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

[plasticman]

My solution would be no voidable years. Also, when a player is cut then that team is obligated to pay him all outstanding balances on bonuses and the entire amount is charged to that season.

I would prohibit any front or backloading on contracts. The contractual amount is divided evenly among the years.

I would prohibit renegotiating contracts to free up cap space. Additionally, I would end guaranteed amounts.

 

[Blitzen]

They spent a 2nd round pick on Hurts....it wasn't to be Taysom Hill or a backup. You don't spend a 2nd round on a QB. Wentzwas cooked he wasn't very good.

The Eagles have kept Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Slay.....I think Bradberry may even still be on the roster. Eagles deserve praise and credit but you guys are giving them credit for "getting rid of guys" when that's not any different then what the Cowboys though. Cowboys do that. What they don't do or have is build within the trenches. Not effectively anyway.

The Eagles get rid of guys and don’t have a problem with terrible seasons in order to secure a higher pick. That’s one of the best things they do that benefits the team. They had no idea if Hurts would work out when they let Wentz go, but took a flyer on the guy in the second round and put him with upgraded weapons behind that great line.

The Cowboys invest heavily into both lines of scrimmage, but are not as good at identifying great talent for the defensive line (particularly at the DT position)-nor do I think the Cowboys value the DT position as highly. It’s okay to hate the division rival. It’s also okay to envy their postseason success in the last 30 years and know it relates to how quickly they will move on from any player if they feel like the player does not give sufficient impact to winning a championship during the window of time they target. No player is untouchable, but they do value certain individuals/positions differently. Hurts will find that out one day, and so will all their other players.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The Eagles get rid of guys and don’t have a problem with terrible seasons in order to secure a higher pick. That’s one of the best things they do that benefits the team. They had no idea if Hurts would work out when they let Wentz go, but took a flyer on the guy in the second round and put him with upgraded weapons behind that great line.

The Cowboys invest heavily into both lines of scrimmage, but are not as good at identifying great talent for the defensive line (particularly at the DT position)-nor do I think the Cowboys value the DT position as highly. It’s okay to hate the division rival. It’s also okay to envy their postseason success in the last 30 years and know it relates to how quickly they will move on from any player if they feel like the player does not give sufficient impact to winning a championship during the window of time they target. No player is untouchable, but they do value certain individuals/positions differently. Hurts will find that out one day, and so will all their other players.

I will never envy Philly and their two rings. Chiefs yes…Pats yes….but Steelers and Eagles? Hell no. Aim higher then that garbage.

 

[Flamma]

The Eagles get rid of guys and don’t have a problem with terrible seasons in order to secure a higher pick. That’s one of the best things they do that benefits the team. They had no idea if Hurts would work out when they let Wentz go, but took a flyer on the guy in the second round and put him with upgraded weapons behind that great line.

The Cowboys invest heavily into both lines of scrimmage, but are not as good at identifying great talent for the defensive line (particularly at the DT position)-nor do I think the Cowboys value the DT position as highly. It’s okay to hate the division rival. It’s also okay to envy their postseason success in the last 30 years and know it relates to how quickly they will move on from any player if they feel like the player does not give sufficient impact to winning a championship during the window of time they target. No player is untouchable, but they do value certain individuals/positions differently. Hurts will find that out one day, and so will all their other players.

I think DT is one position that isn't easy to build through the draft if you're just going to sit at your pick. Sometimes you have to move up. Finding a good one in the mid to late first round can be tricky. After that, you're just hoping to get lucky. Dallas never moves up in the first, and they ignore them in FA.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

It seems like they have Monopoly money and never runs out and the salary cap is no problem at all.

 

[kskboys]

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.

Yup, we already knew this. Rosemen is a pile of brain cells ahead of Jerrifer and Stephanie. They are dummies.

 

[kskboys]

PUT A STOP TO IT!!! Dak is set to make 60 million this year, make it the full 60, and not 1 million this year and making the other into a signing bonus and pushing the hit into year 2029!! If they deal with the full amount, you'll see the market value for these players come down considerably!! Lol

We've begged and begged for Jerry to push salary back or forward. He is way too dumb to even consider it.

