the rings to prove the value of that strategy.  It's not like he left himself destitute in the process, either.

Tom also has a wife who makes (or made) enough money to support the family herself.  He has always been in a position where he can take a smaller salary.  His o-line needed that money more than him, and he knew it.  

[cambridgeguy]

11 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Say what you will about Tom Brady, but he was willing to forego salary via restructuring in order to insure he had guys around him who wouldn't let him get killed.  And has the rings to prove the value of that strategy.  It's not like he left himself destitute in the process, either.

Cue old guys saying that back in OUR day, we would have barrelled through any line and flattened Brady (and every other QB) like a pancake.  Now things are so wimpy you get called for roughing the passer if you breathe on him too hard. 

[DrSpaceman73]

5 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

Cue old guys saying that back in OUR day, we would have barrelled through any line and flattened Brady (and every other QB) like a pancake.  Now things are so wimpy you get called for roughing the passer if you breathe on him too hard. 

I mean, that's true.  The roughing rhe passer rules ate ridiculous now and they were specifically changed for tom brady. There is literally a tom brady rule on it. 

And dont say we'll it was just because he was the first guy injured that way and the case that made them change it.  Carson palmer had the EXACT same injury on the EXACT same type of hit, in a playoff game no less, at least 3 years before it happened to brady. 

But there is no carson palmer rule.  

[xaxat]

6 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

But there is no carson palmer rule.  

Before it was called the Tom Brady Rule, it was known as the Carson Palmer Rule.

[DrSpaceman73]

18 minutes ago, xaxat said:

Before it was called the Tom Brady Rule, it was known as the Carson Palmer Rule.

And when did they finally make it a rule?  After Tom brady was hurt. 

Did anyone see a need to make that rule after carson palmer was hurt 3 years earlier?  No they did not 

That's why us the tom brady rule not the Carson palmer rule. 

[xaxat]

2 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

And when did they finally make it a rule?  After Tom brady was hurt. 

Did anyone see a need to make that rule after carson palmer was hurt 3 years earlier?  No they did not 

That's why us the tom brady rule not the Carson palmer rule. 

From the cited article.

Quote

Some call the rule designed to protect quarterbacks' knees the "Tom Brady rule," but it was the "Carson Palmer rule" first.

In the AFC Wild Card matchup between the Bengals and Steelers in January, the Steelers' Kimo von Oelhoffen hit Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer on the second play from scrimmage in the knee on a long pass play, tearing Palmer's ACL.

During the offseason, the NFL's competition committee proposed a rule change in the interest of quarterbacks' safety.

The rule: "A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him."

 

[JTMacc99]

I'm listening to NFL radio and they're pontificating on the Packers depth chart all day. The thing is, the Packers for sure can find a decent veteran WR to add to the roster before the season starts.  But even more for sure is that the extra first and second round picks give the Packers a REALLY good opportunity to fill their most glaring team needs of WR, OT, and EDGE (pass rusher).

You can use either the PFF or PFN mock draft simulator to see what's available for them in a three-four round draft.  First try for me on PFN nets this:

• 22. Drake London WR USC
• 28. Treylon Burks WR Arkansas
• 53. Tyler Smith OT Tulsa
• 61. Arnold Ebiketie EDGE Penn State
• 92. Alec Lindstrom OC Boston College
• 105. Jake Ferguson TE Wisconsin

And even better is PFF:

• 22. Chris Olave WR Ohio State
• 28. Trevor Penning OT Northern Iowa
• 53. Nik Monitto EDGE Oklahoma
• 59 Jalen Tolbert WR South Alabama
• 92. Khalil Shakir WR Boise State

 

That extra draft capital is super valuable, and it makes it so much easier to load up with young players on cheap contracts. (Provided they don't pick another QB that is. LOL.)

Rodgers has become a bit of a pill to listen to off the field, but he's still great on the field. He makes the players around him better, and I'm 100% certain that if the Packers drafted 2 or 3 talented young WR prospects, their offense will recover just fine from losing Adams. 

[PurpleGirl43]

Oh my gosh, Irlandesa, I never checked to see if that quote was something he actually said!! Damn Twitter, lol.  I should have known he’d not speak ill will of GB.  Have you read that GB actually matched the offer LB gave him? Sounds like he was ready to move on.  

