Breer: How the Eagles have circumvented the salary cap the last couple of years

[Coogiguy03]

I'm not saying they are not smarter than Jerry, because the results speak for themselves.

What I'm saying is the void years is not some sort of magic Howie/Eagles-only strategy because the Cowboys and other teams have been doing that for years.

As I said, the main difference is that Howie is willing to reset the cap every so often to avoid getting hamstrung by it where Jerry is more concerned with trying to maintain popularity every single year.

From Jerry's business perspective, fielding a team that loses in the playoffs every year is a better financial strategy than winning a Super Bowl and ultimately having 2+ bad seasons in a row.

Howie would have moved on from Dak when his last contract ended and accepted 2025 may be a down season.

Jerry had no real future QBs on the team last season so he kicked the can down the road to maintain the status quo.

You're about to be mod of the year with this comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

I posted the number some time ago but the Eagles have a huge problem coming in I think 2029. They have over an enormous amount of money stashed in voidable years then. However, using option bonuses allows them to reduce that problem by cutting or trading players before those options are due. For example, Jalen Hurts has a $97 million CAP number in 2029 even though his contract expires the prior year. Hurts will get an option bonus of $41.3 million by the first week of the 2025 season which is prorated over 5 years even though he has only 3 years left on his contract after this year. He gets paid another option bonus again in 2026 of $50 million, and again the next two years after that. Over the next 4 years he will make $191 million in bonuses each annual bonus pro-rated over 5 years. The last is pro-rated 4 years after his contract expires. That's $10 million per year against the CAP for each of those $50 million option bonuses.

But option bonuses are just that. They are optional. If the Eagles cut or trade Hurts they don't pay those bonuses. He may have guaranteed salary, but the bonuses are not guaranteed. Hurt's highest salary is only $1.4 million. In a way the Eagles have basically built in annual restructures while allowing themselves the option of escaping some of that CAP commitment.

There are two way to look at this. The Eagles are not getting away with anything. At some point they either lose the player or they pay the CAP price. The other way is the Eagles are taking advantage of the system to build a short term champion followed by what I suspect will be downs years.

If it were up to me, I would stop this voidable year nonsense. It's not a good look even if it means the teams still pay the CAP price. I would do away with voidable years. It makes a joke of the CAP system.

One other point. Remember the Cowboys and Commanders were penalized for supposedly circumventing the CAP during the uncapped year. Voidable years is a way of circumventing the intention of the CAP.

Conversely, if Philadelphia extends Hurts, the 2029 cap hit goes down by 60m$ and they can start the song and dance all over again

 

[Hawkeye0202]

The big downside is if that player doesn’t work out and you have to move on from him, all that money you moved down the road accelerates to the moment you cut them, which cap be a massive cap hit

So you only wanna use this method on your elite player you are hoping will be with the team 4-6 plus years. ( Jalen Carter? )

 

[Blackrain]

Surprise surprise the Philadelphia eagles are working the system to their advantage on and off the field with the salary cap and the tush push.

Nice to have the most talented front office rather than an entitled version of The Beverly hillbillies.

The eagles are able to take advantage of their Windows of opportunity while we are always beaten to the punch.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

So you only wanna use this method on your elite player you are hoping will be with the team 4-6 plus years. ( Jalen Carter? )

Yeah, gotta weigh out character issue stuff if you think something could pop up again in the future like off the field things or poor conditioning.

Ceedee is a good example where you should have done it more extreme than you already are. There is a 0% chance he’s not a Cowboy in 2028. No major injuries, no character issues. Push all that money all the way down. He costs you 15m$ this year, that could be 5.

 

[Creeper]

Conversely, if Philadelphia extends Hurts, the 2029 cap hit goes down by 60m$ and they can start the song and dance all over again

Of course, but they have $38 million in pro-rated bonuses in 2029 already. So his CAP number starts there. I would assume they will do the same thing and pay him a low salary with a bonus and them annual option bonuses which will pro-rate over 5 years. have to assume Hurt's new contract will be for more money than his current deal so it gets added to the money they pushed out until 2032. At some point Hurts will retire assuming he stays with the Eagles. When that happens all those pro-rated option bonuses come due. And keep in mind Hurts is only 1 of about 14 other players they paid the same way.

 

[jterrell]

The Cowboys have been doing this for years, which is why they constantly have cap issues.

Dak's contract for example has 4 (yes, four) void contract years (2029-2032) to help them spread out the yearly salary cap hits from his huge contract.

What the Cowboys have not done is to take a year or two to reset their salary cap every so often.

It also doesn't help they have been paying huge cap-impacting contracts to too many players.

