Hoofbite
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Picked this up from another board. Didn't see it posted. I guess it cam from an ESPN board but I found it somewhere else.
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I was listening to ESPN (1050 a.m. in New York) earlier today and a guy was on (I think a beat reporter for the Raiders working for the San Francisco Chronicle) and he was trying to make sense of Al Davis' spending orgy in free agency.
The guy noted that three other teams were approaching free agency the same way and structuring contracts that were heavily backloaded in 2010: Miami, the Jets, and Cleveland.
The guy found this to be suspect since the Jets, Parcells, and Cleveland have always approached free agency with some caution.
The guy further mentioned Bill Pollian's sudden, well-publicized scathing criticisms of how the 'Cap has undernminded the intention of the draft which was to give poor teams the opportunity to acquire better players by picking at the top of the draft. The 'cap, he said, had compromised this since monstrous signing bonuses precluded teams with the worst cap situation to capitalize on their superior draft position because they had mismanaged the cap and could not afford to take an elite player. At the same time they could not capitalize on trading the pick for multiple picks because potential trading partners were scared off by ludicrous signing bonuses.
Summing it up, the guy said it's no secret that Jerry Jones, Pat Bowlen, and Robert Kraft are at the forfront of a movement to scrap the cap. He again referred back to the Jets, Dolphins, Raiders, and Browns structuring contracts which all had the biggest part of the money owed a player due the year the cap would not be in effect--2010.
He concluded, from the circumstantial evidence, that the uncharacteristic behavior of Miami, the Jets, and Cleveland in free agency suggested they believed the 'cap would not be a factor in 2010. He again mentioned the outright opposition of it by Jones, Bowlen, and Kraft as well as Bill Pollian's harsh criticism of it.
Adding it all up, the writer said the evidence is strongly on the side that already seven teams have indicated by their actions in free agency or their statements to the press that the cap was on its way out: Dallas, Denver, New England, Miami, the Jets, Cleveland, Oakland and the Colts.
Only nine owners need to vote against the current CBA to opt out of it and this guy believes only one more owner will be needed to sink the cap. He suggested, based on talks with Vinnie Cerrato that you could almost certainly pencil the Commanders in as a team who would vote to torpedo the cap--a hardly surprising possibility given the kind of spending Washington thrives on.
The writer speculated that one of the signs the cap was on life support would be Jones or another team moving into the top five, even with relatively little cap space with which to sign a blue-chip player.
It was his belief someone would dive in for McFadden knowing the cap would not be an important fact in the distribution of a large signing bonus.
The guy all mentioned he thought it was suspect that three of the teams that would likely vote to opt out had new stadiums which would open in 2010: Dallas, the Jets, and the Colts. He said Jerry wouild be adding about $125,000,000 to his own bank account the first year through sponsorships and luxury suite revenues. Jerry willalso be collecting $3.00 a car for parking privileges. This would allow him topay off his note more than 10 years early.
The guy said Jerry's masterstroke in buidilng such an incredible cash cow was sending shock waves around the league. The Giants, Jets, and Colts wil also be playiong in new stadiums by 2010 but they won't generate nearly the revenue that Jerry's will given added income from real estates sales adjacent to the stadium. In effect, barring a move like Miami made (selling 50% of the team to a guy named Ross who is worth $3,000,000,000) teams who want to compete may have to do what Wayne Huzienger did: share the wealth and look for partners.
The guy also said football players are not dummies: Baseball players make a lot more without taking the risks football players do. The union would love to see the 'cap die and be paid what the market dictates and not a socialistic system where tightfisted owners can lock up one or two players, play in outdated venues with surfaces that need to be changed for the safety of the players.
One last thing he said is players like to work for owners like Jones and Kraft because they know these guys will do whatever it takes to give them the best chance to succeed--state-of-the-art training facilities, human resource departments that worl with them to protect their careers, etc.
He felt four teams were ready to make big waves in the draft because they had been so quiet if free agency: Dallas, The Giants, The Patriots, and Colts. Each was in a similar circumstance: they have so many players signed with huge contracts they could easily and quickly restructure five or six of them and free up between $10m and $20m in 'cap space to enter the draft with enough money to pretty much sign whatever blue-chip player they wanted. He even said as grim as things looked for the Commanders they could do the same.
