NFL: News and transactions

Zedia

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Jul 17, 2005
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A Superstars or Battle of the Network Stars-type thing could be cool. Put players in actual competition rather than walk thru a half-ass game.
 

bsj

Renegade Crazed Genius
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Dec 6, 2003
22,774
Central NJ SoSH Chapter
1- Kill the game
2- Create a 10 day block in February. A celebration of football past, present, and Future that features
a) The NFL Honors events
b) A non-contact NFL Skills competition that features pro bowl winners (now called all-pro or something else)
c) The college football Senior Game, which already has an NFL connection with players and coaches...this could actually deepen that and make it more entertaining/watchec
 

BusRaker

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Aug 11, 2006
2,371
They could play other non-contact sports as an AFC versus NFC competition ... golf, softball, corrnhole, etc. Rating will be just as shitty but at least they'll be trying
 

Pandemonium67

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Apr 17, 2003
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Fucking Josh, trying to make me a Raiders fan.

I can't think of any precedent for someone who's been out of the game for so long to make a comeback and be a viable NFL player, but I really hope CK can pull it off. He's still only 34, which isn't ancient for a QB. I have no idea what kind of shape he's in or what kind of workouts he's been doing, but I imagine Josh will give him at least a little leeway for the inevitable rust that comes with the long layoff.

If he does indeed make it, that would be a great thing.

Edit: Removed something that might be considered political.
 
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Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/big-12/texas-christian-university/article261948210.html

Jeff Gladney, who was picked up by Arizona after beating an felony assault charge in March, died this morning in a car crash at 2:30 AM. It doesn't say about DUI and speeding... but DUI and speeding. Female passenger in the car also died.
Yeah no word on DUI, but police saying he was speeding, clipped another car, lost control and drove into the freeway support beam.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-gladney-dies-age-25-nfl-defensive-back-car-crash/
 

Justthetippett

New Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,392
I guess the official cause of death is still TBD but based on some of the stuff Dez Bryant was saying about him, it doesn’t look good. Teams and the League have to do a better job of taking care of retirees. I don’t know the answer but this stuff is too predictable. How many other Barbers are out there teetering on the edge right now, fighting brain injuries or addiction or who knows what else? I know improvements have been made but it’s horrible to watch this unfold over and over.
 

Garshaparra

New Member
Feb 27, 2008
527
McCarver's Mushy Mouth
Another guy who's had enough. PIT DE Stephon Tuitt officially retires after sitting out the 2020-2021 season following the untimely death of his brother, and a knee injury that would have hobbled him:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34020151/pittsburgh-steelers-de-stephon-tuitt-retiring-8-seasons

He'd earned ~$55M over 8 seasons, leaving another ~$10M behind. Set for life, and hopefully, with his health intact. Tough for the Steelers though, as they didn't draft any new talent at the edge, and seemed to have expected him back (especially after paying him for 2021).
 

ifmanis5

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Sep 29, 2007
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Rotten Apple
Huge raise for Donald.
View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1533927760338493442

More about DT Aaron Donald getting a $40 million raise from the Los Angeles Rams on his reworked contract:
Aaron Donald is taking his physical now and is expected to sign this afternoon, per source.
Aaron Donald is one of three defensive players since the 1970 merger to earn a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first eight NFL seasons, alongside Hall-of-Famers Lawrence Taylor (10) and Derrick Thomas (9).
Aaron Donald now becomes the first non-QB to eclipse $30 million per year. It gives him a $40M raise over last three years of his existing contract with no new years added. The 3-year, now $95M contract makes Donald the highest-paid non QB. Todd France of @AthletesFirst did deal.

Sidebar, can anyone explain to me how the Rams game the salary cap?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Yeah good for Donald. He's been a legendary player. But also yeah, how in the world can the Rams just keep on signing players to these huge contracts?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Looking at the Rams on Spotrac (I thought they were basically THE authority on this stuff but I'm not sure)...