[Fukui San]

9 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Tom also has a wife who makes (or made) enough money to support the family herself.  He has always been in a position where he can take a smaller salary.  His o-line needed that money more than him, and he knew it.  

Any starting QB in the league could choose to be a multi multi millionaire instead of a multi multi multi multi millionaire. Pretty sure they’ll survive, the price of gas notwithstanding. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Fukui San

[roamyn]

14 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

 

14 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Plus, it looks like they're keeping many of the players who helped improve their defense.  This won't be a rebuild.

I’m quoting Rodgers himself.  He said he felt the team was in a rebuild mode.

[Irlandesa]

35 minutes ago, roamyn said:

I’m quoting Rodgers himself.  He said he felt the team was in a rebuild mode.

The only thing I've heard him say about a rebuild is that he didn't want to be around for a GB rebuild.

“I don’t want to be a part of a rebuild if I’m going to keep playing,” Rodgers said after Saturday night’s 13-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

So the fact that be signed either means he changed his mind or doesn't think they're in a rebuild.  If he didn't think this team had a shot, he wouldn't be in GB again.  Maybe I'm missing a new interview where he says that's what they're doing.

2 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

He makes the players around him better, and I'm 100% certain that if the Packers drafted 2 or 3 talented young WR prospects, their offense will recover just fine from losing Adams. 

I do think they need a vet WR since he doesn't usually trust young receivers.  Relying on the draft too much could be an issue. 

[emmawoodhouse]

Per Adam Schefter (sp?), Deshaun wants to go to Cleveland.

Sorry Browns fans. ☹️

Edited March 18, 2022 by emmawoodhouse

[emmawoodhouse]

Sorry to double post, but now Schefter is reporting a trade in which the Browns give the Texans draft picks. 

Really sorry, Browns fans. ☹️

[Ohiopirate02]

8 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Sorry to double post, but now Schefter is reporting a trade in which the Browns give the Texans draft picks. 

Really sorry, Browns fans. ☹️

Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck.

[roamyn]

26 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Per Adam Schefter (sp?), Deshaun wants to go to Cleveland.

Sorry Browns fans. ☹️

WHAT?!!!!   WHAT!!??

I thought we were out of the running?

[merylinkid]

Browns offered a FULLY guaranteed contract.   Meaning even if he gets suspended, he gets paid.   I think that put them back in the running.

[rcc]

1 minute ago, merylinkid said:

Browns offered a FULLY guaranteed contract.   Meaning even if he gets suspended, he gets paid.   I think that put them back in the running.

How stupid was that?

[emmawoodhouse]

4 minutes ago, rcc said:

How stupid was that?

I asked yesterday what gives with Cleveland. Now I know. Yikes! 

[emma675]

Wow, what are the Browns thinking? Where does this leave Mayfield?

[cambridgeguy]

So are the Browns trying to repeat their past?  Jim Brown, their greatest player ever, had all sorts of problems and no one cared about his off the field behavior as he ran to success and everyone's hearts.  So let's roll the dice with Watson - he's already got the off the field stuff down, now he just needs to replicate the on the field.  We'll be retiring his number one day!

Edited March 18, 2022 by cambridgeguy

[meowmommy]

They couldn't leave the AFC North without at least one accused sexual predator at QB...

1 hour ago, emma675 said:

Wow, what are the Browns thinking? Where does this leave Mayfield?

Indianapolis?  Pittsburgh?

[grommit2]

11 hours ago, merylinkid said:

You kinda got this answered but let me give you the short answer:

Salary Cap:   Max a team can spend on players.   It is set each year based on a formula the League has using revenues from various sources.   How much a team spends is a complicated formula as it includes contracts for players no longer on the team.   But that's the general idea.

There is also a Salary Floor.   that is the minimum a team can spend on players.   This is to keep a team from cheaping out on salaries in order to "save" money.   Obviously paying players less means the better players are not going to go play there.   So if you had a team cheaping out on playing players you get a worse team on the field.   Which goes against the League's goal of parity.