The Cowboys had the perfect chance last season to reset their cap by not offering Dak a new contract. Howie would have prepared to move. Jerry gave in to protect the business.

This isn't about being 4-5 steps ahead of Jerry but rather one team owner (Howie) accepting that every so often, you're going to have a down season or two.

Jerry does not care about winning Super Bowls. He would love them as a bonus of course, but that is not his priority.

Jerry's priority is consistent revenue year over year, maintaining the Cowboys market popularity and, most importantly, increasing the team valuation every year.

It's not about intelligence or "smart" but simply priorities.

Howie's goal is for the Eagles to win Super Bowls. Jerry's goal is for the Cowboys to be popular every year.

This is all largely accurate.
But what is missing is the Eagles do this for EVERYONE making any real cap money.
Dallas is doing this for only a very few guys.
The Eales did it with their 30+ year old center.

In truth, Dallas tries to pay as it goes for most players on their roster.

The Eagles didn't do any real cap reset but got caught pants down in COVID and had to deal with a lower-than-expected salary cap.
Then pretty much immediately in the aftermath of that got a massive boost in the new TV deal shooting the cap up by large numbers.

It is clear that if the cap will increase 3-4% yearly the Eagles method is perfect.

Stephen is heinously conservative.

 

[jterrell]

Of course, but they have $38 million in pro-rated bonuses in 2029 already. So his CAP number starts there. I would assume they will do the same thing and pay him a low salary with a bonus and them annual option bonuses which will pro-rate over 5 years. have to assume Hurt's new contract will be for more money than his current deal so it gets added to the money they pushed out until 2032. At some point Hurts will retire assuming he stays with the Eagles. When that happens all those pro-rated option bonuses come due. And keep in mind Hurts is only 1 of about 14 other players they paid the same way.

The issue will be if Hurts gets dinged or his mobility is lessened. See RG3, Watson and others. Then much like Dak did with Dallas they have you over a barrel because you need the cap relief of an extension but prefer not to pay the going franchise QB rate. That first extension is pretty easy. After that it gets much, much harder. Players do not like taking pay cuts.

 

[CowboyFrog]

I mean this isn't a secret, one FO is willing to mortgage a couple of future seasons for right now success the other is not.....The Eagles dont run from a 2 year tear down, the Cowboys think thats the end of the world.

 

[daveferr33]

The only time I can remember the cowboys clearing the books so to speak was the uncapped year of 2010.

 

[Reality]

This is all largely accurate.
But what is missing is the Eagles do this for EVERYONE making any real cap money.
Dallas is doing this for only a very few guys.
The Eales did it with their 30+ year old center.

In truth, Dallas tries to pay as it goes for most players on their roster.

The Eagles didn't do any real cap reset but got caught pants down in COVID and had to deal with a lower-than-expected salary cap.
Then pretty much immediately in the aftermath of that got a massive boost in the new TV deal shooting the cap up by large numbers.

It is clear that if the cap will increase 3-4% yearly the Eagles method is perfect.

Stephen is heinously conservative.

Yeah, it's one thing I really respect about the Eagles front office. Their loyalty is to the team, not the players.

I said multiple times last year prior to Dak getting a new contract that no player is worth keeping that allocates more than 15% of the salary cap and really that limit should be 10%.

The Cowboys also need to stop handing out no-trade clauses like they are nothing especially when they are already giving the player a huge contract.

 

[mcmvp]

This is all largely accurate.
But what is missing is the Eagles do this for EVERYONE making any real cap money.
Dallas is doing this for only a very few guys.
The Eales did it with their 30+ year old center.

In truth, Dallas tries to pay as it goes for most players on their roster.

The Eagles didn't do any real cap reset but got caught pants down in COVID and had to deal with a lower-than-expected salary cap.
Then pretty much immediately in the aftermath of that got a massive boost in the new TV deal shooting the cap up by large numbers.

It is clear that if the cap will increase 3-4% yearly the Eagles method is perfect.

Stephen is heinously conservative.

The average salary cap increase is closer to 6 1/2 or 7% annually. And the next TV deal is scheduled for 2029… the same that many of the Eagles players void years balloon. I doubt that’s a coincidence.

 

[CowboyFrog]

The average salary cap increase is closer to 6 1/2 or 7% annually. And the next TV deal is scheduled for 2029… the same that many of the Eagles players void years balloon. I doubt that’s a coincidence.

probably not a coincidence.. but the fact is there will be some sort of tear down which again the Eagles FO is fine with because they have a system they believe can build it back in a couple years...the Cowboys FO treats a reboot like its the end of the world.

