Why are we still in salary cap hell?

[Stash]

"Need" and "want" are two different things.

Each and every year the same song and dance. "We can do whatever we want in free agency". "Stephen laughs at the concept of cap hell".

That is pure nonsense. Every team would love to have more cap space, especially this one. But there is a budget to maintain.

That won't stop people around here dreaming that we cancook the books and get whatever high priced free agent they have a liking for.

Oh, we can get Dontari Poe. We could make a run at Chandler Jones. At citing how "possible" it is.

No, it might as well be impossible because it is laughably unlikely.

We know right now what the team is going to do. They will ride out the first few weeks and then start sniffing around the table to see what fell off. Then after being rejected by some of that, dig even deeper. That is the new cap hell, which is basically being forced to live on a budget paying for your past sins and mistakes.

You forgot Eric Berry! We're easily signing him too!

 

[xwalker]

The acceleration of dead money is the basis for choosing who to restructure. If moving accounting to future years is good then bringing it back to the present is bad.

Any player that is an injury risk or is underperforming is a candidate for a cut. Restructuring those guys should be done last if at all.

Yes, if a player might be cut, then don't restructure him; however, a restructure only guarantees that year's salary which would be guaranteed once the season starts anyway. If the player is going to be on the roster, then the restructure is only a risk for the time between when the restructure occurs and the 1st game of the season. Even then, the player gets some amount of his contract guaranteed if he gets injured in practice. Most end up on IR all season with full pay.

 

[Chuck 54]

We pay Romo big bucks; they pay Brady. They don't keep restructuring Brady to sign free agents or create cap room; we have...big mistake.
Look at the rest of that NE team. Where are their other super stars making the money our WR, RB, TE, C, LT, and overpaid defenders are making?

NE pays their true super stars, but they make the other pieces fit without paying everyone like an all-star.

 

[Nightman]

I think you are missing the point. I don't think Stash is arguing about how, or why, or the merits of restructuring. He is saying don't say we have a plethora, bevy, abundance or overwhelming cap room when we have a top flight guy walking out the door specifically because of the cap implications of resigning him. Because without the cap, we would resign Leary in a heartbeat.

I am not missing anything....WE HAVE THE ROOM TO DO ANYTHING WE WANT

We can keep Romo and sign Leary and extend Martin and sign Chandler Jones and Mo and Church and another CB and a WR and sign a 6-8 person draft class and have 10m left over

 

[Nightman]

Crawford's deal is not one we can't get out of. It's also not a deal we want to get out of. Does he make a million or two more than his production warrants?

Probably. But we made a calculated gamble. Just hasn't totally paid off. It happens.

We are also one year into it.......his cap hits the last 2 years were 2.8m and 4.6m

If his production slips going forward we can easily be cut

 

[Toruk_Makto]

We pay Romo big bucks; they pay Brady. They don't keep restructuring Brady to sign free agents or create cap room; we have...big mistake.
Look at the rest of that NE team. Where are their other super stars making the money our WR, RB, TE, C, LT, and overpaid defenders are making?

NE pays their true super stars, but they make the other pieces fit without paying everyone like an all-star.

Bradys deal has been redone a number of times. You're not paying attention.

 

[NorthTexan95]

After reading through this thread, it seems like the OP and several others are merely trolls trying to stir something up. Anyone who thinks we're in "salary cap hell" has no clue how the salary cap works even though it's been explained several times in this thread.

 

[NorthTexan95]

Bradys deal has been redone a number of times. You're not paying attention.

I remember when the headline was that Brady took less money to save the Patriots cap space. The media fawned over Brady like he was doing something noble while Romo was ripped by some for not doing the same. Brady did not take less money, he simply restructured his contract to save cap space for one year while actually getting more money added to his contract. This was "fake news" before fake news was popular.

 

[Nightman]

We pay Romo big bucks; they pay Brady. They don't keep restructuring Brady to sign free agents or create cap room; we have...big mistake.
Look at the rest of that NE team. Where are their other super stars making the money our WR, RB, TE, C, LT, and overpaid defenders are making?

NE pays their true super stars, but they make the other pieces fit without paying everyone like an all-star.

If Brady retired/was cut today his dead money would be 27m.........nice try

 

[AbeBeta]

We pay Romo big bucks; they pay Brady. They don't keep restructuring Brady to sign free agents or create cap room; we have...big mistake.
Look at the rest of that NE team. Where are their other super stars making the money our WR, RB, TE, C, LT, and overpaid defenders are making?

NE pays their true super stars, but they make the other pieces fit without paying everyone like an all-star.