Now between the Salary Floor and the Salary Cap is the range.   The teams can pay the players whatever they want WITHIN that range, provided they pay at least League minimums set for each position (and years of play for the player).   But the pie is only so big so you have to be careful that one player doesn't take up too much of the team's available cap in any given year.   That's why you get the HUGE salaries that SOUND great, but in reality are actually 4 year deals with the big salary bump in year 5 which everyone knows is unlikely to actually hit because it would ruin the salary cap situation.   

TL:DR:   Players' contracts are some of the most creative fiction writing in the world because of the max that teams can spend on players each year.

Ok Merylinkid..the other factoid I was looking for was the actual number.  And it appears the NFL set the salary cap number at $208.2 million per team.  I am aware that calculating the actual team number can get complex with restructured contracts, voidable years, injury status, revenue growth anticipation, etc. 

[Johannah]

So, what is the penalty for exceeding the cap?  Must be something worse than in baseball, if I heard that right... The penalty there is just a fine that some teams are willing to pay it it means they can buy the best payers.  If that's true and it's the same in football, I can see some teams (Cowboys) paying it.

[Prairie Rose]

3 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Browns offered a FULLY guaranteed contract.   Meaning even if he gets suspended, he gets paid.   I think that put them back in the running.

Lifelong Clevelander here - and furious that the Browns have made this move. I think they're cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Fare thee well, Baker. How many names are now on that infamous QB jersey???

[galaxygirl76]

I have no favorite team, only ones I hate, and I have to say this free agent season has been amazing for a neutral bystander. Every day the popcorn comes out 🍿

 

That said, Browns gotta Browns I guess. SMH.

[Carey]

Mr. John Clayton.

[Prairie Rose]

1 hour ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Browns gotta Browns 

We need to put that on a T-shirt!

[cambridgeguy]

11 hours ago, Johann said:

So, what is the penalty for exceeding the cap?  Must be something worse than in baseball, if I heard that right... The penalty there is just a fine that some teams are willing to pay it it means they can buy the best payers.  If that's true and it's the same in football, I can see some teams (Cowboys) paying it.

The NFL can void the contract that puts them over the cap, fine the team, and/or take away draft picks.  Obviously some teams would happily pay the fine but the other two are enough to keep teams from saying to hell with it.

[JTMacc99]

12 hours ago, Carey said:

Mr. John Clayton.

Horrible. He was a really great human being by the accounts I’ve heard. He was one of those guys who made you feel like you were best friends when he greeted you. 
 

I just listened to Vic Carucci talk about him. They were friends for over 40 years, it was a really touching tribute to his friend.

[Johannah]

4 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

The NFL can void the contract that puts them over the cap, fine the team, and/or take away draft picks.  Obviously some teams would happily pay the fine but the other two are enough to keep teams from saying to hell with it.

Thanks.  I can see some teams paying the fine or even losing draft picks if the player they got is worth losing the unknown of a draft pick, but if the NFL voids that contract, then, it wouldn't be worth it - depending on whether they voided the big contract that happened earlier or the actual last contract - that might not be that big a loss, but is the one that put them over.

[mojoween]

3 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Horrible. He was a really great human being by the accounts I’ve heard. He was one of those guys who made you feel like you were best friends when he greeted you. 
 

I just listened to Vic Carucci talk about him. They were friends for over 40 years, it was a really touching tribute to his friend.

The amount of condolences from media members and teams far and wide show just how much he meant to everyone.  And also his SportsCenter commercial is one of the best ESPN ever did.

[JTMacc99]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

And also his SportsCenter commercial is one of the best ESPN ever did.

I think he actually was a really big metal fan.  When he subbed in to Country Music Friday on SiriusXM Moving the Chains, the other host would note it wasn’t Clayton’s thing. 

[Bastet]

9 hours ago, mojoween said:

And also his SportsCenter commercial is one of the best ESPN ever did.

 

[twoods]

Things continue to look ugly in Cleveland. Sorry, Browns fans. 

[Lamb18]

On 3/18/2022 at 4:21 PM, emma675 said:

Wow, what are the Browns thinking? Where does this leave Mayfield?

It leaves him homeless.