_____________________________________________________________
I was listening to ESPN (1050 a.m. in New York) earlier today and a guy was on (I think a beat reporter for the Raiders working for the San Francisco Chronicle) and he was trying to make sense of Al Davis' spending orgy in free agency.
The guy noted that three other teams were approaching free agency the same way and structuring contracts that were heavily backloaded in 2010: Miami, the Jets, and Cleveland.
The guy found this to be suspect since the Jets, Parcells, and Cleveland have always approached free agency with some caution.
The guy further mentioned Bill Pollian's sudden, well-publicized scathing criticisms of how the 'Cap has undernminded the intention of the draft which was to give poor teams the opportunity to acquire better players by picking at the top of the draft. The 'cap, he said, had compromised this since monstrous signing bonuses precluded teams with the worst cap situation to capitalize on their superior draft position because they had mismanaged the cap and could not afford to take an elite player. At the same time they could not capitalize on trading the pick for multiple picks because potential trading partners were scared off by ludicrous signing bonuses.
Summing it up, the guy said it's no secret that Jerry Jones, Pat Bowlen, and Robert Kraft are at the forfront of a movement to scrap the cap. He again referred back to the Jets, Dolphins, Raiders, and Browns structuring contracts which all had the biggest part of the money owed a player due the year the cap would not be in effect--2010.
He concluded, from the circumstantial evidence, that the uncharacteristic behavior of Miami, the Jets, and Cleveland in free agency suggested they believed the 'cap would not be a factor in 2010. He again mentioned the outright opposition of it by Jones, Bowlen, and Kraft as well as Bill Pollian's harsh criticism of it.
Adding it all up, the writer said the evidence is strongly on the side that already seven teams have indicated by their actions in free agency or their statements to the press that the cap was on its way out: Dallas, Denver, New England, Miami, the Jets, Cleveland, Oakland and the Colts.
Only nine owners need to vote against the current CBA to opt out of it and this guy believes only one more owner will be needed to sink the cap. He suggested, based on talks with Vinnie Cerrato that you could almost certainly pencil the Commanders in as a team who would vote to torpedo the cap--a hardly surprising possibility given the kind of spending Washington thrives on.
The writer speculated that one of the signs the cap was on life support would be Jones or another team moving into the top five, even with relatively little cap space with which to sign a blue-chip player.
It was his belief someone would dive in for McFadden knowing the cap would not be an important fact in the distribution of a large signing bonus.
The guy all mentioned he thought it was suspect that three of the teams that would likely vote to opt out had new stadiums which would open in 2010: Dallas, the Jets, and the Colts. He said Jerry wouild be adding about $125,000,000 to his own bank account the first year through sponsorships and luxury suite revenues. Jerry willalso be collecting $3.00 a car for parking privileges. This would allow him topay off his note more than 10 years early.
The guy said Jerry's masterstroke in buidilng such an incredible cash cow was sending shock waves around the league. The Giants, Jets, and Colts wil also be playiong in new stadiums by 2010 but they won't generate nearly the revenue that Jerry's will given added income from real estates sales adjacent to the stadium. In effect, barring a move like Miami made (selling 50% of the team to a guy named Ross who is worth $3,000,000,000) teams who want to compete may have to do what Wayne Huzienger did: share the wealth and look for partners.
The guy also said football players are not dummies: Baseball players make a lot more without taking the risks football players do. The union would love to see the 'cap die and be paid what the market dictates and not a socialistic system where tightfisted owners can lock up one or two players, play in outdated venues with surfaces that need to be changed for the safety of the players.
One last thing he said is players like to work for owners like Jones and Kraft because they know these guys will do whatever it takes to give them the best chance to succeed--state-of-the-art training facilities, human resource departments that worl with them to protect their careers, etc.
He felt four teams were ready to make big waves in the draft because they had been so quiet if free agency: Dallas, The Giants, The Patriots, and Colts. Each was in a similar circumstance: they have so many players signed with huge contracts they could easily and quickly restructure five or six of them and free up between $10m and $20m in 'cap space to enter the draft with enough money to pretty much sign whatever blue-chip player they wanted. He even said as grim as things looked for the Commanders they could do the same.
