Twitter: Scott Pioli, former NFL GM, three major consequences of 2021 projected cap decrease

Future said:

Do you mean Dak?

Because he made that decision long before the pandemic. Hindsight is always easy....

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Regardless, looks like there is no way Dak can expect the Cowboys to give him a long term deal this off season..... well, I guess they could, but all money being paid back end.
That was an interesting read, and the NFL will be very interesting this off season.

KingintheNorth said:

Ha. Okay.

2022 is not guaranteed until the 5th day of the 2022 NFL calendar.

But please tell me again how I'm wrong,

Restructuring is not RENEGOTIATING!!!!!!! no matter how many times you type it or whether or not you type it in bold.

It is literally in the name of the word being used. Structure. It is taking money the player already has coming and restructuring the time and manner in which they receive it.

You might want to really think about things before you type them and reveal to the world how very little you actually understand.

I'm here to help you buddy.

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What happens when a contract is restructured,? The team and the player NEGOTIATE how the original contract can or will be changed. Even my neighbors 10 year old kid knows that when they restructure a contract they are renegotiating the original contract. Please learn a little bit about what you're trying to talk about.
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gjkoeppen said:

What happens when a contract is restructured,? The team and the player NEGOTIATE how the original contract can or will be changed. Even my neighbors 10 year old kid knows that when they restructure a contract they are renegotiating the original contract. Please learn a little bit about what you're trying to talk about.
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Sure.

You got owned. And it wasn't really anything I did to own you. You just gave yourself up.

It's creative financing and simply moving the exact same amount of money from one date to another, thus restructuring when the compensation occurs.

Renegotiating a contract, at least in professional sports contracts if that helps you grasp the concept, would be changing the terms i.e, the amount of compensation involved.

If you pay attention to the NFL off-season, you hear talks about "restructuring" versus "asked to take a pay cut"

Brax said:

Two firsts for a QB who has done nothing and is coming of a major injury is bad, that's just plain stupid to even say, and you know the picks will be in the 20s, you embarrass yourself with this kind of drivel. The main Idea is to lower his $$$ cap hit , there isn't any team giving 2 firsts for Dak the objective is to lower his cost especially coming of his injury. Your problem is you are a Dak fan and couldn't care less what the team is as long as Dak is the QB. Dak isn't a game changing QB and isn't getting a poison pill type offer those type of offers are for game changing players not a average good NFL QB. You fantasy Dak fans are off the deep end.

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You're doing what you say the Prescott fans do but in an opposite way and that is as a Prescott hater you TRY to spread fake news. Going into this year's free agency Prescott was the #1 free agent, a free agency that also had Brady and Rivers. Prior to getting injured, unlike the Prescott haters that think he's permanently damaged, the actual doctors say he'll be back just like before and until that injury was not only on pace to break the NFL record for passing yards, but was going to shatter it. Prescott already did what NO OTHER QB EVER did by throwing for 450 or more yards 3 games in a row. Being a Prescott hater you can think what you want but that's not going to change what the Cowboys will do by signing Prescott.
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KingintheNorth said:

Sure.

You got owned. And it wasn't really anything I did to own you. You just gave yourself up.

It's creative financing and simply moving the exact same amount of money from one date to another, thus restructuring when the compensation occurs.

Renegotiating a contract, at least in professional sports contracts if that helps you grasp the concept, would be changing the terms i.e, the amount of compensation involved.

If you pay attention to the NFL off-season, you hear talks about "restructuring" versus "asked to take a pay cut"

Click to expand...

At no time did I say take a pay cut although that does happen too. Are you in like the 1st grade and haven't learned how to understand EXTREMELY simple concepts. You still think there's a difference between restructuring a contract and renegotiating a contract. AGAIN, what happens when a contract is restructured. The team and the player NEGOTIATE a change to the ORIGINAL contract that was signed. If you still can't understand this then your ability of understanding simple things is so low that I can no longer even try to discuss this with you. Don't bot6her to reply because I'll just ignore you.
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Brax said:

Two firsts for a QB who has done nothing and is coming of a major injury is bad, that's just plain stupid to even say, and you know the picks will be in the 20s, you embarrass yourself with this kind of drivel. The main Idea is to lower his $$$ cap hit , there isn't any team giving 2 firsts for Dak the objective is to lower his cost especially coming of his injury. Your problem is you are a Dak fan and couldn't care less what the team is as long as Dak is the QB. Dak isn't a game changing QB and isn't getting a poison pill type offer those type of offers are for game changing players not a average good NFL QB. You fantasy Dak fans are off the deep end.

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Exactly zero of what you type is true in any sense.

It is painful to read this type of sheer stupidity.
This has to be trolling because no one can just be this level of unchecked remedial.