2022
- total cap hit: 206.9m
- only 2 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- only 4 guys with cap hits north of 10m

2023
- total cap hit: 240.7m
- 1 guy with cap hit north of 35m
- 4 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- 8 guys with cap hits north of 10m

2024
- total cap hit: 225m
- 1 guy with cap hit north of 49m
- 2 guys with cap hits north of 30m
- 4 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- 7 guys with cap hits north of 10m

But in 2024 they don't have nearly as many guys under contract, and that includes Kupp, whose contract runs out after 2023, so that's another monster contract they'll have to figure out. At SOME point they'll have to pay the piper, but they're definitely in GFIN mode, willing to restructure everything to push off payments in future years in order to be in SB contention NOW.

Clearly it helped them this past season, but it's not really a sustainable model long-term. You will never see a team be able to do this and have a 20-year run like the Patriots had. Or even a 10-year run. This Rams team just finished year 5 of their excellent run (4 years of 10+ wins, 2 trips to the SB, one Lombardi), and would need 5 more in order to have an awesome 10-year run. I don't think they get that far before falling back to earth. And don't forget, part of what helped set up this great run of theirs was a long stretch of pretty bad football: 10 straight losing seasons before 2017, and their last winning season before that was 2003. So they consistently had good draft slots.

Long story short, they're showing that you can build a team for really good short to mid term success this way, but it's not truly sustainable.

But I don't think they care about sustainability. Flags fly forever.
 

Cotillion

New Member
Jun 11, 2019
4,926
Looking at the Rams on Spotrac (I thought they were basically THE authority on this stuff but I'm not sure)...

2022
- total cap hit: 206.9m
- only 2 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- only 4 guys with cap hits north of 10m

2023
- total cap hit: 240.7m
- 1 guy with cap hit north of 35m
- 4 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- 8 guys with cap hits north of 10m

2024
- total cap hit: 225m
- 1 guy with cap hit north of 49m
- 2 guys with cap hits north of 30m
- 4 guys with cap hits north of 20m
- 7 guys with cap hits north of 10m

But in 2024 they don't have nearly as many guys under contract, and that includes Kupp, whose contract runs out after 2023, so that's another monster contract they'll have to figure out. At SOME point they'll have to pay the piper, but they're definitely in GFIN mode, willing to restructure everything to push off payments in future years in order to be in SB contention NOW.

Clearly it helped them this past season, but it's not really a sustainable model long-term. You will never see a team be able to do this and have a 20-year run like the Patriots had. Or even a 10-year run. This Rams team just finished year 5 of their excellent run (4 years of 10+ wins, 2 trips to the SB, one Lombardi), and would need 5 more in order to have an awesome 10-year run. I don't think they get that far before falling back to earth. And don't forget, part of what helped set up this great run of theirs was a long stretch of pretty bad football: 10 straight losing seasons before 2017, and their last winning season before that was 2003. So they consistently had good draft slots.

Long story short, they're showing that you can build a team for really good short to mid term success this way, but it's not truly sustainable.

But I don't think they care about sustainability. Flags fly forever.
Not to mention really good injury luck to all the high end contracts. You need to avoid the injury bug (or get lucky in having someone step up as backup that is a rookie deal or vet minimum contract).

Short term it can work, but the House eventually wins...
 

DanoooME

above replacement level
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Mar 16, 2008
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Basically the Rams play the stars and scrubs strategy and hope none of the stars get hurt and push the debt into the future. Eventually it will catch up to them.
 

Cellar-Door

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Basically the Rams play the stars and scrubs strategy and hope none of the stars get hurt and push the debt into the future. Eventually it will catch up to them.
Somewhat, they also have an owner who is willing to pay out a lot of cash, which is the other factor beyond the cap that prevents most teams from doing this.
I assume eventually they'll have the Saints' problem where guys get old/hurt and you are putting out an expensive mediocre team, but it'll be a ways down the line
 

bsj

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Dec 6, 2003
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Central NJ SoSH Chapter
Seriously. Do the Rams print money?

When the Pats were in their mid dynasty years, they still werent able to just pick every star up and pay them all big money. I dont get this at all.
 

Gash Prex

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Apr 18, 2002
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This was a great breakdown on the Pat McAfee show today by Andrew Brandt on the salary cap - and why big money owners can manipulate the cap over “small” money owners. The more liquid you can be the more flexible you can be with the cap

I learned that future guarantees must be placed in escrow accounts and be fully funded.

View: https://youtu.be/Gqb1bTSIfHs
 

ifmanis5

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Sep 29, 2007
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Seriously. Do the Rams print money?