 

[kskboys]

I wish Jerry would realize that the Cowboys will be popular no matter what so why not focus on winning SBs.

He doesn't have the first clue as to how.

 

[TWOK11]

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 on. 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.

It’s little wonder how this board has become what it has over the years.

 

[KingCorcoran]

The Eagles get rid of guys and don’t have a problem with terrible seasons in order to secure a higher pick. That’s one of the best things they do that benefits the team. They had no idea if Hurts would work out when they let Wentz go, but took a flyer on the guy in the second round and put him with upgraded weapons behind that great line.

The Cowboys invest heavily into both lines of scrimmage, but are not as good at identifying great talent for the defensive line (particularly at the DT position)-nor do I think the Cowboys value the DT position as highly. It’s okay to hate the division rival. It’s also okay to envy their postseason success in the last 30 years and know it relates to how quickly they will move on from any player if they feel like the player does not give sufficient impact to winning a championship during the window of time they target. No player is untouchable, but they do value certain individuals/positions differently. Hurts will find that out one day, and so will all their other players.

Hurts has acquired tremendous wealth. He has succeeded.

 

[Coogiguy03]

We've begged and begged for Jerry to push salary back or forward. He is way too dumb to even consider it.

He's the smartest man I've ever heard of, I don't know what you're talking about!!! (lol)

 

[jterrell]

Concerning the bold. I can't stress enough how much harder it is after the first extension. I tried to explain it in the Purdy thread.

Yes. the push forward money always comes home eventually and once it is hitting you yearly in years 7,8,9 it is tough to handle regardless of the player. You can push poff current money but that past money hurts.
Pat Mahomes is phenomenal and has given the Chiefs the best deal they could ever hope for with his contract and they still are grasping at cap straws around him now.
There is 1 of 1 NFL great QBs who has married a Brazilian super model worth 400 million and is willing to play for 75 cents on the dollar throughout his entire career.

Every other QB eventually understands come years 6-10 that they better make all the money possible because no other job pays like NFL QB.
Fun Fact: Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, Dak Prescott AND Pat Mahomes have a combined net worth less than Gisele on her own.

 

[jterrell]

The only money you can move down the road is bonus money, or instant payments. It was reported around 2018 that Oakland was trading Amari and Khalil Mack because ownership simply couldn’t afford to pay 2 players that much signing bonus at the same time. Obviously this has changed with their move to Las Vegas, but Owners like Mike Brown, Mark Davis, Michael Bidwell, and Amy Strunk are just going to be less inclined to fork over 200, 300, 400m$ in future cap money more than is necessary. Whereas multi-multi-multi-billionaires like Jerry and Lurie and the Glazers have less issue with that.

It’s not really a small market thing but a small owner thing. Small market teams like Cleveland have a wealthy owner, Denver has the wealthiest owner, while Chicago has one of the poorest(relatively speaking). If you remove team valuations from each owner’s net worth, I’m not even sure Mark Davis is worth a billion dollars. So that 400m$ extra that Lurie is paying beyond just the immediate cap hits is nearly half of MD’s entire net worth

Have you ever heard of Stephen Jones?
I promise you that man tips 10% on the cent.
He is not forking over anything he doesn't have to.
Dallas might as well be owned by McScrooge.

 

[Blitzen]

I will never envy Philly and their two rings. Chiefs yes…Pats yes….but Steelers and Eagles? Hell no. Aim higher than that garbage.

I don’t take the rivalry that seriously. I definitely do not cheer for either the Steelers or the Eagles, and basically favor every single team over theirs.

That said, I don’t think about them as KC’s championships or Philly’s championships once it’s over. For me, it’s the Cowboys and everyone else once the season ends. I simply want the Cowboys to excel and compete for championships. The fact that Philly does it much better just makes me wish the Cowboys could do it as well.

The biggest reason for divisions was to create intrigue and drama to a matchup. Division wins and playoff births. I’m pretty conscious of the intentional marketing strategy and talking heads play up the rivalry to sell their opinions. It’s commercialized and I just can’t be bothered to care that much, lol.