The Broncos received two first-round picks, a third and Kyle Orton for Jay friggin Cutler.
Carson Palmer after demanding a trade was traded for a 1st and a 2nd round pick.
Matt Schaub garnered a swap of R1s and two second round picks as a non-starter in ATL.

Or unknown kids at tops of drafts:
Philadelphia Eagles
Two 1st round picks (including #8), one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick, and a swap of a 2016 4th rounder for a 2017 4th rounder.

Los Angeles Rams
Two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, and two 3rd round picks (sent back 4th and 6th rounders).

Washington Commanders
Three 1st round picks (including #6) and one 2nd round pick.

Trying to argue Dak isn't worth two 1st rounders is just offensively stupid. Carson Wentz has been uber trash this year and is worth two 1st rounders.
Average starting NFL QBs are insanely valuable.
Young, starting QBs who've won over 50% of their games and put up large passing totals?
It's nearly impossible to define because teams don't trade those guys.
Exactly 0 QBs have had the passing yardage total Dak did in 2019 then get traded in 18 months.

Allowing OTHER teams and Dak's agent to control where Dak plays and the draft picks given up would AT LEAST be the most stupid QB decision since WAS let Kirk Cousins walk for 0. And more likely since the Chargers pulled the franchise tag off Drew Brees and lost him for nothing. I'll wait while you check the lack of success WAS and SD had after those moves.

Poison pills.... Nate friggin Burleson had a poison pill contract. Offensive Guard Steve Hutchinson, Curtis Martin.
An average NFL starting QB is FAR more valuable than any of those guys.

In fairness many prior poison pill examples are now illegal but it's absolutely legal to structure in ways that make matching nearly impossible.

gjkoeppen said:

You're doing what you say the Prescott fans do but in an opposite way and that is as a Prescott hater you TRY to spread fake news. Going into this year's free agency Prescott was the #1 free agent, a free agency that also had Brady and Rivers. Prior to getting injured, unlike the Prescott haters that think he's permanently damaged, the actual doctors say he'll be back just like before and until that injury was not only on pace to break the NFL record for passing yards, but was going to shatter it. Prescott already did what NO OTHER QB EVER did by throwing for 450 or more yards 3 games in a row. Being a Prescott hater you can think what you want but that's not going to change what the Cowboys will do by signing Prescott.
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You Dak lovers are sounding more and more like a broken record!
Pulled and posted the same nonsense almost 2 years running about Prescott's new deal and in the end reality brought the TAG!
Well, get ready for some more bad news come the off-season as it will be deja vu once again when he is released and heads out of town to his new wasteland future in the Fa market.
Remember Winston another Garbage KING and how he ended up......

Reid1boys said:

Regardless, looks like there is no way Dak can expect the Cowboys to give him a long term deal this off season..... well, I guess they could, but all money being paid back end.
That was an interesting read, and the NFL will be very interesting this off season.

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lord help us alll on this forum.....

Dallas has 3 options with Dak,

1. Allow him to hit unrestricted free agency where he becomes the league's most coveted free agent. 1 overall, easily.
2. Tag him in a few different ways but all at very costly cap hits in a reduced cap season.
3. Sign him long term where they can manage the early cap hits, freeing up considerable space versus tags.

ALL of those options ensure Dak makes 35M PLUS in 2021 without throwing a single pass between now and when he signs.

The benefit of a long-term deal is for Dallas, not Dak.
Dak gets richer as each day passes because the QB market price only goes up.
It's literally never dropped since the invention of the salary cap. EVER.

The reality is Dak will have 100m guaranteed within 6 months and people here will be confused and/or pretend they didn't have these utterly stupid takes.

gjkoeppen said:

At no time did I say take a pay cut although that does happen too. Are you in like the 1st grade and haven't learned how to understand EXTREMELY simple concepts. You still think there's a difference between restructuring a contract and renegotiating a contract. AGAIN, what happens when a contract is restructured. The team and the player NEGOTIATE a change to the ORIGINAL contract that was signed. If you still can't understand this then your ability of understanding simple things is so low that I can no longer even try to discuss this with you. Don't bot6her to reply because I'll just ignore you.
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Cool.

jterrell said:

lord help us alll on this forum.....

Dallas has 3 options with Dak,

1. Allow him to hit unrestricted free agency where he becomes the league's most coveted free agent. 1 overall, easily.
2. Tag him in a few different ways but all at very costly cap hits in a reduced cap season.
3. Sign him long term where they can manage the early cap hits, freeing up considerable space versus tags.

ALL of those options ensure Dak makes 35M PLUS in 2021 without throwing a single pass between now and when he signs.

The benefit of a long-term deal is for Dallas, not Dak.
Dak gets richer as each day passes because the QB market price only goes up.
It's literally never dropped since the invention of the salary cap. EVER.

The reality is Dak will have 100m guaranteed within 6 months and people here will be confused and/or pretend they didn't have these utterly stupid takes.