When the Pats were in their mid dynasty years, they still werent able to just pick every star up and pay them all big money. I dont get this at all.
Seriously, Roger just looks the other way or something? How is this happening?
 

steveluck7

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May 10, 2007
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Burrillville, RI
This was a great breakdown on the Pat McAfee show today by Andrew Brandt on the salary cap - and why big money owners can manipulate the cap over “small” money owners. The more liquid you can be the more flexible you can be with the cap

I learned that future guarantees must be placed in escrow accounts and be fully funded.

View: https://youtu.be/Gqb1bTSIfHs
Im surprised a former player was this clueless about the whole process, especially one who was one teams that had superstars.
The whole cash over cap thing and the notion that the cap is just accounting is very true. One of the issues, as been stated here, is injuries and depth. If you build in too much of this proration into every season, you’re starting off with less cap than other teams, especially when you start with those voidable years. You’re literally “paying” for nothing at that point.
Also, the real wrinkle comes when players do what players often do and that is demand a restructure. “The cap’s not my problem. I’m only making $3 million this year, I should be up with the top players in the league.” That is what can really blow up the whole thing
 

Seels

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Jul 20, 2005
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This was a great breakdown on the Pat McAfee show today by Andrew Brandt on the salary cap - and why big money owners can manipulate the cap over “small” money owners. The more liquid you can be the more flexible you can be with the cap

I learned that future guarantees must be placed in escrow accounts and be fully funded.

View: https://youtu.be/Gqb1bTSIfHs
the only right opinion Felger ever had is that the cap is crap. This is exactly how the Saints were able to kick the can down the road for a decade
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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The whole cash over cap thing and the notion that the cap is just accounting is very true. One of the issues, as been stated here, is injuries and depth. If you build in too much of this proration into every season, you’re starting off with less cap than other teams, especially when you start with those voidable years. You’re literally “paying” for nothing at that point.
Also, the real wrinkle comes when players do what players often do and that is demand a restructure. “The cap’s not my problem. I’m only making $3 million this year, I should be up with the top players in the league.” That is what can really blow up the whole thing
You make valid points but in any given year, seems that cash over cap is a competitive advantage.

I took a few minutes to look and couldn't really find anything but it would be interesting to see a table comparing Super Bowl teams to league rank in payroll over the last decade or so. I would imagine that spending cash over cap doesn't necessarily result in winning but it's awfully tough to win in any given year without spending substantial cash over cap.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Maybe I'm out of touch with NFL reality, but that seems like a great deal for Carolina?
Decent value, depends what the conditions are (and how much money they picked up).
On the other hand, they just traded a bunch of stuff for a similar player in Darnold, and traded a pick next year to move up for Matt Corrall.
Very much trying the "take a bunch of shots on QBs" strategy, if one hits, great, but they're shopping bargain bin, so decent shot none of them do
 

luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
32,620
Snyder wasn't even involved with the team the last time they played at RFK. Had no idea it had been that long.
Didn’t his ownership coincide with the new stadium. I somehow feel SNF or MNF had a skins game where they were talking a lot about him and the new place very early in the season. This is off memory which could be faulty, I’ll see if I can find it.
 

trekfan55

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Oct 29, 2004
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Didn’t his ownership coincide with the new stadium. I somehow feel SNF or MNF had a skins game where they were talking a lot about him and the new place very early in the season. This is off memory which could be faulty, I’ll see if I can find it.
Snyder bought the team and the stadium.

I remember the old ownership did not want to sell the naming rights. It became FEDEX Field when Snyder took over.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
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Steelers fans are not happy.

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2022/07/11/acrisure-stadium-steelers-hometown-identity/stories/202207110062

https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-reportedly-renaming-heinz-field-and-fans-already-hate-the-new-name-151154954.html

It’s sort of like Gillette Stadium, in that the old name seemed alright even though the namesake company had been sold to out-of-towners (KraftHeinz is based in Chicago, though I’ll bet they employ more people in Pittsburgh than P&G does in Boston.)

The old naming rights deal cost KraftHeinz less than $3M annually. Not surprised they chose not to triple that sum to keep the rights. Spending $10M on Instagram ads or whatever is likely a better business decision.