 

[Flamma]

Yes. the push forward money always comes home eventually and once it is hitting you yearly in years 7,8,9 it is tough to handle regardless of the player. You can push poff current money but that past money hurts.
Pat Mahomes is phenomenal and has given the Chiefs the best deal they could ever hope for with his contract and they still are grasping at cap straws around him now.
There is 1 of 1 NFL great QBs who has married a Brazilian super model worth 400 million and is willing to play for 75 cents on the dollar throughout his entire career.

Every other QB eventually understands come years 6-10 that they better make all the money possible because no other job pays like NFL QB.
Fun Fact: Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, Dak Prescott AND Pat Mahomes have a combined net worth less than Gisele on her own.

I forgot when it was, but they gave Mahomes more money at some point. If I remember correctly, 59M was the highest cap hit in his original contract. The rest were in the 30s and 40s. Now they have two years at 78M and 120M in void years. Some of that is due to restructuring, but only a fraction. Had they stuck to the original contract, they wouldn't have needed void years.

I think Tony and Troy make more money now than they did in their playing careers. Did it ever get out as to why Brady split up with his wife?

 

[fivetwos]

I forgot when it was, but they gave Mahomes more money at some point. If I remember correctly, 59M was the highest cap hit in his original contract. The rest were in the 30s and 40s. Now they have two years at 78M and 120M in void years. Some of that is due to restructuring, but only a fraction. Had they stuck to the original contract, they wouldn't have needed void years.

I think Tony and Troy make more money now than they did in their playing careers. Did it ever get out as to why Brady split up with his wife?

Yeah so even if you happen to strike gold and find a capable QB on a rookie deal, you’re probably also absorbing a ton of dead money on your last guy.

By the time that goes away, the rookie wants to get paid.

Without being really bad for at least a half decade, that cheap QB thing isn’t going to happen. It’s a lottery anyway, but you can’t even buy a ticket.

I wouldn’t think it’s good for the league to allow this to get out of hand, but also the players union seems fine allowing a few members (QBs) to eat up the majority of cap space, while the dead money is that much less that can be spent on other players. Seems as if a change should be in order but no one is complaining.

 

[Flamma]

The same way the Eagles manipulate the cap to add more talent, you can do the same as an excuse to not add more talent. Currently our QB is the highest cap hit among QBs. He's also the highest percentage against the cap at over 18%. When you consider Hurts is under 8%, that's an instant advantage, for now.

 

[Flamma]

Yeah so even if you happen to strike gold and find a capable QB on a rookie deal, you’re probably also absorbing a ton of dead money on your last guy.

By the time that goes away, the rookie wants to get paid.

Without being really bad for at least a half decade, that cheap QB thing isn’t going to happen. It’s a lottery anyway, but you can’t even buy a ticket.

I wouldn’t think it’s good for the league to allow this to get out of hand, but also the players union seems fine allowing a few members (QBs) to eat up the majority of cap space, while the dead money is that much less that can be spent on other players. Seems as if a change should be in order but no one is complaining.

Teams seem to be ok with that problem at the end. Dak's void year money is low now. But I can't imagine what it might look like going forward. But the Cowboys might be ok with Dak near to 20% of the cap every year. Teams don't win super bowls with that kind of QB cap hit. Only Mahomes did it, twice.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I don’t take the rivalry that seriously. I definitely do not cheer for either the Steelers or the Eagles, and basically favor every single team over theirs.

That said, I don’t think about them as KC’s championships or Philly’s championships once it’s over. For me, it’s the Cowboys and everyone else once the season ends. I simply want the Cowboys to excel and compete for championships. The fact that Philly does it much better just makes me wish the Cowboys could do it as well.

The biggest reason for divisions was to create intrigue and drama to a matchup. Division wins and playoff births. I’m pretty conscious of the intentional marketing strategy and talking heads play up the rivalry to sell their opinions. It’s commercialized and I just can’t be bothered to care that much, lol.

Oh yeah I take the rivalry serious I grew up hating that team and fanbase and the hate still runs deep today.

 

[mcmvp]

What I like about the Eagles is that they cut their Carson Wentz. We signed our Carson Wentz to the largest contract in NFL history.

Actually they traded him for a 1st rounder +….which turned into AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Jalen Carter, and Cooper DeJean