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Lord help us is right.... becaue you obviously need to have everything broken down for you.

They are NOT gonna tag him. Cap is going to drop .... probably a decent amount. So would they be able to have a cap drop, and pay dak close to 40 million NEXT YEAR? Not likely.
Are they going to let Dak just walk and hit free agency? not a chance in hell, so there was ZERO need to even discuss it.

The only real option is for Dak to sign a short deal. let the cap go up and then cash in, or get a deal next year with much of the money paid on the back end, as I already stated.

1 and 2 in your scenario aint happening.

Reid1boys said:

Lord help us is right.... becaue you obviously need to have everything broken down for you.

They are NOT gonna tag him. Cap is going to drop .... probably a decent amount. So would they be able to have a cap drop, and pay dak close to 40 million NEXT YEAR? Not likely.
Are they going to let Dak just walk and hit free agency? not a chance in hell, so there was ZERO need to even discuss it.

The only real option is for Dak to sign a short deal. let the cap go up and then cash in, or get a deal next year with much of the money paid on the back end, as I already stated.

1 and 2 in your scenario aint happening.

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Are you on drugs?
You think Dak is going to agree to forego free agency for a short term deal that:
A: offers substantial cap savings to Dallas?
B: offers him no real guarantees?

That might the single goofiest post I have seen on these boards.

Let me break down reality to you.
Dallas will offer long term big money deals. Likely won;t agree immediately soo.....
Dallas WILL Tag at 37.7M
Then they will offer him various longer term deals trying to reduce the cap hit.
And they likely will agree on a long term deal that allows them to spread the cap hits over 5 seasons.
OR they'll do a shorter deal FULLY Guaranteed. Something like 110M for 3 years.
OR they'll eat the tag price to see him healthy in 2021 if Stephen remains asleep at the wheel.

PAPPYDOG said:

You Dak lovers are sounding more and more like a broken record!
Pulled and posted the same nonsense almost 2 years running about Prescott's new deal and in the end reality brought the TAG!
Well, get ready for some more bad news come the off-season as it will be deja vu once again when he is released and heads out of town to his new wasteland future in the Fa market.
Remember Winston another Garbage KING and how he ended up......

Click to expand...

Fortunately for Prescott and those that see how good he is, Jones doesn't see things like you and either Prescott signs a new deal or is tagged again and then signs a new deal. Then we can laugh out butts off at all the Prescott haters.
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DFWJC said:

Not taking the 5 year, 175-185 million dollar offer looks more and more crazy to me.

but not my choice

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SMH. why? he gets tagged or he will take a short term deal somewhere else. this is not a permanent decrease of salary cap. basically due to no attendance.....which will be back to normal, probably with ticket price increases in 2021.

the goal for most of these FA QBs was to get to 2024 as FAs...when the cap is expected to go up 20-30%.......that's when the real money is made

CowboysFaninHouston said:

SMH. why? he gets tagged or he will take a short term deal somewhere else. this is not a permanent decrease of salary cap. basically due to no attendance.....which will be back to normal, probably with ticket price increases in 2021.

the goal for most of these FA QBs was to get to 2024 as FAs...when the cap is expected to go up 20-30%.......that's when the real money is made

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5 years and 175-185 mil IS real money

gjkoeppen said:

You're doing what you say the Prescott fans do but in an opposite way and that is as a Prescott hater you TRY to spread fake news. Going into this year's free agency Prescott was the #1 free agent, a free agency that also had Brady and Rivers. Prior to getting injured, unlike the Prescott haters that think he's permanently damaged, the actual doctors say he'll be back just like before and until that injury was not only on pace to break the NFL record for passing yards, but was going to shatter it. Prescott already did what NO OTHER QB EVER did by throwing for 450 or more yards 3 games in a row. Being a Prescott hater you can think what you want but that's not going to change what the Cowboys will do by signing Prescott.
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I hate when folks like you outright lie and spin what was said, Dak was never a FA because he was tagged, I never said anything about him other than he is coming off a major injury, as for his stats Ls don’t mean much to me but I agree Dak did good in soft time even Jerry understands that, so what, you do know he doesn’t get to play bum Ds every game, so just stop with soft stats Dak. I never said anything bad about Dak or untrue, but like so many Dak worshippers you become unhinged and seem to have a lack of reading skills when one looks at Dak as anything other than elite and elite he is not and that is a true fact.

jterrell said:

Exactly zero of what you type is true in any sense.

It is painful to read this type of sheer stupidity.
This has to be trolling because no one can just be this level of unchecked remedial.

The Broncos received two first-round picks, a third and Kyle Orton for Jay friggin Cutler.
Carson Palmer after demanding a trade was traded for a 1st and a 2nd round pick.
Matt Schaub garnered a swap of R1s and two second round picks as a non-starter in ATL.