 

[Sydla]

It won't, unless the NFL changes the rules. Which they should, because small market teams can't afford to have hundreds of million$ in void years like the Eagles. Can't blame the Eagles, they're just taking full advantage of the rules.

Expound on this.

 

[Sydla]

Surprise surprise the Philadelphia eagles are working the system to their advantage on and off the field with the salary cap and the tush push.

Nice to have the most talented front office rather than an entitled version of The Beverly hillbillies.

The eagles are able to take advantage of their Windows of opportunity while we are always beaten to the punch.

The issue here is that Roseman and Philly are willing to take on the risk that they could be holding a massive bag in a few years and could need to totally start over and blow it all up. If they get a couple SB runs out of it, it's worth it.

Jerry and his son are risk adverse. Their strategy is to not strive to be great but be just good year to year and avoid the potential down period that could result in a 2-3-4 years of really subpar play as they unwind the contracts, etc. They believe that if they are good enough for a long period, with no sustained down periods, they'll eventually cash in with a Super Bowl run.

That strategy has failed massively. Because if you look at the last 20 years or so, while we've had a few bad teams, there have been no sustained runs of really bad seasons. And what has that gotten us? Nothing. Less than a handful of playoff wins and never playing a game beyond mid-January.

 

[CWR]

Can any board cap expert make sense of this ...........man, if this is true, Howie is 4-5 steps ahead of the Jerry.

https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl/nfl-mailbag-rams-nfc-west-favorite

From Birds By A Billion (@SeeUSoonBoyy): Is the league talking about changing the salary cap rules because the Eagles have broken the system? They have been successfully pushing payments into void years. The Eagles are paying Jason [Kelce] $14 million in 2025 and he retired before last season. Make it make sense.


From Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot): Recently, Roger Goodell talked about the need to look into the integrity of the salary cap, which is probably related to cash spending, void years and rolling option bonuses. Off the cuff, what, in your opinion, would be a good solution to restore that integrity?

Steelers and Birds, I do think some of this relates to cash spending.

So, for those who don’t know, the Eagles have effectively, legally circumvented the salary cap over the past couple of years by pushing cap charges way off into the future. That, to be clear, doesn’t eliminate those charges. It just leaves them to be accounted for some other day. And it’s through no nefarious method. You or I could scribble out a similar strategy on a page of notebook paper. It is simply buying something now that you’re paying for in cash that will be accounted for on the salary cap later.

I forgot their last void year commitment numbers but want to say something like 125 million or so.

All that will come due eventually but they will keep pushing out new contracts and the cap will keep going up.

 

[TwistedL0g1k]

Pushing the cap hits forward in time benefits the present at the expense of the future. It does not matter how much the salary cap increases over time. It still reduces future available cap space, however large that cap space is. Certainly it can be mitigated by good drafting, but the fact remains.

 

[John813]

This is all largely accurate.
But what is missing is the Eagles do this for EVERYONE making any real cap money.
Dallas is doing this for only a very few guys.
The Eales did it with their 30+ year old center.

In truth, Dallas tries to pay as it goes for most players on their roster.

The Eagles didn't do any real cap reset but got caught pants down in COVID and had to deal with a lower-than-expected salary cap.
Then pretty much immediately in the aftermath of that got a massive boost in the new TV deal shooting the cap up by large numbers.

It is clear that if the cap will increase 3-4% yearly the Eagles method is perfect.

Stephen is heinously conservative.

With Kelce though, he was a core player though, worth keeping, and dealing with his cap hit later.
Dallas had to eat dead cap on Tyron Smith, and will too on Zack Martin, spread out over 2 years due to him being a June 1st cut.
And Dallas gave that contract to Martin knowing that the dead cap would be decent, even restructuring him last year, with the contract designed to void 5 days into the season allowing them to June 1st cut him. IE they knew retirement was a real possibility going into last season and had the contract designed as such.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Pushing the cap hits forward in time benefits the present at the expense of the future. It does not matter how much the salary cap increases over time. It still reduces future available cap space, however large that cap space is. Certainly it can be mitigated by good drafting, but the fact remains.

Correct salaries go up which off set the cap going up, the Eagles will have to pay the piper, but they dont care because they understand how to rebuild and a trophy is worth a 2-3 year rebuild.

 

[mcmvp]

Pushing the cap hits forward in time benefits the present at the expense of the future. It does not matter how much the salary cap increases over time. It still reduces future available cap space, however large that cap space is. Certainly it can be mitigated by good drafting, but the fact remains.

Yes, the void years will still take up cap space down the road. But with the cap going up about 7% a year, what they’re doing now is equivalent to an interest-free loan.