LatinMind
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This is where Dallas is ahead of the game. They structure deals to keep it at minimal to future caps. As with Tyron's deal. 100mil with only a 10mil signing bonus. he had one yr with a very high caphit in the deal and it was last yr at 17mil. For the rest of the deal he's at a friendly costs. And can actually move on from him after this yr if they need to with only 5mil dead money. Dallas has paid him 70over the course of 7yrs. and most of it upfront with SB and restructures that lowered his cap hits and has never been a strain in the cap. I wouldnt be suprised to see Dallas strike a new restructured deal with him and lower his cap hits to around 8-10 for 4more yrs and i can then see him calling it quits.2 hours til brackets and I have time soooo... let's try to make the board a little smarter.
Idiom: The cap keeps rising so pushing money off means it is worth less and is a good strategy.
FICTION: This is a very common and accepted bunch of nonsense. Why?? Because you know what else goes up? Player contracts. You need more money to sign the next guy because the next guy is on a higher salary scale. You are competing in any given window and you've shorted yourself for that window to benefit one that will quickly be in the past. Any GM who hands out 50M+ in restructures then wins 7 or less games should be fired week 17.
Idiom: The salary cap isn't real and cap hell doesn't exist.
HARD MEH: This is one of those things people like to say and sound smart but they will eventually capitulate and admit teams have to make tough decisions versus the cap. Those tough decisions are very real for the teams making them. The cap has a ton of built in flexibility but all money does come due.
Idiom: There are 3 ways to improve a roster: Drafting, FA and trades.
HARD MEH: This is one of those meaninglessly true statements always taken out of context. Drafting is numero uno by a mile. Trading is very limited and free agency is more about finding value and especially among un-drafted guys than it is adding super stars. Superstars in FA are a terrible "hit rate". In truth, the 2nd best way to improve a roster is to exercise good cap mgmt. That way you maintain good players and continue to develop depth going forward without coming in 1 man short because you cut a guy and paid him anyway. Trades are very tough because the team you are buying from knows the player/s you are acquiring better than you. Hard to outsmart someone on a guy they saw daily during the NFL season for years.
Idiom: But we can free up 70M THIS easy.
MOSTLY FACT: It is very easy to flip deals because most players want that guaranteed money that handing them a check today delivers. They can claim the interest on that large sum of money. BUT, not if the agent wants a longer term deal you can't. The agent can play hardball knowing you have a large cap hit you don't want to eat.
This is a lot like knowing you can take out a pay day loan or remortgage your house for money. These things are factually possible but also still really desperate acts that will almost certainly cost you more money in the end.
Idiom: So we should just never sign anyone ever then.
MOSTLY FICTION: Teams have to "pay" for draft mistakes. See Cam Fleming. Chaz Green was trash thus that expenditure was VERY necessary. WR misses amongst later picks made signing Hurns a reality. But you merely want to fill absolute holes so you can draft true to your board. You don't go get shiny player X because you think he makes you better. A lot of the FA safeties would have been superior to Jeff Heath. Very, very few of them that have already signed would have been a better value.
Idiom: The only cap that matters is this year.
FICTION x 10: This is where fan GMs get in the most trouble. They could care less about future seasons but the NFL is a business and businesses very much do care. They have 3 and 5 year plans. Transformation projects and overall directions that go well beyond 1 season or year. DAL has a great cap situation but they also know they have to pay DLaw, Zeke, Dak and Amari. These are elite players at expensive positions. You have to plan for that. 120M cap space in a future season? You can basically assume 75M of that is gone for these 4 guys. DAL planned ahead smartly. Compare to Philly who have ~30M free but a cap projection of 30m per season for Wentz. Franchising Wentz if needed to bide time for deal would essentially be impossible without drastic moves elsewhere.
This stuff would frustrate me far less if Dallas fans hadn't witnessed the failure of credit card cap management and Free Agency as a primary roster building pillar for a decade plus. Restructuring guys with injuries: Lee, Romo, Dez. Restructuring guys who were crazy: Ratliff. Restructuring guys who were simply poor cap values: Brandon Carr/late in career Witten.
It is quite OK to NOT be off-season champs. That title means exactly zero come week 1 much less by the Super Bowl.
Now not all deals go like this. Tyron is a case where he loves this team and has done what was needed to surround him with players like Frederick and Martin. When his deal was signed it was talked about alot because of the lack of guranteed money and SB. But he's got most of that money and has never been a reason they couldnt sign people or resign the people they wanted. The same was done with Romo.