Or unknown kids at tops of drafts:
Philadelphia Eagles
Two 1st round picks (including #8), one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick, and a swap of a 2016 4th rounder for a 2017 4th rounder.

Los Angeles Rams
Two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, and two 3rd round picks (sent back 4th and 6th rounders).

Washington Commanders
Three 1st round picks (including #6) and one 2nd round pick.

Trying to argue Dak isn't worth two 1st rounders is just offensively stupid. Carson Wentz has been uber trash this year and is worth two 1st rounders.
Average starting NFL QBs are insanely valuable.
Young, starting QBs who've won over 50% of their games and put up large passing totals?
It's nearly impossible to define because teams don't trade those guys.
Exactly 0 QBs have had the passing yardage total Dak did in 2019 then get traded in 18 months.

Allowing OTHER teams and Dak's agent to control where Dak plays and the draft picks given up would AT LEAST be the most stupid QB decision since WAS let Kirk Cousins walk for 0. And more likely since the Chargers pulled the franchise tag off Drew Brees and lost him for nothing. I'll wait while you check the lack of success WAS and SD had after those moves.

Poison pills.... Nate friggin Burleson had a poison pill contract. Offensive Guard Steve Hutchinson, Curtis Martin.
An average NFL starting QB is FAR more valuable than any of those guys.

In fairness many prior poison pill examples are now illegal but it's absolutely legal to structure in ways that make matching nearly impossible.

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It is painful to read such a stupid response from a closed minded Dak fan club guy. There is no way you can believe such nonsense you just wrote. As for success Dak has really made a difference, what’s it 5 years 1 play off win you Dak sweethearts are willing to pay him upwards of 40 million, good luck building a team around Dak average.

Despite the many erudite posts, they are all conjecture. This topic is well worth revisiting in a few months.

Honestly.....I'm drafting Zack Wilson....and taking the Dak money....and signing some good free agents.

jazzcat22 said:

Will teams try to restructure contracts, push money out further, but the player gets money in a signing bonus.
I see that happening before wholesale cuts.
A player still gets upfront money and plays a few years, makes the same amount. As opposed to being released, then no team wants to sign them unless a deal that makes them the same amount.

Then in a few years, if things are back to normal, new TV contracts, teams could still keep them as the cap increases more than projected.As opposed to taking the cap hit if released.
I think FA as we know it will not be as good. Not for several years.

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I agree somewhat but I still think teams will take a hard look at 2022 free agent players. Yes, the players with only a year left on their current deals which in many cases all guaranteed money is paid already. In fact, take a look at this list of 2022 likely free agents. Just me, I'm guessing if teams can move on from these players with little cap/dead money impact form younger cheaper draft picks/free agents, they will.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/2022/all/

jterrell said:

Not really.
If teams like the Eagles/Saints dump a lot of contracts the good players will be signed.
It also won't be for super cheap. Because there will still be plenty of teams saying hey I can get this guy in for a very cheap year 1 cost.
NFL teams can guaranteed 2nd and 3rd years of deals or spread out signing bonuses to make a guy counting 2-3M on the cap well paid in 3-4 years.

What do I mean?
Marshon Lattimore is a good Saints CB. He's likely to be extended but it might be tough. Spotrac says his market value is 15M per year.
He is owed 1 year and ~11M.
Saints can release him and save 11M!!
The badly need that 11M but he has real value....
So let's say they do release him.

He's worth 15M per.

DAL badly need a starting CB right? Let's say they magically hold pick 4 still.
They LOVE Sewell. But they need a CB BAD BAD.

What could they offer a FA Lattimore?

How about this deal?

Year 1 15M SB 1M base. --cost 4M cap hit.
Year 2 20M roster bonus. year 2 3M base. --cost cap hit 11M
Year 3 11M base --cap cost 19M
Year 4 13M base --cap cost 21M
year 5 15M base --cap cost 23M

78m deal. 15.6M AAV.
Exactly what Spotrac says
You guarantee first 2 seasons plus all roster bonuses. --39M fully GTD.
Guarantee year 3 base salary 5th day of 2nd season. --so virtual GTE of another 11M to hit 50M

Could be out of deal in 3 years or more likely restructures that 3rd year cap hit down to bonus reducing year 3 cap hit to like 11M.

It is easy to pay guys without it hitting your cap year 1.
Or even abusing your pocket book year 1 provided you guarantee future seasons.

The NFL is and always be a talent acquisition business.

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Excellent post...... I know you're using the Saints as an example here but the truth is their cap issue will actually be one of the toughest in the league. Read something where they could be neg $90M in the hole if the cap is reduced.

BTW: check out the list of 2022 free agents. Using your post, I can def see teams releasing players from this list with the reduced cap.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/2022/all/