Tom Brady made 14 mill in 2016. He's making the same in 2017

There is no comparison between Brady's deal and Romo. Brady has accepted deals that are well below market value because his wife's earnings dwarf his.

 

[AdamJT13]

Why is that?

Why would retaining one of your top parts of the best line in football "not a priority"?

Because it's not wise to overpay for a guy who is certainly no better than your fourth best offensive lineman and might not even be considered one of your top five by the coaching staff.

 

[Verdict]

I am not missing anything....WE HAVE THE ROOM TO DO ANYTHING WE WANT

We can keep Romo and sign Leary and extend Martin and sign Chandler Jones and Mo and Church and another CB and a WR and sign a 6-8 person draft class and have 10m left over

That is not remotely true. But even it were true you left off the rest of that sentence which is "but we would eventually be in cap hell because of it".

 

[Stash]

Because it's not wise to overpay for a guy who is certainly no better than your fourth best offensive lineman and might not even be considered one of your top five by the coaching staff.

But it is wise to grossly overpay a guy like Crawford, who isn't even a true starter?

Being "fourth" behind three Pro Bowlers ranked as the best at their positions is no slight against Leary. And anyone - coach or fan - who thinks Free is a better player needs their head examined.

These all just sound like attempted excuses in an effort to minimize the fact that they can't afford to keep Leary.

 

[Nightman]

That is not remotely true. But even it were true you left off the rest of that sentence which is "but we would eventually be in cap hell because of it".

not at all....but you wouldn't believe it anyways so go pound sand

 

[Verdict]

Because it's not wise to overpay for a guy who is certainly no better than your fourth best offensive lineman and might not even be considered one of your top five by the coaching staff.

If your 4th best offensive lineman is one of your top 10 players, then that is a remarkably short sighted viewpoint. You could say that, of course, it would just be totally silly.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

And that's why the help for the defense will have to come through the draft. They have so much tied up in the offense (at present), and there simply aren't enough good options that will be available. But I will always feel that they could and should have done a better job of controlling that



And I think that Collins starting had to do with several factors, and not simply because he was a 'much better player'. Leary's play in 2016 shows us just the opposite to be true.

The team knew about Leary's knee and upcoming free agency. If you can get comparable play for much less, of course you would.

Leary is not a pro bowler. Sheard and JPP are similar DE talents to Leary. You could just as easily say that OG has to come through the draft. The thing about OG is that you can find them much easier in the draft than you can CB or DE

If anything that Leary did just as well against the common opponent, the Giants, after Zeke improved as well. That would tend towards Collins favor.

Ultimately it is hard to gauge where Collins is at. What we do know is that the staff chose Collins over Leary each of the last two years.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

But it is wise to grossly overpay a guy like Crawford, who isn't even a true starter?

Being "fourth" behind three Pro Bowlers ranked as the best at their positions is no slight against Leary. And anyone - coach or fan - who thinks Free is a better player needs their head examined.

These all just sound like attempted excuses in an effort to minimize the fact that they can't afford to keep Leary.

Overpaying Crawford does not make it a good idea to overpay Leary.

 

[Verdict]

not at all....but you wouldn't believe it anyways so go pound sand

That's a pretty inappropriate reply. If you don't think that if we did all the restructures you refer to, and resigned everyone doing whatever we want then you obviously don't understand the theory of the salary cap. The salary cap makes you make difficult decisions about who to pay and who to keep. That is why Leary is likely out the door. Not because of performance.

You act as if the cap is irrelevant. That is obviously wrong.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I remember when the headline was that Brady took less money to save the Patriots cap space. The media fawned over Brady like he was doing something noble while Romo was ripped by some for not doing the same. Brady did not take less money, he simply restructured his contract to save cap space for one year while actually getting more money added to his contract. This was "fake news" before fake news was popular.

Exactly right.

 

[John813]

But it is wise to grossly overpay a guy like Crawford, who isn't even a true starter?

Being "fourth" behind three Pro Bowlers ranked as the best at their positions is no slight against Leary. And anyone - coach or fan - who thinks Free is a better player needs their head examined.

These all just sound like attempted excuses in an effort to minimize the fact that they can't afford to keep Leary.

They took a risk on signing him early and hoped he would develop more.

He didn't. Whether it's due to his shoulder injuries or just a one year wonder, who knows and it's too late to change the past.
At the time Crawford was our starting 3-tech and came off a 2014 season where he showed promise(pressures). The same offseason guys like Dareus signed a 6 year 96 mil extension.

Even if we didn't re-sign Crawford I would still let Leary walk. He wants top dollar and well we have a decent replacement in Collins.